Santa Fe, New Mexico Trip

On Sunday, June 17, 2012, Doug and I drove to Santa Fe, NM because I had a doctor's appointment the next day. It is about a four hour drive from Alamogordo and for the most part the roads are good. There is some highway construction and at one point, out in the middle of nowhere, there was a traffic signal because the highway had been shrunk down to one lane. You must wait for the light to turn green before proceeding. Evidently, a guy on the other end got antsy and ran the light. When he saw us as well as other vehicles, he pulled off on the shoulder to let everyone pass. His face was an interesting shade of red! Once we checked in at the Super 8 Motel (actually nicely decorated in a Southwestern theme with a well appointed room), we decided to take a drive to the Nambé Pueblo (an Indian village style of living inNew Mexico). Doug was ready with his camera.

Some interesting rock formations in the Nambé Pueblo

We actually drove there to see the waterfalls, but they are only open Thursday through Saturday. On our return to Santa Fe, we stopped to look at "Camel Rock" and found a little friend.

Carla with the camel

Doug with the camel

I named him Stumpy because someone or something had grabbed his tail.

  

We drove back into Santa Fe and decided to dine at Outback Steak House. Some of the kids had given us gift cards to this establishment at one time or another. There is no Outback in Alamogordo so we decided to take advantage of being close to one. Being Father's Day, it was busy and we were asked if we would like to sit in a booth at the bar. Good decision. Great place for people watching, right near the door and the food was great. We started out with one of their famous blooming onions; Doug had steak and a fully dressed baked potato and I had a half slab of baby back ribs and fries. We were waddling by the time we consumed all that food and didn't even have room for dessert!

My doctor's appointment wasn't until 1:30 p.m. on Monday so we decided to drive to downtown Santa Fe and went to the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. I was pleasantly surprised when the lady at the counter told me I would not be charged the entrance fee because I am a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. We saw some lovely creations, some of which Doug photographed for your enjoyment.

Buffalo Sculpture by: Frank Buffalo Hyde

Beautiful necklace titled: A Stone and a Prayer for Mother Earth

 by: Fritz Casuse

Dreaming of  Sculptures to Make by: Roxanne Swotsell

After touring all of the galleries, we went outside to view still more exquisite creations.

Water Carrier by: Allan Houser

Carla is standing inside this maze titled "Edges of the Ephemeral" by: Anna Tsouhlarakis

Metal sculpture titled "Spirit of the Wind" by Allan Houser

View of the Allan Houser Art Park along with some Santa Fe architecture outside the walls

This is a downtown parking garage-just exquisite!

I went to my doctor appointment and am relieved to be able to say that there is no evidence of any recurrence of tongue cancer. He told me to come back in a year for a check up. On the drive home, we stopped at the world famous Clines Corner for lunch. This place started doing business in 1934 and is on the renowned Route 66. The food was surprisingly good and while we were eating we were treated to viewing a couple of barn swallows feeding their young in a nest up under the overhang.

As we came through Carizzozo, NM, we were able to see the smoke billowing up to the sky in the mountains from the Little Bear fire. We are fortunate in that we've only had smoke blow our way.

Little Bear fire

New Mexico truly is the "Land of Enchantment" and any drive you make in any direction is never boring. Next Monday, we leave on our longest drive yet, to the Grand Canyon and then on to Las Vegas for the International Red Hat Convention at the Paris Hotel.

This is all I have to say for now.

Long Hiatus - New State -

Life has zipped along at an extremely rapid pace for us since Thanksgiving 2011. The day after Thanksgiving, Doug and I were driving to Irving for lunch with his daughter, Nancy and granddaughter Julia. As we drove along Doug says, "You know, with this economy slumping so much and our investment portfolio going down with it, we need to be thinking of truly downsizing in the next five years. If we don't, there's every possibility of us winding up in a piano crate under a bridge." I nodded affirmatively as he continued driving. A few minutes later he says, "Maybe we need to do this in the next two or three years." Again, I agree with him. About ten more miles down the road he says, "We need to do this now. What do you think?" I tell him I'm with him however he wants to proceed.

We had a lovely visit and luncheon with Nancy and Julia and picked up our conversation on the way home. Doug says, "Id like to move some place further west." The wheels started turning in my brain and I recalled living in Arizona as a child, but do not now like Arizona politics. Doug had lived in Albuquerque forty years ago and fell in love with New Mexico. I told him New Mexico sounded good, but not Albuquerque because it's too far north and cold. Besides, it's a large city and would still be too expensive. Doug says, "Okay. We'll look about 200 miles south and 2500 feet lower on the western side of some eastern leaning mountains." Upon arriving home, we looked on a map and lo and behold-Alamogordo popped up. Doug immediately sent an email to the mayor asking about Alamogordo and a good real estate agent. Mayor Griggs responded quickly saying, "Come on. You'll love it here and here's the name of a great real estate guy."

I started receiving emails of listings right away. We got through the holiday season and in January, I zeroed in on six homes. We drove to Alamogordo and as we started driving through the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico, I was hooked for sure. We came in a day early so we would have time to drive around the town and get some idea of what we were getting ourselves into. The next morning we met the real estate agent and I was ready with a list with the one I was most interested in at the top. We went in, looked around, and Doug said, "Well, what do you think?" I replied, "This is the one." We went back to the office and made an offer and returned to Weatherford. We drove back  in February for the closing on the house and moved to Alamogordo March 15, 2012.

About ten days after moving in, Doug decided to connect the water to the inside refrigerator so we can enjoy cold water and ice. On the back wall of the garage is a tree of copper pipes that he worked from. Later that evening I went out to the backyard and noticed water running down the side of the house. I immediately told Doug and he says, "I hear water dripping in the bedroom." I ran in and began moving photos and artwork sitting on the floor around the walls waiting to be hung. I placed a waste basket under the leak and noticed an even larger leak starting over the high boy. As I returned with a pan, upon entering the bedroom, I heard a strange noise and jumped back into the hallway just in time to avoid a 4 x 6 piece of sheet rock coming down. There was also gobs of wet insulation slung everywhere. I told someone later that it looked like an elephant had come to visit with a very bad case of diarrhea. Doug turned the water off and went up a ladder to figure out where the water was coming from. One of those copper pipes had once been connected to a swamp cooler and when they disconnected it, they simply crimped it. The stop valve on the pipe in the garage area had been left partially open and this led to the flood.

We spent the next 19 days in the Super 8 Motel while the insurance company and contractors put the house back together again. More later...

Cherokee Community of North Texas (CCNT)

October 9, 2011

Doug and I drove to the American Airlines Training Center near DFW for the annual meeting of the CCNT. It was raining and I believe it had an affect on the attendance, but we still had a reasonable turnout.

Steven Heape, filmmaker and David Holliday

The meeting was led by David Holliday. John Cruikshank presented the treasurer report in the absence of Leta Jones.

John Cruikshank, presenting treasurer report

Gayle Samuels gave an excellent review of the week spent in the Community Organization Training and Technical Assistance (COTTA) Program. This involves volunteerism and funding of native arts in the fourteen communities in the Cherokee Nation. She showed slides of various artisans with their creations and the works are quite beautiful.

Gayle Samuels

Councilor At-Large Jack Baker

Dr. Julia Coates and Jack Baker, Councilors At-Large Representatives of the Cherokee Nation gave some background on the current election fiasco and the on-going Freedman situation which, as of this writing is still only partially decided.

Dr. Julia Coates

Dr. Coates gave some information on the Cherokee History Course she will be presenting on the weekends of October 15-16 and 29-30, 2011 at the American Airlines Training Center from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. all four days. I will be attending in anticipation of a grand learning experience.

Jack Baker, Carla Kerr and David Holliday

Thanks to Douglas A. Kerr for photos.

This is all I have to say for now.

National Night Out

Our host, Bobby

This is yours truly enjoying the evening

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

We joined several other neighbors at the home of the Bobby Whitehead Jr. family for snacks and to get acquainted with more of our neighbors.

We certainly have some good looking firemen!

Two lovely ladies keeping us safe.

As a part of National Night Out, we were visited by Weatherford Police Officers, Weatherford Firemen, Weatherford Citizens Patrol and crime fighter McGruff. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the food was delicious.

Our hostess with her across the street neighbor

Last but not least, that great crime
fighter McGruff with Carla

This is all I have to say for now.

Neighborhood Halloween Decorations

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Frankenstein and his lovely bride

Doug and I walk our neighborhood early each morning and he always puts the Canon SX110 IS camera in his pocket just in case we see something of interest. We've noticed lately all the lovely yard decorations forecasting the coming of Halloween and thought we would share them with you. Might even give you some ideas for your own yard.

The sign is "Gourds" and maybe pumpkins too?

Evidently this house got "flamingo'd"

Making a statement

A Halloween "Boo" to you!

Momma Pumpkin and her quads

This is only the side front..more to come

And this is the entryway!

Friendly greeters for trick or treaters

Bet the treats will be spectacular at this house!

This is all I have to say for now.

Red Hat Talent Show & Elvis, The Kitchen Witches at TOTS

Barbara and Rita

Toni, Queen of Gaudy Gabigail and Kay

Jasmine (Shirley's granddaughter, Shirley and Joyce

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I drove to Garland, Texas accompanied by Rita, Queen of The Purple Angels RH Chapter, and Barbara, member of Wild West Women of Weatherford RH Chapter. We arrived in time to enjoy lunch at Dos Banderas where five more Wild West Women members joined us for lunch before going on to the Plaza Theater for the show sponsored by The Great Gals of Garland RH Chapter.

Here I am backstage having just attached my
eagle feather to my shawl

I entered the talent show doing my version of the Kiowa Beautiful Shawl Dance so I went directly back stage for instructions and a short rehearsal. I dedicated my dance to the memory of our friend, Gordon Tonips.

Before dancing, I gave some history
of the dance and decorating
my shawl

I have turned so they can see
the great seal of the Cherokee
Nation and my eagle feather

This is the first movement of the dance

There were several singers and dancers as well as a comedy skit among the contestants. This is an interesting talent show in that there are no losers, only winners, all. Of course, I always say there's a reason for everything and to my surprise, I was recruited for the Mrs. Senior Texas Pageant that occurs the end of August, 2012. I have not yet been contacted by the directors of the pageant, but will keep you posted.

Johnny Rockit and his daughter, Ashley

This is one of the ladies dancing on stage
with Johnny Rockit

Once the talent show was over, a well known Elvis Impersonator, Johnny Rockit, along with his daughter Ashley as his back-up, entertained the group with all the old Elvis favorites from the 50's and 60's. Several ladies joined him on stage to dance to the songs.

We all had fun. The only downside was that we had to fight Dallas getting-off-work traffic all the way back to Weatherford. The upside is that this just makes me appreciate Weatherford even more. Just as an aside; Did you know that Weatherford, Texas was chosen as the fifth top small city to retire in? This according to the latest issue of Money Magazine.

____________________________________

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Doug and I went to Theater On The Square to see "The Kitchen Witches", a play by Caroline Smith, and we were thoroughly entertained.


Dolly and Isobel, the stars of two rival, equally-unsuccessful local cable TV cooking shows, personal enemies for years, are thrown together when the station manager's wife decides that a show with both of them, playing off their mutual animosity, would get better ratings. The animosity is quite real, and the two women, as "The Kitchen Witches", earnestly play many dirty tricks on one another.

A shocking revelation exposes the root of the animosity, and tensions and recriminations boil over among all the parties.

But eventually, with patience and the help of a little comfort food, relationships are healed. And, "The Kitchen Witches" is a big hit. (Synopsis by Doug Kerr)

These last two shots were taken as the actors greeted the exiting attendees.
(Photographs by Douglas A. Kerr)

This is all I have to say for now.