Alamogordo, New Mexico Centennial Ball

Friday, December 28, 2012, Doug and I dressed to attend the Centennial Ball hosted by the Friends of the Library and the event took place in the Alamogordo Public Library where every room was utilized. The theme was "Things Remembered" and it was suggested that attendees wear period costumes. Program Director Amy Rivers dreamed up the theme and it was grand. There were over 200 in attendance with many in vintage attire. Amy worked closely with Barbara McDonald, Chair of the Centennial committee for Alamogordo and the Tularosa Basin Historical Society, making plans for this event. The fee to attend was a donation of one new or gently used book per person for a ticket.

Two rooms were designated for two separate bands and, of course, one of the bands was "Los Primos" from Albuquerque playing mariachi and Mexican folk music. The other band was "After Midnight" from Denver playing swing and jazz. Doug and I enjoyed both bands immensely and found ourselves dancing to the music of After Midnight.

The Rhodes Southwest Room was set up like a parlor with a roaring fireplace where we were entertained by soprano Ann Bagby, who also served as Mistress of Ceremonies for the "A Century of Parlor Music" segment. Ann was accompanied by Helen Garrett on the piano and Don Thorp on guitar. Song sheets were provided and the audience was encouraged to sing-along.

Ann was followed by the Centennial Sweet Notes in period costume delivering a medley of monologues and songs. Each player depicted a historical character from Alamogordo's past. Barbara McDonald was Minnie Kennedy, "Alamogordo's first businesswoman, who opened the first brothel." Ila Denson was "Mary Darbyshire, one of Alamogordo's first librarians". Joel Hamilton represented "Mr. Pickford, the first African-American principal in Alamogordo's school system". Jan Wafful played as Emma Fall, "wife of Albert Bacon Fall, one of New Mexico's first two senators, who became notorious in the Teapot Dome Scandal".

Heather Carter and her staff from Stella Vita Restaurant provided delicious food and desserts. Library staffer Melissa Garcia spent hours making ornaments and snowflakes out of old books and each guest received one as a momento at the close of the evening. The Christmas decorations throughout the library were lovely.

Amy left no stone unturned and arranged for photographers from Rachel Telles Photography of Alamogordo to take pictures throughout the evening. They are located at 700 1st Street, Suite 713C, phone 575-491-8242 and they are quite professional and talented in this field.

Doug wore his dress kilt and I wore my wedding gown from almost 14 years ago. It was styled on the same order as those worn in the movie "Titanic" and you will remember the Titanic sank in April, 1912. We absolutely agreed with everyone else in attendance, "This is one Ball that will long be remembered."

Carla, ready for the New Mexico Centennial Ball

l to r: Carla, Bev's former neighbor, Staff Sergeant Eugene Roberts USAF and Bev Eckman-Onyskow (Freelance writer for the Daily News)

Lady in Red Audrey Bunker, owner of Vintage Etc. where many found attire for the Ball

Los Primos from Albuquerque

Carla, enjoying the music of Los Primos

Dancing to the music native to New Mexico

Soprano Ann Bagby singing "After the Ball"

Lovely Alamogordo Mayor Susie Galea enjoying Ann's singing

Pianist Helen Garrett and Soprano Ann Bagby after their performance

Various attendees enjoying the Centennial Sweet Notes

A dandy looking gentleman named Steve Haydu with Karen Hutchison. Love the hats!

Barbara McDonald aka Minnie Kennedy as first Alamogordo businesswoman

The Centennial Sweet Notes with Don Thorp on guitar

Joel Hamilton aka Mr. Pickford, first African-American school principal in Alamogordo

Carla and Doug Kerr having a ball at the Ball (photo by Rachel Telles)

Karen and Carla "After the Ball is Over"

Note in the photo just above, Carla is holding two of the ornaments made by Melissa Garcia. Difficult to see against the white coat, but they were quite lovely.

Thanks to Doug for the great photos.

This is all I have to say for now.

Texas Christmas Visit

December 20, 2012 we loaded up our car and headed to Springtown, Texas (near Fort Worth) to stay with son, Russ and Carolyn in their home for the holidays. The drive went quite well. As is our usual custom on these Texas trips, we stopped in front of the Seminole, Texas courthouse to partake of our picnic lunch consisting of sandwiches made on Ciabatta bread loaded with meats, cheeses, lettuce and tomatoes along with chips with Hershey bars for dessert. The trip took ten and a half hours including various stops and, of course, we lost an hour going East.

Friday morning, I got busy and made four Double Layer Pumpkin Pies to give to Taylor, Drew, Lynne and Wesley. These were sorely missed at Thanksgiving so I decided to make up for it. The kids dearly love these pies.

The first big family gathering was on Saturday night at grand children's new home in Fort Worth, Jennifer and Taylor Cromwell. They are parents of two-year-old twin boys, Ashton and Landon and a six-month old baby boy named Camden. Also in attendance, Cat and Drew Spears and their two boys, four-year-old Landon and two-year-old Ethan. And, Kelley, mother of Taylor, Drew and Wesley was there as well as Wesley. We had a grand time watching the great grandchildren tear open their gifts and watching the grandsons assemble jeeps that Drew gave the twins for Christmas. Jennifer made a lovely dinner for all to enjoy and Doug took many photos.

On Sunday, December 23, Doug and I drove to Azle, Texas to dine with Barbara Farley, a friend and sister Red Hatter, at Frenkie's Capriccio Italian Restaurant. There was so much food that Barbara and I had to take doggie bags home, but it was delicious. After a wonderful visit, we went to daughter Lynne Render's home there in Azle to watch the football game and nosh some more.

Early Monday morning, we met Barbara and Anna Colley at IHOP for breakfast. Also joining us was Anna's brother Jerry. We had a great time visiting and the girls gave Carla a ceramic steer bird house to hang in the backyard.  That evening, Doug and I treated Russ, Carolyn and Wesley to dinner at La Choza Mexican Restaurant, one of our favorite places to dine when we lived in Weatherford. The owner just happens to be a native of Chimayo, New Mexico and their food is definitely New Mexican style. They have a beautiful new facility in Azle, Texas and it was tastefully decorated for Christmas. The food was just as tasty as we remembered.

Tuesday, December 25, all the family came to Russ' home and the great grandchildren once again had much fun unwrapping their gifts. We enjoyed Russ' great guacamole dip with chips as well as salsa and chips among other snacks. We then moved on to Lynne's home for Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes, green beans, turkey gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and various libations. Carla's brother, Wes, and Lynne's friend, Wes, were added to the mix of people. I dare say with three Wes' it can get confusing! There were more gifts to unwrap and we drove back to Russ' home to nap. Later on, Drew and Cat come over to play cards. It was a wonderfully, fun-filled day that we really enjoyed. We woke up to heavy rain that  became a white Christmas with two inches of snow falling following the rain. The roads were slick.

Although it wasn't planned this way, Wednesday was our day to sleep in and pack for our trip back to New Mexico. Our original plan was to visit with Doug's daughter, Nancy who lives in Irving, Texas. The streets were just too difficult to drive on and we were disappointed at not getting to see Nancy.

Thursday morning, I prepared our usual picnic lunch for on the road. Only, this time, our sandwiches were on white bread filled with left-over turkey. On the way back to New Mexico, we again stopped for our lunch, this time, in front of Seminole City Hall. The only critters we saw on this trip was one lone elk stag near Big Springs, Texas and several coyotes (some live, some roadkill) along the way. On arriving in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, we stopped at Big Daddy's Diner for some excellent pozole (Mexican soup made of pork, hominy, spices and tomatoes). Driving through the Sacramento Mountains, we saw several groups of elk either crossing or along the road. It was truly a wonderful visit with everyone, but it was so good to get home again.

l to r:  Ashton, Taylor, Landon, Eathan, Big Landon and Camden lying down

l to r: Ashton, Jennifer, Landon, Taylor and Camden

l to r: Ethan, Cat, Drew and Big Landon

Jennifer and (Mimi) Kelley

l to r: Jennifer, Kelley and Cat modeling their new vests

Carla (Grammy) with grandson, Wesley

l to r: Ashton, Taylor and Drew assembling one of the jeeps

Ashton and Landon in their new jeeps

Barbara and Carla at lunch in Frenkie's Capriccio Italian Restaurant in Azle, Texas

Bia at Estee Lauder counter in Belk Department Store with Carla

Red Hat friend, Anna Colley at IHOP for visit and breakfast

l to r: Carolyn, Lynne and Carla Christmas morning

l to r: Carla, Wesley and Russ

Carla (Grammy) with great grandson, Camden

Ethan enjoying the snow with his mother, Cat

Lynne with her Amado Peña poster (a Christmas gift)

l to r: Russ, Drew, Cat, Ethan and Wesley playing cards Christmas night

Our lovely hosts for the week, Russ and Carolyn

Thanks, Doug, for all the pictures. My apologies for not getting at least one of you in the mix.

This is all I have to say for now.

Visit with Artist Amado Peña in Ruidoso, NM

Sunday, December 16, 2012 Doug and I drove to Ruidoso, New Mexico to visit an exhibition of Amado Peña's art at Mountain Annie's Art Gallery. We had been trying to get there for three days, but due to cold weather, snow and ice, we decided to go on Sunday even though the weather was still iffy.

We ran into some falling snow pellets a couple of times in the mountains, but the road was warm enough to melt them as they hit. We actually made good time on the road and arrived in Ruidoso in about an hour. As we entered the venue, we encountered a beautiful lady who immediately introduced herself as J.B. Peña. We originally met Amado in Dallas some years ago at the Annette Strauss Artists Square downtown where an Indian Market was being held. J.B. escorted us into the show area where we reacquainted ourselves with Amado. As we talked, he continued working on a new piece using India Ink. He did stop long enough for pictures to be taken.

J.B. is an artist in fabulous fabric weaving and has a studio in Santa Fe called "Handwoven Originals". She is also a creator of lovely jewelry. If you are ever in Santa Fe, you should make a point of visiting her studio in the Inn and Spa at Loretto, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, phone 505-982-4118 and web site is handwovenoriginals.com  J.B. and Amado live at Nambé Pueblo, New Mexico.

Between the two of them, the exhibition was absolutely a feast for the eyes evoking many emotions. They are each delightful people and as individual from one another as any couple could possibly be. The pride they have in each others talent is very evident and they are a joy to visit with. They also take pride in other artists work and directed us to another room housing many works of Madeleine Sabo, a wood artist.

Madeleine Sabo is legally blind having been struck by a devastating disease some years ago. She creates by touch and demonstrated this on a small lathe she had set up in the room. We bought two of her pieces, one of which was created from an Australian pine cone. Madeleine lives in Nogal, New Mexico.

Here is yours truly entering Mountain Annie's

Carla and J.B. Peña just meeting

Amado Peña, as he said, "Playing at working"

Carla inspecting a scarf titled "White Sands" woven by J.B. Peña

Just one area of Amado's selected works and some clay jewelry by J.B. on the table

Doug got Amado to stop long enough for a great shot

Doug, the photographer and Amado, the artist. What a happy pair!

 Thanks to J.B. for the photo of the three of us

Madeleine Sabo explaining to me how she made this exquisite wooden vase

Doug bought the vase for me. It is adorned with embedded pink coral.

Doug  (the engineer) naturally had to photograph Madeleine's lathe

Needless to say, we left the exhibition with a number of lovely purchases for Christmas gifts and the joy of reconnecting with Amado as well as meeting J.B. and Madeleine. When we went to our car, it was snowing and our plans to dine at Michelena's Pizza and Italian Restaurant were shelved. We wanted to get out of the mountains before snow started to freeze on the highway. On our way home we stopped at another favorite place for dinner, Casa de Sueños in Tularosa and had delicious Mexican food. A lovely way to end our Sunday adventure.

Thanks to Doug for the great photos.

This is all I have to say for now.

NM Roadrunner Chapter Shopping and Luncheon

On Saturday, December 8, 2012, New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter of Red Hat Society gathered on New York Avenue for two hours of shopping before going to the other end of the avenue for lunch at Memories Restaurant.

We were in and out of several shops and we all found items we just couldn't do without. People were constantly taking pictures of us because we were wearing our new red bra hats that we made at our last get-together and they are attention getters! In Victoria gift shop, I bought a lovely tea cup and saucer to take to the International Red Hat Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in April, 2013. The theme is "Hospitalitea" and most attendees are exchanging tea cups and saucers as part of the fun. We had a great time shopping in Vintage Etcetera where I purchased an antique hat to wear to the Alamogordo Centennial Ball on December 28, 2012 taking place at the library.

We went on to Memories, a Victorian themed restaurant, where we dined on delicious soup and sandwiches. We made some plans for next year and exchanged Christmas ornaments. A new Red Hatter joined us and we all celebrated her membership by playing "Zippity Doo Dah" on our kazoos, the official musical instrument of the Red Hat Society. Again, several pictures were taken and people were amazed at our red bra hats. One said we looked like Vegas show girls!

The first two photos are of Queen Ladybird aka Carla taken by my dear husband, Doug because I am the photographer at the event.

Queen Ladybird

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille

Mistress Marian discovers some elegant shoes while Duchess of Karr Canyon aka Margie looks on

VQ Penny aka Duchess of High Rolls found a fabulous mask at Vintage Etcetra

Right: Milady Melissa, our newest member

Just had to give you a close-up of that great smile

L to R: Rosa aka Lady Rosamar, Marian, Margie, Penny and Carla. Melissa is hidden behind Marian and Darla is behind Carla at our lovely Christmas luncheon at Memories Restaurant.

This is all I have to say for now.