Tuesday

Good, brisk walk in the morning, always with expansive views above the beautiful village of Alto. Five miles from Ruidoso, Alto is high up in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. Towering above is the Sierra Blanca at 11,981 miles above sea level. No wonder I got out of breath!          

                                     

It was wonderful to hobnob with the horses, deer, and elk who roam the area, but I was perfectly satisfied that the other locals snubbed me:

                                   

Last night, there was company and an early birthday cake--good fun. Today, it's back to my adopted state and Christmas celebrations with those I love.  How lucky can you get? 😊

Tuesday

Still having a ball in New Mexico. As a California girl, I find the weather a bit cool, but the brilliant sunshine makes it invigorating. Went on the river walk, along with these chums: 

Various activities followed, including shopping at some interesting venues, out to dinner for bratwurst and tacos (we lean toward the international), viewing the display at Wingfield Park: 

 

Sunday

New Mexico: Weather has been bright and sunshiny, but most of the day, considerably cooler than Ventura.Went to an athletic event and these visitors from the hills were a few yards away: 

Later, driving home, saw these guys strolling around:

In the adjoining town, shopped on the main street (not "Main Street):

Walked the path around beautiful Lake Alto: 

Saturday

 New Mexico is a magical place. Here I am photographing the wild horses that roam around: 

And driving in the hills, the sight of beautiful Sierra Blanca: 

Went to Carrizozo to a photography museum. There, they have a world map with push pins showing where visitors have come from:  

Bought these to commemorate the visit:

Friday

Plane flight wasn't bad--only an hour and a half, then got picked up and stopped at Applebee's for dinner. Slept well and it's now 5:10 am.

A neat thing that happened yesterday--besides getting here in this beautiful place--was the trip to LAX via the Airporter. A girl named Catherine and I struck up a conversation. It turned out that she just graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, in Ojai, and that she works as a server at Lure. I go there often and love their sand dabs. I gave her my card, as I often do with compatible people I meet. She remarked on the fact that I teach acting and when a woman sitting behind us heard that, she joined the conversation. It turns out that she teaches acting, also, but in a professional capacity. She has a masters in theatre arts and teaches in the Oxnard school district. When she heard I was with Fractured Actors and that auditions are coming up for a new show, she was very interested and said she'd email me. I suggested she look up FA's website and Facebook page, also. As for me, I think I'll get in touch with Shannon or Erica and see if there might be any small part for me. Hillary also sings, and that would surely interest F.A., too.

                                  

Thursday

When I got up yesterday, I realized I had packed much too much for my trip. I don't know what I was thinking, but I had filled my large suitcase, that holds a ton, plus the carry-on that isn't even that small, either. I thought of asking Suzanne if she had more of a medium size, but then remembered she's leaving on the 23rd to have Christmas with her sister in Massachusetts or Iowa or one of the Godforsaken places. She might be an early packer, so I didn't want to ask. What to do?

What I did was to put on my jacket, grab my cart, and take first the 6, then the 11 bus to check out Target. Nearby, though, is Ross, so I stopped there first and found a reasonably roomy, but not too big, suitcase for 45 bucks. Bought it and--with some difficulty, since I was maneuvering two things on wheels--bused home. Transferred much of what I had packed into the new one and was pleased to see it all fit. I'm not sue if it can be a carry-on on not, but I don't care. I'll have only that, my purse, and my laptop carrier--much more manageable.  

I greatly dislike coming home to a messy place, so stripped the bed, washed and re-made, dry-mopped the hard floors, scoured the sink, and boiled some spinach. After seasoning, I put them in the freezer--well, not all of them, just the spinach 😁. 

Received more Christmas cards, and also, an invitation from Sharon for her husband's seventy-fifth birthday in January. Called her to respond in the positive. I also called Jeanne Painter and we had a good, old-buddies talk. She'll be in Jersey for Christmas, along with John, who will celebrate his ninety-fifty birthday shortly.

I opened the birthday present Vickie gave me the other day and here I am wearing it:

Vickie said she thought of me and my long-time human resources gig when she saw it. Funny!

So-o-o, assuming the plane stays up (and for me, that's a big assumption), I'll be in New Mexico when next I post. 

Wednesday

I'm going to cut this short, as I had a l-o-o-o-n-g day. Revised and copied my Christmas card/letter, addressed and stamped forty-two envelopes (I didn't even realize I knew that many people!) and walked to the P.O. to mail them and the small package for the little girls in Jersey. All that took until after 2:00, then I had lunch and dove into packing. Damn, there's so much to take, including meds and stuff, not to mention clothes. Then there's so much to do, such as suspending newspaper delivery, giving Suzanne my key to collect my mail, and cleaning the apartment (I can't bear to come back from a trip to a messy place).   

A side note: Mike had borrowed my larger suitcase when he was here last summer, as he had to make a short trip to Cupertino up north. Ellen had stored it in her shed for me and these were still on when she brought it over: 

You can be sure his poor old Mum ain't goin' first; she'll be stuffed into steerage with the rest of the peons. 

Got four more Christmas cards, including from my old pal from 20 years ago at Rider, Dave Perry. Also a large and lovely, handmade bookmark from Suzanne for my birthday:

That decoration is not printed on; it's formed from a pattern of tiny beads; it's so attractive, I hate to hide it in a book. Also got an "I love HR" (referring to my career in human resources) shirt from Vickie, along with twenty bucks; I wish she hadn't added that, but we'll go out to lunch some day. I took a picture of myself with the shirt on, which I wanted to send Vickie, but for some reason, my phone balked and it wouldn't go. Texted my thanks, instead.