New Mexico road trip!

What's a road trip to New Mexico without Mexican food? South of the Border in Willcox, AZ, was on the way home and was a delicious way to cap off a five-day getaway.

The idea was to escape Tucson's string of 105-110 days by going to a friend's place in the cooler pine mountains of southern New Mexico, but even there it was unseasonably warm. This is the thermometer on my friend's deck outside of Silver City, and it got up to 96.

But the scenery was spectacular and a big change from the desert. Ponderosa pines, junipers and oak predominated. That's the Gila Wilderness on the horizon, where I used to backpack in my 20s.

 

This is a ruin we came across, and deer came right up to the house.

There were some cacti, like this blooming cholla, but no saguaros. The stained glass on my friend's deck gave another splash of bright color.

Here's some color from the day we wandered through Silver City, which is a laid back old hippie town with lots of art galleries and coffee shops. I think the heat had everyone moving in slow motion or staying home with air conditioning.

The Grant County Art Guild has a wonderful gallery on the main street, above. But my favorite stop was the Tranquilbuzz Coffee Shop.

From its entrance ...

... to its ceiling ...

... it definitely gave off calm vibes.

We also stopped at Western New Mexico University's history museum, above, which had a huge collection of prehistoric Mimbres pottery. Their air conditioning was out, so we didn't linger too long.

We stopped at another museum on the way home, the Amerind Museum. Its beautiful sprawling pink Spanish-style building houses a large collection of pots, jewelry and other artifacts of Native people from throughout the Americas. It's also known for its research, education and conservation in this area. No photos were allowed inside, but here are a few photos from the brochure:

The Amerind Museum is in the Dragoon Mountains of southeast Arizona, almost to the New Mexico border. It's noted for its spectacular smooth sculpted granitic rock formations, which appear suddenly as you drive along I-10. Then it was back to Tucson. Great trip!

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Another textile collage

 

I just made a little collage featuring a photo that I took at Catalina State Park and printed on silk. My camera caught sun beams kissing the desert on a beautiful morning.

I bordered the photo with cross stitches and the outer edge with the herringbone stitch and beads (gotta have a little sparkle). I added a dove feather that I found and then I stapled it around 8x10 stretcher bars.

A friend spotted this saying in a Silver City, NM, coffee shop. I love it! We definitely have to stay hydrated this weekend because temps will be over 100.

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Be Like Water

I mentioned in my last post about the stress of getting all of us siblings on the same page for moving my mom into memory care. Then this "How to be Water" picture popped up on my computer and I instantly felt calmer. I've been looking at it periodically throughout the days and it really does help!

We have to remind ourselves that it's all about doing what's best for Mom. We've zeroed in on a moving period for the end of June and it will be all hands on deck for a few days. It's just a two-hour drive in good traffic from her house down to the Oceanside facility, but with this being Southern California you never know when that might turn into a four-hour trip.

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Back home

I got home this week from my latest stretch of caring for my mother in LA. A morning walk revealed some changes in the neighborhood plant situation! This leaning monster is the lady slipper plant in my front courtyard, which burst into bloom when I was gone. The hummingbirds love the little red flowers, which are supposed to resemble slippers (but I don't see it).

And the splashy, flashy Mexican bird of paradise is in bloom!

The beautifully textured green bark of the palo verde tree is like this all year, but I thought I'd show it anyway.

The palo verde beans are thick.

Here I am with my mom, 93, and the sister who relieved me. We're moving forward on getting her settled at a place in Oceanside in a level of care between assisted and full on memory care. It's been really stressful trying to get all four siblings on board, taking turns flying in from around the country to care for Mom, researching facilities, taking care of things that are breaking in the house, and handling estate matters. But I'm sure most of you have been there!

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Finding peace on the cliffs

I continue to walk down to the cliffs over Lunada Bay daily while I'm here caring for my mom. Despite the wild beauty and ease of access, not many others are there most days. A few walkers and joggers, that's about it. It's silent save for the ocean breeze and bird calls.

 Seagulls soar close to the water and songbirds look out from their perches above.

 

Bright yellow poppies pop against the cool blue-green Pacific Ocean 250 feet below the cliffs.

I usually stay about half an hour, standing on the edge of the cliffs or sitting on the rocks farther back, clearing my head of thoughts.

On the way home yesterday I passed another bird -- one of the wild peacocks in Palos Verdes that have been here 100 years.

My mom and I have fallen into a nice evening routine to end the day. As the sun sinks, we light the candles (battery operated), turn on the string of colored lights hanging over the fireplace and enjoy bowls of ice cream with chocolate sauce and maraschino cherries. Then she goes off to bed and I sit with the candles and my music awhile longer.

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Back in LA caring for Mom

 

I'm back in LA caring for my mom again while we continue the process of getting her into memory care. We had hoped she would qualify for assisted living, but she doesn't. She forgets a lot, but she always remembers to remind me every evening that it's time for ice cream drenched in chocolate sauce! And she smiles and laughs a lot.

She asked me to donate my dad's clothes, but I'm going to hold onto this shirt that I made for him more than 40 years ago. I was in a seminole patchwork phase, and that was before the introduction of rotary cutters and clear rulers! I had to cut all those long narrow strips by marking the cloth with a yardstick and pencil and then cutting with scissors.

I used a soft cotton twill fabric and it's gotten even softer over almost half a century.

The colors match the cliffs and ocean near their home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

I've been getting out most days to walk down to the cliffs over Lunada Bay. Yesterday I saw a group of about 20 pelicans fly past over the water. 

The bay looks like a paradise, but over the years it had been overtaken by an aggressively territorial local surfer gang called the Lunada Bay Boys that resulted in a recently settled lawsuit. There's even a movie about the Bay Boys starring Nicolas Cage, "The Surfer," that came out last year. Here's an interesting article about the Bay Boys: Lunada_Bay_Boys

 I've also been enjoying the flowers on my neighborhood walks.

This is a patch of white poppies.

Bird of paradise is common in the yards here.

This bottlebrush tree is in my mom's front yard.

The prevalent rose color here is white, but I also saw a delicate pink rose bush yesterday.

And this is the view from the patio of the local Starbucks!

Have a colorful day