Celebrity Is Good

For today, a few words and a lot of pictures. The first group is of the house, taken just before I left KC. The first one is the kitchen, of course, and the floor that I tiled months ago.



The living room and the front door.



The other end of the living room with the fireplace. Ali is standing there, following me around and saying goodbye to his home.


A quick look at the master bedroom. Will ya look at the sun on that floor!



I couldn't resist a picture of this sign, left behind my my son.



The bar in the rec room.


The fireplace in the rec room.


Another part of the rec room, the bookshelves, almost devoid of books, now sadly packed and waiting in storage.


And finally, outside to the deck.


The other end of the deck.

So, goodbye, old friend. I hope we find a new owner for you who will love you as much as our family did. And soon!

~ ~ ~
Now, a bit about my first few days back in New Mexico . . .

For those of you who think of the Desert Southwest as being dry, barren landscape, I wish I had been able to stop to take more pictures. Pulling the "monster trailer," I wasn't able to pull off quickly, and sometimes there wasn't enough shoulder to accomodate the width of the trailer. However, as I drove down the eastern side of the state, I was struck with how green and lush the whole landscape was. Although the entire South part of our country has been in a drought for several years, there has been recent ample rains to support 18 inches to 3 feet of prairie grasses, all waving gently in the wind. It was amazing to see this and think of that line from "America The Beautiful." It was as solid, no more like thick, than the fields of wheat one sees when driving across our farmlands. It was broken only by the scrub trees and extended for miles, as far as the eye could see. This picture gives you an idea of the grass, although much of the grass was far taller and thicker than you see here.



Wild flowers also decorated the roadside and the expanse of prairie grasses. These little white beauties are just one example. There were flowers of many colors, but lots and lots of yellow sunflowers, black-eyed susans and something that grew in clumps with yellow blossoms crowning each mound. Utterly beautiful!

Listen, I'm gonna brag a bit . . . the Citizenry Of The Grand State of New Mexico are really happy to have me back! So happy were they that they threw a huge party for me yesterday evening. In the town of Ruidoso, a section of the town where my son's office is located held an art show, spread over several businesses. Each one displayed art, mostly by local artists, and offered strollers wine or champagne, fruits and cheeses, cakes and other goodies to enjoy while they viewed the art. What a wonderful surprise for me!! A party with hundreds of people to greet me back home! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me last night.

Then this morning as Allan and I left home at 7:00, we were greeted with a gorgeous, radient sunrise.

And as we drove toward Ruidoso, we saw a lovely rainbow. By the time we could get off the road, it was fading slightly, but it's still a beautiful picture.



When we got to town, another surprise for me. They threw a parade in my honor!! Really, they did! And I have pictures to prove it!!











While we watched the parade, a breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, coffee, and bloody marys was served in my son's office right behind us. Can you believe what a super thrill it was to be the center of attention like this? I am very special, apparently.

Alright. I lied. It was an annual parade and I just lucked into the perfect arrival time. But it is good to be here again. It is good to see fun events like small town parades with local high school bands that march without precision but with enthusiasm and floats that didn't cost thousands and riders on horses and mules (did you notice the mules above? I include that in honor of the Central Missouri State University Mules, since my daughter graduated there.) and candy being tossed from the floats and caught by the kids along the parade route. There were Shriners in their funny little cars and more fire engines and other emergency vehicles than you can imagine and a wagon load of kids from the local Montessori school. And, of course, since this is an election year, lots and lots of politicans. It has been a fun couple of days. It is good to be home.