It was a tough winter

Lucy reminded me that it was time to update my blog. I still have trouble trying to figure out the spacing of text and pictures. We had a rough winter in New Mexico. We had several days below zero and people who have lived here all their lives said it was the worst winter they had ever seen. We lost a fair amount of plants although Ron is discovering new growth on plants we thought were dead. He is learning a lot about gardening in the southwest and is enjoying learning about the trees that grow here--pears, pecans, almonds, and peaches, in addition to apples. We are looking forward to all that fruit later in the summer.

It's spring in New Mexico. Although it's only mid-April, we are already swimming. The pool is about 70 degrees and will continue to get warmer as the weather improves. Emily's dog, Henry, and our Abby are usually the first ones in the pool; they love the water! The problem is that they leave their black hair in the pool and it's a constant battle for Ron to keep the filters clean. The only good part of their swimming is that they are exhausted afterwards and sleep really well.

Touring New Mexico

When Mom came down for Thanksgiving, we visited Abo. It's one of three Salinas Pueblo Missions in central New Mexico. The ruins date back to the 1300s. Fray Francisco Fonte building a small church at Abo in about 1622. In 1629, Francisco de Acevedo enlarged the missionto reflect its importance as the headquaters church of the Salinas district. This church was completed in 1659 and employes buttresses on the 40-foot high walls. It is one of the few remaining examples of medieval architecture in the United States. At Abo, kivas were built in the patios of the conventors. The presence of both Christian and Pueblo sacred buildings and symbols indicates that both belief systems were maintained at the sites.

New Mexico is twice the size of Washington State but has only one-third the number of people. There are lots of wide opens spaces. The documented history here goes back much further
back. The northern part of the state was conquered by the Spanish and people there still feel that the land grants they received from the King of Spain should still be honored.