Welcome to my World

Welcome to the domain different--to paraphrase from New Mexico's capital city of Santa Fe which bills itself "The City Different." Perhaps this space is not completely unique but my world shapes what I write as well as many other facets of my life. The four Ds figure prominently but there are many other things as well. Here you will learn what makes me tick, what thrills and inspires me, experiences that impact my life and many other antidotes, vignettes and journal notes that set the paradigm for Dierdre O'Dare and her alter ego Gwynn Morgan and the fiction and poetry they write. I sell nothing here--just share with friends and others who may wander in. There will be pictures, poems, observations, rants on occasion and sometimes even jokes. Welcome to our world!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Miles of Miles and Sneeze Weeds

Whoa, where does the time go? I guess making trips on back to back weekends accelerated the passing of days to the point I have nearly lost track of where I am! Autumn has come to the high desert and I love it. Bright blue skies, cooler mornings and evenings and lazily warm afternoons, just a wonderful time to get out and enjoy this amazing country. Only downside really is the sneeze weeds. I have called those many yellow flowering sunflowerish weeds by that name since I was a wee tyke as I had allergies even then.. They have a pungent scent and pollen that aggravates many people's allergies. We have a field of them right behind the house and I drove through vast areas of them on my trips. The late rains really brought out the weeds.

I was amazed to find when I did a search on the term just for a lark that there really are plants called sneeze weeds and they really are yellow--mostly--sunflowery plants! Well, darn, guess I was not so original after all. I even called those thong sandals flip flops years ago too, back when they were often referred to as thongs or zoris but guess that was not my idea either. Well pooh!

Anyway back to the trips. There was a lit fest in Silver City, NM the last weekend of September. I lived in the area briefly back in 2008-09 so still have some friends over there including one who invited me to stay with her so we could attend the event. The first annual Southwest Literary Festival was very eclectic and seemed to be a fine success. We attended several different presentations and I got what I hope will be a much needed kick start for my own work which has lagged a bit lately, really since my move down here from Colorado, two years ago last week.

I'll break here for a couple of pix from my trips. At left some musicians performing in the Vista Park at Bisbee, AZ; all members of a family or so it appeared. They did folk/bluegrass etc and it was really nice! The next is at the National Cemetery in Bayard, NM. I don't want to be buried LOL but do enjoy some cemeteries. There is just a quiet, peaceful and almost sacred feeling to many of them. This one is large and very nice. They are upgrading the facilities since it became a National Cemetery and it is on the old Fort Bayard grounds.

I met Nancy Turner, the author of These is My Words which a friend gave to me some years ago and I enjoyed greatly. I learned Ms Turner has written two more books about the same woman as well as some others so I will have to see if I can track copies down. I also learned she lives in Tucson and her husband is retired from law enforcement in Arizona as my late husband was. Small world-isms! Then I heard a talk by a gentleman who has written a nonfiction account of the Bell Ranch, one of the largest and best know of the old New Mexico ranches based on a Spanish land grant. That got me excited to try to research--if I have enough years left!!--and write a similar book about the Baca Grant and Green Cattle Company which was a similar establishment in Arizona. Also met a lady who writes westerns and is into enactments and gun-fighting and such and was quite impressed with her. Got three books in a series she is working on and am reading the first one. So I came home Sunday the 29th with a lot of ideas but a bit tired.

Before I could get going on much, an issue arose about family and my old home in southern Arizona near Sierra Vista. I wasn't able to get things resolved by long distance--communication failures--and finally decided I'd just have to bite the bullet and go. I left Thursday morning the 3rd. I was able to get things resolved pretty well and hope to be headed to a point where I will be out of that loop and no longer involved but that will take a bit more time, but hopefully maybe only one more trip to sign papers etc.

The weather was lovely and I got in some train watching, a few pictures, wandering through the Farmer's Market in the Vista Park in Bisbee, AZ and even another detour through Silver City area to see another friend who'd been out of town the previous weekend so we missed. Finally home again on the next Sunday, which was October 6.  I put about 1200 miles on Red Hot Mama (that's my red Mazda pickup, you may recall) and ended up with a new phone since I forgot to take a charger for my old flip phone and one that worked for it was not to be found. So I am almost in the modern age now; not quite a smart phone but almost LOL.

But I am now way behind on a number of projects, plans and such. It is going to take me a few days to get back on track and build up a head of steam sufficient to start chugging along in those directions once again. C'est la vie. I am retired and have all the time in the world, right? Well, kinda sorta!! Achoo.

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