April 5
BY S.DERRICKSON MOORE
It was my 2015 New Year’s resolution to ride
the artistic range once again and visit some of my favorite haunts and CCCs
(Certified Colorful Characters).
For more than a decade, it was my routine to
visit southern New Mexican towns, particularly where we have sister newspapers,
at least once a year, and also check out the art scenes in Santa
Fe, Taos, Albuquerque and Truth or Consequences.
In recent years, that hasn’t happened as
often as I’d like, due to a shrinking staff, escalating workloads and migratory
friends and relatives. My Albuquerque BFFs moved to Utah. Grandson Alex the Great, now based in Idaho, was more interested in visiting Las Cruces amigos than going on statewide
tours.
Mostly because soulmate Dr. Roger still
loves the City Different, I usually get to Santa Fe
once a year, and sometimes Taos
while we’re in the neighborhood and T or C on the way home.
But somehow, it’s been a few years since
I’ve made it to Carlsbad, Roswell,
Ruidoso, Silver City,
Alamogordo, Hillsboro, or even Deming, and my favorite
border towns of Columbus and Palomas.
It’s a shame, since most on the list are
within easy day-trip distance. In March, I proved that proximity again — to
myself and our new photographer Jett Loe — as we made a run to the border that
took us to the Deming Art Center
and the Luna Mimbres Museum
in Deming, and then south for a trip to Columbus and Palomas.
We missed a few of my favorite attractions.
The City of the Sun, a fun, funky and inspiring ecological little borderland
community is no longer scheduling visits, according to a resident artist, Maya,
who nonetheless sent a friendly message: “But it’s good to hear your voice
again after 20 years.”
I can’t believe it’s been quite that long,
Maya, but I’ve thought of you and your imaginative adobe home often and
wondered how those bricks you were baking in the sun during my last visit have
been incorporated in your abode.
I couldn’t seem to make a connection through
the only phone number I have for Gina Beadle, the last of the Southwest
Surrealists. I thought I just might rudely show up at her door unannounced, but
I found her wonderful hacienda surrounded with locked fences and we didn’t have
time to track her down through the village grapevines. I hope I’ll find a way
to get in touch and discover what artistic antics Gina’s up to these days. In
the meantime, we can still admire the colorful walls and signs she’s created in
Columbus.
I’d been raving so enthusiastically about
some of our borderland wonders that I figured cosmopolitan world traveler Jett
was experiencing some reasonable skepticism.
He was a believer long before we reached the
second floor of the Deming
Luna Mimbres
Museum.
“Is this place famous?” he asked our tour
guide, Virginia Pool. “Because it should be. This place is amazing.”
Like many of my favorite spots in the Land of Enchantment, the museum must be seen to
be fully appreciated.
La Tienda Rosa, aka The Pink Store, in the
tranquil-again little town of Palomas,
is another place that is best experienced in person.
All the things I remembered fondly were
still there — especially Ivonne Romero, who runs the Pink Store with her
husband, Sergio. She gave us a tour of a brighter, more vibrant — and
considerably more paved — Palomas than I remembered. The tour included a visit
to a beautiful new library and the lowdown on everything from custom bootmakers
to new pharmacies and supermarkets.
I’ll be writing about some fun day trips in
the region, and I plan to return soon myself. If you’ve been hesitating, I hope
I can entice you to get out your passport and make a border run of your own
soon.
S. Derrickson Moore may be
reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com,@DerricksonMoore
on Twitter and Tout, or 575-541-5450.
No comments:
Post a Comment