I'm home from New Mexico
By MARCELLA BRUCE
Contributing writer
Since returning home recently from a month in New Mexico, there's been time for introspection on the "glad" and "sad" experienced there. The "glad" was spending time with my cousin-sister, Ruth Gore, and the "sad" came with the death on Good Friday of her beloved husband Harold just a week after Skip and Lois brought me there.
His passing brought our respective families together for the service which celebrated his life as a dedicated attorney and a caring, loving husband, father and friend. He had suffered a debilitating illness and Alzeimers for the last five years.
I stayed another two weeks with Ruth and enjoyed making our bonds grow dearer. I hope to have her come and spend some time in Hillsboro with me.
The strong ties with New Mexico began in the early 30s (also called the dirty 30s as I remember) when my parents and Ruth and I moved to Clovis where my father practiced as a M.D. until his death in 1950. My mother stayed there for a number of years, and Ruth has been a resident for more than 50 years. The whole family, including mine, loved the state with its variety of attractions, and we've been drawn there for many vacations. Kansas has been home for more than 60 years and, make no mistake, I love it too!
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Daughter and spouse, Marcia and Glenn, enhanced my visit by coming to pick me up for a visit to their new abode at Angel Fire, N.M.. They fell in love with it last summer and bought their handsome "cabin in the woods." They've been there since the first of March and have enjoyed a foot of snow since. Quite a change from Florida! At their elevation of 8500 feet, I was awfully glad that I had had a chance to become somewhat acclimated by being at 4300 feet at Clovis, so the lightheadedness of my former visit there last summer was noticeably lessened.
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I took along a jar of the hot mustard I make for Ruth, and her son wanted the recipe which was given gladly. In turn he wrote out one of his for me called Radish Relish! Since I had my first radish this week, courtesy of some Hillsboro gardener, I am considering putting his recipe together.
Here's Hal's Radish Relish: 2 cups chopped radish, 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro, 1 medium onion, diced; 1 Tbs lemon juice; 1 Tbs lime juice; 2 Tbs orange juice, 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste); 1/4 tsp ground pepper; 1 tsp garlic powder (or 3 cloves fresh garlic). Combine all ingredients. Chill and enjoy! He adds " For smothering steak, add 1 can chopped tomatoes with juice and pour over browned meat. Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees."
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Looking over my book shelves since coming home, I was struck by the number I have not read.
Katie Wiebe's "Good Times With Old Times" caught my eye, and I remembered once again that old saw that says something about the road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions.
Katie is an excellent writer and a fine person, and I wish I could be the "doer" she is. I'm still hoping her guidelines will find space in my mind for motivation. But I'm such a "put-it-offer."
I really think my family would be supportive and appreciative were I to engage in a bit of memoir writing. On the other hand, they might be bored stiff! Maybe I've already told them more than they really cared to know.
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"It's still spring!
Again life focuses on grasses and crocuses
On rows of deep blue irises and one or two new viruses."
— Hammer
Now is also the time of year when farmers and golfers start spring plowing.
— Anonymous
