Hanging high and laying low: Roswell, New Mexico

What cracks and breaks every day, but is never really damaged?

Many dawns crack and break over me in Roswell, New Mexico lately, so why not show you some pictures? No, I'm really asking for reasons, or else it will happen.

We recently decided to take in the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art (AMoCA). Lacking a certain museum aesthetic, I held few expectations but was willing to suffer like a grown-up for an hour or so. But, instead of my emotions erupting in a tantrum demanding to go to the gift shop, I felt overwhelmed by the art. Possibly the same way art people explain why art is important.

Don Anderson (about to celebrate his 101st birthday) is patron to six artists a year, who live on-campus and are financially supported while they concentrate on their art.

I like looking at these people, and have already judged them.

The way the dawn cracks and breaks...

...on a horse tummy

Don Anderson

There's nothing to sphere...woodn't you agree?

La Lotaria

Don Anderson

I felt exhausted after an hour, and vowed to return.

I ate a perfect Thai red curry tonight at Lemongrass Thai. Not keto. 

My favorite thrift store is the Assistance League of Chaves County. 

They seem to say "Chaves" like "CHAvez" here. Datil need not comment. I think places name themselves to reveal newcomers.

Roswell sits on the edge of the Chihuahuan desert and the Great Plains.

If it's Monday, it must be ... the 2015 New Mexico Lake Tour

I like Roswell. It's a city, but not a huge one, so there are lots of conveniences without lots of congestion. A city's libraries draw me.

I'm losing track of what lake park goes with what town. 

Brantley Lake ➔➔ Carlsbad (caverns, more or less)

Bottomless Lakes ➔➔ Roswell (UFO museum)

Sumner Lake ➔➔ Fort Sumner (The REAL grave of Billy the Kid)

Santa Rosa Lake ➔➔ Santa Rosa (Blue Hole) 

"Tree of Knowledge" sculpture outside Roswell Public Library.

Roswell doesn't give the impression that it's a desert town. I don't know its water status, but there are a lot of big trees that indicate a more abiding water source than occasional irrigation.

Unbelievable

If you really want to know which lake this is, I'll try to remember.

Must have been Fort Sumner at a Billy the Kid museum.

I was in dire need. They didn't care.

Fort Sumner Chamber of Commerce

The state parks are great, and I'm losing details. Lakes! Lots of lakes. The Bottomless Lakes aren't. Brantley, Sumner, and Santa Rosa lakes are created by dams on the Pecos River. This completes the informative segment of today's post. And, today's post.

Bottomless ... Lakes State Park, New Mexico

I blew a headlamp, again, and only another Prius driver can appreciate my unique anguish. A YouTube video suggested"Just pay $100 to have it changed. It will take hours, and you need tiny hands." He had a bad attitude.

It's easy. First, lay out a pair of rubber or nitrile gloves, your new headlight bulb (type 9003), and a screwdriver.

Ignore the screwdriver and rip the one remaining pin from your engine bib with your hands.

Remove the air "purifier." Squeeze your tiny hand behind the headlamp. Don't try to look. Just use the Force, Luke. Unsnap the connection. Open a beer.  Let it drop into the engine compartment. Curse mildly.

Smile at a kind offer of help, and continue. Unscrew the rubber boot and slip off. Slip off your other rubber boot and proceed barefoot. Pull out old bulb, scrutinize for broken filament, set on engine. Put on glove, open new bulb, set it next to old, identical bulb. Curse mildly. Call for another beer, sit down.

Hour 2:

Slip new (???) bulb into bulbhole, gently spin to seat. Reconnect to confirm bulb is working. Cheer. Disconnect, work boot back onto bulb chamber. Work boot back onto bulb chamber. Work boot back onto bulb chamber. Curse mildly. Call for new beer.

Evening:

Decide bulb is not seated. Reseat bulb. Reset spring. Reset spring. Curse. Apologize to large family walking past. Offer them all a beer.

Work boot back onto bulb chamber. Work boot ... SUCCEED! Reconnect.

Morning:

Phone Toyota dealership, beg them to take $100.


We spent three nights at Brantley Lake State Park.

We drove to Carlsbad Caverns to find that Texas was occupying it. When we saw the ticket line, we couldn't remember which of us had wanted to be there.

Vermont Chris traveled this way, and so I got to hang with her for a while.


On to Bottomless Lakes.

Today was the UFO Museum. The Truth is Out There®

Authentic replicas of possible likenesses of putative aliens.

Roswell humor:

Not "autopsy," necropsy. I could no longer take this exhibit seriously. 

I have the feeling I meant to tell you something. I must have been neuralized.