I've been calling myself middle-aged for years. Alas, I think I've now slid past middle age. Like if you doubled my age, I'd be busy pushing up daisies in the cemetery. Such cheery thoughts during my birthday month. And yet I'm fine with it. I'll be here until my life has served God's purposes. No point in kicking and pitching about something I can't control. As I've gotten older, I've been able to relax and trust in the Lord's perfect timing for my life. There's comfort and peace in that, and I'm grateful for it.
Since we finallllllly closed on our lot in New Mexico - even real estate transactions continue to run slower in our post pandemic world - we decided to scoot up there to check it out and see what the village of Ruidoso is like during the fall shoulder season.
We got several glimpses of fall foliage, though no big swaths of changing leaves. I snapped the pic above of our NM neighbor's yard. That's exactly what I intend to plant in our yard - some pretty maples and those lovely blue spruce CHRISTMAS trees. It's no secret how much I love the holidays. I may need a small forest of spruces to frame the view on our lot. Now I just need a livable structure on it! This trip we opted for a 3/2 VRBO in the neighborhood right across from ours since we invited another couple to join us. We were all happy about the cooler mountain temps since it's still way too warm here in Texas to consider it truly fall.
Our first full day in the mountains, we scooted up to the site of the infamous Lincoln County Wars as portrayed in the late 1980s all-male brat pack movie Young Guns, in case you've seen it. I somehow missed that one, so was completely ignorant of all things Billy the Kid related to this area of New Mexico.
Located about 30 miles northeast of Ruidoso, it's set in a pretty valley location on a mostly deserted two lane state highway where the speed limit slows to about 30 mph. We watched a video in the visitor's center, and then rambled around to see some of the historic buildings with their signs.
They had some interesting original artifacts inside. I was especially impressed with the highly ornamented pediment and molding around the safe door in what became the court house, particularly because it was so out of place in this rather humble setting. According to the husband, I need to sit down and watch the Young Guns movie because he says it's a pretty accurate historical account of what led to the bad blood between these two rival cattle barons in the late 1870s. Throw in some government corruption, and it was a recipe for pointless bloodshed and a serious body count by the time the dust settled.
Built several decades before this, the Torreon (below) intrigued me. Erected by earlier settlers, it was used as a lookout and defensive structure for protection from raiding Apaches. This simple stone tower contained a second floor made of rough hewn timber beams common to adobe construction called vigas. You can still see the primary vigas sticking out on the upper part of the exterior.
I never met an historic church I didn't adore. The Iglesia de San Juan Bautista (St John the Baptist) was built between 1885-87 by parishioners under the guidance of Father John Marie Garnier. It was constructed from adobe mudbricks made on site and vigas felled in the nearby Capitan Mountains. Sold to the state so it could be restored and maintained, I don't believe any sort of services are held in it anymore.
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