school's out for the summer

It is a ghost campus here today. Graduation is tomorrow and we hear rumors that the town diminishes appreciably in size over the summer. I hope so. I especially hope that our movie-watching neighbors downstairs take their 5:1 surround sound entertainment system home.

Las Cruces is beautiful right now. I am a big fan of oleander bushes, which are large, dark green and have blossoms of varying hues of pink from very deep to quite light. The cholla cactuses are also blooming beautifully in bright pink. Ocotillo has a deep salmon or orange and are a completely new sight for me. The prickly pear have yellow blossoms and don't inspire me quite as much. Overall, the desert is as lush as it gets here, with all the trees and shrubs and such, but I was pleasantly surprised at how green it really is and I don't feel robbed of vegetation or color. In fact, it reminds me very much of my hometown area and that is a happy thing.

Summer in the West can be magical. The heat during the middle of the day can be beastly, but that is all forgiven when the sun sinks low enough for the shadows to lengthen and the air to turn to crystal. Ah, words fail me, but it is my favorite time of day and I soak it up.

The herbs (basil and sage) in our window are growing nicely and smell heavenly. We should be able to have them year-round now which will make for a pleasant variety of food choices. There aren't a lot of Italian restaurants around here so we make our own and do a damn good job of it, too.

Last Saturday we went to the Cinco de Mayo festival in the plaza at Old Mesilla to see the dancers and hear the bands. Having lived in a few cities, I've noted what music typifies (to me) the culture of the respective location. SLC was jazz, Pgh was the blues and Las Cruces is mariachi. Alas. But we stayed until they played and danced the Mexican Hat Dance and then we left. It was less hooplah than we thought there would be, being this close to the border, but we heard that the Big Party was at a hotel and lasted far into the night.