CoME Episode 11: What I like to do in Massachusetts. What I will continue to do in New Mexico.

In talking to people I work with now, I have heard many, many times “I don’t know what I will do with my time when I retire.” Let me tell you that I am making a list, a long list of things I want to do. This is just one of them.

I am now an earlier riser. This was not always the case. I like my sleep but as I got older I found myself sleeping a bit less after a time shift. I can’t stay up late anymore. Letterman was a regular companion but now I only catch him on an occasional Friday night. I am now an early riser. As a teen, I rarely saw noon. Now going to bed early means getting up early, rarely making 8 am on a weekend, always by 6 am during the week.

Now, I really love my coffee. I used to have several everyday but over the last 15 years, I have had less and less. Usually not more than 2 cups on any day. No soda caffeine during the afternoon either. Otherwise I will be visiting with Letterman that night as well as the other late night suspects. Thus each cup of coffee I drink is somewhat special. When we moved to the country, I began to drink my morning cup of joe, each weekend day, on my porch looking at the forest, listening to the birds, scanning for bears (see The Bear Story) It is quiet and peaceful and relaxing. Sometimes I can talk the DW into joining me although my tolerance for cold is higher than hers. It is not unheard of to have her sitting on our wooden bench wrapped in a blanket, with a steaming cup of “wake up and get the day going”. The problem with this scenario is the weather. It is really only warm enough at 7 or 8 am for about 4 months of the year, 5 if you have a good blanket. I want to do this even more often after I retire.

When we visited LCNM, it was already warm enough in mid-February to be sitting out in the sun doing this. Warm enough such that the DW will be a willing partner. I am looking forward to sitting on a patio, looking at the mountains in the distance, listening for birds, scanning for road runners and drinking a nice hot cup of Pinon coffee. Ahhhh, Pinon coffee (drools in excitement).

We walked into a breakfast café our first morning in Ruidoso. After being knocked back by the wonderful smell of fresh baked pastries, a second whiff announced coffee, fresh hot coffee. Pinon coffee. It is a wonderfully aromatic blend, naturally sweetened by the Pinon nuts. Pine nuts are often used in Italian pastries and this sweetness is just fantastic.

The first breakfast led to another the next day and another later in the week. Yea, well maybe the delicious handmade southwest/Native American/Hispanic influenced pastries helped (mrsfabp was particularly taken with the Mexican wedding cookies…) We bought a bag of Pinon coffee, got out our coffee grinder at home and enjoyed it for a number of Saturday and Sunday mornings, making the transition back to New England tolerable after our SouthWest adventure. I'll tell you more about Pinon coffee in another post.

Now, I have to get some Pinon coffee, mail order pronto!

CoME: Episode 7: Landmark Days

One of those things that people say to us when we reveal our plan to move to LCNM to retire is “Won’t you miss having four seasons?” And I guess the answer would be yes EXCEPT that LCNM does have four seasons. People hear desert and they think Death Valley, but high plains desert is very different. Las Cruces sits at an altitude of about 4000 feet. Think Denver, the “Mile High City.”

We visited LCNM in mid-February, the tail end of the winter. The temperature got to the mid to upper 50’s each day. A little ways further into the mountains, Ruidoso, at about 9000 feet, there was still snow around. In LCNM it got cool in the evenings at this time, lower 30’s and Ruidoso got to the lower 20’s each night. But the sun shine was bright each day and the temperature jumped 25 degrees in just a couple of hours. Our friend Clairz, wrote recently extolling the early spring weather, which has arrived now in LCNM.

So, LCNM gets winter, spring and summer, no problem. The issue, could be autumn, but I don’t think so. Fall is my favorite time of the year with the crisp cool air and warm days early in place of the summer heat. I think LCNM will fit that bill. I know people ask about the leaves changing colors and while I will admit that the number of trees may be less so than in a New England forest, there are still colors to be seen. Check out this Google image of some New Mexico color.


New England seasonal change is identified in my mind by “Landmark Days.” By this I mean there is a day in each season that heralds the next coming season. It is not the “date” that spring or autumn start, but rather an event day. Spring arrives here on the first evening in late March or early April when there is a warm, light rain and the “peepers” come out, the little frogs you hear all spring long. Sure, there can be snow after that first night but hearing the peepers means spring is here. Summer arrives on that day when it is warm, sunny and you smell cut grass for the first time usually in May. Winter is announced by the first light snow on a weekend day when you have something cooking in the oven with that wonderful smell. It could be bread or cookies or even a pot roast. You could substitute wood stove for cooking here. Burning wood too is an autumn smell. Autumn in New England comes gradually. You see some color showing up in mid August even if the weather is still hot and muggy. But it is the trip to the orchard with the warm cider and apple dumplings and fresh honey and that cool crisp New England air that seals the deal.

I’m sure that LCNM will have its “Landmark Seasonal Days.’ I look forward to figuring out each and every one of them.