i left silver city this morning after a splendid bagel & cream cheese courtesy of the palace hotel.
walking around the city, i went into an eclectic antique shop with allot of hand-made items. the owner started up some idle chit-chat.. i liked some hair ornaments and thought the would be something my neighbor flavie would like. then i saw a table with t-shirts, buttons & hats for sale with the logo- tea party, tea baggers and t- is for too much taxation as in the anti-obama movement. i high-tailed it outta this town.. not coming back until the revolution, thank you very much. i hope this city goes down in flames.
drove on the scenic route highway 152-what a beauty! how come all the beautiful spots are inhabited with ugly people?
went pass the strip mines.. wow.. the land is stripped of mountain tops, now plunging ravines into nowhere.
complete rape of the land.
as i'm driving thru the most beautiful forest, i'm listening to karen carpenter singing her 70s version of solitaire. so haunting.... as karen belts out her last note- "without a love the game is always the same. he's playing solitaire". then- just around the bin i come upon a deer! as in doe- a deer-a female deer- right next to me! i can reach out and touch her. i immediately call her cecil, (named after cecil hilliard from 3rd grade class. no one liked her because she threw up during a field trip and the stigma stayed with her throughout grammar school, well into jr. high) "hello cecil," i say, you're so cute." cecil the deer just stays there and acknowledges my presence.. she is not afraid. we smile @ each other, check out each other for awhile, then part ways.
i get into TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NM, just after 2pm. Tor C is named after the 1970s game show hosted by bob barker. apparently they had a contest in the mid-70s, to see what town in america would change it's name to truth or consequences. in exchange they would receive winabegos, washers & dryers, lawnmowers, all the things they give away on those game shows.
well this town originally called HOT SPRINGS, NM took them up on their offer and renamed themselves- TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO!
i'd heard about this small spa town, (population 7000) for many years, first by the great writer and art critic edweard lucie-smith, (he wrote the foreword to my book- 13 years of bondage) about 15 years ago. he lives in london, but claims to travel to TorC every year during xmas. but why??
then my dear friend- the late, great steven lowe, (former owner of the beat motel in desert hot springs, and owner of original john lautner motel) told me he and his estranged sister co-owned a church in TorC! the plot thickens.
so for many years i was drying to find out what brought these eccentric types to a town in the middle of nowhere. on new years eve- 2009, i booked a room @ the sierra grande lodge and had an absolutely wonderful time.
so, here i am 8 months later back in TorC, @ the sierra grande! the room is fantastic, the bed- four poster walnut! everything is relaxing.. i will have a mineral bath in one hour. i must say however after 2 visits to TorC, i still don't understand the attraction to this pit!
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