On Sunday, significant other and I went to Silver City NM for the annual Blues Festival. The way up, we took the scenic route via Hillsboro. I know most of you think that New Mexico is all desert but this sign on Hwy 152 (elev 4400) will advise you to the contrary.

Before you get to Silver City, you come to Hillsboro which is a quaint little town. Here’s a photo of the post office on Main street.

I found New Mexico’s well known (a)version to/of carpe diem expressed in this bumper sticker

But don’t get the idea this part of the world is very progressive because you’re just as likely to find recipes for cooking the endangered Spotted Owl posted on the bulletin board at the local hardware store. Perhaps the latter’d make more sense if you knew that this part of the country is known as the Central Mining District. Ore of various kinds (gold, silver and copper) was first mined by native americans and later, commercial interests. Reportedly over 300 million tons of copper is mined here annually.

The festival was interesting although it seems to have become a biker trek attraction lately. Not to say there’s anything wrong with bikers but this has a tendency to affect the kind of vendors exhibiting at the festival. The biker vendors carried pretty much the same things. Outsourced, off-shore and not particularly well-made black leather apparel without much diversity in styling. One of the reasons I go to these things is to peruse the DE booths but I didn’t see much of that in evidence. I did find two women dressed creatively; this is Donna

and I don’t know this lady’s name.

She was selling the shawls she was wearing (it was a little chilly out). Apparently she intended to send the proceeds to Tibet. Not to say she was lying but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that story or a version of it. The other vendors were selling the usual festival stuff such as incense, wind chimes, dolls designed to store plastic grocery bags and dust pans made out of license plates. The crafters were out in full force. I did find two people who produced unique goods. Below is George Jackson; he had some belts and bags (not shown)

Another interesting vendor was Inca Paloma, a fabric dyer. There was no one in the booth and there weren’t any business cards either so I can’t link to her (presumably the vendor is female).

The last interesting vendor I found was this out-of-her-element jam-band entrepreneur. She was selling a whole hodge-podge of items made by herself and her friends. I don’t know if you’re into hula-hoops but she’d made these units that fold up. I thought that was pretty cool.

She was also showing some skirts.

I don’t know what they call this style but these seem to be all the rage with jam-band chicks. I don’t get it. Jam band apparel is -in my opinion- some of the ugliest stuff. Still, you’d be hard pressed to find nicer people than those who hang out at jam band concerts and this vendor was no exception. I had to admire both her booth and tenacity considering this biker crowd. I think she’d do better at the upcoming Solar Music festival in Taos.

On the way back to Las Cruces, we got stopped at a sobriety check point. The incident was a little depressing because it was confirmed by perfect strangers that DH and I are confirmed S. Q. U. A. R. E. S. Apparently, there were two events feeding traffic onto this particular stretch of roadway. One was the festival and the other was a christian retreat. The police assumed we were coming from the retreat [sigh] and couldn’t wave us through fast enough. I was a little chagrined about it.

A short jaunt away, I found these flowers (okay, most people would define these as “weeds”) growing off the side of the road. Does anybody know what this plant is called? We’ve got a stretch of yard that is begging to be xeriscaped and I think these would be perfect for that spot. I posted it here hoping that one of you is into botany and can shorten my seed search.

On Monday, we went to the annual Southern New Mexico Wine Fest. Yes, we can grow grapes in this part of the world (we grow them in our back yard) and the wine’s not bad either. I’m running late today, maybe I’ll post on that tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a photo of all the wine we bought. Take that Mr. Sobriety Checkpoint Police Man.