Summer Dahlia

I wanted to post a last remainder of summer... This beautiful dahlia.

The grass is fading but leaves won't fall for at least another month. This simple gate is poetic to me in it's simplicity. It makes me think of the old west.

Enchilada Fiesta

I am finishing up the Whole Enchilada Fiesta today. starting with this view of the Organ Mountains in the distance.

This is Enchi, the mascot of the festival. A combination of a couple of my favorite subjects, chiles and balloons!

There were a bunch of vendors, and frankly we paid much more attention to the food vendors than others, but there were some nice jewelry and handmade product booths.

Boy, this is New Mexico livin' at the best! Roasted turkey legs, sausages, chile rellenos, gorditas, nachos and 3 kinds of chile to slather on your choice!

This booth took a potato and somehow curled it with that big machine and made these huge plates of homemade chips, please note 4 kinds of salsa at this booth!

The Whole Enchilada Fiesta

Yep, that time of year! Yesterday we went to watch the yearly making of the worlds largest enchilada. Las Cruces hosts the festival each year. It was a perfect day although I had spoken too soon and it is apparantly not fully fall yet. It was 92 degrees coming across the desert. Oh well, it made the shaved ice all the better!

The enchilada is made by Mr. Roberto Estrada owner of Robertos Mexican food. His staff works to help cook and assemble the 10.5 foot diameter enchilada. Check out how many men it takes to transport the tortilla from the fryer to the plate!

This is Mr. Roberto himself wielding the ladle of red chile sauce. It takes -

175 lbs of red chiles to create the 75 gallons of enchilada sauce, 750 lbs of corn for the masa to make the tortillas, 175 lbs of cheese and 50 pounds of onions. AMAZING!

Here a couple get their taste of the finished product! The fiesta goers all get to try the enchilada when it is done. The masa makes a thicker tortilla of course, but the rest is the same! Thanks to my sister for a couple of the photos!

Gifts of autumn

One more random balloon picture. The days have equaled out and my senses come alive as the temperature finally dips below the 90's and the sky deepens to the distinctive blue of fall.

Ah, this perfect time of year! My favorite time inbetween, where the grass is still green, the days have cooled, the fall flowers are blooming and the pumpkins are almost here! I can hear the high school band on Friday nights, the Tiger fight song floats accross town faintly accompanied by the distant sound of drums. For me, fall all is all about mums, homecoming parades, football games and harvest.

Strange Tree September

Here is my little tree. It might be the last photo of the year. Maybe one more for October. It depends on when the leaves drop...

The leaves are a bit bedraggled, some creature has found them yummy and made lots of holes in them.

It has grown quite a bit this year. I have watched it closely, and we will prune it this winter, and make it a single trunk. The one limb is much more puny, so off it will come! It is starting to make shade, so I am excited for next summer and when it will begin to shade the house!

Raptor Lake

Tucked away from view sits this lake that is outside of base. If you look at the right hand bottom of the photo, you can see where I caught a rock splooshing into the water.

The lake is one mile long and a half mile wide. No motorized boats are allowed, but you can put row boats, kayaks etc .on there. It is a quiet suprise as you come upon it. Lots of birds as you can imagine, if you look closely, I am sure there is a duck or two in the photo.

The mountains you see in the distance are across the basin close to a hundred miles away. It is called Raptor lake and the military is in charge of it, but it is open for public use.

Balloons of autumn

I snapped these two in town, it is really neat to see random balloons landing where ever.
You can hear them over head, blowing the propane. It is a great time of year!

Happy autumnal equinox and welcome to fall!