celtsncowboys

A year down the road

2009-12-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I posted. Sorry about that. I've got to do better! It has been a busy and difficult year in a lot of ways but I still feel myself blessed and very fortunate with the way things have gone. I am now living in Colorado Springs and have been here since April 1, 2009. So that means I have been here longer than I was in the little house in New Mexico. Now that is hard to believe! I had high hopes for that new start; things changed but perhaps in the long run there is a reason and a plan for all of this. I have to keep my faith in that being so.

My beloved little fur-girl is still my constant companion and we still try to get out and walk every day that there is not a blizzard and the temps are above 20 or so (that is Fahrenheit, not Celsius!!) We had the first snow in September, just a skiff but kind of a shock to a couple of desert rats. Plenty more since then, too! I did live here with my late husband and my two younger kids in the mid 1970s so I knew what to expect but knowing and living are not quite the same thing. Anyway I'm alive and well and have been struggling a little bit to get back to writing. It is coming. I did get two more stories for Deirdre O'Dare's Canine Cupids series done. One came out in September and is titled Burrito Belle's Gringo Guy and the next one will be coming in January, Schnickelfritz in Love. Both are set in New Mexico. I'll be doing some that happen in Colorado no doubt too but my heart is still in the borderlands and in time I will be back there!

I'm looking ahead now to yet another Christmas, midwinter solstice, Yuletide and so on. And the last few weeks I have been keeping busy making some special craft projects for Christmas presents for friends and family. Most are 'sun catchers' made with translucent beads and wire--mostly a circle with a shape or symbol inside such as a Celtic cross, a heart, a peace sign, a triskele etc. I'm even thinking of setting up a shop on Etsy to sell some of these and have several friends encouraging me to try it! Aren't friends wonderful? Life would be so much dimmer and grimmer without them.

So a blesed and joyful holiday season to you and yours and please check back as I promise to keep this up a lot better from now on!

Go in Peace and Blessed Be!
Gwynn-Deirdre

Freecycle and Good Karma

2009-03-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

When I was getting ready to leave Arizona and come to New Mexico, I discovered Freecycle and made good use of it as I think I mentioned in an earlier post. Well as soon as I got settled here in SW New Mexico I found there was a local chapter or group in Grant County. Of course I signed up right away.

If you are not familiar with this fantastic institution, it is a nationwide organization of sorts and operated through Yahoo lists or groups in many areas. The object is to offer--for free--things you no longer need or to ask for items you lack and want. Nothing is to be sold and items acquired are to be for your own use or someone else's who really needs it without any money changing hands. It is just an alternative to throwing things away or donating through a charity like Good Will, Salvation Army etc.

So far I have been able to get a few things but mostly I've found good homes for things I needed to dispose of since the bulk of my personal effects are going into storage for awhile. I've met some of the neatest folks through this program. Most of them are truly grateful to get something they can use and perhaps cannot afford in these troubled times. I've given away art supplies. dishes, two metal trash cans, some outdoor furniture, books, extra bedding, clothing, a printer, a fax machine, boxes of knick-nacks and so on. I really do recommmed this to everyone!

Of course use some judgment and discretion in giving out your address or phone numbers. Mostly until I get to know people I try to arrange a meeting at a public and well-known place such as the parking lot of a local supermarket or big box store. That works well and usually we pick a place that is not too far out of the way for both parties to make the exchange. Today I gave several boxes of food that I cannot store or take to Colorado with me to a large family--six kids--where the father recently got laid off in the shutdown of the local mines. Talk about feeling really good about something!! I know they can use it and it is soooo much better than this stuff going to waste.

I don't know about you but it gives me a really good feeling to help someone or to know that a bit of property I have cherished is going to someone who will appreciate it and get use from it. And it does seem to me that by doing this I am reaping many rewards: making new friends, getting those warm fuzzies from helping others and storing up some 'brownie points' in the Big Book somewhere that I can draw on when I may be in need at some future time. Things continue to move along for me with surprising smoothness when they might be otherwise, so I have become a real believer.

To find the nearest list/group to you, just do a google search on "Freecycle" and several info sites will pop up. On most of them you can type in a zip code or city or other locale and get the URL for the nearest group. Then just subscribe to the list like any other. Most of them want you to offer something first and then to ask for things you need but if it is a dire situation you can probably contact the moderator and get an exception--(i.e.) A new baby and no crib or car seat or something like that.

Yes You Can!! Yes I Can! And together WE CAN do wonderful things in spite of the economy going into crash and burn mode and many other problems in the world. It may be fine to think globally but charity begins at home and that is also the best place to begin to change your world, one small good deed and positive step at a time!

Lemonade Time?

2009-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

I've been silent for awhile because there were a few weeks when finding positive things to say was not really possible while I dealt with some sudden issues and found ways to work through them. Sadly, having a positive attitude and a lot of hope is not always enough to keep the wolf from the door. These are indeed soul-trying times and I have not escaped some of the consequences of the collapsing economy and the necessity to make some hard decisions. But they are made now and I am moving ahead with them! Yes,You --and I --Can!!

By the end of March, I will be living in Colorado, reluctantly leaving my little house here in New Mexico for a time although I have hopes of returning to this area in some future time because of the friends I have made since I settled here last fall and my strong connection to this special area. To make a long story short, the best laid plans do not always work out. I left two houses in Arizona that are now maybe at the water level where what is owed on the mortgages roughly equals the value. They are rented but not for quite enough to cover the extra expenses that crop up now and then. In January I had to get the complete septic system redone for my old home and that took about the last of my savings.

I had counted on selling one or both of those houses to pay off the debt I had incurred settling my brother's estate and getting my old home ready to go on the market. All at once there was too much going out and not enough coming in--just where many Americans are finding themselves now. It was time to make some adjustments and find a sustainable lifestyle --somehow. It took awhile to find a solution that I could live with.

I am blessed in having a great brother, one who is one of my best friends and who happens to be single now also after a difficult divorce that leaves him with troubled finances as well. We decided that combining forces into a single household is the best way we can deal with our problems and we will be doing this within a few weeks. His house is already crammed with 'stuff' so most of my household goods are going into storage for the time being but I will take my computers and a few personal treasures and of course my little fur-girl. He has two dogs so one more should work out. Belle met his BB last summer when we visited and the two girls got along fine. He has since acquired KC, a year old male Heeler pup. Now KC will have two bossy mamas to contend with but he is smart and he will adapt.

This was not the easiest decision to make especially because it will result in my special relationship becoming even more long distance than it has been this past year, but we both have financial issues and responsibilities that we have to honor so we will simply maintain contact in all the ways we can in the meantime for the friendship and bond we share is strong enought to endure while we look foreward to getting back together when he and my brother both retire in a couple more years. My brother Charlie and I both want to get back to a milder climate than Colorado has to offer and consider SW NM/SE AZ the home of our hearts so Iwill be here again in time. That is another reason why much of my stuff is staying here. That way I have to come back and will have an excuse to get down this way now and then in the meantime. We also own two lots in Silver City that are another connection.

Once I am settled it will be nice not to have sole responsibility for each and every thing that has to be done as I have the last five plus years. I expect to have more time to write, and write I shall. I have a head full of stories that are just itching to be told and with fewer demands on my time should be able to get into a good schedule of daily writing while Charlie is at work. He is an official for a railroad maintenance workers' union and has to travel a lot as well as maintain an office. I'll be the house and pet sitter when he makes those trips and help on the chores of course. We will share the expenses.

So another new start is in the offing, or another step to my ongoing one. Good? Well, it is as good as I choose to make it. I can mope and cry "poor little me" or I can tackle it with hope and confidence and a trust that things will work out as they are meant to , that I will be where I am needed and intended to be and that love can find a way when given time and total trust. I choose that path, making lemonade of the new basket of lemons and sweeting it with love and hope!!

Stay tuned for further installments in the ongoing adventure of life!

Restart the Game

2008-12-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

I was playing Spider solitaire recently and got stuck. It just took a couple of clicks to wipe the screen clean and start the game anew. That was when it hit me: life doesn't work that way. We don't have a restart button to roll it back and try again. Well, if there is reincarnation maybe we do, but that's another story! But does that mean change is not possible? No!!

Here at the turning point of the year, many cultures have a tradition of taking stock of where one is and setting some new goals, "resolutions", or maybe simply writing a few new affirmations to try one's best to reset as much of of our life as we can. Often it is not a great deal but even a few little changes can make a large difference. Think about geometry.

Yeah, I know, I was never a big math fan or whiz either but trust me, this is simple. You draw a line and then from the same starting point you draw a second one that goes off at the smallest angle you can, maybe no more than a degree or two. By the time the two lines have extended for a few inches, the lines are a lot farther apart than they began.

Life can be like that. As the old saying goes, it isn't over 'til it's over or 'til the fat lady sings (I bet no one knows what this refers to or is someone else almost as old as dirt?) Anyway, if you make a very small change today in a month, a year, the rest of your life you can be many degrees away from where you might be had the change not been made. So in that way, we do have a restart; maybe we can't go back and try something in the past another way, make a huge decision like breaking up with someone or maybe marrying the wrong someone, but that does not mean we are absolutely stuck on a one way street with nasty detours.

Another old saw goes "Start where you are with what you have..." Try it. Look over your current situation and see if there is one small change you can make that might have positive results. Give up one bad habit, begin one good habit, resolve to start each day with a positive affirmation--just one simple one. Yes You Can. It is corny, I admit, but each and every day really is the first day of the rest of your life. Even if you cannot reset or even undo one move, you can still make corrections to your course and bring positive changes into your life.

Love the One You're With

2008-12-14T07:03:00.000-08:00

I got a neat "forward" from a friend and it made me think! When I say "Love the One You're With" I do not mean on cheating on your SO if he or she is not there--quite to the contrary!! But wherever you find yourself, love it. "Love" is a big wide ranging entity that includes a whole range of emotions and expressions far beyond just the romantic and sensual love we normally think of. It's there inside you; let it out and turn it on--give it freely and it will definitely come back to you.

Wherever you are, try to radiate love and seek out the things to like and enjoy instead of the ones to hate and despise. When you feel honest gratitude for those good things and recognize that very often they outweigh the bad, you can make life so much more enjoyable for yourself and everyone around you. A smile is the most attractive thing anyone can wear and when it shines forth with the sincerity of a loving and grateful heart, well, the effect is pure magic.

I can just picture the little gentleman in this story; he's going to be one of the most popular people wherever he goes! Because with love comes courtesy and consideration, calm and acceptance, and truly walking in peace and beauty (or harmony) as the Navajo people so wonderfully express a good life. Again, let me say Yes You Can; it is all a mindset and a determination to view life in a certain way and respond to it accordingly.

I picked up a simple trick from my gentleman friend that goes along with this. When he is out and about and someone asks in the polite way, "How are you?" he usually replies great or fabulous or something like that and in a tone that makes it feel real. By doing this he cheers the person who asks and also is reinforcing his own belief that yes, things are really good despite whatever issues may be working in the background. Why respond with a mopey and miserable "I've been better" or "So-so" or something like that? Things may not be quite ideal but saying something positive is a small step in visualizing them better and making it happen!!

Now here is the forward:

Your Bank Account

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'

'That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he replied. 'Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. 'It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

'Each day is a gift, and as long as I am alive, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life.'

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Midwinter Holidays

2008-12-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

I find it very interesting how many different cultures and religions have a celebration at this time of the year, in winter when it is cold and bleak, the time the sun is the farthest from our home here in the northern hemisphere etc. In most cases there is a mixture of solemnity and festive events, almost bravado--let's drive away the darkness by our wild revels! Yet there is also a strong tradition of sharing and giving, of feasting with friends and loved ones, to some degree of reviewing the past year and planning ahead for the next, maybe working to atone for some of our mistakes and 'do better' next year.

I think there is a real human need for most of these things! My ancient Celtic ancestors had very careful and exacting methods of calculating the seasons and the travels of the sun, which they worshipped in some ways as a deity or at least the avatar or representative of a god. Thus they knew when the solstices and equinoxes were almost to the minute. So many of the customs and traditions we now celebrate at past of Christmas have origins in this ancient past! The evergreens stand for eternal life and a triumph over death and desolation. The lights may represent, like the yule log in the fire place, a kind of 'sympathetic magic' to remind the sun it needs to return and to push back the darkness as well.

I grew up in a more or less Christian tradition and always loved Christmas but as I explored the early Celtic I found myself drawn also to a commemoration of the midwinter solstice and the other natural seasonal holidays these ancestors celebrated. The earth is our home and though I do not deify Nature per se there is an 'entity' here that we coexist with and an environment that we are part of, so why not celebrate these key transits in some way? As I said in my holiday poem that goes in my annual Christmas letters, these different holidays do not detract from but compliment each other if we observe them with open minds and hearts and especially celebrate love which is the real root underlying purpose or theme within them all. I still say Love is the One True Thing and one can never have too much nor give too much! And as far as celebrations go, well who could possibly have too much of that?

The key is to keep them kind of simple and not go all out with the big entertaining, buying too many/too expensive gifts and eating/drinking too much etc. I suggest celebrations of the heart and spirit instead of for show, flash and display!! Gather a few like-minded friends and do some kind of a potluck. If you exchange gifts at all do some small home made or low-price tag items and just enjoy some cameraderie and entertain yourselves. Most circles of friends have a member or two who can play an instrument or sing, some may write and can read a verse or story, someone may dance or do impressions or ... I am sure you get the idea! So observe whatever sacred traditions you feel are appropriate and then have your secular fun too, but keep it centered on the love and friendship or kinship you share. That is what I intend to do this year and have for some time, really.

Joy, Love, Peace and Contentment be yours!

Yes You Can-- Fairy Tale Beginnings?

2008-12-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

It will soon be a year since one of the catalytic events happened that finally shoved me off onto this path of change. I had, just out of boredom and curiosity, signed up for some of the on-line and match sites after some four years of widowhood and solitude. Most of it was just dismal. I soon tired of seventy year old super-stud motorcycle dudes who were looking for cute chicks of 30-40. They might send a wink because I was female and as a widow no doubt "hot to trot" but they had no clue who or what I really was. Being past middle age myself none of this seemed very realistic. Some of these guys were too old for me LOL. I had already said I was not looking for gentleman friends in a nursing home! My husband had been thirteen years my senior and I really did not want to lose another special person too soon.

One by one I let the subscriptions lapse until there were only one or two left. Then I got an email from a man who had clearly read my profile, every darn word, and I didn't stint on that. I really got ticked at people who refused to tell you anything but still expect a response. Anyway, a couple of the things this guy said caught my interest and I wrote back. We exchanged the required number of blind emails and then swapped personal email addresses and then phone numbers. The first time he called me, I felt like "OMG, I have known this voice forever." The subtle not-quite drawl and intonation of a native southwesterner were there but also hints of intellect and education, marking not just a cowboy who'd lived on the range all his life yet that trace was there too.

We finally decided to meet in mid-January in a small town midway between where we were each living, at that time both in Arizona. Of course I was nervous but also eager. It was a cold windy and raw day, but that didn't dampen it too much. I pulled up in the parking lot and didn't see anyone standing around and waiting so I walked my dogs--I had taken them along for a bit of chaperonage I think! Then I put them back in the car and started to get out my cell phone and see if he had arrived.

At that moment, I noticed a man standing about four cars away with his back to me and a phone in his hand. I guess my intent gaze reached him for he turned around. We had exchanged photos so I knew the face and at about the same moment he recognized me. I got out and started toward him. "I think I know you," I said. That was so lame but what came out. He smiled and allowed as how perhaps I did. We walked in to the cafe together and sat down at a small table. He ordered coffee and we began to talk.

There was not a second of awkwardness or a feeling of strangers getting acquinted; it was more like friends who had been separated for many years. I was slightly disconcerted by his habit of looking intently into my face as he talked but even that did not really bother me. We knew all sorts of people in common and my dad had known his very slightly years before. We'd woven past each other in various paths of our lives up to that point but never quite been at the same place at the same time. We left the cafe and went down to a cowboy themed museum and walked slowly through looking at pictures of people we knew or at least knew of, talked and in a bit were holding hands like a couple of teenagers. The firm clasp of his work-roughened hand felt so secure and comfortable.

That was the start of an amazing and special friendship that continues to this day and has given me a new lease on life, a sense of purpose and a reason to reinvent some parts of my life. Whether we will ever go beyond this I have no idea. We are both burdened with family(both eldest children with an overstong sense of responsiblity perhaps), property/financial and other issues acquired in three score years of life. He is still working for a few more years, currently some distance away, but the times we spend together are so joyful, so pleasant and so special that I cannot fairly ask for more, if that is all there is to be.

I consider myself rarely blessed in my relationships which included a couple of wonderful friends/mentors/lovers as I documented in Walking Down My Shadows, my autobiography-in-verse book published by Eternal Press www.eternalpress.ca. Then there was my thirty-two year marriage with a man who was my best friend and true partner for that time. And now in the autumn of life I find a new person who completes me in many ways and enriches my life so very much.

So to any of you who are alone out there and maybe not happy about it but fearful of trying again--miracles can happen and there can still be someone out there for you. It comes when you are down and not expecting it, out of the blue because fate or the gods or Some Power decrees it. It might not be a case of getting married and living happily ever after but there are other options which can be very rewarding. Do not be too quick to give up; maybe kissing a few frogs or even horny toads is the price but there are some princes in surprising disguises.

Mine is a neat compact man with piercing blue eyes and a ready smile, a weathered face and strong hands very skilled in a thousand trades and arts, a brilliant mind and a gentle spirit, one whose main fault may be that he is too giving and caring and responsible. By the way my friend has been a "cowboy" and horseman and also a cop. He claims a strong Celtic heritage, mostly Irish. He is also the fourth man named "Jim" to figure significantly in my life, a very odd coincidence--or maybe not one at all. He is also an avid reader and collector, which I fear I am too! Clearly ours was a natural connection! I wish something as special for each of you!

Alone But Not Lonely

2008-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

I think there is a trick to being alone and not lonely. Sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't but more do than don't. Even this holiday was not too bad as I have spent several alone since my husband passed away in 2003 and it becomes something you just hunker down and get through, mostly by staying busy and maybe a few personal little treats. I grew up a rather independent and often solitary child since my parents were rather reclusive and I was the eldest child by eight years. I learned early to amuse myself. I am sure that's at the root of my writing for I was telling myself and my dolls and toys stories from a very early age!

But knowing there is a wonderful circle of friends out there in cyber space really does help. I email with a number of them almost daily, phone off and on, and have a kind of group blog that began as my author newsgroup and took on a life of its own so that the newsletter had to go to a new venue and finally split into two, one for each of my writer personas. So I'm really not alone and my little fur-girl helps a lot too. A warm dog at your feet, by the bedside, and under the table at every meal and snack is certainly company! Aussies are not called 'velcro dogs' for nothing as they do bond very closely with their chosen person and thankfully I seem to be Belle's. At least she knows who fills her dish and accesses the treats!

I know a lot of folks seem to be quite amazed when I tell them how I just up and moved all by myself and have settled into a new area where I knew very few people before I came here. I have to watch out or I could become reclusive myself. I can be happy for hours with just my projects. But I do not want to do that so I have taken steps to get to know some neighbors at least on a casual basis and started going to the bi-monthly meetings of the civic organization called the Hurley Pride Committee. They are a great bunch of folks and not showing the "we gotta get Joe to clean up his yard" and "we gotta get Alice to have her house painted" mentality that some such groups fall into. (Yes, the homeowners associations and self-proclaimed zoning police are among my pet peeves!!) This group really wants to make a difference and they do things like putting out flags on national holidays--and I am talking one at almost every intersection here, not just two or five! They have decorated for the holidays the length of a kind of linear park running down First Street which is divided by a grassed area and a drainage ditch. They held a big Christmas bazaar as a fund raiser the middle of November--which I took part in as a vender with my books and some of the bead jewelry I make and was surprised how well received my offerings and myself proved to be! I will join at the first of the year and try to become an active and supportive member since at least for now this is my home and it may become a long term thing.

So I've passed a long holiday weekend at home in the new house. I could have gone to Arizona but am going this coming weekend so will combine a friend and family visit with a book event organized by my old Sisters in Crime chapter or at least some of its members. That will be Sunday afternoon, December 7 from 12 to 3. If you are in Cochise County, AZ come down to the Torquoise Valley Country Club and stop by!

Yes You Can!!

The New House

2008-11-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

My new little home is quaint and old fashioned. I estimate it was built about 1925-1930 but that is just a guess. It is frame construction with shingle or shake siding and makes me think more of Cape Cod than the southwest. My landlady grew up here and she and her sister still own it--she hates to do much modernizing and wants it to stay as she recalls it. But she lives a few blocks away in the same little town, in a modernized house, after having been away in Texas for many years.

Not long after I moved in, the house was painted. It wound up being quite a job as it had been neglected for a long time. The painter, an itinerant tradesman from California spent most of two weeks scraping and sanding and had a buddy repair the rotten spots in the siding and then he showed me the color scheme. I was like oh my, that is not what I would have chosen but I had to admit when it was all done that it looked very nice. The walls are a pinkish tan and the trim is in sage and dark green. He said such mixtures were all the rage in California. Well, whatever!

The only room I would change if I were going to buy the house and live here permanently is the kitchen. It is old fashioned and inconvenient and just a little too small to be a real eat-in room but too large to be handy. But since I am alone and do not cook a great deal, I can live with it! The bathroom has an old claw foot tub with a ring suspended overhead for a shower curtain and the shower head on a pipe rising from the end of the tub. That is kind of neat though except if I get shaky or lose strength in my legs, climbing in and out could be a problem. It is not disabled friendly at all. But since I do not plan to live here into my dotage I think I can cope!

Inside there is a big L shaped living and dining area which is the heart of my home, where visitors can sit and where I work on my art and craft projects etc. There are two bedrooms and a small room off the living room that might have been a den and it is just right for my office! There are French doors and a wall of nice windows on the south end. It's big enough for my bookcases--or some of them, and file cabinets, computer desk and table for the peripherals etc. I've got some cork titles and white boards to post reminders and pictures and other neat stuff and room for two of my favorite calendars, one with hunky cowboys and one with my beloved Aussie doggies. It's not possible to do a lot of feng shui here because there are only a few ways my furniture will fit but I'm not too worried about that right now. I do use a few tricks and they seem to be working!

And yes, there is a new Deirdre story I've just started about a woman who moves to a new place and the hunky painter and his helper who catch her eye! The working title is Painting a New Scene. I think my heroine will be an artist as well as a young widow. You didn't think I would fail to respond to such an inspiration, did you? The actual painter was not exactly a hunk although he and I did have some interesting conversations; he wasn't "my type" and I only do one man at a time; always have and always will!! My friend the Celt cowboy electrician is quite enough for me.

Before I moved in I did some painting myself. The office room was very strange! I called it The Barney Room. Two walls were deep forest green, two bright kelly green and the trim was royal purple!! There was no way in Hades I could work in that so I redid it in a soft aqua with white trim and it is very peaceful but inspiring, making me think of summer skies and a few clouds.
The bedroom I chose to use was The Army Room for it was a muddy kind of olive-khaki brown shade and I redid it in a peach hue which matched some curtains I had in the living room of my old Arizona home and cut down to fit. The rest of the house was fine--living room a very soft creamy yellow, the guest bedroom two shades of blue and the kitchen and bath white. Another improvement was adding a storm door to the kitchen door instead of the full length screen door. The one I got has a built in doggie door and Belle is happy with that. My brother helped me put it in when he was here in October.

I helped him move in 2005 when he got divorced and he said he owed me some help. He wasn't able to come down when my sons helped with the big move but he did help me get the last truck load, cleaning out the garage and shed back at Whetstone, my old home. Just after that the promised re-roofing of the one car garage and attached lean-to shed was done so now my stuff is stored sheltered and dry. So I am now all moved in and feeling at home. There were a couple of times I got super home-sick and thought, "Oh no, I want to go home." But now this is home and Belle and I are comfy here.

The neighbors are mostly very nice and I am starting to get involved in the community and meet more people. I've been attending the "Hurley Pride Committee" meetings and will join at the first of the next year and took a table at the Christmas Bazaar on the 8th of November and let the town know I am a writer and also do jewelry and crafts. Belle and I walk all over town without any fear and the crime level is very low--a bit of "tagging" by some kids who think they wanna be gang members and that is about it.

Yes You Can Part 3 --why here?

2008-11-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

So how did I choose a small town in New Mexico for my new home? Ah, that is a story in itself. It has roots in my early years which were spent in Jerome and Clarkdale in Arizona, a mining town on the mountain side and its smelter town in the valley, both 'company towns' established by Phelps Dodge, one of the major copper producers of the twentieth century. The Jerome mines were closed in the early 1950s when the end of World War II cut back the demand for copper and the easiest body of rich ore had been pretty well mined out. Most of the 'company houses' in Jerome were either moved away--imagine lifting a 800-1000 sq ft house onto a long flat trailer and making a way with it down off the steep hills via sharp-curved roads! What an adventure. Some functions went on at Clarkdale for awhile but other companies took over the town and there was a new industry in the form of a cement plant that produced most of the material for the Glenn Canyon Dam during the sixties. Eventually those houses were sold into private ownership and the whole area became a popular retirement region and other activities went on but this was after I had grown up and my family and I had both left.

Well, Phelps Dodge had other mines and towns in both Arizona and New Mexico. Chino mine above Bayard and the Tyrone mines both enjoyed some resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s and Hurley was the smelter town for Chino. Again the mines slowed down and Phelps Dodge was acquired totally by a mega-corporation called Freeport McMoRan about two years ago. Like Clarkdale, the houses in Hurley were sold and most were remodeled, added to, and changed so only a bit of their original character remains.

After my husband passed away, I began to feel a need to find a new home, a place not jammed with wall-to-wall memories that were precious but also pinning me like a butterfly to the net of the past. It was time to make a new start but doing this was hard. I went back up to the Verde Valley twice and looked around, picked up real estate booklets and decided I could not afford what I wanted. I looked at other areas in Arizona too but never could quite say, "Yes, this is the place!"

Then as I mentioned in my first of this series of blogs, I met a gentleman --via the internet of course--and we started a tentative relationship. We both had families and a lot of baggage but the attraction was very positive and from the very first we were not strangers but more like friends who had been separated for a long, long time. For the time being we agreed to just be good friends and that may not change; only time will tell. When we met he was working at a new mine in Safford, AZ -- another Phelps Dodge property acquired by Freeport. He wasn't happy with the situation and ultimately took another job, many miles farther from my southeastern Arizona home in Carlsbad, NM. One of his many trades is electrical engineer and also industrial electrician and it is usually not hard to find work with those specialized skills but the jobs are usually very demanding. He was a New Mexico native and after living in many places and doing many things had come back and settled in Grant County where he has worked in law enforcement and also in the mining industry.

Back in the 1960s and 70s when I was off in college and then married, my parents and two younger brothers had lived in this area two different times, once out in a rural area east of here called Mimbres and/or San Lorenzo (Mimbres I think means Walnut in Spanish) and later in Arenas Valley which is between Silver City--called merely Silver by the locals--and the "mining district" which includes Bayard, Hurley etc. so I had been in and out of the area a few times and found in pleasant enough. Last May, having a vague notion this might be a place to try, I came over for a scouting trip and looked around. Hurley reminded me of Clarkdale and Silver of Prescott, which was the county seat of Yavapai County in central Arizona. I knew I could not buy until I sold my home and the one my youngest brother had left but they were then on the market and I,being an incurable optimist, figured they'd go quickly. Oooops. NOT!!

But still hoping, late in July I was looking at properties on various listings and decided to look at rentals. That might be a good way to learn the area and later decide where I wanted to put down new roots, a kind of trial run situation. Ah ha, there was this little house in Hurley, where pets were allowed and at a price I knew I could handle. It was also right off the highway my friend drives when he comes up to check on his property where some of his grown kids sometimes live and see his two younger kids, products of a late marriage that did not work out. I went out on a very long limb and filled out the rental application and then signed a lease--still with a mortgage to pay and.... Yes, I did have some near sleepless nights wondering if I had bitten of way more than I could chew! But that was when the dog chain thing happened!! If there was ever an omen I was on the right track, the way it all came together was just that.

Late in August, my two step sons voluntarily took off work and helped me move. We rented a big 26' U-Haul truck and crammed it to the roof--and that did not include a bunch of things I left in the garage and a shed but the house was empty so the young couple I leased to could move in. I was very proud of 'my' boys--hardly boys now at 48 and 56--but I deeply appreciated their willingness to help their 'wicked step mom' to a degree many natural born kids are reluctant to do. They are a fine pair of men and I love them dearly and can never sufficiently repay their support. Anyway we got the bulk of my household goods here and I began to try to get settled in.

To be continued!

Yes You Can Part 2

2008-11-23T17:35:00.000-08:00

I started to think seriously about selling my home in Arizona and moving in February 2008 and discussed this with my brother when he came by for a short visit the end of that month. We also jointly own a home in Sierra Vista, AZ that belonged to our younger brother who died suddenly of an aneurism in September 2005. We have been renting it for the mortage payments but thought we'd try to sell it also.

I went to work doing some sprucing up of my home to include painting dirty and stained ceilings and laying vinyl tile on the floors from which I had pulled out the carpet a year or two earlier to ease allergy problems and a tick infestation. Down in the mild climate of the border regions, various creepy critters can be a real problem. My dogs got ticks and soon they were everywhere! Anyway, it took me some time to do all that work. Meanwhile for about the third time since my husband's death I went through a lot of things for what to keep and what to get rid of, being much more ruthless than I ever had before. Between eBay, yard sales and a wonderful bunch of yahoo groups affiliated with Freecycle, many things went away. So far there have only been one or two I very mildly regretted. Most of them I never miss!! A few I do not even recall, so it can be done. I still had way too much but that helped.

Unfortunately, my timing was lousy. My houses went on the market just at the point the big real estate boom decided to bust. That was a very discouraging time but I clung to home through the late spring and summer, took my brother's house off the rental market for three months and lived with my fingers crossed. I was getting antsy to move but nothing was working out.

Just when I was near giving up, although I had found a little house to rent in New Mexico a few miles outside of Silver City in the "mining district", some events occurred which restored my faith in karma and serendipity. On Freecycle I saw a notice of some people in need of dog chains. Now I do not hold with chaining dogs for any lengthy period but they had no fenced yard and sometimes had to leave their dogs out while they were away and I arranged to meet them and make the exchange. They were living in a remote little village and she was about to begin a new job, her first teaching job in Special Education, and would have to commute over 100 miles a day. I said I had a houes for sale but they knew they could not possibly buy at this time. However almost as soon as they and I got home, she emailed and asked if I would consider renting or leasing.... And I did. They are happy in my former home--with dogs inside a fenced yard--and I was able to go ahead and move. My brother's former home is again rented and I plan to just ride things out for awhile and maybe the real estate situation will improve in time.

So again my faith that what is meant to happen will, one way or another, was restored and validated once again. I am here and after some adjustments have settled in and really feel at home now!

A New Start--Yes You Can!!

2008-11-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Life has a way of throwing surprises at us, mostly when we least expect it and sometimes when we are least able to call for a fair catch and run with it!

That's what has happened to me. 2007 just dragged by in a blur; I sank into a deep depression and struggled with that for most of the year. I guess it was a kind of delayed reaction to the deaths of my husband and brother and a raft of generfally minor mundane problems that descended on me in flocks which I had to deal with mostly by myself. It was a difficult time.

Then 2008 came along. First, I found myself suddenly in a new relationship. Next, I made up my mind to sell my old home and relocate, something I had toyed with since about a year after my husband's passing, but never quite got up the courage to just do it. I had looked but so many places were just not quite right. Then things began to come together as if a higher presence had planned it. Who knows? Maybe that is the way of it.

Once the ball was rolling there was no stopping it. I threw myself into this project with enthusiasm and now, with the end of this tumultous year closing in fast, I am sitting in a new home. I just talked to my SO on the phone since he is working some 300 plus miles away, and feeling amazement how all of this has happened in about ten months! And recognizing that a lot of it was because I made it happen! To me it is proof positive that if you want to do something badly enough to throw yourself into it 110% and give it your all, hold tight to the faith that it will work, and refuse to accept road blocks but accept alternative routes when they seem to be the only way--to paraphrase the winning slogan for the political year, Yes You Can!!

That's the quick and dirty! More details tomorrow on how this writer says 'what if' and then takes charge of her own story. My new hero is another Celt who has been a cowboy and a cop and also a Military man. And I have moved from Southeastern Arizona "twenty miles west of Tombstone" to a quaint little town in Southeastern New Mexico, only about 150 miles in actual distance and still in the 'desert' more or less but subtly different. Look for some tales set in this area soon; I am absorbing it right now.

Gwynn-Deirdre

Why Celts and Cowboys?

2006-02-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

The title of my blog reflects my two fav kinds of romantic heros. I was lucky enough to find a guy who was both--a Scot and a westerner! So from now on every hero in one of my stories has some attribute of my personal hero and the qualities that make the Scots, Irish and Welsh guys and also cowboys so popular with romance readers. They are rugged individualists, generally the Alpha type males but tempered with some tenderness and sentiment that they try to keep well hidden but it has a way of sneaking out now and then!

I may not post all the time but will try to keep up to date with the latest developments in the writings of Deirdre O'Dare and Gwynn Morgan. They write much the same but Deirdre's stories are a bit more explicit and sexy than Gwynns. However, you will find celts and cowboys in all of them and usually settings either in the southwest or some imaginary realm created just to convey a particular story in the most suitable setting.