The sharp sound of the alarm broke the silence in the dark. Is it really time to leave? I would love to have had more time in Alamogordo NM with my friends but it was a flying visit, just 3 full days.

We needed to fit in all of our favorite things in such a short time, all the familiar things we love.

Breakfast at the small country cafe, where the locals gather daily, they sit at the same table each day with a familiarity of friendship and custom. The food is wholesome and I have to say, typical country. Eggs over easy, home made hash browns, smoky bacon cooked to a delightful crispness, and then there is the range of chilli sauces and bell peppers along with biscuits and gravy. Add to that lashings of hot coffee, refilled as soon as the brown liquid lowers in the cup. The servers are there year after year and get excited that you have returned and the feeling is mutual I can assure you. It all costs about $9.00 and at home my Saturday breakfast with friends and family costs three times that much.. but we do the same, eat at the same restaurant, we’re familiar with the owners and we are the Saturday morning regulars. It’s been that way for years.

I have interviews on the radio scheduled for the early morning shows and now after years of hour long conversations the patter is familiar and warm.

A visit the local antique mall for a dose of bargain excitement. There are always textiles to handle, their pasts are on sale to anyone who chooses them, and I’ve chosen many.

I love to visit Walmart. Its a tradition. I think we did four in three days this time, but an unusual situation arose. The computers went down turning the entire place into turmoil. No purchases could be made and assistants were walking the aisles giving people water! It reminded me of a disaster situation I found myself in when a bushfire cut off our return home and we were stranded with thousands of people with no food, water or warm clothes. I believe the computers were up a few hours later, we, had flown by then leaving our purchases to be returned to the shelf with a promise to return and buy later.

A meeting and dinner with friends is always on the cards at our favorite Asian Restaurant, an anomaly in a border town but appreciated by this lady.

Then there is the traditional hair cut. Twelve weeks travel so far and my short hair has been treated quite badly through no fault of my own. The young man from Beirut in the hotel salon in Dubai confessed after my hair had been chomped that he had been in Dubai just a few weeks. ” Did you train in Beirut” I asked. “No’ was the reply… but I’m not too sure where he received his ability to destroy a head of hair in a most interesting way.
Still the very loud music and his dance prowess during the process was rather amusing and at least I had an interesting experience. His partner, the receptionist had the appearance of an Egyptian Movie star and I felt that she possibly felt the salon was there for her daily beautification because she was receiving different treatments each time I visited, I think it was three times to correct the holes cut with the clippers…
Once again I figure it was an adventure of sorts and of course the hair grows.

Friend Eiko is the hairdresser as well as a fine friend. “I just need a good cut” I told her and so the haircut was done. After saying goodbye to my friends at the restaurant last night, my hairdresser Eiko looked at my hair in the evening light and said, “No, that’s not good enough, you need a tint too” (She cut my hair this morning)
Really at 7.30 pm?
So off to the studio, a long chat and the color put in place. Wrapped up with my hair standing on end we drove home laughing.
“25 mins wash it off” says Eiko. So I set the timer on the watch and got home just in time.
“Comb it through for five minutes” said Eiko.
Gees I never have a comb but I do on this occasion, I got it in my gift baggie from Emirates.
Everything is packed for a 5.30 am start, I can’t find it….. so in desperation I used my ‘spork’ my traveling fork.
It worked a treat.
So with a spork and tinted grey hairs I’m a new woman.

My trip was short, but full of happiness because we are  about to commit to yet another event in the name of quilting.

It’s all in preparation for the Southern New Mexico Festival of Quilts at the end of June. My pay it forward event. Stay tuned.

We’ve raised around $70.000 for the young people of the district over the past 7 years. May it continue.