Update from Nancy: Las Vegas and Longmont

Dear blog readers:  Last weekend I traveled to Las Vegas, NM to visit friends.  I stayed with Phyllis Ludi and we had a lot of time for in depth conversations and dog walks.  On Sunday morning, I visited First Presbyterian, where I saw many friends from our days there before moving to Honduras  (Chad, Judy Long, the Litherlands, Gordy, Carol Linder and Katie, the Manns, etc.).  But the big surprise to me was to find my niece Diane there!   She didn't know I was in LV and I hadn't thought about seeing her either!  She is staying there to keep Bob company while he recuperates from his stroke in April.  Their daughter Lyla has gone back to Texas for school.  On Tuesday, I borrowed Phyllis' car and took Diane and Bob for a ride--up the Mineral Hill road far enough to see Hermit's Peak and then north of town to Storrie Pond  (formerly Storrie Lake).   The drought persists, although (happily) it rained every day I was there!  The city has worked on an improved catchment system to fill up their reservoir whenever they do get rain.  Bob had not been out of the hospital/nursing home since his stroke, so he enjoyed the outing.
      In addition to the aforementioned church friends, I saw Robin, Les, Cordia, Diane and the Martinezes.  Diane is building some marimbas for Janine to use in her music teaching.   Very interesting to see.  Ray Litherland gave me a tour of the new (old, recently remodeled) bank building, introducing me to everyone as "our Honduran loan customer"!  That evening, I watched a video presentation shown outdoors, with various Las Vegas historical characters appearing in the second story windows of the building, each telling a story, then fading away as another character appeared in another window. 

      I rode the Amtrak from LV to Raton on my return to Colo.   From the train we spotted several herds of antelope and several of elk, some of them quite close to the train, with their big antlers and muscular bodies in motion.  Also, some passengers saw wild turkeys and a bear  (I missed those, though I saw the turkeys from the car on the way to LV).

      I spent the night with Larry and Deepa in Colo. Springs and then continued on my bus route to Longmont.   Deepa again served up a feast cooked in their "green egg" with many of the ingredients from their own garden. 

       Back in Longmont, I have had several interesting experiences (not counting the gas leak problems at 609 Bross!).  There is a bagpipe band that practices in the basement of First Presbyterian Church twice a week.   I have been able to sit in on a couple of their rehearsals.  It's quite a thrill, being in a relatively small space with 10 bagpipes and 5 drums playing!  I will ask them for a photo, if possible.

Last night was the annual Festival on Main street fair.  Main Street was closed off for four blocks.  Various business and civic organizations work together to sponsor this multi-faceted family oriented fun evening.  There were several stages, one with a couple of bands performing.   There was a presentation of 10 entries into a competition for kinetic sculptures, or so they are called.  Actually, they are totally crazy vehicles which need to be land mobile as well as water worthy, as the second part is today at a nearby lake.  They were judged on engineering, costumes, etc.   A couple of them were the Nurse Sharks and the Nascargots  (snail costumed folks who walked in slow motion to convey their snail-ness). 

    In addition, there were multi-cultural dancers, my favorite being the Chinese lion dancers (like the oft-pictured dragons, but with only two people in a much shorter but exceedingly beautiful costume).   it took so much energy to do this dance, that the people under the heads (there were 2) had to keep trading places with replacement dancers.  Accompanied by drum and cymbals, they processed for blocks, delighting young and old alike. 
    There was also a big bungee cord area, rock climbing, hula hoops, chalk on street painting, bubble machines, a fantastic juggler, acrobats, fire juggling, cotton candy, snow cones (free), lots of food booths, a 9-foot tall clown, and a display of cars by the ColoRODans that Corita wrote about a month ago. 

    Today I will go with Mary, my sister-in-law, on a tour of an old mansion that is used as senior hous  it has recently been renovated, hence the tours. 

      All for now from  Nancy.