Chiliheads and assorted Rednecks

For those of you who don't know...meaning people who just moved to the Lone Star State.  Terlingua is the home of the World Championship Chili Cookoff.  I mean the real deal.  I don't know if any of you have ever been but it might be worth a look.  You might want to hurry.  The old chili heads are dying off at a furious pace.  The Cookoff ain't what it used to be.  The old guard isn't making way for the new guard.  They are just getting planted instead.  Even the wet tee shirt contest is changing forever since the passing of the perennial  Champion  80 year old Betty.  They just don't make them like that anymore.  It's not the mace's day parade but the Rednecks do the best they can.  Come early stay late but don't expect to be able to sample any chili.  Just won't happen.  This chili stuff is some serious biz to most of these folks.  They don't let you sample because I guess they don't want you to hide a glob between your cheek and gums and take it back for analysis.  A World Championship Chili Cookoff with no chili to taste.....only in Terlingua.

Dios de los Muertos Terlingua Style

Day of the Dead in Terlingua is truly a time of celebration.  It seems that anyone who has been here for awhile knows someone hanging out in the Ghost Town Cemetery.  It was an evening of remembering...drinking...a little music...and candles.  I have to admit it...I thought about what I would want my plot to look like and how I would want folks to hang around on it.  It makes you think about what you really should be doing before you get there........Adios mis amigos.

My spooky Morning.

Every once in awhile you are privileged to be a part of something so much better than anything you have been before.  Hope, love, attention and a very loud siren make a day to remember.  Funny part is the remembering is for me not them.  It’s never too late.. And you can only please one princess at a time.....really.

RIP

RIP my good friend and safe haven.  The other night the Villa Hilla disappeared in a blaze of glory.  Well maybe not glory.  A fire tragically took it to cabin heaven along with many other structures on the Mountain in Canton.  I didn't own it at the time but it still was a place of some fond memories.  It was a refuge from the hustle and bustle of Denver and ended up as a hideout after I left that unhappy corporate world.  It was love at first sight really.  We hit it off perfectly and many people touched it in their own ways.  So, adios my good friend.  As Gus would say, "My God Villa, it was a hell of a party."  

Symphony of Light

It doesn't happen much out in the desert but when it does it's spectacular.  This storm rolled by last night and before you knew it....it was gone.  I was lucky to have seen a part of it.  The lessons are everywhere if you open up your mind to take them in...  This one,  Lesson #287B  "It's sometimes beautiful to burn bright and then let the universe move you on".

A Day at School

Wow.  Back in school after a few years and to think it was in a church and taught by a pastor.  Now most folks would think....hum....spiritual healing?  Community service? Maybe even some evangelical  fundraising type stuff.  While I am respectful and am appreciative of those noble endeavors, those of you who would know me would be a tad confused.  Let me just say..... No.

Today's vocab?  OFC, OFW, CHEMTAN, GTAW, SMAW, MCAW.   Yep.  I'm in Welding school at the Baptist Church in Terlingua.  I wish Wildwood had done this years ago.  I might have made the Baptist side of things... Well that and KP would have been all I needed.   So, tonight I'm doing my homework and preparing for my next class.

My project?  I'm going to build a ship that will carry me and anyone who wants to go on a "Slow dance around the World."  Anyone care to dance?  

Chameleon Moon

There is something mystical this before and after photo. The blood moon in costume and the next night in casual attire.  No photo retouching.  No losing 89 pounds in 2 weeks or growing back your hair with chipmunk salvia.  This before and after is the real deal and one for the ages.  Thanks to the deep dark desert skies for making this one possible.  Viva Terlingua.