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Hi Jazzy - yes of course I know Dianne Reeves. I have tickets for the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and for the grand opera's production of "Porgy & Bess". No jazz this fall.

Also I'm familiar with Ruidoso. Very sad.

I lived in Albuquerque where my son was born. My brother in law worked at Los Alamos and now lives in Espanola. One of my BFF's now lives in Bernallilo. A dear friend & her husband retired in Santa Fe and my nephew went to college at New Mexico State. So yes, I try to keep track of what's going on in NM.

Wishing you the best in your transition to "end of project" and whatever comes next.

Good morning, friends!

It's a crazy time now 10 days out from the hospital opening and a lot going on. That being said I have been trying to enjoy my favorite time of the year with buying mums and planting them in the gardens and in pots, putting little decorative pumpkins everywhere, etc. Sept is my favorite month here and been enjoying some weekend get aways to detach from all chaos. I am looking forward to getting on the other side of this change and then working to evaluate my readiness to retire the beginning of 2026.

As part of the Sept fun, I went to Ruidoso with a couple of friends a few weekends ago. This area is a resort town very popular with TX but has had a series of bad wildfires for years down there. I had not been since I worked for another organization here who has a hospital there and did a project in 2009. So many burns and some very fresh scars from two fires last year. You might hear about the flooding we have had here and that is the location it's been happening. I saw the aftermath, and nothing looks started for clean up (just happened a few months ago) but many things boarded up. We did our best to put some money into the local economy but just felt like Ruidoso is a posterchild for climate change. I also noticed half of the unburned forests there have dead trees and that is related to our heavy drought here this past year. We are one of many having challenges with fires and floods these days.

This past weekend I did a little short weekend trip to Santa Fe to see one of my favorite jazz vocalists, Dianne Reeves. Some of you may know her (I expect MinusTwo does) and been a fan since the early 1990s. I have seen her once before here during an earlier NM Jazz Festival but this time was just the best. Great band. Sounds like they are going on the road again soon for a longer tour and if you love jazz, this will be one to not miss! Enjoyed some good eats and shopping up there too.

Balloon fiesta starts too (the weekend we open, eek) and not sure what the schedule is for us or if I will get to sit on my patio (or both). The traffic is more now with out of state visitors as there are lots of cars with those other place license plates around. This is the time of the year to stay out of restaurants, popular places like Old Town, etc. with the influx of people. Many millions are made during the 10 day run in a state that depends a lot on tourism! I am not going to the field (all things considered) but they will be flying around my house too and therefore, you will get pictures!

Read up on what I could and just want to say hello to all of you and wishing you a good start to autumn and all that goes with that. Best time of the year!