Snapshots: A New Mexican Church

A. has been working on and off on a big masonry job down the hill. On the very last day he was there with two of the boys, the van wouldn't start when they were ready to leave, so I had to go down there and pick them up. 

It's a very cool ranch in a beautiful location.

The van needed a new starter. We were very grateful that it broke down where it did, because it could just be left there rather than having to be towed. A. was able to go to town the very next day, stop at the ranch where the van still was, put the new starter in, and ta da! Fixed van.

Poppy made sure the refrigerator was appropriately decorated for the Fourth of July.

And another child contributed one of his small flags for the middle of the table.

The dark red asiatic lily isn't my favorite color of lily, but it was certainly appropriate for the day.

We had a lot of watermelon still on hand on the Fourth, so I de-seeded some of it, cut it into chunks to freeze, and used it to make an adult slushie with vodka and lemon juice. I was actually not a huge fan of this--too sweet--but it was definitely the right color.

Well, maybe a little more pink than red, but at least close to the right color.

We have several far-flung historic mission churches in our area that no longer have a congregation large enough to justify a weekly Mass, but our priest does travel to them to celebrate Saturday Mass once a month. These are beautiful churches, and I'm very glad they're still maintained.

We used to sometimes go to one that's about forty minutes from our house, but we haven't been in about three years. Poppy didn't remember the church and asked if we could go. So I took her to Mass at the mission church yesterday.

One of the more striking things about this church is that it's in the remnants of a village, itself isolated, but behind the church there is nothing but rangeland. It makes me feel that the church is an island on a sea of grass.

The interior is also quite striking.

I always wonder who did the paintings in these churches. Did they hire professionals when the churches were built? Or was there a very talented local? Probably the former, because almost every church here has incredible decorative painting.

The family that takes care of this church also serves at the Mass. The mother and two teenage daughters are the choir. They truly have lovely voices, and they sing all the parts of the Mass that can be sung, mostly in Latin. Their harmony really sounds angelic, and I love listening to them. This church has a choir loft in the upper back, so we can't see them, only hear them. It's one of my favorite parts of going there, because while we do sing at our church, we don't have a choir or any trained singers like that.

And last, while we were below the hill, Poppy and I stopped to gather some of the below-the-hill wildflowers growing in profusion on the roadside. There are just a few sunflowers that have started blooming up here, but down there, they're in full bloom. There were also some smaller yellow flowers, and some kind of thistle-looking flower (but without the spiky plant) that is purple before opening, and then is a fluffy white with a purple fringe when it opens out fully.

I also added some ornamental sage and grass heads.

I'll bring that arrangement to our church for the altar today. I have to have taller arrangements for that because the altar is so big and the people are kind of far away from it, so anything small is just kind of lost. And yes, Poppy and I will be going to church again. It's a mayordoma month for me.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.