Well, I guess I’m different now. Look at what happened in the wee hours of the morning. And you know what? I don’t like it! Usually the first snowfall of the season is a time of breathless excitement and wonder. How very odd that I have no such feelings today. Maybe later, when the sun comes out and I can see the mountains, but for now, bleah.
Okay, we WON’T go to Santa Fe today
We’ve been in what they call the “la niña” weather pattern for quite a spell, much warmer and drier than usual. Between 20-30 degrees above normal, in fact. Let me tell you, if you live in a cold place — and northern New Mexico is much colder than more Americans realize — you can get used to 30 degrees above normal in a hurry. I already did. So to jump all of a sudden to “normal” is a little disorienting, to say the least. We don’t even have all of our winter clothes here from the storage unit. We’re on our way to up to 10 inches of this stuff today. Interestingly, I’m not excited at all. In fact, I wish it would go away.
I was looking forward to a nice trip to Santa Fe, too. Bah. (“No shopping for YOU!”)
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Remember how in Abilene the first snowfall of the year (and some years there was only one of them in total) produced an utter delirium of snow-ball fights, snow ice-cream confections and a scooping up of the precious stuff for preservation in deep freezes? –I reckon that what’s rare is prized, what’s common despised. Or maybe being a kid means that you don’t think much about the trials and tribulations of dealing with the practical side of things – you just experience the joy of this crazy phenomenon of a blanket of freaky white stuff where before there was dust, rocks and crud. I still remember those epic snowball fights which occurred in the inner courtyard of old South Jr. High until the combatants were dispersed by the teachers (usually on account of somebody’s missile flying through an open window and exploding on a desk). That old school no longer exists, by the way, at least as an educational institution.
What did they do to the old building? Haven’t been back to Abilene since ’62!
Yes, I remember all that very well. Doesn’t happen here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single snowball thrown at anyone.
I went back to Abilene fairly regularly over the years, because my father continued year after year to live there. Since he died two years ago, I may never go again. The jr. high building still stands at the same place on South 11th and Jeannette. The surrounding neighborhood has become very decrepit. Anybody with dough has moved from it. “The Metro” went out of business and was demolished a couple of decades ago when the two old maid sisters who ran the place died. (They claimed they still remembered me when I took my wife to the movies there in the late 70′s.) “The Dixie Pig” still slings its hash at So. 11th and Butternut, and still has the same logo (the prancing pig with the delicately balanced plate on one of its trotters) and, so far as I can tell, the original cast-iron weighing machine still stands in the little circular lobby where you get to weigh yourself for a penny (the purchasing power of that penny remains unimpaired) while you’re standing in line for chow. Admittedly the lines aren’t very long these days – the place used to be Abilene’s finest dining experience, but no one would go there now for anything except the chicken fried steak. Oh, and the old school building – it now houses day care programs, head start and the like. The soul of Roger Bauerfeind probably still haunts the place.