Ruidoso resides at 7000 feet, ponderosa-forest cool.
Billowy gray cloud kachinas powwow
above Alamagordo and White Sands.
With my Arizona cousins, I eat
burgers, dogs, potato salad and
something with too much cream-cheese.
After 30 years and three days,
I make friends with the young ones.
The “young ones,” sons of my cousin Susie and her husband Watson, are now parents and grandparents! That’s Greg (above and below), in the red shirt, in charge of grilling. He’s an EMT and a firefighter. He likes his Hatch chilies hot — too hot for me.
That’s Gary, a nurse, whose hobby is buying treasures at garage sales and selling them on Ebay. He knows his stuff.
Betty and her husband bought the land and built their summer cabin next to the Rio Ruidoso River many years ago. Later they built guest cabins and named the property The Riverdeck. Three cabins are rentable year-round to guests.
My first cousin Susie and her husband Watson have known Betty (now widowed) since they were young and lived in Germany while in the military.
Susie, Watson and Betty are on the porch of Betty’s house (above). Greg and his wife Vicki are in the lawn chairs, while Jim stands beside them obscuring Gary. The “kids” bunked in Betty’s house. Susie and Watson stayed out of town in their RV trailer while Jim and I rented the little gray cabin that we are fond of.
Jim and I have rendezvoused with Susie and Watson here on three occasions. It’s been a family reunion destination for us. This time was special because the “kids” (now in their 50s) managed to pull strings to get vacation days and drive from Phoenix to visit with me and Jim–and Betty’s kids. Now that we know them better, we look forward to seeing them in Buena Vista–hopefully in the not too distant future.
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