I’d been looking forward to visiting my Aunt Joyce and her partner Beth since we left Kansas City for a few reasons. First, I don’t get to see Joyce very often. Second, Joyce and I both got the recessive “Yoxall Dry Humor” gene. Even though I don’t see her very often, I always feel comfortable, and I know there will be laughs. Third, Joyce and Beth play and sing amazingly together and I knew we’d hear some great music. Fourth, Joyce and Beth live on an an honest to goodness farm in New Mexico, and I just knew the kids would love visiting.
Originally I told Joyce to look for us in early/mid October. That was a bit ambitious, as we arrived on December 6th. This was less than idea for Beth as she was in the throws of her peak season for selling Bee’s Wax Candles, handmade soaps, ornaments etc. We arrived on Friday, and she had open houses Fri/Sat/Sun. Joyce assured us we were welcome anytime, and could assimilate. Assimilate we did! After the first night, I felt like we were one big family.
Friday night, we had agreed to go out for Tex-Mex, but when we arrived at SparrowHawk Farms, Joyce had enchiladas in the oven. We got reacquainted, and got to explore the house. It’s a really cozy adobe house, arranged as a series of connected hexagons. The front room was set up as the shop, and smelled amazing. The next room over was the work and inventory room. This is where the wax is filtered and prepared, where the candles etc are made, and where the products are organized on shelves for restocking the store. The next room over is the Kitchen, then from there, the rooms fork with the music (and pinpong) room, then Emily’s (Beth’s daughter) bedroom on one side, and the “winter family room” (with the wood stove), and a couple of other bedrooms on the other. It’s a very inviting, cozy, comfortable home.
Within 5 minutes of being there, Beth had the kids setup in the family room with crafts and games. She was born to entertain kids I think. The kids had the time of their lives. On Sunday as our visit was wrapping up, Kane suggested that we henceforth plan to visit Joyce and Beth “every year on spring break”! We had a nice dinner, visited for awhile, and returned to the RV. We had considered boon-docking at the farm, but the driveway is way too narrow. The RV park (and Horse Hotel) 10 miles south of them in Bernardo was great though and a good value.
On Saturday, we tried to stay out of Beth’s hair in the morning, so she could prepare for her open house, had breakfast at the RV, and went over at about 10:00. It was a pretty low-key day, we hung out with Joyce while Beth worked. We got to watch Joyce cook authentic red chile with pork and papas fritas for lunch. Kim helped out making carrot cake with honey. After the open house started, Joyce and Kim took turns hosting guests in the kitchen for mulled cider and carrot cake. As you might imagine, Beth and Joyce have some interesting friends/neighbors! I had a nice time chatting with some of them as well. Saturday night, we were able to convince them to go to Petes for Tex-Mex. I’m glad we followed them, as I’m not sure I could have found Pete’s on my own, but boy it was delicious. Everybody was pretty tired after dinner, so we turned in.
On Sunday, Kim was wanting to go to Whole Foods for vitamins and Trader Joes, so she headed north to Albuquerque to do some shopping. So she dropped us off at the farm and headed north for the afternoon. The kids and I hung out, they made some ornaments, I helped with a couple of computer issues, and also got to help with hosting guests during the open house. It was a great laid back day at the farm. I got a chance to get a tour of the garden from Beth, and a tour of the rest of the Farm from Joyce. There is a real appeal to me for the farm lifestyle there. If only I had the skill and expertise to do anything that they do!
