The beauty of Las Vegas, New Mexico captured, looks like a fabulous group to be a part of. I happened on the site by accident and found some amazing photos – new and old – of my favorite town, and the place where I live.
I am inclined to wax – if not poetic – at least positive about this quaint and sometimes perplexing little city in Northern New Mexico. I’ve been here most of the last 40 years and been involved in community in one way or another much of that time. Despite being in a downward population trend, I still believe Las Vegas and San Miguel County have the potential for prosperity for all, and planned growth that will enhance opportunity.
The beauty of Las Vegas, New Mexico captured, reminds us of what an intriguing and beautiful town this is. Thanks to whoever got it started and to all of the people who post on it regularly.
The photo here does not appear on the site, but it is a Las Vegas, NM photo taken in early fall 2014 by me.
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Congratulations to Dr. David Elliott, who has been named Alta Vista Regional Hospital Physician of the Year for 2015. I can’t think of a more deserving person for this award.
CEO Chris Wolf made the announcement at the hospital’s June medical staff meeting.
Dr. Elliott has been a member of the AVRH medical staff since 1978 and is well known and respected at the hospital and in the community. He serves on the AVRH Board of Trustees, Medical Executive Committee and is the AVRH Physician Advisor.
Hospital employees were asked to nominate a physician they thought best met criteria that demonstrates compassionate patient and family care, recognizes all health care disciplines as partners in care, treats employees with respect and dignity, helps educate and develop patient care providers, recognizes and supports team efforts within the patient care setting, and actively participates in community events/opportunities.
According to the nominations that were submitted, “Dr. Elliott’s ability to hear the needs of others, coupled with extensive knowledge, provides an insightful approach to problem solving. He takes excellent care of patients and their families; Dr. Elliott works with and respects all aspects of the health care team.”
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“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” John 3:16-18, from The Message
I am not a theologian. I am a believer. I don’t know what God thinks about the world as it is today, but I do know what I believe. I believe God loves everyone who calls upon his name. Everyone. I believe he looks at the heart not at the head, or the gender, or the ethnicity, or the sexual orientation of those he loves. I believe when God gave his only begotten son to die for the sins of all, he made no exception about which believers are covered by the gift of grace. I believe that my loving understanding of a just God accepts that he is Supreme and I am not. I believe when we are so busy finding reasons to judge and criticize, we miss out on life. Believe Out Loud gives an overview of the LGBT equality position from the Christian perspective of gay and lesbian believers. It’s the view you don’t typically see in the media. If politicians must have something to fight about, maybe they should focus on poverty, mental illness, literacy, and health care, and stay away from debating equality, which every citizen in the U.S. is guaranteed under the constitution.
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You can apply nut job to my character profile. My ever so slight wackiness has to do with food generally, and chicken in particular. This if from someone who has included chicken and eggs in meal preparation since forever.
…And then I found out chickens eat meat. Meat. Chickens eat meat. They are carnivores. AND, they eat pretty much any kind of meat – frogs, snakes, other chickens. The most alarming meat they eat is – I looked it up on Google, so it has to be true – mice. Chickens. Eat. Mice. This is information I could have done without. I am phobic about mice. I have not been able to eat chicken or anything related to chicken since I found this out. Do you have any idea how many products have chicken, eggs, or chicken products in them? A lot.
I’ve tried to reason with myself.
Sharon, you’ve eaten chicken all your life. It is no different today than it was the last time you ate it. Chicken didn’t kill you then and it won’t kill you now.
And yet, every time I lift something to my mouth that has eggs or chicken in it, I see a mouse tail trailing out of the beak of a chicken. I KNOW. It’s completely unreasonable. My husband says I’ll get over it. Maybe, but at the moment poultry of any kind is off the menu in our house.
To make matters worse, I just found out through a “Reader’s Digest” article entitled 50 Things Food Manufacturers Won’t Tell You, that the bacteria responsible for sourdough bread originally came from – GET THIS – rodent feces. Excuse me? Rodent feces?
I can live with crushed bugs – barely – providing the red color in some products. I can accept – marginally – that it’s okay for manufacturers to have up to 30 insect parts per 100 grams in peanut butter. (Before I read the article, I had just bought a 28-ounce container of JIF!) I can believe without question that labeling on products is not to be trusted. I can’t abide the idea of putting MY FAVORITE BREAD OF ALL TIME down my gullet knowing it’s “starter” involved rat shit. Sorry. Just can’t do it.
So here I am in my food fog of not knowing what to eat, because let’s face it, as my dad used to say, “If you don’t eat the food they say is bad for you, you run the risk of starving to death.” At the moment I’m eating fruits, veggies, nuts, and grains. Turns out those are all pretty good for me, so I guess that’s what I’ll be living on for now, unless of course I start obsessing about genetic changes made to seeds to enhance growth and longevity, or about the pesticides used to ward off bugs, fungi, and plant diseases of varying kinds.
Oh, Lord above, I’m going to starve to death!
I would love to say this is all tongue in cheek, but I just threw away my last loaf of sourdough bread, and I haven’t knowingly eaten anything chicken-related in nearly a month. That jar of JIF may never see the light of day.
I know, nut job, right?
Happy eating!
(Author’s note: I wrote this in June 2016 and I’m back to normal – whatever that is! Chicken and eggs are back on the Vander Meer household menu.) __________________
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Southwest Detours owner Kathy Hendrickson stands in front of a car similar to the types of vehiciles the Indian Detour Couriers used to transport tourists into Indian Country.
The bustle of waitresses, the hum of conversation, and the clatter of dishes serve as background music as Kathy Hendrickson rushes into the restaurant for an interview about her new business, Southwest Detours. She has dramatic flare and while she isn’t wearing her Indian Detour costume, it’s easy to picture her in it: a burgundy Navajo-style velvet shirt, long dark green skirt, and silver Concho belt, boots, and a dramatic wide-brimmed dark green hat with a bronze hatband sporting the official Indian Detour silver badge. Her attention to detail lends authenticity to her presentations as a tour leader. And she loves the look.
Like restaurateur and hotelier Fred Harvey, Hendrickson is a natural born entrepreneur. She has a knack for talking to people and connecting with them. She also knows it takes more than having a knack for working with people to be successful. Being well prepared is essential.
“Allan Affeldt started the ball rolling by asking me to organize the Las Vegas Harvey Girls (like he has at the La Posada with the Winslow Harvey Girls), and do the tours. I took it to the next level, you could say, by starting my tour business,” Hendrickson said.
“Allan asked me to do tours at his two properties, Plaza Hotel and Castaneda Hotel. I had a conversation at the UWC to promote and do tours there. We started out calling them Harvey Girl Tours, but later put the tours all under the umbrella of Southwest Detours, which made better sense, since I do a lot of the tours on my own. When I have groups with 10 or more folks, I call on a Harvey Girl to help, or if someone requests a Harvey Girl to go on the tour.”
Harvey Girls and Detour Courier Hendrickson
The Castaneda and Montezuma Castle were Fred Harvey properties back in the day, and both used the services of Harvey Girls, dignified young women who were prim and proper, efficient, and dependable. The uniform of crisp black dresses with starched white accents at cuff and collar, and overlaid with a white apron, sent a clear message that the customer was first and service was paramount.
Hendrickson said she loves the Harvey Girls and the role they played in history. “They are charming, but that persona didn’t speak to me. And then I found out about the Fred Harvey Indian Detour Couriers. Now that appealed to me!
“Fred Harvey started the first chain of hotels and restaurants with an emphasis on quality and service. When train travel was slowing down in the early part of the 1900s, the Harvey Company began to explore ways to get people to the Southwest. The company promoted tours for railroad travelers that allowed them to leave the train and take tours into Indian Country. In 1926 the Indian Detours Company formed. It was only around for about ten years, but in that time the couriers – all highly trained and well-educated women – took thousands of people on adventures all over the Southwest. I looked at that history, that costume, and said, ‘That’s what I want to be!’”
Hendrickson officially launched Southwest Detours in March, and has already shepherded nearly 400 guests through the three historic properties. And she is just the person you want to lead your tour. She starts with scripted talking points, but does everything she can to make your tour unique and entertaining.
“I have two kinds of people on tours,” she said. “Most are not historians, but some are pretty knowledgeable. The knowledgeable guests sometimes ask questions I can’t answer despite all the research I have done. I like those questions. They help me add more to my knowledge base. I do a lot of reading and I’m always adding new information to keep the lectures fresh. I don’t want to say the same thing all the time, and I want to make sure what I do say is factual.”
Hendrickson is learning the business one day at a time. She has had a few surprises, but is not deterred. “I want to expand out and do tours in the surrounding area, but right now I’m putting my emphasis on Las Vegas. It’s more than going from one property to another. I talk about the history of Las Vegas, and take guests around to the neighborhoods where there are Victorian homes. I usually have one or two Harvey Girls with me when I have a group of ten or more. I’ve only lived here three years, but guests like it when someone like Martha Johnsen (a Las Vegas native and Harvey Girl) is along. She can fill in with what it was like growing up here.” Other members of the Las Vegas Harvey Girls in addition to Johnsen are Dee Clark, Becky Johnson, Virginia West, and Pam Buethe.
As the Detour Courier and company owner, Hendrickson – in addition to leading tours – is responsible for booking groups, overseeing development of the company, and creating interesting presentations. She said her affiliation with CCHP as a board member and volunteer has been valuable.
“It is through the CCHP archives and resources at the World College that I have learned new information about these properties and Las Vegas. It gives me more to talk about,” she said.
“After a recent tour Martha pointed out that we are like ambassadors for Las Vegas. And she’s right. We bring people to town, usually they stay over, eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, and leave with a good feeling about Las Vegas. You can’t beat that!”
Kathy and Bill Hendrickson moved to Las Vegas after visiting here over a four-year period. “Bill wanted to live in a small town in Northern New Mexico. I wanted to live in a small town and close to Santa Fe. Las Vegas is perfect and we love it.
“Owning a tour business allows me to expand to other places in and around Las Vegas, but I do focus on Las Vegas since that’s what most folks want to tour. The Castaneda Hotel, Montezuma Castle and Plaza Hotel are the most requested.”
Southwest Detours’ subhead is, “Your Pathway to Adventure.” For your adventure contact Hendrickson at505-459-6987, or e-mail info@southwestdetours.com. Tours vary in size from three to four people, up to a busload of 50. Fees available on request.
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Our great granddaughter was frighteningly ill, and now she is on the road to recovery. I believe with all my heart that God is watching over her. The doctors now believe she was in early stage SIDS (Silent Infant Death Syndrome). Thankfully her dad responded quickly, the ambulance service arrived in a timely way, and doctors immediately hooked her up to all the life saving devices her little body needed. This was taken this afternoon. She’s a little tired of the poking and prodding by the doctors and nurses, and just wants to go home.
Most important, she is on the mend and responding well to treatment. I can only say, “Thank you Lord, and thank you to every single person who prayed for her, the medical team, and our family.”
Hug your kiddo today.
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Bedraggled and empty,
her worn gables sagging
like an old woman’s wig,
askew and tatty.
Behind a scarred oak door
a dull wooden staircase,
marred wainscoting,
wallpaper stained and torn.
Oh, but the memories
that sing through her halls
telling of family history
full of laughter and joy.
Now restored, rainbow hues
dabbed on lintel, column,
dormer, cornice, pediment
and wraparound porch.
Oak door burnished to a shine,
beveled glass winking with light,
floors polished and golden,
the lady comes to life.
History begins anew
in the painted lady,
Victorian character and charm
dancing with memories made.
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“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17
My life is not easy, but then I don’t know anyone whose life is easy. The outward person, the one we see every day, bears scars we will never know about. They hurt in silence. I will not tell you my pain; it is no greater or more significant than yours. I will tell you my secret to peace and joy, which is no secret at all. God so loved the world that he gave his son that I might be saved. I believe that. It is not an idle promise; it is God’s clarity beyond any concept we are able to grasp. It is the gift of grace. Despite our flaws and failings, God loves us. He sees our strengths and weaknesses, and helps us build on both. This gift of grace is available to all. When we call upon God He will hear. He will answer. He will comfort. In this truth I find comfort. God loves each of us for who we are. How amazing is that. (Photo: Graphic Stock)
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Let us stroll along today
and talk.
Tell me what makes you laugh
as we walk.
I want to listen to what
you have to say.
Share your heart with
me today.
I want to know what makes
you cry.
May I ease your worry and wipe
your tears dry?
Share with me your anger
deep inside.
I will help you slay that dragon,
and turn the tide.
I am your friend
come what may.
Please share your heart
with me today.
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My dad served in WWII. He was in the Navy and part of clean up crews on beaches like Okinawa, where body parts would turn up when bulldozers swept across the sands. I think he was a Seabee, but I’m not sure. Dad didn’t talk about his time in the service. He was a country boy from Texas where the most brutal thing he encountered was pulling a cotton sack and doing farm work. He didn’t want to talk about the war or to relive finding all those body parts.
When he was discharged, we were in Phoenix, Ariz., with my grandparents (Dad’s folks), and from all accounts I wasn’t too happy when this interloper showed up. I was born when he was overseas. By the time he arrived in my life my older brother, my mom, and I were a happy little family. Right away he started taking up Mom’s valuable time leaving less for us. Reportedly at about age two I said I hoped the neighbor’s house he’d just walked into would burn down with him in it. I’m repeating what I was told, I certainly don’t recall saying that.
My father suffered from bouts of depression most of his adult life. Friends and co-workers never knew that. He kept it bottled up. He did have a short fuse, but he never took his anger out on any of us. I wonder now if he had undiagnosed PTSD. Back then that wasn’t even a point of discussion. Man up, get back to work, earn a living, support your family. No crying! Men don’t cry! Except that he did, in the silence of our home and only in the presence of my mother. But, as he used to say, little pitchers have big ears, and at least once I heard him.
There are no pictures of Dad in his Navy uniform, or mementos of his years away from family and familiar surroundings. There is one photo of him and his brother with their heads together showing them in Navy garb, their sailor hats at a jaunty angle. I have looked high and low for that photo and cannot find it. Dad’s younger brother joined the Navy not long after Dad did. I think in his naivete he believed they would be serving together. That didn’t happen.
Until she got pregnant with me, Mom was a Rosie the Riveter, or at least she worked in the shipyards. One toddler – my brother – and another baby on the way sent her home to Arizona to live with family.
I’m proud of my dad’s service, and my mom’s as well. They did what they thought was right. Both were patriotic to the core. When my dad returned home, there was no fanfare, flag waving, or banners. It was just us – reunited strangers who became a family. My dad called me his princess, and I thought there was no one braver, stronger, or more faithful. As a man he stood for what he believed in. As a father, he taught us kids right from wrong and loved us with every fiber of his being.
I don’t know what heroes are made of, but I do know Dad was my mine. I wish I had let him know that more often.
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I am not a theologian. I am a believer. I don’t know what God thinks about the world as it is today, but I do know what I believe. I believe God loves everyone who calls upon his name. Everyone. I believe he looks at the heart not at the head, or the gender, or the ethnicity, or the sexual orientation of those he loves. I believe when God gave his only begotten son to die for the sins of all, he made no exception about which believers are covered by the gift of grace. I believe that my loving understanding of a just God accepts that he is Supreme and I am not. I believe when we are so busy finding reasons to judge and criticize, we miss out on life. 
Sharon Vander Meer 