Saturday, January 31, 2009 - Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM
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Rio Grande bridge on an overcast morning, Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM, January 23, 2009
Or maybe I'll break camp and go into town to the Las Cruces Farmers' and Crafts Market at the Downtown Mall.
One of the biggest year round attractions in the area is the Las Cruces Farmers' and Crafts Market. Located on the Las Cruces Downtown Mall on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, the market offers arts, crafts and other original merchandise from Doña Ana County, and food and produce from a three county area. Established in 1971 by produce growers, the market now affords locals and visitors the opportunity to shop for unique goods and services as well as fresh from the farm herbs, produce and eggs in an outdoor setting. Fresh bread and baked goods for sale are an added treat for all, and roving entertainers round out this community happening. Residents and visitors alike appreciate the local flavor and the talents of the market vendors.
Night camp
Site 11 - Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs NM
- Verizon cell phone service - good signal
- Verizon EVDO service - good signal
- Go to Leasburg Dam State Park website
- Locate Leasburg Dam State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Writing From the Inside Out
A young writer, if he is unknown, can be at a party and watch what everyone is doing. If he has a marveluos ear for dialog, he can wake up the next morning and remember all that was said and how it was said. He is a bird on a branch. Sees like a bird and writes books that are extraordinarily well observed. But once he is successful, especially if that happens quickly, it's as if the bird were now an emu. It cannot fly. It grows haunches and foreshoulders and a mane: lo and behold, it is a lion. And everyone is looking at the lion, including the birds. But it is a lion with the heart of a bird and the mind of a bird. So there is a terrible period when the transmogrified emu is trying to live like a lion and has little talent for it. Then the beast begins to experiment. When it runs, it now sees other animals scamper. It takes a while - often years - for the writer to get to appreaciate his effect on others, and even longer to begin to understand human beings again. In the old days, he could write about friends, enemies, and strangers by intuition, by induction; now he puts it together by deduction. Of course, he does have more material on which to work his deductions.