August 2024
Oh boy, another month has zipped by. July turned out to be better than most of the other months in 2024. As I’m writing this newsletter on July 31, I expect life can’t go too awfully wrong before it ends, although one never knows.
On July 8, both of my daughters (Anni and Robin) and my younger grandson (Riki) visited me in Roswell. Anni and Robin headed east from California through drought and fire, Riki headed west from Virginia through rain and floods and they all ended up here! Riki was in Virginia for six whole months to set up a D.C. office for the computer biz for which he works. We haven’t all been together in one place since October of last year, when I flew to California (and boy, did my arms ache) for my sixtieth high-school reunion. Oy. Riki did a whole lot of sightseeing when he was back there and sent oodles of photographs. So lots of folks enjoyed his time in D.C. and vicinity along with him because I posted some of his photos on my Facebook page.
When the three of them got here, we had a great time. Lots of music and singing. Both Anni and Riki are classical guitarists, and Robin has taken up the ukulele. They sound so good together! Naturally, because I’m me, I forgot to get a photo of all of us together, but here are Robin (alto, on the ukulele) and Anni (soprano, on the guitar) playing together. One of Anni & Riki’s Roswell friends, Tom Blake, visited for an afternoon, too. Tom, Anni, Riki and several other musically-minded people put together a CD about 20 years ago. I have my copy somewhere. That was a fun afternoon. Again, however, I didn’t get a good photo everyone together. I should have made them all stand up against a wall and shot them, but I didn’t think of it at the time.
Before Tom’s visit, Anni, Robin and Riki did a lot of sightseeing, Riki being on a sort-of sightseeing jag at the moment. One day they all went up the mountain and into the Lincoln National Forest to visit some of the sites. The Mescalero Apache Reservation is in the Lincoln National Forest, which is fascinating all by itself. The Mescalero folks have a visitor center where you can depress the heck out of yourself by reading their history. They also have beautiful pots and other Mescalero-made crafts for sale there. The Rez isn’t the only attractive place up there, however.
Anni, Robin and Riki visited Fort Stanton in the Lincoln National Forest. Some soldiers of the 10th Cavalry (1866-1944) were stationed there in the 1870s and 1880s. The 10th Cavalry was one of the original regiments of the regular army set aside for Black enlisted men. The Fort Stanton “buffalo soldiers” come into play in another paragraph farther along in this narrative.
After Fort Stanton, the gang of three visited Capitan, where most of my late dachshunds’ ashes have been scattered. I’m sure they’ve been washed away by now, but whatever. Capitan was home to Smokey Bear! It’s true. A fireman found a charred American black-bear cub at the scene of the Capitan Gap Fire in 1950. He rescued the bear cub. That bear was eventually named Smokey, became the symbol for fire safety everywhere and was sent to live in luxury at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. He resided there until he died at a ripe old age on November 9, 1976. His remains were returned to Capitan, where you can visit his burial site and the Smokey Bear Museum. Capitan also has a restaurant called the Smokey Bear Café. That’s where our fearless trio had lunch.
They then drove to Ruidoso. This once-lovely village had recently suffered severe damage from a massive fire and destructive floods. Some 1,500 structures were burned down and/or washed away. At any rate, Anni, Riki and Robin were busily observing the remains of poor Ruidoso when more rain began bucketing down upon them, the roads started flooding and they got stuck in a ginormous traffic jam. They managed to maneuver out of it, though, and drove through Lincoln to get back to Roswell.
Lincoln is a tiny little town, but it played a big part in creating the mythic American West. Lincoln’s where Billy the Kid did his thing. Lincoln is also where the so-called Lincoln County War was fought. Things got so out of hand during the Lincoln County War, which was a beef (get it?) between rival cattle and dry-goods interests, that soldiers from the 10th Cavalry from Fort Stanton (see? Told you we’d get back to those guys) were sent in to quell the violence. Lincoln is now a teeny-weeny tourist Mecca-ette. I love the place. The skies were still raining down upon my kin so they weren’t able to take a pic of themselves at the turnstile leading into the Lincoln graveyard, but they did manage to get a photo:
One last tidbit about the Lincoln County War. At the time of the war, New Mexico’s Territorial Governor was Major General Lew Wallace, who wrote Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. At one point he pardoned Billy the Kid, but then the Kid caused more trouble and his pardon was revoked. As you may know, the Kid isn’t buried in Lincoln. He met his end via Pat Garret in Fort Sumner (also in New Mexico) and is buried there. Pat Garrett himself met a bloody end after living and losing his money right here in Roswell, NM. He was shot dead whilst on his way with some others to Las Cruces, NM. Nobody’s quite sure who shot him, although a fellow named Brazel claimed credit (if that’s word I want) for it.
Anyhow, Pat Garret did at least one good thing in his life. He fathered Elizabeth Garrett, who was blind and a musician. Elizabeth Garrett wrote New Mexico’s State Anthem, “O Fair New Mexico,” which has a lively tango rhythm to it. Not sure what she was on at the time, but her song endures. Interestingly enough, Elizabeth died after falling down the outside staircase at the First Presbyterian Church here in Roswell. That’s the church where singers from various places used to get together every year to sing in the Concert of American Music. Back when I could still sing (and the concert was still happening) I joined it, by golly! It was lots of fun. We always sang Elizabeth Garrett’s song at the end of the concert:
Busy McCarroll sings O' Fair New Mexico! (youtube.com)
My family didn’t linger long in Roswell, darn it. After they left I wrote like mad on Spirits Adopted, which will be Daisy’s 20th (!) adventure. I’m having fun with this book, which is a pleasant change from the last one I wrote.
There are some fun things in store for Daisy and the gang, by the way. The publisher, ePW, proposed a change in the Daisy color scheme, which I’m pretty excited about. After the first few covers are decided upon, all the Daisies will be repackaged using the new color palette. There have been a few initial bumps, so I can’t show you anything specific.
The remaining days in July consisted of heat, writing Spirits Adopted and reports from Anni and Robin about the ghastly wildfires in their necks of the woods. Anni and her hubby Razmik live in Kern County, which is being plagued by the Borel Fire. This fire has burned several hundred acres of forest and brush near Lake Isabella. It was started by a drunk driver. The Park Fire, which is huge, was started by an arsonist near Chico, CA. So far it has burned 400,000 acres or more. Glad the arsonist was found and arrested, but that doesn’t make up for the damage his idiotic act has done to others.
Aside from dreadful fire news, another good thing happened in July. Just this last Monday three friends from Albuquerque came down here to visit! Albuquerque is 200 miles away from Roswell, and I don’t get up there often. I used to drive to Abq. more often when I was less crippled and did a lot of work for New Mexico Dachshund Rescue. But these guys drove here! The group consisted of Tabitha Hall, David Bedini and Anne Mae Gold. Our individual and group relationships are entertaining all on their own. At least I think so.
Tabitha Hall and I first met through dachshund rescue. She adopted a wiener-dog named Bailey whom I was fostering. According to Tabitha, when she drove to Roswell to claim Bailey I was in charge of twelve dachshunds and semi-dachshunds. I know I’ve hosted that many at once, but it was a long time ago. I can barely keep up with the three elderly canines who live with me these days.
David Bedini wrote me a letter when he lived in North Carolina a bunch of years ago telling me he liked my books, bless his heart. When he retired, he moved to Albuquerque. He’s a musician who plays gigs in Albuquerque, Belen and other points north of Roswell. He also let me use him as a villain in Celluloid Angels. I’d planned for him to be a mega-bad guy, but he ended up being more sinned against than sinning. Sorry, Dave!
Anne Mae Gold is a pal of Tabitha’s. She and I met through Tabitha. Here’s a photo of the four of us:
Okay, so here come the interweavings. Tabitha went to a cafe hosting a musical night in Albuquerque. She heard the name Bedini and her ears perked up, Bedini being an uncommon name. She knew of a Bedini through me. So she introduced herself to Dave, and they became great pals. David, in turn, knew Joyce Yoxall, a musician and dachshund lover. I met Joyce through NMDR. I had no idea she sometimes played gigs with Dave and that she and Tabitha took a Jazzercise class together many moons ago. And now we all know each other! Well, you know what I mean. Is this an example of “six degrees of separation,” whatever that is?
Ahem. To continue: Tabitha loves dogs and she had met and adored Jazzy, the Beautiful Blue Wiener and Queen of All She Surveyed. So when Jazzy died on the Ides of May, she asked me to send her my favorite photos of Jazzy Fizzle Torres-Duncan. That was her full name. As mentioned in a prior newsletter, Jazzy’s original founder is Jacob Torres. Jacob was responsible for the Jazzy Fizzle part of her name. So I sent Tabitha some photos of Jazzy, and look what Tabitha brought me on Monday:
Tabitha took the Jazzy photos to Tammy Wenderlich at Desert Bird Mercantile in Old Town Albuquerque (https://www.desertbirdmercantile.com/). Tammy plans to show Jazzy’s picture to people who ask her to create dachshund art. So Jazzy lives on! Tabitha said she’ll send the finished quilt to me when it’s…well, finished. People are so kind. I honestly don’t understand how some people can be so wonderful while other people are just evil, y’know? ‘Tis a puzzlement.
In book news, Celluloid Angels will be released at the end of August. If you’re interested in pre-ordering it for all your friends, enemies, kin and strangers, please feel free to do so here:
If you’re on Facebook, please join Daisy Daze! Anyone who has an interest in the 1920s will probably find Daisy Daze interesting, at least sometimes. Daisy Dazers give me plotting advice all the time. They’ve been going at it like gangbusters lately and I’m extremely grateful for their ideas. Daisy Daze was founded by Iris Evans and Leon Fundenberger, both of whom like Daisy and Mercy. Daisy Daze is a great place for Daisy Gumm Majesty Rotondo and Mercedes Louise Allcutt fans to hang out, as well as anyone who is interested in the “Roaring Twenties.” We concentrate pretty closely on the Pasadena and Los Angeles areas, because the books are set there. We also cover a lot of stuff relating to early motion pictures, because both Daisy and Mercy have friends in the biz. Daisy Daze is fun, it’s educational and if you’d like to be a member, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/905100189878318/
If you’d like to visit my web page, here’s the link, thanks to Lyndele von Schill, who seems to be capable of doing anything and everything. Amazing woman, Lyndele. So glad she befriended me on Facebook! Home | Alice Duncan . If you’d like to be Facebook friends, please go here: (20+) Alice Duncan | Facebook .
Here’s a link to my author page at ePublishingWorks: Alice Duncan Author Page (ebookdiscovery.com)
Thank you!
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