A Sunny Fall Day in and Around Las Cruces

The day starts with a walk and a hello from the neighbor's horses. 

Next up, a visit to The Prado in Las Cruces,  a traveling outdoor exhibit of 92 photographically reproduced masterpieces from Spain's Prado Museum. Here is Fra Angelico's Virgin of the Pomegranate (c. 1426).

The paintings were displayed in the downtown plaza. 

Las Cruces has tried in many ways to make its new central plaza a welcoming destination. The fountain doubles as a splash pad for children in the summer. On this fall day it was nice to rest on a bench and watch the changing displays of water. 

The Las Cruces Christmas tree is located here. 

There is also a concert stage, sheltered from the desert sun. 

Looking back at the exhibit from across the plaza.

The food trucks were cooking up something that smelled delicious. And it wouldn't be southern New Mexico without a vendor selling red chiles from the recent harvest. 

The Organ Mountains overlook the city and the surrounding Mesilla Valley.

Day's end at a farm just down the road and around the corner from our adobe house.

I'm Living in the Land of Cotton

This is happening just across the road from our house. 

It's kind of hard to see in the left background, but the newly-picked cotton is compressed into huge bales for transport to the cotton gin. There were a dozen bales harvested from this big field.