during september

new mexico is known for its green chile. in our restaurants you are asked, for every dish, is that with red or green (chile)? this is the time of year when all the chiles are picked & roasted. the grocery stores sells them to you by the bushel, and offers free roasting on the sidewalk outside. (roasting involves dumping them into huge barrels which are then rotated over high-powered propane flames)

the roasting smell is a part of Taos, where ever you go. it reminds me of wheat-harvest time in Kansas, when the air is full of the smell of the fields & the dust of the wheat.

I haven't picked up on the green chile love yet. I still prefer the red. but we bought a bushel (how often does one get to buy a bushel of anything anymore?) and had them roasted. then at home, they filled up six one-gallon bags, and the chile is all headed for friends in Kansas. 

we had 12 straight hours of rain overnight. which is simply odd for taos county. 

as the third week of september nears, so does our annual reunion of friends at a campsite on the walnut river in kansas. ostensibly for a bluegrass festival, but truly for the days spent together in our own pop-up community. 

we knew each other before we started dating, because we both went to this reunion, and we share this group of friends. and it makes us both happy (and so lucky) that we share this history & enjoyment of the festival. 

the truck is packed, all we need to do is sleep, wake up before sunrise, make coffee, tell the cat to be good, and off eastward we go.