Ten Things I love about New Mexico (so far)

1. Being swarmed by hummingbirds when I carry the feeders out early in the morning.

2. Listening to elk bugle on the hills around our house.

3. Eating lunch at El Paisano in Capitan, where the same family has been cooking traditional New Mexican food for 62 years.

4. Watching the sun light up the mountains around my house early in the morning.

5. Watching deer come and go around the house all day.

6. Picking raspberries and drinking lavender lemonade at Lavender Spring Ranch.

7. Roasting fresh picked green chiles and making green chile stew.

8. All the art galleries in the area. New Mexico seems to attract artists of all kinds.

9. Going barefoot at White Sands. The gypsum sand never gets hot, no matter how hot the day is.

10. Eating green chile pistachios and chile pistachio brittle and drinking pistachio flavored wine right on the ranch where the pistachios and grapes are grown.