From Marfa we pressed on directly to Las Cruces, Siesta RV Park, where we usually stay. It was an easy uneventful drive once we got clear of the rotten weather in the Marfa area. By the time we got to Van Horn we had our sunglasses on (that’s about 90 miles and where US 90 merges on to I 10).

We have been very busy here with Leora and Stuart and Marianne. Shabbat dinner, a Ukulele band concert (I kid you not) a movie “the Imitation Game” – why can’t Hollywood either do a straight story or just make a totally fictional story with no tie to reality? and a book group where Marianne Zeitlin was invited as the author of her latest novel “Motherless Child” followed by dinner at La Posta.

All of that in three days. We are resting today. Making plans for the coming months and, oh yes, I had a small repair job. One of our shades was not working well and the daytime privacy shade was not working at all. I had explored a bit and figured out that I needed to take down the entire valence to get at the rollers. Turns out it is held in place by four screws. Once I had it laid out on the bed it was easy to sort out how it was supposed to work and why it wasn’t. I realigned the rollers and with Carol supplying a third hand I was able to reinstall the valence with the rollers and I am so glad I didn’t pay a minimum  30 minute rate ($55) for the 10  minutes it took me.

I am facing another repair that I am not looking forward to. While pumping out the black tank in Marfa, the pump came to a sudden stop. I have verified that the fuse is not blown. I am convinced that something has lodged in the impeller blade. It should be a simple matter to dismantle the pump and clean it up, but it also has a “yuck” factor so I am putting it off. If I had been pumping grey water when it stopped I would be less hesitant 🙁 I’ll let you all know how it turns out and when it turns out. I expect I will not include a lot of detail.

We were in email contact with one of my Brown classmates, Lee Berk, who has settled in Phoenix. They live very near the Musical Instrument Museum about which I have written several times, hereafter MIM. Diane Schuur is performing there on March 6 and we now have tickets to be able to join them and hear her. As I was browsing the MIM Jazz concert schedule I spotted a concert later in March by Anat Cohen who we absolutely fell in love with at XRIJF last year so we know where we will be March 21. We have other friends in the area so March should be a fairly social month for us. Then on to LA and I guess we are inviting ourselves to Miriam and Yechiel’s for Sedar right here in this post. Now to contact Malibu Beach RV Resort for a spot.

Somehow I never got around to posting this last night as I finished writing. It is a good thing as I have now had a chance to clean up several typos in advance (hope I haven’t added any).