Last night I went to dinner with a long time friend at a place in Albuquerque called Tomato Cafe, which has a fabulous vegetarian posole. Posole is a traditional New Mexican stew that has hominy (corn) with green and red chili, a tomato broth and usually it has pork, but not at The Tomato Cafe.
It was great to meet up with my friend and have dinner. Her and I used to work together taking care of mentally disabled adults. She is still in the field. We caught up on each other’s lives as I stuffed myself with the delicious posole. I was exhausted by the time we finished dinner, so we called it an early night and I drove my car to an industrial area to sleep for the night.
I could have called on many friends to stay at their houses here in Albuquerque, but I was too tired to meet up with anyone. I am very fortunate to have so many good friends in Albuquerque.
I woke up this morning at 5am to the sound of the diesel mechanics opening their shop across the street from where I parked my car the night before. It was fine because I went to sleep so early anyways that I felt well rested. A bunch of big machines started driving around my car, so I drove away to find a more peaceful spot. However, I found a more peaceful spot, but then a guy came up to my car and told me I had to move because some big rigs needed the entire road way to do some maneuvers. So I moved again to another spot only to encounter a security guard car that kept looking at me suspiciously. I didn’t care. I stayed parked there and did some writing and attended to some of my administrative business.
After leaving the industrial park, I went for a run around the UNM golf course, then took a shower at a friends place who is out of town. Then I headed downtown to get a breakfast burrito at Java Joe’s. Java Joe’s has the best breakfast burritos in the world, in my opinion and I have had a lot of breakfast burritos. I like to get it smothered in red and green chili, a style locals call X-Mas. Yummy!!!!
After all the exercise and the breakfast burrito I was ready for a nap, so I took a 30 minute nap, then headed to my friend Pete’s place.
Pete and I have been friends since 2008 when he started helping me work on my van in his back yard. I used to drive a 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon that I loved, but it was constantly breaking down. Pete had lived the van life in the 90’s, so he was empathetic to my plight. Pete used to be a certified mechanic, so he knew how to help me.
Pete has been hosting house concerts for me since about 2010. I’m super grateful that he still hosts these concerts for me. I think he actually enjoys it, so it’s a win-win for both of us. These house concerts have been really helpful to me and my music career. Sometimes 50 people come out, sometimes not even 5 people show up, but we always have a great time. Tonight was no different. About 20 or 30 people came throughout the night. I had trouble keeping my banjo in tune as the sun was setting, but the show was a success. What makes a show a success? First, it has to feel like I played my music to somebody besides myself. Also, it is nice to make some money. If those two conditions are met, then I usually feel like the show is a success.
Some of us talked late into the night about the mRNA injection (vaccine), the global monetary system, and other heavy topics. It was a nice crowd because everyone seemed to tolerate each others’ opinions. These are the times we are living in. These big topics are on everyone’s minds and we must figure out a way to share our thoughts without offending or being offended. This group of people at Pete’s place was able to do that and it made me very happy.