My turn: Lots to love, in spite of it all

I shall be brutally honest. I have a love-hate relationship with this place. One moment I’m rejoicing, the next I’m scowling.

Who wouldn’t be beside themselves with glee when they’re eating a chocolate pecan shake from Pat’s? But then there’s the business of driving home and bouncing over the pot holes and drainage dips … even though the rain to drain rarely rains on the plains.

What’s not to love about still mornings when the sun shines so brightly and rose bushes are starting to put on tiny little leaves of promise? But tarry too long outside and you’ll be hit by the afternoon wind flinging dirt into your teeth … giving you something to gnash about.

Some days I just shake my head in despair over the tumbleweeds nestled into every tree, every bush, every porch chair on my place. And the plastic sacks fluttering on the barbed wire fences, they make me cringe.

But when I’m chatting with my neighbors, eating in restaurants where they know just how I like my meat cooked before I say it, watching the family play ball, staying long after church services to visit with friends … I fall in love with Portales all over again.

Sandy keeps an online journal at her website http://www.field-days.com. E-mail her at [email protected].