OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS AND 21

We got up bright and early this morning and headed for Albuquerque to visit with friends.

It was a beautiful morning and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Albuquerque is about an hour from Santa Fe and traffic was light, so we could relax and enjoy the mountains as we made the short trip.

We arrived at our friend's new home around 11:00, had a wonderful visit and then sat down to a lovely lunch that Eleanor had prepared for us.

We all became friends nearly 50 years ago when we all lived in Raton, NM. This is what Ray looked like back then. He could have been a movie star!

We spent several hours catching up with old times and what had been going on in our lives since we last saw each other. If memory serves me right, the last time we were together was at my 70th birthday party in Santa Fe. That was nearly 2 years ago, so we need to make a point of seeing each other more often. Time flies when you're not in the same town and don't have the opportunity to visit like you used to when you lived in the same town. Franklin called him Uncle Race when he was a little boy, so we now always refer to him that way. Our children are all about the same age.

After a nice visit we said our good-bye's and we were off to another destination. We don't seem to have any trouble staying busy when we're in New Mexico!

We had some time to spare, so we decided to take in a movie that had opened last week entitled "21". It is a drama which stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne. The film is based loosely around the story of a 1990s incarnation of the MIT Blackjack Team. The film draws from Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich.

Ben Campbell, an MIT student who – needing to pay school tuition – joins a group that counts cards in casinos to earn money. In his non-linear equations class, he amazes his professor, Mickey Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey (whom I love!) by correctly understanding variable change and correctly solving the Monty Hall Problem. As a superior math and statistics student, he is invited to join a group of mathematically-gifted students that heads to Las Vegas every weekend with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. I won't tell you any more except that this movie is a "must see"! We thoroughly enjoyed it adn I'm sure you will as well.

After the movie went to Bonnie's house for dinner. She is our niece, Teresa's mother. She always sets such a beautiful table.

I especially love the simplicity of her centerpieces. They are always beautiful and just the right height for table conversation without being intrusive.

We had cocktails before dinner (of course) and she had invited a Supreme Court Judge and his wife (Celia and Dick) for dinner as well as her friend, Eddie. We had never met the Judge and his wife before and they are delightful people. We found that we had a lot of interests in common, so we had a lovely visit. It's always such a pleasure to meet new people. That's what keeps life interesting.

If you remember from previous posts, Bonnie's late husband was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in New Mexico, so she and the Judge and his wife have been friends for years.

Teresa was able to join us for dinner as well. We wish that Gary could have been there, but the drive from Tucumcari was to far for one evening and he had to go to work the next morning. The Superintendent of Schools can't be late for work!

You have seen Bonnie and Eddie in the next photo since they were at the barbecue in Logan a few nights ago.

Eddie is such a delightful man and always adds so much to the conversation with his interesting stories.

Frank helped Bonnie get ready for the cocktail hour and I visited with Teresa, or "T" as her grandchildren call her.

Judge Ransom poured the wine for our dinner which was delicious and we all headed for home around 11:00 p.m.

It has been a long but wonderful day. We have friends coming from Texas tomorrow to stay with us for a few days, so there will be more to report from the Land of Enchantment. Stay tuned ;-)

XOXO, Pcasso