THE JOCULAR BONE HAS GONE MISSING - - - AGAIN
Nothing like a couple of weeks of blizzard prognosticating migraines to throw the jocular bone out of joint. A few years ago I mentioned to a therapist friend how I preferred to avoid people unless my perky, peppy, funny self was at its best. Why expose them to less?
She asked, 'why do you always have the need to make others laugh'? The reply was mumbling something about it being a good question for a therapist... Besides, when my store was still open, my clients depended on leaving happier than when they arrived!
As a child, besides drawing bejeweled evening gowns, I liked cubes, boxes and houses, leading a teacher to wonder, 'ahhh a future architect perhaps'? Some houses appeared in my dreams, and on paper but not even with the proverbial stick people that kids are known to draw. Kinda odd since the company of others was very enjoyable and a shy child I was not! Hmmm...no people with the houses...there's another one for analysis...
This house: This is a partial view of Casa Grande from an arch of the Casa Minor, or the other way around, located at Vermejo Park Ranch Raton, NM. If memory serves me correctly, during one of my stays at Casa Minor, I was told that these grand old homes did not have built in kitchens in order to avoid a repeat of a fire that had destroyed one of the mansions. All guests dined in a separate main dining hall building. Improvements, renovations, and new buildings have since been erected to modernize them and make current guests more comfortable, as the rates now show it!
The living room at the then - not available for public view - Casa Grande was quite "grande". Leggy for a 5' 3" gal, I pace measured the Persian rug in the center of the large room and remember it to be 20 - 24 paces. There were still at least 6 feet around the "grande" rug. Many, many sofas and ivory color wooden chairs upholstered in an ivory golden striped silken fabric could be found among the huge marble based floor lamps. In the center of one of the living room's sitting areas you would find a large square blue ottoman with several ivory, blue and russet pillows piled in the center of it. This ottoman could have comfortably accommodated several seated people.
The Casa Grande was not "rented out to paying guests", but available only for the Pennzoil executives' personal use. I have photos of the old bath tubs that were fitted with sterling or heavily silver plated handles.
One of the earlier Vermejo Ranch owners was a William Bartlett who was said to have cornered the wheat market in the late 1890s. Will have to find my notes on the buying and selling history to continue.
All images design concept content text are original and solely owned by Mimi Dee and may not be reproduced in any form. February 2013
