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The Painted Clock:
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Memoirs of a New
Mexico Ghost Town Bride
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"Engaging
and
beautifully written, The Painted Clock
is an honest, painful, celebratory book, wise about human relations,
human limitations, the value of place, and the always strange lurchings
of the heart." -- Debra Spark, author of The Ghost of Bridgetown
The Painted Clock: Memoirs of a New Mexico
Ghost Town Bride
The
Wildflower Press, 2002, Albuquerque, New Mexico
$19.00 (US) Click
Here to Buy this book at Amazon.com
or Click
here to
Purchase The Painted Clock Direct from the Publisher
The Painted Clock is the true story of how
a couple,
somewhat along in years, attempt to adjust themselves to the surprises
of life in an almost uninhabited New Mexico ghost town--8 to 10
fascinating residents in the winter and about 25 during summer tourism.
Newly married, husband and wife try to figure out each other as well as
the
characters of their chosen home. The author explores her private
responses
to things--humorous or serious or plain quirky--to the ramshackle
remains
of the beautiful old mining town as well as to the idiosyncrasies of
the neighbors.
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Reviews of The Painted
Clock:
| "'The Painted Clock' is not a
eulogy for a 'ghost town' in New Mexico, but a fast-paced look into
life there, and proof it's not for everybody. It's also a story of life
that could also be applicable to many other small, fading towns in the
Southwest -- and reality." - Silver City Sun News |
"Beginning
apparently as a strightforward account of adjusting to life
in a new place, The Painted Clock
becomes bravely revealing account of a woman's continued search for her
essential self at a time in her life when she had expected to find
peace and contentment, not the pain of new discoveries about herself."
- BookViews, New Mexico Book Association |
"It opens with a
capsule introduction of the history of 'Muggy-own,'
explaining the title and cover illustration of The Painted Clock...What's
unexpected in a book about an abandoned mining town is mention of
celebrities like Henry Fonda, Georgia O'Keeffe and John Nichols. But
this is New Mexico and anything is possible here...And if you've never
been to Mogollon, an finishing this story you may be inspired to take a
ride to see the place for yourself."
- New Mexico Magazine |
"'The Painted Clock' is a memoir
about the southwestern New Mexico town
of Mogollon, about what it's like to live isolated and the people who
choose to live there.
- Albuquerque Journal. |
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"The Painted Clock is written as poetry in prose,
drawing the reader into the landscape, the community, the story, the
mind of the writer with keen observation of the inner skeleton of
characters and relationships. Looking beyond surface presentation
straight to the core, the author lets us experience Mogollon and its
inhabitants as vibrant and real. She writes with clarity and wit and a
wisdom that rejoices in watching life unfold."
- Amazon.com Consumer Review #1
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"I liked The
Painted Clock. I didn't think Id be much interested in a
"woman's" book, so when a friend recommended it, I was doubtful. I was
pleasantly surprised. There is something enjoyable on every page.
Sometimes it is funny, at other times it had me remembering similar
occasions in my own life, and looking at them from a fresh angle. I
have been to Mogollon, and this book seems to capture the essence of
the place. It is easy reading. I enjoyed it so much, I read it aloud to
a friend so I could experience it all over again.
- Amazon.com Consumer Review #2
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Excerpt from: The
Painted Clock
I look along the road at the tall, white-washed
building. Shining windows reflect the sunlight. Flower
baskets swing on the upstairs balcony; window boxes hang from the
railing.
"What a beautiful place to live!"
"It is, but you can get too tied up in a house. It's
too big. Demands too much attention. Take this one of yours,
though, good size. Long back room, fair size kitchen and pantry, good
front room, nice porch." Hazel glances back approvingly.
"That back room. They had a funeral there
years ago, first I ever went to. It was Boyer's oldest
son--Floyd,
he was, I believe, seventeen. The boys in town made some beer and
he drunk off the foam. Killed him."
"Good grief!"
"I seen him alive just two days before. My
mother and my Aunt Ginny, they brought me over here to see him laid
out. Wanted me to tell him goodbye. I was real little at
the time. They each took hold of one hand, and we stepped into
the back room to see the corpse laying in his coffin. It was
propped up on two stools on some wide planks. It was a real hot
day, and they had an electric fan
going. Knowing what I know now, I think that would've been on
account
of the smell, but I didn't notice anything like that at the time.
I just watched how that fan went back and forth, very slowly, back and
forth It could hypnotize you. Every time it went it made a
little breeze. I could see the wind going through his hair, blowing
that blond hair
up and down,up and down. He looked just like he was alive, only
sleeping.
But he was stone dead. Except for the hair." Hazel shakes
her
head and falls silent, pensive.
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