Tell ya what: I surely didn’t swap to short sleeves yesterday. Nope, no customary start of summer here. Yeah, mebbe 69°. and the wind was blowing maybe 10 miles per hour—I don’t know, I didn’t keep count. I had on a jacket even, lest I get chicken skin.

We have out-of-town guests. It’s now Monday, May 28, as I type. They’ve been here since last Thursday, and they’ll head home on Wednesday, May 30. Memorial Day.

By now it seems we’ve seen half of the museums in Santa Fe, NM. If you’ve ever been here, you know that’s a lot of danged museums. But I haven’t kept count. Yesterday, May 27, we went to Museum Hill to see the Museum of International Folk Art. While we were there there we had brunch, sitting at an outside table. It was too loud to sit inside, because some lady was playing patriotic songs on the piano. Outside? ¡Cold!

I’m about museumed out. Too much culture. Thankfully, so are our guests.

So next? We we went to an open house for a condo for sale. A good way too see what life is like in Santa Fe: appearance and price. Next, we went to a casino. Mi esposa and I are not habitual gamblers: we go maybe once a year, to remember how. I spent my allotted $21 on the penny slots. Then I entered a drawing for a free Harley, and received a token of $10 for free use on the slots. On that token, I won $127! The most I’ve ever won in a casino.

Today (Monday)? It’s the official Memorial Day. Believe it or don’t, I’m old enough that I remember when it was called Decoration Day. Its name was officially changed nationwide in 1967.

It’s a day when folks may change from long-sleeve brown shirts and blue pants to short-sleeve blue shirts and tan pants. (Or maybe decorate themselves with shorts, and go to the beach. Or decorate the skies with fireworks.)

Or else, they follow the example of the President and put flags and flower decorations at the marked places of dead folk, especially those who’ve served in the military. President Obama’s giving a prayer for peace at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Wikipedia says that the U.S. has 196,248 U.S. active troops deployed outside its states and territories. That count probably varies now and then. Maybe we’re keeping better count these days, and there’re no Unknown Soldiers.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_day

Maybe our troops should go home. They’re out-of-town guests.

¿k?