This is a serendipitous story that goes back more than ten years, but ends up where I have landed most recently, in the White Sands area of southwestern New Mexico. On this Sunday morning, I decided to tackle unpacking two boxes of small, framed pictures and photos, because I have a lot of them from my travels and various residencies, of which I have just a few of those, too.
Within weeks of arriving in rural central Nevada in 2012, I went garage sale hopping with a co-worker who loved that sort of thing. I didn’t think I did, but I made several random purchases for less than a few dollars. One was a retro tray I haven’t unpacked yet, but it was a Death Valley souvenir, likely from the fifties or sixties due to the odd orange hue and plastic molding, but it depicted a roadrunner. It wasn’t my only roadrunner find that day.
Funny, because while I was fascinated by this bird, I never saw any in that part of Nevada, but they were quite prevalent and delightful in the community where I eventually lived further south in North Las Vegas before moving this May to the Land of Enchantment—where, it so happens, the Greater Roadrunner is the designated state bird.
I’ve only seen its feathers in my yard so far, but this morning I unpacked that other roadrunner item purchased at a rural Nevada yard sale in 2012. It’s shown in the photo accompanying today’s blog post because, for the first time, I thought to consider just what it was.
A very small watercolor by someone named Richardson Rome, not that I’d even previously realized that. Over the years, I’ve often framed old postcards and greeting cards and I presumed—if I’d thought about it all—this was just a replica of a painting someone stuck in a (very) cheap wood 4 x 6 inch frame.
But revisiting this piece of art this morning, I remembered why I bought it. In 2012, I was finally living in the desert for the very first time, and this picture had both roadrunners…and prickly pear cactus. Prickly pear cacti have always delighted me, from Texas to California, surprisingly Hawaii, and wherever I have roamed.
And though the terrain depicted did not so much resemble the mountainous desert valley I occupied in rural Nevada where, alas, I had no prickly pear in my yard, I still felt the need to acquire it. The tiny treasure ultimately fit perfectly within my Las Vegas Valley home décor, seven plus years later. And perhaps because I’d purchased it along with a retro Death Valley, California souvenir, I’d always assumed this watercolor depicted the Mojave desert.
As I truly began to ponder this garage sale find, I looked at the back of the frame—for the first time—to see that it said Sandstone Creations of Boulder, Colorado. Colorado being the state directly above New Mexico, I began to wonder, was this watercolor actually of the very area I now lived? Not to mention where I now had more than twenty large prickly pear plants in my yard. Oh happy day.
Hence, I pried off the back of the frame to discover that this was once a Christmas card that a couple named Mil and Ed had cut with scissors to fit the frame, and the description of the art itself was quite telling:
“RED BLOSSOMS and DESERT CACTI are nature’s Christmas Ornaments.
Water Color by Richardson Rome
Roadrunners approved of this natural holiday decoration. “El Paisano” is the happy Mexican name for this member of the cuckoo family. The Roadrunner is a native of the desert country from West Texas through Southern California, and well known in Arizona and New Mexico.’’
And there you have it, because I’m pretty sure I snagged a watercolor (not sure why this card made that two words) of New Mexico more than ten years before I moved here. The mountains in the distance are just too uncanny, not to mention the streaks of white in the sand. But how did I not know that roadrunners were in the cuckoo family? Gotta love that.
Because there was no date provided, I decided to google Richardson Rome just for grins, not at all expecting to find anything. Except I did. Though I don’t imagine I’ll strike it rich off of this old garage sale serendipitous find.
Richardson Rome, 1902-1981, was an American artist from Minnesota whose work has been offered at auctions with prices ranging from 35 to nearly 600 dollars, depending on the size of the work and the medium. Because Rome was an artist, an engraver, an etcher and a block printer.
Listed in “Who’s Who in American Art,” his work represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City among others, “Dick” Rome was apparently most noted for his 1920s and 30s etchings and block prints of Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as his watercolors of Colorado landscapes. Best of all, he supposedly was an artist “vitally interested in all of the beauty of the West.”
As a kid who grew up in northern Virginia with a cactus collection in my bedroom, I can relate. And I think it might be time for a fancier frame for this original southwestern art to better grace my retro adobe home. Maybe by Christmas, when I’ll unpack my plethora of prickly pear, roadrunner, and chili pepper ornaments…because when it comes to red and green as quintessential Christmas colors, it’s not about prickly pear. The official New Mexico State inquiry is all about peppers as in, do you want red or green hatch chiles?
And if you’re wondering if my love of roadrunners features in my Other Worldly novels, look no further than book six, Altogether Alien, published in 2023. Therein you can travel to an ethereal desert planet in the Pleiades to engage with cheeky roadrunners who, it turns out, are altogether alien. You might also visit some iconic landmarks in northern New Mexico as well. Though back in 2023, I had no earthly idea I’d be moving to the Land of Enchantment in just two years. Quite the serendipitous turn of events. Beep! Beep!