Deming, New Mexico: More Excitement Than I Bargained For

Know what I found in Deming? Death and terror.

That sounds worse than it was. I started the day in Mountain View Cemetery, which has to be better than ending it there. (Ba da bum.) I love cemeteries, all those lives memorialized, so much history to wonder about – babies and old people and everyone in between.

Plus, my God, I needed to get off my ass and walk. And walk I did, past headstones:

Dominguez

And memorial benches:

Ruiz

I would have stayed longer, but I had to pee. And there was a winery on the agenda. Someone’s flowerpots had tipped over, so I righted them, then walking back to the car I was joined by this guy:

Tell me this wasn’t an omen.

And that this wasn’t either:

And He’s kicked little god’s ass right out of town.

Seeking more comforting environs, I moved on to the Luna Rossa Winery. (I’d like to point out it was 12:06 p.m. when I arrived, so no need to send me an AA brochure.)

I was the only customer there, so I had the staff  – a fun, smart woman named April – and the between-tasting crackers to myself.

I asked what else I should do while I was in town. April said, “Well, there’s nothing in Deming.” She was the first of three people to say that exact same thing, but I disagree. First off – a cemetery! And tarantulas! And free wine! (Okay, not exactly free, since I bought a very nice gewürztraminer and Shiraz. But still.)

But the day got even better when I found the odd and delightful Deming Luna Mimbres Museum (admission by donation). It’s at the armory, but don’t let the heavy artillery discourage you from going in:

Welcome!

There was much to see, with all kinds of collections including Indian artifacts, old photos, antique furnishings and art, geodes, a ceramic shoe collection, button hooks, old TVs and radios. (Button hooks!) They even recreated an old Deming street, with a row of dioramas and old cars.

There was apparently a sale on mannequins when the museum was putting the exhibits together, because they stuck one in every chance they got. Usually they were fun, in a goofy way:

Before cell phones, obviously.

The medical room was a highlight:

I don’t want to know what goes in that suction jar.

Get x-rays and your hair dried!

Anyone seen Ma Bates?

Here’s a charming recreation of a child in an iron lung, complete with a nurse with her fingers and glove torn off, presumably by the unhappy child as she was being stuffed into the contraption:

But here’s where the mannequins started getting creepy:

Aagh!

Or, quite simply, terrifying:

AAGH!

Thank God I had wine in the car.