Alamogordo - Organic Southwestern Style Turquoise, Pewter, Sterling, and Handmade Glass Southwestern Necklace

Description

I lived in Alamogordo, New Mexico, from the time I entered junior high until I graduated high school in 1978. I hated every minute of it.

Alamogordo is not the New Mexico you see romanticized in the travel magazines or the southwestern home decor books. It is not artsy Santa Fe, or sophisticated Taos . It's a little hick town in the middle of the desert. There was no culture, there was no entertainment; there was just a big, steaming pile of Nothing To Do. They didn't even have a McDonald's until long after I had moved away. Nowadays I would consider that an plus, but to a revved up teenager who's heart (and family roots) were in New York City, this was an intolerable situation.

Starting when I was 16 years old, I had what was considered the primo job in town - working at the car wash. This was considered the primo job because, even though we were only being paid $2.13 an hour, overtime included, it was about the only place that you could actually get more than 20 hours a week. It was also a job where you could work on your tan and earn money at the same time, since the work was conducted entirely outdoors. (We didn't know tanning was bad for us back then!)

We all loved when a thunderstorm would pass through, because it usually meant an hour or so of getting paid to sit inside and drink Cokes while the manager, Sonny, tried to decide if it was going to clear up, or if he should send us home for the day.

Inevitably, the sky would clear up and turn an incredible shade of turquoise, and we'd go back to work. But the intensity of the color of the sky after those thunderstorms is something I have never seen in any of the many places I have lived since. My "'Alamogordo" necklace is meant to represent the color of those post-storm skies, combined with the sage coloring of what little vegetation there was in the surrounding desert - mostly cacti and scrubby grasses.

This necklace is a showpiece. A heavy chunk of wonderfully veined turquoise is set off by the mellow glow of pewter accents, and just enough sage green hand crafted glass from India. A sterling rope chain and sterling clasp complete the piece, which measures approximately 19 inches/48.26 centimeters.

Added on Nov 21, 2009

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