... There was a lesson on tamale- and tortilla-making. Rosa, our teacher, hails from Michoacán, and is the wife of the overseer out here. She is so lovely and her chile sauce is out of this world regarding its depth of flavor. We made so many tamales and a small mountain of tortillas, and I plan to source some great masa back home so that I can practice and make my own. Rosa plucked these corn husks from her own garden.

Here was dinner, which included a spectacularly delicious salad of dandelion greens, roasted sweet potatoes and beets, candied pecans, fennel, orange segments, dried cherries, pecorino and an incredible vinaigrette crafted from reduced balsamic, Prosecco, fresh orange juice and a million herbs.

Our main was a short rib ragù atop fettuccine. I told y'all we'd eat well!

This morning there were petroglyphs, dating from the 1400s or later and assumed to have been crafted by Comanche tribe members. Most were of animals, presumably those they hunted. To get to these, we drove to a part of the ranch we'd not yet explored -part of the Llano Estacado- forded a shallow river and hightailed it by enormous slabs of layered rock under and between which rattlesnakes could definitely be staying cool. I'm sure I looked like a prancing ninny, but having been told two days ago of a six-footer having been seen recently and just this morning hearing about it being tarantula season, I'd have walked to those glyphs on stilts if I'd had some. Can y'all imagine an effing six-foot rattlesnake?! Jesus h. I am not an overly fearful gal, but snakes and spiders are not creatures I wish to encounter at any time.

I made four small apple-pear pies -one for Rosa, one for the ranch owners who have been so generous in showing us around, two for us- and played with my adopted passel of kittens, deeply wishing I could bring them all home. I finally got to talk to the boys who begged me to return today. Tomorrow, boys, I promise! And so I'm off now, to shower and pack. There are tamales to be eaten, chile to be made, kittens to snuggle.