The new year begins

Sandy has wonderfully explained our constant head-games with the critters. Sophie just avoids me, Scooby Doo is getting settled into an acceptable pattern ... and Fifi played rattle-and-run again last night, but she didn't disturb me long. Maybe she'll get tired of it.

We continue to enjoy exploring Silver City and seeing anew what we've passed by before.

The snow after Christmas led us to spread lots of bird seed, with the reward of seeing birds in the early morning sun, like the curve-billed thrasher in the bottom pic.

The high altitude sun is warm when it's out, allowing street musicians to be playing against sunny walls and morning coffee clubs to be sunning themselves outside coffee shops. Silver City is listed at 5,900 feet, and I figured out from the National Geographic set of NM USGS quads on a CD that Beth got us for Christmas that our house is at about 6,350 feet (which explains why we get more moisture than they do downtown). So that sun is really nice when it's out!

Our little walk downtown also gave us a view of Big Ditch Park that we didn't see when we were there for the drumming and dancing event that we enjoyed so much in December. It's really a charming little pocket-strip park; it will be fun to follow it through the seasons!

And then, for the first time, we took a good look at a mural/sculpture on the back wall of a vegetarian deli in a complex that we've heard was once an auto dealership. Art everywhere; so exciting.

Next to that mural is Diane's Bakery, which we took a good look at and bought some scrumptious cranberry/walnut bread and will go down today and pick up our order of rye bread. Yummy!

Albertson's does specials on the first Wednesday of the month, a day when it also gives an additional 10% discount to folks 55 and over (which we BARELY qualify for, of course!), so we did a major buy there yesterday.

Last night we heard a speaker on coal-mining at the Silco Theatre and tonight we'll go there again to see flamenco dancers (with lap robes in hand this time ... brrr). Tomorrow night is an event we've been waiting for for months ... a performance at the Opera House in Piños Altos. We were fascinated with the building when we crashed the Mimbres Region Art Council annual meeting there in July and now we'll get to experience it! The performer is Slaid Cleaves.

And, on the home front, we've made some decisions on how to get FeVa Fotos set up, which enables us to usefully place "stuff" that's still in boxes in the garage ... the pile is getting to be manageable. It also sets us up for the trip next week, when we'll be going to show and take pictures at the Bluff Balloon Festival. Then we'll arc over to Mancos, visit the house there, pick up the last "stuff" there and bring it back to Silver City.

Before then, our pics and interest in old Fort Bayard have gotten us invited to a private tour Friday with a historic preservation specialist and maybe involvement, via our photos, in the efforts to "save" the facility, whatever that turns out to mean.

Snow from the "blizzard" is almost gone, days are getting longer, the pool opens next week, we can sign up Friday for the Western Institute of Lifelong Learning courses ... life is good! tv