Thursday, November 24, 2011

A year in the city





Well, it's actually a "Town," not a City. And we actually live in the County, just north of the Town. But that's close enough!

But it was a year ago yesterday that we moved to Silver City, nine months to the day after we saw the place for the first time on a southward escape from the snows of SW Colorado.

Ah, memories! That COLD morning when we started southward, like a caravan with the rental truck, rental car-hauler (carrying the "Radish") and rental trailer and the Jeep. I guess Mother Nature was blessing our move with a window of bright sunshine after a day of loading in snow and cold, evidence of which is all over the ground and roof in the lower picture.

The most direct route led us under overcast skies through downtown Fence Lake, urban Quemado and then, finally, the sun began to appear again as we got down into the canyons around Reserve.

And it's kept shining ... most of the time. Despite what locals called the worst winter they could remember, we found it to be pretty mild ... one "blizzard" of the magnitude we saw a couple of times a week in Mancos! Summer never got over a hundred degrees at the house; cool breezescome down from the Continental Divide in the evening and cool us off.

We still find the folks in Silver City to be very friendly and courteous. Sandy's gotten involved in Kiwanis and that has been very rewarding, especially their programs with young people. She's heading an effort to put Christmas lights on the gazebo in Gough Park and Town and business people have been VERY supportive and helpful!

There's an interesting choice of eateries and an amazing array of musical talent that's been available here through the year. The major events (Blues Festival and Pickamania!) are FREE and tickets for the other concerts are $10 to $25, less than we were used to paying in SW Colorado. Most of our regular shopping needs are easily met here in Silver City and an occasional trip to Las Cruces or Tucson gives us our "city fix."

A good year and years more of exploring to do! tv

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Oh, Lordy ... the time has flown!













I'm shamefully AWOL from this page, exactly like those bloggers I check periodically and wonder why they don't post more often. Shameful!

So, we did go to Shevek's ... very good Mediterranean food, beautifully served ... and pricey. Certainly adds another dimension to the Silver City eateries we've tried.

And a lot of the time since then (for me) has been spent on the road. I left on the 29th on a photo expedition that included a meeting in Washington, D.C., Halloween with grandkids and tracking an ancestor. Got back in time to go to a wedding in Tucson and a baby shower in Scottsdale ... and it's nice to be enjoying home in Silver City with Sandy and the critters!

It was a good time to travel ... sunny days almost all the time, except for a rainy morning east of Dallas on the way back.

It was still just after dawn as I was coming down into Hillsboro on the east side of the Black Range, with golden light highlighting the cottonwoods' fall foliage. Then there were miles and hours on I-25 and I-40. The next day, in Tennessee, I caught an early morning fisherman on a lake near a nuclear power plant and then some eastern woodland color among the roadside oaks.

Halloween was fun with the kids, after watching Lucas get Aiden ready while Noi worked on Nola Jane. The next morning I went with Noi and Aiden to his school, Evergreen Community Charter school and got a tour of the facility. Really impressed!

Back on the road again to SE Virginia, where my great-great-great-grandfather lived in the early 1800s. Among other things, Drayton Mills Curtis was a lock-keeper on the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which is now part of the Intracoastal Waterway, which many boaters travel up and down the East Coast. 'Twas a beautiful morning to be there!

On Nov. 3, I got to the Lincoln Memorial at dawn, walked the National Mall to Capitol Hill, visited my NM delegation offices and walked back to the Washington Plaza Hotel at Thomas Circle via the new Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial. The next day I could hardly move!

The Reflecting Pool is closed for repairs ... not a pretty sight. There were several groups in town, lobbying Congress not to cut AmeriCorps, etc. These RNs were at the MLK Memorial.

The rest of the time in DC was spent indoors at the annual meeting of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. I'll spare you the pictures of that!

I started back Sunday afternoon and the fall colors were beautiful along the George Washington Memorial Parkway as I headed west. Made it to Kingsport, TN, that night, on to Mount Pleasant, TX, the next and then longing for Sandy and home got me up early and 903 miles later I was home. West Texas sucks! (The river pic is on the Caney Fork River, off an I-40 bridge in Tennessee.)

I looked in on a job fair in Silver City after I got back (not hunting, just curious) and liked this sign in the parking lot.

So, sun's up and I have to open at Meeting today, so I think I'll leave it at that for now. Sandy's still healing, so life is good! tv