FeVaFotos

It's all gone!

2012-02-10T04:35:00.000-08:00

No pics, no frills, no distractions ... just the good news: Sandy's checkup at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale yesterday went A-OK! The mammogram was entirely negative ... no spots of cancer remaining anywhere. The surgeon discharged her, with the admonition to have annual mammograms ... like she would fail to do that after what she's gone through. The radiation oncologist is a little more cautious; he wants to see her every six months for five years. We can do that!

She beat it! tv

"This sure is an interesting town!"

2012-02-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

I think you've seen that quotation before; it's something a man said on the sidewalk as I was photographing a parade with Grannies, Wolves and Little Red Riding Hoods.

We just got back from the "Spayghetti and Neuterballs" fundraising dinner for the PuppyDog Ranch rescue service. Music was Rat Pack ... Sinatra, Martin, Prima, etc. No pics from that.

Friday morning we were out at Bayard, where Sandy gave Kiwanis Terrific Kids awards to elementary school students. It was neat to see the moms lined up with cameras to take pictures of the little Pre-K girls with their certificates!

In the afternoon, we sat in on the performance The Ragbirds (out of Ann Arbor, MI) put on for about 500 school kids. Good fun.

That evening, we went to the regular (adult) show The Ragbirds put on at the WNMU Fine Arts Center Theater. BUT, on the way, we first went downtown to see what was happening on this First Friday of February ... the theme was the Year of the Dragon and there were Chinese lion dancers! And they went to The Lion's Den, naturally. The drummer kept up, down steps and up a bumpy street, without ever missing a beat!

The concert itself was good fun, high energy. Now it's just nice to be home, processing the pictures! tv

Oh, my goodness ... how the time goes by!

2012-01-30T06:44:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful, sunny morning in Silver City, New Mexico! We are really appreciating the temperatures here, and lack of snow. Especially considering the 18 inches of snow our old home received in 24 hours recently!

year!

We've had a busy January! Probably the highlight was attending the Bluff Balloon Festival for the fourth straight year. Sandy has described in her blog our fry bread fare and the fun we had (as always) at the school's benefit fry bread dinner and performance.

The first year we went, the Sunday launch was out at Valley of the Gods. The roads were too bad to go out there the next two years, but this year we were able to go again. It was a fabulous, other-worldly experience!

We got out there before the balloonists and before the dawn light really hit. We were treated to about five minutes of out-of-this-world red-gold dawn glow on the sandstone cliffs and spires! We just stood there, with our mouths open and cameras pointing, at the stunning beauty surrounding us. It only lasted about five minutes, but it was five minutes in we shared that awesome beauty the Navajos describe in the Beauty Way:

In beauty may I walk.

All day long may I walk.

Through the returning seasons may I walk.

On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.

With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.

With dew about my feet may I walk.

With beauty may I walk.

With beauty before me, may I walk.

With beauty behind me, may I walk.

With beauty above me, may I walk.

With beauty below me, may I walk.

With beauty all around me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

It is finished in beauty.

It is finished in beauty"

And then we watched the balloons float through this beauty. The light wasn't as fantastic as it was in those first few minutes, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

After spending the morning frolicking in the desert, we didn't want to drive eight hours back to Silver City, so we went to Mancos via Hovenweep National Monument. We'd been there once before, on a very icy day. This was much nicer and we had a good hike around Little Ruin Canyon, including this shot of Square Tower ... a tower built in a canyon bottom. ?

A nice night at the Mesa Verde Motel, Sandy had her favorite BBQ sandwich at the Millwood ... and there was four inches of snow the next morning! On the way back from the MLK breakfast at the community center (lots of friends!), we enjoyed this snow-bedecked tree in the Bauer House yard.

The snow and slush was gone by the time we got to Shiprock, and we were glad to head back to warmer climes.

We've been busy planning ahead since then. Got a hitch put on the Mercury and got the Casita reshod with tires and did some more getting ready to go trailering. Now we need to locate a place that's a few hours away, warmer, with full hookups to give the new car-Casita combination a trial run. This also frees up the Jeep to put the bike rack back on, inflate the bike tires and oil the moving parts and do some biking!

After not being held last year, the Red Paint Powwow was held at WNMU and we attended one of the grand entries. Powerful and colorful! And fry bread! Hope we can take in more next year.

Sandy's Kiwanis Club does a lot for and with kids. Sandy got to do Terrific Kid awards at Hurley Elementary School. Hurley is a little (1,400 pop.) mining town east of here. She's enjoyed the school spirit and last Friday we got to go for the awards and also for the celebration of the school's getting an 'A' rating by the State of New Mexico. What a neat thing ... the town really supports the school and turned out to hold a parade to honor the school's educational achievement! If you don't think Hurley is a small town, note the midday traffic downtown!

And, yes, there's musical fun, too. Saturday night we treated ourselves to supper at the Buckhorn Saloon in Pinos Altos, where friends of ours were playing gypsy jazz! tv

I guess 2012 is here to stay!

2012-01-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

We're off tomorrow to Bluff, Utah, for the annual Bluff Balloon Festival. This will be our fourth year there and we're really looking forward to it. Will probably be posting a few pictures from there after we get back ... it promises to be clear, so maybe the Sunday flight will be out at Valley of the Gods!

In the meantime, we spent New Year's afternoon going where we hadn't gone before ... out to the "ghost town" of Mogollon, about 70 miles west of here. It was a good scouting trip ...there's lots to return to see and photograph.

On the way out, we saw a small herd of javelinas beside the highway. This one was grazing right beside the road. It looked up and, between the time I started to press the shutter button and the time the shutter actually clicked, s/he wheeled on its hind feet and started to scram. Dang, they're fast!

Anyway the town of Mogollon, which once numbered more than 1,500 souls, sits down in an east-west canyon, where the sun doesn't shine much in winter. 'Twas as cold as the picture indicates. A few people do live there, some in houses, some in converted vehicles, and there are a few seasonal businesses.

We did get up the winding, muddy road to the cemetery above the town, where the sun was still shining. Like the one above Kingston, it seems to ramble through the trees, without a clearly followed plan of organization. Many stories to wonder about, like this man who died at 20. Or Gordon I. Stahl, who was a little older when he died (24), and was buried with this cryptic, evocative legend:

"GORDON I. STAHL

1940 - HOLY WEEK - 1964

ARTIST - MUSICIAN - MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

BORN OUT OF TIME - DEEPLY RELIGIOUS

HE SOUGHT IN VAIN

TO BRING THE BEAUTY

HE EXPERIENCED TO OTHERS"

We'll definitely be back!

The scenes on the way back to U.S. 180 were equally beautiful in the evening sunset.

We enjoyed hosting our friends Jack and Lydia Munro from Austin, TX, as they returned from their trip to Arches and Monument Valley. Good times with good friends! And, of course, we enjoy the critters in the back yard, like the young buck nipping fruits off the cholla behind the house. Amazing that he could just lean into that prickly jungle to get what he wanted!

While our friends were here, we took them out to see Fort Bayard and also went through the military cemetery. Always something new there to see and wonder about. Sgt. Bowman was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on mutinous scouts during the Army's battles with the Apaches.

We also enjoyed the one-man show, "Tuck," as Randy Carr played the part of Dan Tucker, deputy sheriff here from 1877 to 1888. It was at the Seedboat Gallery theater, which is likely to be the site of lots more performances as the owners develop it.

We've signed up for our WILL classes for this semester ... the Western Institute of Lifelong Learning at WNMU is a wonderful way to expand our mental horizons! As is the brown-bag lunch series sponsored on second Mondays at the Silver City Museum. In the one shown, Professor Magdaleno Manzanares of WNMU gave an informative talk on how New Mexico, 100 years old this year, is so different from Arizona and Texas in terms of Latino participation in politics.

So, life is good in Silver City! We need moisture ... there perennial mantra of the Southwest ... but it can hold off till we get back from SE Utah! tv

Last post of 2011 (probably)

2011-12-28T06:40:00.000-08:00

It's so good to be home! We had a good visit with Sandy's daughter and her family in central Oklahoma, but it's always nice to get back to our own bed, own house, own animals, etc.

Leading up to Christmas, there was quite a lot of activity for Sandy and Tom. In addition to doing our Christmas letter and sending out cards, there was buying, wrapping and shipping presents. Some of the presents included baked goods ... I made a full batch of peppernuts (about five gallons) and eight loaves of stollen to send out or take with us.

Lots of music here a Christmas; we caught three groups at the Silver City Museum ... this is Gleemaiden, a group of young mothers who sing beautifully a cappella, with their kids at their feet.

The Kiwanis have an annual Christmas party, but you gotta wrap presents for patients at Fort Bayard before you get to eat and do the gift exchange. Fair enough; they do good work!

Sandy created quite a Christmasy corner around the tree, which the cats immediately adopted as their parking place, soaking up the warmth from the Christmas lights. Fifi and Sophie's tanning bed!

We took a different route to OK this time, one that we'll probably repeat. The fastest way is I-25 and I-40 ... boring! So, we went up through the Ruidoso area, spending the night in Clovis. We sidetripped to see Cloudcroft, including the Mexican Canyon Trestle and then the boardwalk in front of shops in downtown Cloudcroft. It was overcast up there, but clear most of the rest of Wednesday.

We had an easy day Wednesday, so we poked around Tularosa a bit. Liked this mission, St. Francis de Paula Franciscan Mission, founded in 1865, only 15 years after New Mexico became a territory of the U.S. A couple blocks east, we wandered into what looked like a bar, the Tulie Cantina, and had lunch in a beautiful dining area with a tree growing in an enclosed atrium and a menu that was surprising in its diversity and the imaginative variety of ingredients. Best stacked enchiladas I've ever had!

And, of course, the slaughter of the wrappings! A good family gathering for the opening of the packages, including Sandy, with coffee and Scooby!

While in OK, we went down to Shawnee on Christmas Day and saw "War Horse." Good movie, ended with applause from the audience.

We targeted Amarillo for our overnight on the way back; 'twas snowy and cold but didn't keep us from having a day-delayed 45th-month anniversary dinner at Outback, which was scrumptious. The weather cleared east of Oklahoma City and we really had pretty sunny weather all the way back, though there was a lot of snow around Hereford. Got in in time to pick up our mail and have a pleasant evening at home. tv

it's so dark ...

2011-12-13T05:44:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking I will be so glad when the sun begins to return northward in less than 10 days! The days seem so short ... so little time between dawn and sunset. So little time for the dog and cats to follow the sun through south-facing rooms!

On the other hand, it's the time of year to play around with soups and stews, seeing what unrepeatable combinations can be concocted from left-overs. And, of course, it's the annual get-it-together-for-Christmas time.

We've had snow, which has left us with some interesting effects on the street art, like the snowy top-knot on the iron man. We have gotten out for some other reasons, too. I went to the Wreaths Across America ceremony at Fort Bayard National Cemetery (one of two national cemeteries in New Mexico; the other is in Santa Fe). We've also been enjoying holiday concerts, especially the one by the Hi Lo Silvers ... they seem to have the kind of singing fun we enjoyed so much with the Mancos Valley Chorus and Kriss Larson.

On the 10th, we had a booth at the Holiday Arts and Crafts Show in the Silco Theater downtown, cosponsored by two art groups we belong to. We were located near the baked goods booth of the Grant County Art Guild and Sandy helped cover that booth, too. Not great sales, but I realized what a pleasure it is to talk about our pictures with people who come to the booth ... talking about a picture offers a vicarious revisit to the instant the photograph was made ... sharing the joy!

That same day, there was a Tamale Fiesta at the center of town, just a couple of blocks down the street from the art show. LOTS of people lined up at the tamale booths, entertained by these young mariachi musicians and their musical companions.

Packages and cards are beginning to go out, peppernuts are baked, stollen is on the agenda, tree goes up today ... Christmas is coming!!!

We'll leave the house in the care of the cats for Christmas (shudder!!!) and travel to Oklahoma with Scooby Doo, the dachshund. She hasn't traveled with us very much and she'll enjoy this ... she actually travels pretty well.

So, Merry Christmas to all and a safe and happy holiday season! tv

71

2011-12-04T07:52:00.000-08:00

Last year was the big year ... 70 is kind of a landmark birthday. Still, each year is a mile-marker and worth taking note of.

Sandy asked me at supper last night (1zer06 - "fusion" restaurant here in SC) what I wanted in the next year. My response was to have my 72nd birthday ... and lots more beyond. We had a dump of snow in the last couple of days, but it's going already; I shoveled 30 feet of sidewalk in less than five minutes ... I can handle that! For my physical condition, the move to Silver City has been good for me. I need to be more active, get more exercise, but this town is good for those opportunities. It's also a great place to enjoy being Sandy's partner in life and I hope we'll be doing things together for decades to come!

We got to enjoy the beautiful a capella finish to the community Christmas concert and then went out and joined the crowds awaiting the town Christmas parade. Sandy has really enjoyed the chance to be active in Kiwanis again and this is a very active, very positive group. A chance encounter in the pool with a neighbor who is part of the MainStreet organization led to Sandy's leading a Kiwanis project to get Christmas lights on the gazebo in Gough Park. Sandy got the cooperation of Town Parks, Ace Hardware and the SC Fire Department ... and it's happened! A wonderful thing to see and to know I share life with the person who made it happen!

So, the seasons come and go, gently in Silver City. The downtown area was slushy yesterday, and a dragonfly mounted on a gallery was snow-covered, but the sun came out in the late afternoon and gave beautiful light to the hillside behind the house.

Life is good! tv

A year in the city

2011-11-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

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

Oh, Lordy ... the time has flown!

2011-11-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

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

Winter signs

2011-10-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

The bucks have shreds of velvet hanging from their antlers and the juncos have started appearing at the bird feeder ... the seasons must be changing.

The nights are cooler for sleeping and the days are pleasant for walking in the sunshine. Last week we had breakfast at Vicki's, our favorite breakfast place, and then took about a six-block walk up Market, west a couple of blocks and then back up Texas to the car. SO much to see when you go slowly!

Like Gallery 400 and the FeVa Fotos partners reflected in a door next to Vicki's Eatery. Like the art filling a window space in the Daily Press building, with just about every facet of local culture incorporated into the tile borders of a lovely painting. Like the whimsical tile feathered serpent, done in tile on a stucco wall, next to a tile space-guy, next to a snake crawling over a drain. Like the corn maiden in the middle of a checkerboard design on the outside of a closed gallery. And the colorful view down Texas Street in the heart of the art district. Or the blue blooms in Molly Romolla's window box. The imprints of the past ... and of the present ... in the sidewalks. All this in a few blocks!

Later, we drove up to La Capilla, a community chapel from long ago that's been restored on a high knoll in the city. The spot offers a great panoramic view of Silver City to the north.

Saturday offered a chance to visit the next-to-last Silver City farmers market of the year. As we were approaching, we immediately recognized the delightfully lively sounds of Bayou Seco, our favorite silver-haired young musicians in the area. Jeannie and Ken just make such happy music! We didn't buy anything at the market, but it's always an enjoyable set of sights and sounds.

I'll miss the last market; I'm leaving Saturday morning on a driving trek to Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of Friends Committee on National Legislation. By driving, I get to have Halloween with Noi and her family in Swannanoa, NC, as well as to visit the Deep Creek, VA, area where my great-great-great-grandfather, Drayton Mills Curtis, settled and raised a family. The driving days will be long and the meeting days in D.C. will also be long, so Sandy's going to enjoy the peace and quiet of the animals and Silver City without me. Maybe next year we can do it together.

I want to get as much FeVa Fotos mileage out of the trip as possible, so I'm hoping for several photo opportunities, weather permitting. I especially want to get pictures of the new Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial on the Mall, along with shots of other Mall features (the Lincoln Memorial and the "Wall" especially, plus others), so I'm especially hoping for good weather on the 3rd, when I hope to walk the length of the Mall on my way to and from appointments on Capitol Hill. It would be great to get morning sun on the Lincoln Memorial and the Wall, and I think the MLK and WWII memorials face west.

A project along the way, which you may see reflected here, will be "A Slice of America." I'm aware of (and often comment on) the fact that various groups claiming to know what's best for America (the Tea Party, Quakers and others) don't "look like America." So, as I travel 2,000+ miles to D.C. via I-40 and 2,000+ miles back on I-20 and I-10, I'm going to take snapshots in public places (in D.C., too) showing crowds. I suspect the series will have a "Golden Arches" subtheme, because I will probably be stopping frequently at McDonald's for fluid exchange ("one black senior coffee to go, please, in my cup") and use their WiFi access. Let's see what America does look like, or at least those two slices of it!

The other photo project will be on the evening of Nov. 1 and morning of Nov. 2, as I explore the land where my ancestors lived and walked. DMC and his family lived on the east edge of the Great Dismal Swamp ... not a very inviting name, eh? I've never seen that area and so I've contacted folks at the historical society there and hope to do a quick tour of the relevant places, trying to capture photographically some of the essence of their land. I'll probably blog that, too.

Well, 'nuff fer now. Sun's about to come up. Got lots of preparing for the trip still to do ... got the car serviced, but need to clean it up; hope to pick up new spectacles in Las Cruces before I go; still got some planning for the meeting to do; plus things to wrap up here.

Today is our 43rd (month) anniversary and we're going to try Shevek's for supper tonight, one of the many eateries in Silver City that we haven't been to yet. I regret that I've let myself get distracted and forget a few of these anniversaries ... I'm grateful for each one with Sandy. Just as I love the morning ritual in a few minutes of getting her the first cup of coffee when she arises. Life is such a wonderful thing; we just have to remember to savor each moment of it! tv

Days are getting shorter

2011-10-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Trees on the hillside are silhouetted against the last light. We're past the equinox and seem to be rushing toward the equinox. Winter's coming, and that's okay.

We went up to Mancos a week ago, partly to meet the renters and check on the house, partly to get our aspen and snowy mountains fix. We went eastward over Emery Pass (lovely view across the Rio Grande Valley) and on up I-25 and U.S. 550 to Farmington, where we pigged out on "big city" stuff ... Outback and a movie in the multiplex. The late afternoon sunlight across Kutz Canyon and Angel Peak was beautiful with the storm clouds beyond.

Saturday we got a leisurely start and went up the La Plata Highway and then up La Plata Canyon. It was great to see the (freshly) snowy peaks above the tilled fields in the Breen area. When we got up to Hesperus, there was a biker riding up the road into the canyon ahead of us. Beautiful sunny morning in the fresh snow on the road, golden aspen leaves, dark conifers and snowy peaks under the blue sky. Okay, got THAT fix taken care of!

We lunched at the Kennebec Café, one of our favorite eateries in the area, before going on to Mancos. Sunday we went to meeting with Durango Friends and enjoyed (as always!) a Friends potluck with Friends old and new.

Mancos was actually kind of cold and chilly, but it was still good to look around, have supper at Arborena and then at Millwood Junction, plus breakfasts at the Bakery and coffee at Fahrenheit ... and to see numerous friends. The cemetery south of town, Cedar Grove, is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the Mancos Valley, as the deer will attest.

Anyway, we got back okay. Had to have a thermostat replaced in Mancos (Thank God for Gary M.!) and got a late start on the return, so we spent a night in Springerville, AZ, then finished the trip through Alpine and Luna, NM, the next morning.

We did a show at the American Legion Hall in Silver City last Saturday; got to offer some new local shots and some holiday cards, all of which were well-received. FeVa Fotos is beginning to get a presence in the area. Sandy is in a red sweater, standing in our booth under the MIA banner.

And, yes, we have fun, too! The top picture is of the Hi Lo Silvers, a community choral group that does several concerts annually. This one was Sunday afternoon at the Presbyterian Church.

We're getting some pictures ready for a Mimbres Region Arts Council show and getting more holiday cards ready; we have at least one more show ahead before Christmas.

I've been active in Gila Friends Meeting, opening the meeting place some Sundays and serving on the Ministry and Oversight Committee. I'm getting ready now to go to the Friends Committee on National Legislation annual meeting in Washington, D.C. I've decided to drive, so it will take a while.

I'm looking forward to being with Noi and Lucas and Aiden and Nola Jane on Halloween; that should be a hoot! Driving will also enable me to stop by the Great Dismal Swamp in SE Virginia.

What? That's not one of your top tourist destinations? Well, my great-great-great-grandfather Drayton Mills Curtis lived there 200 years ago and I'm looking forward to seeing the place where he walked and breathed. tv

Over the hump?

2011-10-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been busy! Maybe October will bring a slower pace? Not counting on it!

"Flat Aiden" has gone back to Asheville, NC, and the story of his travels in SW New Mexico will, I guess, be related next week in his second-grade classroom. Anyway, he covered a lot of ground while he was here, all within Grant County. He was in both the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds ... the Continental Divide is three miles west of here and seven miles north. Interesting to consider that water running off our roof here in Silver City eventually mixes with water running off Aiden's roof in Swannanoa, NC!

"Hot Dogs and More" is a weekly event run by the campus ministry at WNMU and this was the second time we've helped Kiwanis do the serving. Sandy is second-from-left in the serving line; it's a really pleasant opportunity to serve the campus community and its neighbors. They served several hundred people, mostly kids, and Sandy again commented on how polite and pleasant they were. It was a beautiful evening, too ... until the storm hit, right after everyone was done being served.

Saturday was another show, our second time to have our booth up in this area ... that's Sandy welcoming folks to FeVa Fotos. Closer, shorter and cooler than the Mimbres show and very pleasant overall. Good sales, too, maybe because Sandy had the idea of donating half the proceeds from the print sales to the Piños Altos VFD, which sponsored the October Fiesta as a fundraiser. They're also our fire department.

I love the mix of people shown by the servers outside the Opera House ... bikers, bicyclists, shoppers, servers and Apaches. Joe and Gloria have been with us at events for the last three weekends, so I asked them if they would pose with Aiden; turns out they've had three grandkids who participated in the "Flat Stanley" project and they were delighted to! They are of the Warm Springs Band of Chiricahua Apaches, living in Piños Altos. Lovely folks!

And last Sunday we caught the last hours of the Grant County Fair in Cliff, way over at the western edge of Grant County. The number and variety of preserves, vegetables and crafts reminded me of the Lincoln County, WI, fairs that I participated in in my youth. Lots of art projects by school classes, too.

Unfortunately, I didn't check the background when I photographed the calf roper waiting his turn ... it looks like he has a flagpole extending out of his head. What I was really looking at was the approaching storm, which hit a few minutes later.

And shortly after that, a couple of miles away, the Gila River was flowing its way toward the Colorado River in sunshine. tv

Fall's coming

2011-09-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

We've heard from folks in Mancos that the aspens are starting to turn color. We're hoping our trip up that way weekend after next will be well-timed to enjoy the fall color.

The weather here has been fine ... a little cooler, but with no rain lately, unfortunately. It's been good for outdoor activities and events, though. I took a WILL-sponsored (Western Institute of Lifelong Learning) tour of the Mattocks Site in the Mimbres Valley, a site that helped give me a better understanding the Mimbres prehistoric people. Morning glories go well with ancient sites!

I then met Sandy back at Fort Bayard to help prepare for Fort Bayard Days. The threatening sky behind the Commandant's House gave a dramatic picture. The next day, Friday, was full of 500+ kids from all over the area.

My grandson, Aiden Calhoun, was also there, as "Flat Aiden." He's in second grade in Swannanoa, NC, and he sent me a cutout of him to take around Silver City during his "visit." In the picture above, he's visiting with Paul the mountain man at Fort Bayard. Billy the Kid was at Fort Bayard, too; he grew up around here. In addition to a Zuni family that was there, there were Apaches, both in traditional and modern dress.

That same day, we also took him to enjoy the papier mache puppet figures prepared for the Gila River Fest ... Yoda and river otter and rotifers, etc.

A big recent event for the Grant County Art Guild, which we're members of, is the Purchase Prize Exhibit. Tom helped hang the exhibit (50 paintings from 23 SW New Mexico artists) and then assisted the judge (Susan Carlin, a portraitist from San Antonio, TX ... nice lady!). We took pictures at the reception and then Tom took more pictures at the workshop she did for 12 artists. There's a picture of the judge judging, the judge and the Best in Show winner ... and Tom's personal favorite.

After which came the Mimbres Valley Harvest Festival last Saturday ... the first time we've had a booth at an event in this area. Long, warm day, but good fun. About 40-50 vendors, alcohol-free, pleasant setting, good music and lots of visitors to gab with and get feedback on what they liked of our wares. So, we'll do it again this Saturday at the Piños Altos Fiesta ... 20 miles closer, 2 hours shorter and probably 10 degrees cooler! tv

Gettin' cooler

2011-09-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

I think maybe it's time to switch the system from "cool" to "warm!" Yesterday was an overcast day (rare, here) and it was kind of chilly.

We got to the gem and mineral show in Silver City ... lotsa rocks, lotsa rockhounds. Interesting, though.

I've reached the point where I put on my eyes and ears in the morning and take them off at night. The hearing aids are starting to buzz and beep, so I've sent them off for maintenance. And the glasses I got a few months ago don't fit right, so I've scheduled a new appointment in Las Cruces to get that fixed. Comes with getting old, I guess.

While we were in Deming to find an audiologist, we went by the Mountain View Cemetery there to photograph a couple of headstones. What interested me most was the series of little concrete plaques with "Desconocido" (Unknown or Stranger) inscribed on them. Not new, either. It appears they were burials that were relocated from an old cemetery in another part of town, ones that no longer had legible markers and, apparently, no records of who they were.

We were part of a VIP tour of Fort Bayard ... gave us a chance to see how much deterioration has occurred just since we started photographing the buildings last November. Sad! There's a big celebration this coming weekend - Fort Bayard Days - which promises to have kids' events, Buffalo Soldiers and other living history enactors. Should be interesting and fun to photograph.

And sometimes the most interesting living things downtown on Farmers Market day is a dog with beautiful eyes!

This weekend was one of the two big musical events for Silver City: Pickamania! Mainly bluegrass, some old (musicians and songs), some young (musicians and songs) and two beautiful afternoons of free music in Gough Park. How pleasant!

Two musical instruments were raffled and the picture is of the handcrafted mandolin, being held by Faye McCalmont, executive director of the Mimbres Region Arts Council. That's the organization that puts together the Blues Festival and Pickamania! and a dozen or more other, smaller events around the area and I can't heap enough praise on them! MRAC has been a key part of all the community development projects we can see that have taken place in the last 20 years or so ... art, music, public sculpture, school programs, youth-in-art programs ... you name it, they've done it (or are about to!). Wonderful group and they mobilize SO many volunteers to make things happen. tv

September Morn

2011-09-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

Dawn is just striking the hillside behind the house ... the birds are starting to come to the pool for a drink, then preening themselves, doing their morning wake-up activities.

And I'm realizing it's been a while since we checked in! One of the big days for us was a trip to Kingston and Hillsboro, on the east side of the Black Range and west of Truth or Consequences.

Someone had asked us to take pictures and measurements of the Percha Bank in Kingston, so it made a nice day trip (he's doing a scale model of the facade). While there, the owner came out and we got to visit with him and he took us inside. He said Kingston now has "20-odd residents, mostly odd," but it once was a city of 7,000, before the silver crash in the 1890s. The painting shows the size of the town in its glory. The vault was put in place, a little shelter was built around it, and then the bank was built around the vault and its housing!

There really isn't much to Kingston today; this is one of the main sidestreets! Virtue Street, which is on the other side of the main drag, does have paving for a block or two ... there used to be a bordello at the end of it.

Down in Hillsboro, we enjoyed the specials at the Barbershop Cafe (open three days a week in what appears to have been a saloon).

Our explorations led us to the windswept cemetery above Hillsboro, where I was deeply moved by the handprints and the wrench in this monument to "Dad."

There was also a monument to a Medal of Honor holder, a Buffalo Soldier from Iowa who went on to be a local resident and, allegedly, a member of a local outlaw gang. He had an interesting 60 years!

We visited again the old jail and courthouse, probably the most photographed buildings in Hillsboro.

On the way back, we also visited the cemetery above Kingston, where another soldier who was awarded a Medal of Honor in the Indian Wars is buried; this one was born in Ireland. This cemetery is sprawling under the trees and pretty much untended.

Back in Silver City, we got down to the Fiesta held by the Catholic Church (lots of activities for kids, including this roping bale).

It's chili roasting time and we've taken the plunge and gotten into it. This roaster was outside the food co-op. We've processed some fresh-roasted chilies and tried drying some ... not sure how that's going to work out!

Finally, we had a good time downtown last night at the First Friday event, was a tasting tour of 15 eateries. We made it to 11 and enjoyed all of them. Two we had never been to before and two we've only been to once before, so the goal of getting people to visit the downtown stores was accomplished with us. There was a good group playing music at the side of one of the stores and everybody was moving to the beat! tv

It's Mid-August already ...

2011-08-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

And the days just roll by!

We were commenting yesterday that the heat of summer is past and it really hasn't been bad. We had maybe six weeks of "hot" weather, with the daytime temperatures reaching the mid-90s, rarely hitting 100. In the evenings, it always cools down as the cool air flows down from the Continental Divide a few miles north of us. Now it's mid-80s during the day and it was 66 when I got up this morning. The "monsoons" (daily afternoon/evening showers) were late in arriving this year but once they started, everything greened up and cooled off. Very comfortable!

We have a long course of wound care ahead of us, but it's clear that the infection is gone and the dressing changes are only once a day now. Beth, the home health nurse, takes care of the dressing twice a week and her reports are consistently positive. So, good news, but still taking one day at a time.

Even at that, we do enjoy taking part in the many activities around the area. I just loved that old Studebaker Avanti at a car show a few weeks ago!

Tom was involved in getting news out and setting up for the Gila Friends Meeting's annual Hiroshima Peace Day Remembrance in Gough Park in Silver City. About two dozen people showed up and the event got good coverage, reminding us that we are still in the nuclear age and even peacetime uses carry hazards.

Tom also took in part of the public meeting Rep. Stevan Pierce held in Silver City ... he got quite a bit of push-back on his Tea Party stands!

Life in the backyard continues to be enjoyable. This brown towhee seemed indignant that I was taking his picture during his bath. The thrashers are still around, but not trying a third batch of eggs. The deer still come through regularly; bucks are still in velvet.

We're members of the Grant County Art Guild and we agreed jointly to take on the PR function, press releases and Facebook. It's had its frustrations, but we're getting on top of it. Our group had it's regular meeting recently, followed by a presentation for the members and the public by local artist and WNMU adjunct professor Judith Meyer.

Little short trips to neighboring communities have been fun and visually stimulating. We went to a fiesta in Santa Clara, to the east, and then west one afternoon to the little town of Gila. Their farmers market is in this painted building, next to brightly painted wall with colored adornments. The landscapes are beautiful, especially with the afternoon clouds over them. The post in the picture of the low water crossing, graduated in feet of water depth, is a reminder of flash floods!

Yesterday we enjoyed the tour and 145th birthday celebration of Fort Bayard, as well as hearing our favorite musical group, Bayou Seco, sing the "Tickle Song" at the Silver City Farmers Market. Plus, there was another, bigger car show downtown!

And finally, a bluebird at rest in the place of rest, Fort Bayard National Cemetery. TV

It's August already!

2011-08-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the monsoons are still bringing evening rains, thank goodness! The afternoon highs dip quickly, even when it's just overcast, and the evening temperatures go down to the low 70s or high 60s. Quite tolerable!

One of the joys that came with this house is a flowering tree, which I think is called a Bird of Paradise tree (Caesalpinina gilliesii). Even the smallest seedlings can support this gorgeous, complex bloom; this happens to be on a recumbent branch, so it looks like it's coming out of the grass.

The poorer news part (better covered in Sandy's blog: sfeutz.blogspot.com) is that Sandy's infection flared up again Wednesday a week ago. Temperature spiked, redness increased, etc. The doctor who did drained the abscess was on vacation. So, Sandy contacted Dr. Wasif at the Mayo, who did the partial mastectomy, and he said, "Come on down." We left early Thursday, Sandy was seen by Dr. Wasif shortly after noon, got an ultrasound (which showed widespread inflammation) and she was scheduled for surgery early Friday afternoon. Dr. Wasif basically reamed out the opening, clearing it of all dead tissue and leaving a cavity with fresh, raw surfaces so the healing can be uniform and unimpeded by dead tissue. The wound care problems is much bigger now, in terms of volume of cavity to care for, and will probably take longer, but the process is the same, the redness is gone, the fever is gone ... all signs are good!

Hence the pictures of the Mayo Clinic Hospital just off N. Scottsdale Road in North Phoenix, where Sandy lived on IV antibiotics from Friday afternoon till Monday morning. The facade of the building hides the really beautiful "Angel and Paul Harvey Atrium" ... the rest of the story. The view north to the mountains from the seventh floor ain't bad, either!

And what could be more glorious than to arrive on the morning of Sandy's discharge and be greeted by a profusion of big, beautiful cereus cactus blooms (which only last a few hours)? The grounds of the hospital are really beautiful, with flowers and succulents everywhere, palo verde trees shading the parking areas and volunteers driving electric carts to help you get between your parking space and the entrance to the hospital, which I greatly appreciated when it was aroung 110 degrees!

Yes, I have a thing for bugs in blooms!

So, we got home Monday evening to 30 degrees cooler temperatures than when we left Phoenix. We found the curve-billed thrasher nest empty ... we're being positive and assuming the last remaining fledgling was able to fly away in our absence, not be carried away by a predator. The thrashers are still around, but it doesn't look like they're going to go for a third clutch this summer.

We're really enjoying the wildlife right around the house. In addition to the deer and the roadrunners and the thrashers, there are lovely bugs, like the tiger swallowtail butterfly I saw on the tree out front yesterday.

Yesterday we took a little jaunt out to Mimbres for their farmers market (good peaches, squash and green beans) and stopped briefly to look into the Chino Mine, where Santa Rita, NM, used to be. To get a perspective on the size of the shovel on the other side of the mine, those are pickup trucks parked to the left of it.

Time for the morning wound care. Maybe we'll venture downtown for the First Friday music, shenanigans and pet parade this evening. tv

The monsoons, the monsoons ...

2011-07-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

Beautiful, noisy rain last night! We really needed the moisture; we'd had a few brief showers in the last couple of weeks, but this one was a good rain, hard at times but prolonged enough to create puddles and rivulets and do some soaking in.

I found a ridge the other day that offered a good view of Western New Mexico University (bottom pic) and of Gila Regional Medical Center, where Sandy spent a couple of nights. She developed an abscess which had to be surgically opened and drained. Mission accomplished; all is well and Nurse Tom is performing wound care at a standard approved by the home health care nurse. That home health care program is, in my opinion, the most cost-effective medical program we have in this country!

In the meantime, while I was home tending the furry beasts, I saw not one but two roadrunners come by. I wasn't quick on the shutter, so I only got one of them.

Today is our 40th month anniversary ... an event in my life for which I am deeply grateful. Think we'll start the day by going down to Vicki's for breakfast! tv

Been lazy

2011-07-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't posted in a while. It's not that we died; it's just that we have kind of been enjoying being at home and have had a few other distractions.

Silver City did survive the Fourth of July with little fireworks-caused damage. Governor Martinez apparently has bipartisan support for a bill in this fall's special legislative session that would allow counties and municipalities to ban ALL fireworks in drought condition; right now they can only ban aerial fireworks, leaving sparklers and cherry bombs, etc., to set the place alight.

We actually weren't here for much of the Fourth. We spent three mornings helping Sandy's Kiwanis club strip and shred brisket for their annual Fourth of July BBQ ... and then we had to take off for a quick trip to Oklahoma for a family emergency. Nice, hot, steamy central OK ... where, after seeing "Larry Crowne" in an air-conditioned theater in Shawnee, we came out to 109 degrees and high humidity. (This morning, at 7 a.m., it was 72 degrees in Silver City and 36% RH!)

Along the way, we stopped at an elaborate Texas rest stop complex on I-40 east of Amarillo and my twisted mind enjoyed this warning sign ... made me wonder if rattlesnakes can read!

Sandy's daughter has a gorgeous red rooster, which Sandy beautifully portrayed in her blog. I sorta liked the silliness of this head-on shot.

And, of course, we got our Braums fix ... a couple of times! We almost religiously hit the one in Amarillo (the furthest west one we have found) ... as well as the Outback on the west end of Amarillo. For those not familiar with Braums, think GOOD ice cream (and good hamburgers, too)!

On the way back, as we were increasingly appreciating the drier and higher air, we stopped at the Blue Pool in Santa Rosa, out on the high plains of eastern New Mexico. Right in the middle of steppe country, there's a water-filled hole in the earth that is a SCUBA-diving mecca! Probably felt REAL good in the 102-degree sunshine.

Meanwhile, at home in Silver City, the thrashers have hatched a second clutch of eggs in their nest in the cholla. They are very active in their search for bugs for themselves and their brood (I've noticed they also get seeds from the bird feeder) and they drink from the little rocked-in pool behind the house. The deer come regularly to that same pool and we see other critters there, too, such as the fence lizards, towhees and the flame skimmer shown hanging from a leaf.

Overhead, we've been reminded each of the last few days that it's still dry and still burning in the forests ... the Sikorsky Skycrane and several fixed wing tankers have been making regular trips over us to fight some small fires (less than 4,000 acres total) about 50 miles north of us, in the Gila Wilderness.

We just finished two days of sitting the Grant County Art Guild gallery in the historic Hearst Church, up in Piños Altos, seven miles north of here, just on the other side of the Continental Divide. It's about 10 degrees cooler up there! Not much activity, but a few families stopped by from Tucson, escaping the heat.

Sandy and I agreed to take on the PR and Facebook presentations for the art guild, and I'm working on publicity for the August 7 Hiroshima Day remembrance sponsored by the Gila Friends Meeting, so I've been busily building a data base of media outlets ... hearkening back to prior times.

We've got one more class of pre-beginning (kindergarten?) Spanish. We missed one and I admit I'm not doing well, but we are getting the basics of pronunciation and maybe that will help us read signs, etc., and begin to build vocabulary. Sandy is also finishing up a Geo-modeling class and I start one on the history of Libya this week. WILL (Western Institute of Life-long Learning) is a real asset for seniors in this community!

Weekend after next we'll be back in Mancos for Mancos Days. Really looking forward to seeing the Mancos Valley and it's people again! tv

Hot down here!

2011-06-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's not really too bad here, but it is getting up into the mid-90s during the day. Fortunately, it cools down 20-30 degrees at night. And it's not Phoenix or Tucson! I went to a relative's memorial service that was held in Tucson Friday morning. It was 108 there when I left midday Friday, 104 in Lordsburg mid-afternoon and 95 when I got home. So, I'm pretty happy to be living in the town of "four gentle seasons," as they say in promotions. We are starting to get some afternoon clouds, which help cool temperatures down. Waiting/praying for the monsoons to arrive!

We've done our first two weekends of tending the gallery at Piños Altos, which tends to be five degrees cooler because it's seven miles north, up over the Continental Divide at 7,000 feet. Not much action yet, but it's nice to be sitting the gallery and seeing a few shoppers. We've even sold a few cards.

Otherwise, we've been watching the house crocs, watching Congressman Steve Pearce in a public meeting and being watched by the curve-billed thrasher sitting the nest in the cholla behind the house. Every time I go out there, s/he is on the nest, giving me the evil eye. I'm expecting to see a new clutch of eggs, since I think they lost all of the first three.

Sandy found a bird-seed dispenser, which I've hung right outside the dining nook window. We get to watch black-chinned hummingbirds at their feeder and grosbeaks, jays and finches at their feeder ... and occasionally the yard-crew deer or a jackrabbit.

As you may know, we're on edge about actual and possible fires ... it's a tinderbox. It was nice, therefore, to see that citizens spontaneously picketed two big fireworks tents at Walmart and Food Basket. It apparently grew out of Facebook discussions, got attention from the media (and law enforcement) and quite a bit of support in the community. Albertson's was contemplating a similar outlet, decided against it. And, we hear this afternoon, the vendors being protested have decided that this is probably not the year to be peddling sparks in this community. Of course, there's many other sources of fireworks and it will still be a law enforcement challenge to suppress fireworks activity and a fire protection challenge to suppress any small fires that get started over the holiday weekend. tv

It's been a while ...

2011-06-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being tardy in tending to this blog ... can I blame it on the heat?

Well, it actually hasn't been that hot. We've had the AC on some days, but it hasn't gotten above the low 90s. Today was about 85 max and there was a little breeze, so it hasn't been too bad. Now YESTERDAY was wild ... not so hot but wind gusts in the 40=50 mph range!

Maybe it's the smoke from the fires; that's my excuse.

Noooo ... we've had some days with ruddy sunsets and a few days when we had an inversion that concentrated smoke from the Miller (nearby, just over the Continental Divide a few miles in the Gila drainage), Wallow (humongous, ca. 100 miles to the northwest and moving NE) and the Horseshoe Fire (further away in SE Arizona, pretty directly upwind from us) into our little basin.

So, I've just been lazy.

But we haven't.

We went to Ghost Ranch for the annual meeting of Quakers from the Four Corners states. Our keynote speaker was Niyonu Spann, addressing in words and song "Discernment: A Practice of Religious Truthfulness." We gathered in song ... with a little impromptu acting out of the words. The setting at Ghost Ranch is inspiring for us, as it was for Georgia O'Keeffe. I don't know the name of the little blonde girl, but I loved the fact that she's singing joyfully, even though both microphones are 6-12 inches above her head!

On the way home, we stopped to change drivers on I-25 south of Albuquerque and found a roadside memorial to Sofia Milovidova, who died there in 2006. First non-cross roadside memorial I've seen.

A life-and-death saga we've been watching from our breakfast table is a curve-billed thrasher nest in a cholla about 40 feet away. We've watched Ma and Pa Thrasher build the nest (they're indistinguishable) and then deposit three speckled blue eggs in it. After some days of sitting, there were little hatchlings (can't prove there were ever three). And then there was one ... and we noticed a strange cat starting to hang around. Thrashers have orange eyes, so they always look fierce and ferocious, and the nest is pretty well protected in the middle of the very spiny cholla. But, now Ma and Pa are sitting on any empty nest. I'm guessing the verdammte katze got the nestlings. Now to see if there will be a new clutch of eggs.

Saturday was our first day tending the art gallery in the historic Hearst Church in Piños Altos. William Randolph Hearst's dad, George Hearst, made some of his money in the mines there and his wife, Phoebe Hearst, supported the Methodist-Episcopal Church in that community. Anyway, it was a long day ... after "work," Sandy took me over to the Buckhorn Saloon for a wonderful Father's Day dinner of prime rib and then we went next door to the Opera House. The opener was an a capella group called GleeMaiden, four local moms who sing for (and sometimes with) their kids, followed by the Dixie Bee-Liners. This group out of Bristol, TN/VA, kept our toes constantly tapping! tv

Getting ready for Ghost Ranch

2011-06-07T04:34:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we pack up and head off for Ghost Ranch, returning Sunday. So, lots to do today ... the usual packing and preparing the house for our absence, finishing up the FeVa Fotos material we're going to take with to display (and hopefully sell) at Ghost Ranch and loading it, plus some work I still have to do for the FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) activities I'll be involved with at Yearly Meeting.

We're still impacted by ... and fearful of ... the fires raging to the west of us in Arizona; everything is tinder dry here. Night before last we got 20 drops of rain ... and along with it lightning that set off a number of small, local fires that were easily suppressed. It may be another month before the monsoons arrive.

In the meantime, life goes on. The "house croc" clambers over the walls and Mr. and Mrs. Curve-Billed Thrasher serve their nestlings ... all looking for bugs. Be well, all! tv

It's gettin' hotter ... and smokey!

2011-06-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

We're east and south of the Wallow Fire in eastern Arizona, but that's close enough to be getting a lot of smoke from it; some say they've seen ash falling in Silver City and there's bad air alerts in Albuquerque, 200 miles from the fire. The bottom picture shows the eerie sunset we had last night.

We always try to make the First Friday celebration downtown. This week that included Wally Lawder singing folk songs in the Silver City Museum yard, plus the young director of the MainStreet program on a mechanical bull downtown (the Silver City MainStreet program is 25 years old and just received national recognition).

We've been watching a pair of curve-billed thrashers build a nest in the cholla behind the house. The picture shows one egg and two hatchlings; today they're all hatched. Fun to watch this little family drama from our dining table!

This is the weekend of the Wild West Pro Rodeo, so we went out to the arena Thursday night. It was fun, pleasant temperature though a little dusty and windy. The light levels were low enough that we didn't get much in the way of photos, but we got a taste of another major area event.

Monday, we went out to the Memorial Day ceremonies at Fort Bayard National Cemetery ... very moving.

Sunday we finished up the Blues Festival ... very laid back, as you can see.

We've both noticed that Silver City is a very diverse community ... in public settings, like Walmart, the Blues Festival, the rodeo, etc. At the same time, organizations - clubs, churches, etc. - seem to be more self-segregated ... all-Hispanic or all non-Hispanic. There was a time, in the 50s and 60s, when local schools and some other facilities were segregated, so there's some remnant of those times, I guess.

We're looking forward to going up to Ghost Ranch Wednesday through Sunday morning for our annual Quaker retreat. Such a beautiful place to spend a few days with Friends young and old! TV

Home at last!

2011-05-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning, the early morning sun's rays have just hit the bank behind the house, bringing the blooming cholla to brilliance. Dachshund's beside me in the recliner, baroque music coming out of the laptop via Pandora and it's peaceful.

Last week seemed to go quickly. One thing we did was catch the "other" Heard Museum, the one in Scottsdale. In addition to the other artwork, I loved this sculpture of a woman and child, with a complementary Navajo rug behind. Unfortunately, I didn't the names of either of the artists.

We did do a little celebrating ... 37th-month anniversary lunch at P.F. Chang's and a great dine-out on the eve of Sandy's last treatment ... at Baskin Robbins!

On Friday, Sandy got her last zap, got the ring the bell that signifies completion of treatment, checked out of the Sleep Inn, where we've been treated so well, and cut a trail out of the Phoenix smog for home.

As we were hauling stuff in from the car, Sandy opened the drapes and called me over ... the cholla we've been watching bud and begin to bloom was in full glory - a brilliant welcome home!

The deer have all come by and we're watching the curve-billed thrashers patiently tend their nest in the cholla. It's hot here, but not like Phoenix, and the air is way better! So far, we've been fairly comfortable just by opening windows and letting the breeze blow through.

Yesterday we took some cards up to the Hearst Gallery in Piños Altos and then looked in on the Blues Festival, one of the two biggest events of the Silver City year. My god, what a crowd!

It's a free concert at Gough Park on the north end of downtown Silver City and there were thousands of people there! And it was hot, so we toured the booths, listened a bit and headed back to the coolness of the house. tv

Last week!

2011-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

I mean this IS the last week, though the pictures are from last week (as in the week past ... you know what I mean!).

We had a wonderful turn of events last week. Cacti we had been watching at the entrance to the Mayo Clinic hospital in Phoenix were getting readier and readier to bloom. So, we headed out a little early for the radiation one morning ... and there they were! A variety of cereus, I think, all in glorious bloom (second pic from bottom) ... and wilting by midday and gone the next day. What a thrill to see these beautiful, complex blooms!

Another day, when it was a little cooler, we went down to the Desert Botanical Gardens and had another wonderful day. The bee at the bottom is doing his pollinator business in a prickly pear blossom.

Sandy is holding up well (four more zaps to go) but it was good that it was a cool day. So much to see!

The naturalists of the breakfast table are now watching the blooms open on the cholla behind the house AND the curve-billed thrashers nesting in that cholla. We've watched them build the nest and now they're alternating sitting on the three eggs in the nest. Can't tell him from her, so this is "it."

Our weekends home between Phoenix stays always seem short, but this time we added some items. Saturday we helped at the Fort Bayard Open House in the afternoon; I liked the image of the lady walking the parade ground. That night, since the Rapture didn't occur, we went to the Seedboat Gallery, which has an outdoor enclosed courtyard, and listened to Gary Emerson's illustrated talk on "Our Magnificent Universe." And it WAS magnificent in terms of heavenly pictures, with the heavens above us, live music and artworks all around us. BUT, programs that start at 9 p.m. are a little late for us old folks ... we're still feeling it!

And in addition to the thrashers and the ants and the bees in and around the lovely cholla, deer come to drink next to it. And the mini-crocodile scampers away from it and onto the house!

Today we took the high road to Phoenix, through Mule Creek and Clifton and Safford and Globe. Just before we turned off on 70, out beyond Buckhorn, Sandy espied a herd of javelinas right beside the road. We did a quick u-turn and got to watch them run up a draw, where they crossed under the highway in a culvert and went on over the hill. TV

Over the hump

2011-05-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, we (finally) have a complaint about Mayo!

Not really, but we've been watching two cactus wrens build a nest in a paloverde tree in front of the Mayo Clinic hospital when Sandy is getting her radiation treatment, right where we park. We drive in and they flit in and out, industriously carrying twigs and growing the structure.

Granted, it's not in a cactus, where a proper cactus wren nest ought to be, and it's not a thing of beauty, incorporating pieces of gauze from (?) and tissues we learned were nabbed from the box at the valet stand in front of the hospital. But, they worked hard at it and it had a certain ... character.

We arrived this morning and the nest was gone. The birdies still bringing twigs and straws to the same paloverde tree, but there was nothing there ... nada.

I suppose there might have been a health hazard from some of the construction materials, and a marvel of architecture it was not, but we feel sympathy for the bird couple that worked so hard and so long. My hope and expectation is that they will rebuild ... and be allowed to be successful in their parenting efforts. They've sure tried hard enough!

Oh, and us? Sandy had number 13 of her scheduled 20 today, so we're at hump day on the week and well over the hump on the program! We wandered off to the Promenade mall (after lunch at the Village Inn on Free-Pie Wednesday) and safely parked among the BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus (Lexi?), Jaguars, Chryslers, etc. Nordstrom's Rack was our goal ... lotsa stuff in there, including what seemed an unusual number of guys shopping for clothes. It did occur to me that the clientele looked a little different than we're used to seeing at Walmart, as did the parking lot. Rain off and on through the afternoon and some wind. Cool day in Phoenix and we hope that moisture lasts till the clouds drift over Silver City! tv

Halfway there and going strong

2011-05-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Sandy's radiation treatments are half over. Her assessment with the doctor Thursday came up roses; everything's going fine! Two more weeks to go.

A schedule of driving over on Monday and returning on Friday is working out pretty well, except I have trouble remembering what time it is. Arizona doesn't go on daylight savings time, so it's an hour earlier in AZ than in NM, and we're going back and forth regularly. Come June it'll all settle down.

Our lodgings at the Sleep Inn in Scottsdale are fine - Sandy got a good rate, nice pool, we get the same room, facilities and breakfast are satisfactory, close to the Mayo, etc. - but it's always nice to get back to sleep in our own bed, with the windows open instead of processed air. The deer have ambled by, the resident jackrabbit just went down the slope and the birds are busy. I'm watching the dawn arrive beside the dog in the recliner, with a view of the birds on the slope behind the house.

At the base of the slope, there's a little rocked-in pond, with a waterfall. Next to that is a big cholla that we can see from the dining table. For weeks, I've been watching the buds form on the cholla. They grow, and grow, and grow. The bottom picture is how one set of buds looked before we left Monday morning. Actually, the bud clusters are fascinating for their symmetry and intricacy. The top picture is the three blossoms that had (finally) opened yesterday.

I've noticed that, as the buds were swelling, more and more ants were on the cholla. Yesterday we noticed that the curve-billed thrashers that hang around the little pool and the cholla were building a nest in the cholla. Aha! Mother Nature's plan is for the insect-eating thrasher to nest in the cholla at just the time when the cholla's natural cycle makes it most attractive to the bugs the birds eat! And we get to be appreciative spectators to the whole cycle.

We did venture out Tuesday to the north of Phoenix, ostensibly to get pictures of saguaro blossoms. Not having an extension ladder or a telescoping boom, we didn't get much! Maybe next week we'll find a location where we can get above the saguaro and shoot down into it.

We did enjoy exploring Carefree and Cave Creek, though, especially the latter. We wandered the galleries and shops, had a delightful lunch al fresco at the cantina shown (the photographer just inside the arch is the other half of FeVa Fotos) and enjoyed catching the sun on other cactus blooms.

The crown of yucca blooms is outside the Mayo Clinic hospital where Sandy's radiation treatments are done. Their landscaping is beautiful and there are succulents blooming everywhere.

So, the sun is up and I need to be, too. Today is get-ready-to-go-back-to-Phoenix day, plus meeting for worship, followed by a committee meeting. Plus mowing the lawn for the first time; Sandy got some trimming done on the roses yesterday. Life is good! tv

Four down, 16 to go

2011-05-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's Friday in Phoenix (and many other places, too). We're toward the end of week one of our radiation vacation.

We hit a speed bump in the road Monday, when the Dr. decided new measurements were needed, so no radiation that day. That was okay, but it put us off schedule on a program that was due to end just before Memorial Day. Fortunately, on Thursday, Dr. Wong offered to do a treatment on Saturday (tomorrow), since he's on call that day. Others on the Mayo staff told us later they've never heard of that being done before, so we're fortunate. We jumped at it; it makes it a short weekend, but we do get to pick up the dog and the mail and feed the cats and spend two nights in our own bed, plus we get back on schedule to finish by Memorial Day. So, all is good.

We used Monday to visit the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix. A delight! I think I was more impressed with the sculptures than with any museum I've been to before. A couple examples are shown. We were fortunate to take a tour with a very good interpreter; it was nice to see school groups touring the museum as well. Lunch in the Courtyard Café was delightful, too; a bowl of red gazpacho in a setting with shade, gentle breezes and the sound of trickling water.

One of the enjoyable things about the Heard is the inclusion of Indian art that is today and tomorrow, not a repetition of yesterday. The mudheads sliding down what appears to be a curved surfboard is an example.

Probably half of the pictures we're taking are of flowers. This one is an almost fluorescent cholla bloom, but many others are attracting our lenses, too.

Tuesday we started out to do flower photography north of Phoenix. But, it was already hot, and the light wasn't good, and there was a big mall we hadn't explored, and there was a cineplex with a movie we wanted to see ... so we wound up going to a movie ("Water for Elephants") at 10:30 a.m., lunching on popcorn and being totally on vacation.

We hit another mall this morning, the Promenade mall, right across N. Scottsdale Road from where we're staying. There's a free outdoor jazz performance there this evening, so we plan to go over for it, maybe have supper at Benihana beforehand. Last night, Cinco de Mayo, we walked over to Carlos O'Brien's ... it was a zoo. Glad we weren't out driving on "Drinko de Mayo!"

The SleepInn in Scottsdale is really working for us. We hit the pool every day for exercise, plus there's an exercise room. An adequate breakfast room (good early coffee is the main thing!) and a nice room at special rates for Mayo patients, all only 10 minutes' drive from the Mayo. Our home away from home for a month. tv

Tour of the Gila edition

2011-04-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

The Tour of the Gila is probably THE biggest event of the year in Silver City! Thousands of bike racers and bike racing fans pour into the town for this event. Residents are asked to open their homes and host bikers, which we will probably do next year.

There's five days of races. Wednesday they raced through the downtown area and then NW to the ghost town of Mogollon, over the Continental Divide (which US 180 crosses about three miles west of Silver City). That's only 73 miles ... a warm-up. The bikers start in categories, so you never see all 600 or so of them at once; the bottom two pictures show them in the downtown area.

Thursday we did the real deal. The "Fort Bayard Inner Loop" race starts at historic Fort Bayard about five miles east of SC and loops over the Continental Divide to Piños Altos to Lake Roberts, down through the Mimbres Valley and back to Fort Bayard ... 80 miles and more than a mile in elevation!

That's Fort Bayard in the background as the Men's Pro, 1 group takes off Thursday morning. Above that is another group of men at 7000 feet, approaching the Continental Divide, with Silver City in the background and Mexico over the distant hills.

One of the lady riders is caught with the Mimbres Valley in the background as she rides up the LOOONG grade out of Mimbres. And, finally, at the top, we have a duel at the Fort Bayard finish line as a challenger in one of the men's groups pours it on in an unsuccessful attempt to catch up with the leader, who only moments before had been a minute ahead of the next biker.

We're taking a day off today. They're SW of SC, riding around Tyrone and we didn't see any reason to get up early and haul our bods after them. These folks are like mushers; they want to be up and rolling early! Too early for us old folks!

Tomorrow should be fun photographically, though; it's the "Downtown Silver City Criterium" ... street racing in a rectangle in the downtown area. The official description says, "Course hazards include rough pavement and errant pedestrians." There's nine different groups, including the only chance for locals to race, so it'll be all day long.

Sunday is the "Gila Monster" ... "a 105.7 mile point-to-point road race with 9,131 feet of climbing and 8,252 feet of descent." Not sure how we'll handle that one, but it should be a challenge for the racers!

It's a glimpse into a different world for us. I've learned that "peloton" is the term for the grouping they ride in to cut down wind resistance. It's an in-group, where the pro racers know each other's race history, etc. This year we don't have the international status that brought Lance Armstrong to Silver City last year, but it's still a big event, with a number of foreign racers and many race teams. And they're ALL like Jack Spratt ... not an ounce of fat anywhere! And they creste the Continental Divide at 7000+ feet with ease, going faster at the end of the grade than I can ride on the level! tv

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:26:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update ... 'tis Easter and we are off to Meeting and then it's Westward Ho! to Phoenix. Parked the dog at Mis Amigos this morning, after which Sandy fixed a special Easter breakfast. We're only planning to be gone overnight, so not much packing to do ... easy trip.

Sandy will get measured and tattooed tomorrow in readiness for the radiation therapy that will start on May 2. We'll also look at a couple of housing options for May and then head on back to Silver City.

We got out stuff together for the Members Show at the Hearst Gallery in Piños Altos and took the pictures up there yesterday afternoon. Between that and filling the order from the Mesa Verde Museum Association, we sorta got back in the FeVa Fotos mode this week. With the usual irritation of cranky printers ... something to deal with when we get back.

In the morning, we went out to Fort Bayard to catch some spring pictures at the old facility. It isn't really spring there yet, but we did see some green grass and some flowers. And a lot of deterioration since we did a pretty comprehensive photo documentation of the major structures in December and January ... very sad to see the beautiful, historic empty building on Officers Row virtually abandoned. TV

Beautiful days

2011-04-20T06:00:00.001-07:00

The weather has been really beautiful here the last few days! Yesterday we had doors and windows open and it was sooo pleasant.

I hope readers of this blog have been following Sandy's blog at sfeutz.blogspot.com for updates on her condition. In brief, she went, she was seen and she is conquering cancer! The Mayo's analysis of the tissue samples showed four spots, each 1-2 mm, instead of the 1-2 centimeter spot previously identified. In other words, Sandy's cancer was barely Stage 1 and no hormonal or radiation therapy is called for!

She will have radiation, but it will only be for four weeks in May. We go back to the Mayo for an appointment Monday, April 25, and then the chemo will begin on May 2, be done May 27. Five days a week for four weeks. Wonderful prospects!

On the way over, we stopped and walked around downtown Globe, AZ, where I liked this juxtaposition of signs that seemed to be from a former era. A little further along, the ocotillo and cactus were in bloom, as well as around the Mayo buildings themselves.

Last Saturday I went with another Friend to the town of Palomas, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, just across the border. We were looking for ways in which Gila Friends Meeting could most effectively help the population there.

The dominant visual feature in Palomas today is The Wall ... a 10-foot high palisade of steel posts, shown here from the Palomas side. In addition to being ugly, it is (to me) an expensive exercise in futility. In addition to its ease to be topped by an ordinary extension ladder, walls have never worked ... the drug trade will continue as long as there is a demand in the U.S. and money to buy the products the cartels are selling.

However, there is a deeper story. There was almost no traffic at the port of entry. We walked over and back with no delays. The effect on the town has been devastating. There is widespread hunger; there are no jobs, as one of our contacts put it. There are unfinished mega-houses scattered around the town ... owned by members of a cartel that apparently doesn't have much of a presence in town, but the houses can't be sold or rented because the new occupants fear attack by members of a rival cartel. The high school kids we worked with on the playground project shown said that life is okay if you don't get involved in the drug trade ... or witness anything going down. The previous mayor was kidnapped and killed. It's not as bad as Juarez, to the east, but it's getting worse.

We enjoyed working with the high school kids on the slide and swings in one of the town parks. You have to pay to go to middle school and high school (250 pesos a month one student said ... about $21), so these kids come from more affluent families. After three hours of work, we were invited to the home of a high school science teacher for lunch. Interesting experience ... we appreciated the hospitality, but it wound up taking about two hours, while more propane was sought, etc. The chicken pieces, shoe-string potatoes, sweet white onions and whole jalapeño peppers were fried in about two inches of lard, so the chicken tasted a little like pork rinds.

One of the projects we saw involved making papercrete bricks the size of adobes. They're a mixture of newspapers and concrete ... very light, very insulative.

Most of the streets in Palomas are wide and dirt. I was impressed that every couple of blocks there were things for sale ... used clothes hanging on fences, little mom-and-pop stores, two ice cream bar vendors on bicycles. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive ... it has to be!

Back home, we're enjoying the first roses! I got a new pair of loppers yesterday at Ace Hardware ... the joy of lopping! The 10-foot bushes look lots better now. We had a lot of tip-frost from the episode of subzero temperatures we had this winter. The experience left me bleeding (didn't armor myself before doing battle with the roses), but it was nice to be outside. TV

Another week

2011-04-12T05:28:00.001-07:00

Boy, THAT'S a ho-hum caption, isn't it? ;-} Probly cuz I'm still waking up. Need coffee.

I'm feeling about as energetic as the two lazy critters in the bottom photo, who daily follow the path of the sun through the south-facing rooms.

So, after theater-in-the-round "Harvey" on Friday night, we enjoyed "Annie" in the packed auditorium-style theater at Western NM University on Sunday afternoon. Fifty humans and two dogs provided a great performance, much appreciated by an audience that included a lot of kids.

Was a bit startled yesterday to see the newscast on MSNBC suddenly switch to Merrill, WI, my home town, where there had been a tornado on Sunday. No deaths, thank goodness, but some injuries and a lot of damage.

Predawn light is beginning to show the hillside behind the house, so I guess morning is, indeed, arriving. In a couple of hours, we'll be off to Scottsdale for Sandy's post-op follow-up appointments tomorrow. It should be a leisurely drive through the desert mountains, hoping for more wildflowers than we saw in March. We seem to be about three weeks later than the Phoenix area in terms of Spring arriving, judging by the cholla buds just coming out here. tv

A little cool today

2011-04-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

... but it's snowing where we were a year ago! Hopefully we'll get some moisture out of this, but probably not much.

Mostly we have sun, which - as you can see in the bottom picture - Sophie and Scooby Doo take maximum advantage of!

Fruit trees are about midway, a couple are past their prime, a couple others are just coming in. Deer have been pruning the lilacs ... the blossoms must be especially tasty!

Buds are just showing on the cholla behind the house and on some of the prickly pear cacti out front. There were similar buds that I photographed on cacti in the Phoenix area about three weeks ago, so I guess here at 6,300 feet elevation on the north side of Silver City, our Spring is about three weeks later than Phoenix, at least this year.

I guess it's theater week for us. We went to see "Harvey" at the Seedboat Center for the Arts Theatre last night. The Seedboat is a gallery we like on Yankie Street and it has an enclosed courtyard with sculptures and other art placed around it. The theater has just been fixed up next door to the gallery, opening onto the same courtyard; I understand the theater can double as a recording studio, too.

The second picture from the bottom shows the performance area ... theater-in-the-square. It doesn't seat many, so it's quite an intimate setting. No problem hearing the actors!

The middle picture shows the courtyard during intermission ... outdoor on a pleasant evening, the moon overhead, art works here and there, plus good company. Really nice setting!

The casting was perfect; the characters were so well done! I don't know if this was The Ragin' Thespians Company's first performance, but I hope it won't be the last we'll see!

And tomorrow we go to see "Annie" at the WNMU theater. More on that later.

Next week we're off to the Mayo again; Sandy has appointments on Wednesday. That should end the uncertainty about treatments, etc. tv

Gettin' warm!

2011-04-03T17:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a quiet week, but with a few outings. It's a time of relaxing, catching up on bills, etc. We were in town while the local chapter of Great Old Broads for Wilderness had a sidewalk march in connection with recent deaths of Mexican grey wolves. The fellow on crutches is protesting the use of leg traps; he's dragging one.

On a lighter note was First Friday a couple nights ago, and it was the best we've seen yet. Lots of shops open and lots of activity in the streets, bringing people downtown. In addition to the stiltwalker, the band Yo, Paulie! played and the folks with batons were practicing for fire dancing when it got dark (by which time us oldies were gone home).

It's been unseasonably warm down here for a couple of days and today the wind came up, blowing hard from the SW.

Important but not of our doing, my first great grandchild was born yesterday afternoon. She's Jillian Ruth Hoppe, born to David and Diana Hoppe in Schenectady, NY. Jillian was born at 4:47 p.m. and was 20 inches long and weighed 8 lbs., 8 oz. at birth. All is well and David and Diana (and lots of relatives) are ecstatic!

For readers who are not family, my daughter Beth is David's mother. It was a delight for Sandy and I to be able to attend David and Diana's wedding at the end of May year before last in the Spokane area. He and his brother Chris are fine young men! David (28 in a couple of days) is a nuclear reactor operator in the Navy. tv

Been busy

2011-03-28T21:52:00.001-07:00

A few samples of what we've been up to. Resting at home a lot, but we did do some picture-taking things and this week is more down to business.

Early Saturday afternoon we went to Glenwood, NM, about 60 miles west of Silver City, for the annual Dutch Oven Cook-off. Great family event ... didn't see any drinking, no second-hand smoke, good time for kids. Some folks gussied up their cooking set-up and there were some beautiful dishes produced!

That night we took in the Slide (Ireland) show at WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre. Five lively young fellow from Ireland, who interacted well with the audience ... lots of clapping and cheering.

This morning we went back to the theater to see the same group interacting with hundreds of school kids. We are really impressed with the way the Mimbres Region Arts Council not only brings good groups like Slide (Ireland), but also adds an educational component to the visit. Visual arts and music are alive and well in Silver City! tv

Great way to begin Year Four!

2011-03-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

We're still recovering from being away for a week, the stress of the medical stuff, the reunion with the varmints (cat yowling at 4:50 a.m.!) and so on. Taking it slowly.

Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary, celebrated quietly at home. In the long run, the most important event was the phone call Sandy received from the Mayo: They got it all!

There were no cancer cells found in the marginal tissues around the section that was removed. That, with the discovery at the time of surgery that there was no involvement of the lymph nodes, means NO follow-up surgery will be needed, no mastectomy!!! Great news, a great relief.

They also moved up and consolidated our follow-up visit, so we go back to Scottsdale on the 12th for appointments on the 13th. This will only be a 3-day trip, instead of the 4-day planned earlier. At that time, we should learn definitively about what follow-up treatment will be needed, radiation and/or chemo.

Plus, we got word that the pictures we submitted to the Mesa Verde Association a year ago have finally been approved and we will be providing our keepsake photo cards to them for sale at the Mesa Verde National Park outlets. Nice plus for FeVa Fotos!

The sun is finally coming up, after a night with temperatures that approached freezing and it should be a beautiful day. And we have tickets for the Slide (Ireland) music show at the WNMU Fine Arts Theater tonight. Should be lively and fun! Life is such a good thing! tv

Our third anniversary!

2011-03-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Just a few words to say how deeply joyous I (Tom) am to have been married three years today to the woman shown above (Sandy). Even on the eve of surgery for breast cancer, she was out with me on photo safaris, experiencing the joy of the world around us and the photo opportunities it presents.

She helps me see the roses we are surrounded by and enjoy them from all angles. She fills in the gaps my poor brain has, pointing out things I'd never see or think of. We delight in sharing the cooking, seeing what new, never-to-be-repeated dishes the leftovers prompt to whoever's in the kitchen. We share the joy of finding new eateries, watching kids in parades down Bullard Street and the everyday antics of the three beasts that live with us, plus the deer herd that comes around to trim the grass.

We've covered tens of thousands of miles together in the old Jeep tin can on wheels, always seeing new things to share and remember.

I'm looking forward to many thousands of miles more together, Sandy, along with many thousands of photos taken together ... and millions of hugs and kisses. I love you, and am so glad you're part of my life! Tom

Good news!

2011-03-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sandy's lumpectomy went smoothly this morning and the surgeon said the lymph nodes show NO cancer! This is a great relief and bodes better for a quick recover. She will need to have radiation in about three weeks, but the chemo, which we had figured would surely be part of the picture, may not be necessary, depending on the analysis of what Dr. Wasif took out this morning. If so, we're ready, but that's a more positive outlook than we had been expecting. And the fact that it hasn't spread through the lymph system is wonderful!

Back to Silver City tomorrow; one day at a time. tv

Pre-op day

2011-03-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

'Twas a windy day yesterday, with rain most of the way back from Tucson to Mesa. But, we got to see cousin Karen English and had a good visit to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and we got back in time to dine at the nearbly Olive Garden before the lines started forming.

Today we get down to business. We have the morning off, so to speak, then an afternoon of tests and pre-op exams for Sandy at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. Tomorrow is the big day, so no food after midnight. Fortunately, she reports to the Mayo Hospital in north Phoenix at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow, so she won't go hungry for long. That means we're getting up at about 4 a.m., though! (Don't forget Sandy's blog, "One Day at a Time, With Gratitude," at sfeutz.blogspot.com.)

There were lots of photo opportunities at ASDM; it's beautifully laid out. Just a few were the business end of a barn owl, a sepia maze of cholla needles and a rather grumpy-looking male Anna's hummingbird, displaying his iridescent fringe. tv

Went to (and going to) the zoo, the zoo ...

2011-03-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

So, moving through the days till we do pre-ops on Tuesday and surgery on Wednesday, we've kept the room in Mesa ... a bit of a drive to the Mayos, but an excellent rate, good accommodations, close to a variety of good restaurants (McD to Outback and Red Lobster) and adjacent to the Superstition Springs Mall. And reservations are scarce in that area, a combination of spring training and spring break has motels packed. Restaurants typically have half-hour waits at 6 p.m.

Saturday we did the Phoenix Zoo. All day long. And it was a zoo! Families everywhere, having fun on spring break. The temperature was pretty comfortable, but these oldsters were pooped by the time we got back to our motel room. Faced with a half-hour wait at Olive Garden, we delighted in huge root beer floats at Baskin Robbins and slept the sleep of the ... frazzled.

Sunday morning we passed meeting with Friends at Tempe Quaker Meeting, then went to visit and have lunch with our Durango Friends, Bob and Nancy Dolphin, who winter at Friendship Village. They have wonderful buffet lunches there! Afterward, I felt like that fat prairie dog in the sun.

Then we joined 589, 365 other cars on I-10, heading for Tucson. We stopped briefly for our first Trader Joe's experience, then went on to my brother- and sister-in-law's place in NE Tucson. Sherrie gave us a tour of her latest encaustic art projects and we went to SE Tucson to dine with Mike and Beth and Abby and Karen. The oldsters were dead to the world by 9 again!

The tractor picture is just to show how old I am. The idea of tractors as playgrounds is a new one to me ... they were work implements when I was a kid!

The Sumatran tiger was clearly the star of our photo safari ... gorgeous! And we considered ourselves lucky to see the two koalas before they went home at the end of the month ... but they sleep most of the time!

Today we're heading for the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in SW Tucson and then back to Mesa and our motel room, probably to once again sleep the sleep of the frazzled. During the day, we should be pinning down our schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday.

More when we know it. tv

Been there, done that!

2011-03-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

No pics today, just update. Go to Sandy's blog for the inside story: sfeutz.blogspot.com.

You'll see this there, as well as here:

Dear All,

Without getting too Rumsfeldian, I'll just say it's a relief to have the fog of uncertainty parted at least a little and have the way ahead clearer.

We did our initial Mayo thing yesterday afternoon. Everyone was wonderfully gracious, helpful and on the same team, which is reassuring in itself. The key contact was, of course, the surgical oncologist (or is he an oncological surgeon?) Dr. Nabil Wasif. Pleasant, easy-to-understand and very good at laying out the situation. The initial meeting led to a hurry-up mammogram, which we were then able to discuss with him about an hour later and lay out what will happen next.

The point of the mammogram was to clear up his questions about what else may be in there besides the marginal cancer at the 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock margins of the sample removed in Silver City. Yesterday's views shows that there is calcification at each end of that sample that needs to be addressed, too. There is also the question of checking the nearby "sentinel lymph nodes" to see if there is any indication of the cancer spreading.

So, we are on track for Sandy to have a lumpectomy at the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix sometime Wednesday. Some preliminary steps will have to be taken the day before at the Scottsdale Clinic; we're also not sure of the timing on that. We're to be called Monday with the exact schedule. That leaves us a little uncertain as to how to play the next few days, but we've pretty much decided to stay in AZ, rather than trekking back and forth to Silver City. We came prepared to stay into next week and we'd rather be closer than five hours away. Today will be zoo day!

I think Dr. Wasif was very good about laying out options and risks. While this is not something there can be guarantees about, he was very clear that Sandy's chances are very good ... the lumpectomy has a good chance of taking care of the problem, and it leaves mastectomy as a fallback procedure if necessary. As I understand it, the lumpectomy will have to be followed by both radiation treatment and chemotherapy, but he was confident that both of those can be handled at the Cancer Center in Silver City.

In the end, both of us are glad we came to the Mayo and reassured that Sandy is in good hands!

Arizona, here we are!

2011-03-18T06:45:00.001-07:00

We made it!

Parked the dog at the Pet Palace and wandered out of Silver City mid-morning. MapQuest and the TomTom insist that the best way to get from Silver City to Mesa (where our motel is) is to go to I-10, take it through Tucson to Phoenix and then cross Phoenix. Blech!

So, we went out through Cliff and Buckhorn and then turned left toward Safford, AZ. Beautiful country, shorter in miles (which saves gas, as does not traveling at freeway speeds!), good road and very little traffic.

We were hoping for spring wildflowers, but that cold snap this winter and the dry spring have retarded the blooms. It wasn't till we crossed a divide southwest of Superior that we began to see blossoms. There was a kind of yellow poppy and some pinkish pentstemons and globe mallow growing in abundance along the roadside.

Actually, it's interesting to see all those thorny bushes and succulents preparing to bloom; it's easy to get distracted by the showy blossoms. For example, the stalks of the ocotillo are greening up with clusters of tiny leaves, but the thorns are ferocious! The armament on a barrel cactus is pretty formidable, too; no way to get through THAT defense!

Maybe when we return next week, the buds on the prickly pear and the cholla will be opened into showy blooms. We'll see.

In the meantime, we found our motel in Mesa (Thank you, TomTom!), which is right on the edge of the Superstitions Springs Mall. So, after getting our Outback fix last night, we got our exercise by doing a little reconnaissance tour of the mall.

Today is the big day. Sandy's first appointment at the Mayo is midday and we hope clarity about her cancer will emerge rapidly after that. At least, by the end of the day, we should have a clearer idea about the length of our stay and the agenda while we're here. We'll keep updates coming. tv

Morning of departure eve

2011-03-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's a bright sunny morning on our hillside north of Silver City and we're getting ready to trek westward to Scottsdale tomorrow for Sandy's appointment at the Mayo Clinic. It's kind of a trip into the unknown ... don't really know what will happen, what we'll find out, what will need to be done there, how long we'll be there ... all will be made known in due time.

In the meantime, the garbage is out and life goes on. Got the Jeep serviced for the trip (plus a little more rebuilding of the old 2003 Grand Cherokee Laredo with about 230,000 miles on it). Tax stuff is assembled, collated, conjugated, transmitted to accountant. PT exercises for neck and back occupy a boring half-hour twice a day. The Susan Love Breast Book finally arrived, so we can take that with to help translate what the doctors tell us ... and to read if we have trouble going to sleep.

The response to Sandy's blog (One Day at at Time, With Gratitude - sfeutz.blogspot.com) has been very gratify to her (and to me). She illustrates it well with snaps from around our life ... the deer, the forsythia, etc. Yesterday we saw the first open blossoms on a fruit tree in front of the house and leaf buds are opening all around us. Spring is rushing toward us!

We have done a couple of fun things. Saturday evening there was a cowboy concert at the Silco Theater ... that's Alan Chapman from Texas pictured.

Monday noon we sat in on the brown bag lunch program sponsored by the Silver City Museum. Yes, I love Bayou Seco! Jeanie and Ken are such a delight, always with a smile and a twinkle in their eyes and music to set your feet tapping. This program was about a Smithsonian traveling exhibit they worked on that featured New Mexico folk music. They started off with two tunes recorded in the 1920s from someone who lived in the Luna area, on the NM/AZ line west of here ... they sounded like something I would have heard in a country dance hall in northern Wisconsin in my youth. People took their musical talents and traditions and modified them in new surroundings, like the violin they showed that was made in Santa Fe ... by a Swede!

Okay, time to get crackin' on the day; lots to do. We're going to go a sort of back route tomorrow, through Safford, AZ, on the way to Scottsdale. Haven't ever been there before, but it looks more interesting than I-10 traffic! tv

Taxes and Other Fun Activities

2011-03-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

We have really been working on getting our taxes done. Which doesn't mean doing our taxes. It means assembling paperwork and putting together information so that it can be sent to our accountant and he can do our taxes. Our part was not easy. We had moved from Colorado to New Mexico. We still have boxes of paperwork, as well as other various and numerous items, that are filling about 1/3 of the garage. I am amazed! It looks like we found all of our records and are close to success. Yipee! I tried to find a few photos to insert in the blog to show that we do believe in the old saying about all work and no play. We have enjoyed the sunny warm weather and a few local events. I am braceing myself for the weeks ahead dealing with health issues but the forsythia bush bloomed this week. Is that a good sign? sf

Sandy's new blog

2011-03-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sandy has begun a blog of her battle with the invasive critters. She is SUCH a good, feeling, insightful writer; please visit her blog at sfeutz.blogspot.com "One Day at a Time, With Gratitude." tv

Onward

2011-03-10T15:24:00.001-08:00

Well, politics as usual around here, plus a fire, plus getting ready to go to the Mayo Clinic.

A big issue around here, as in Montezuma County, is the access plan being floated by the local national forest, in this case the Gila. The USFS preferred alternative would close some routes to motorized travel, ones that have been open in the past.

We looked in on a group of about 80 folks Friday evening who were in favor of the USFS proposal (bottom pic). The next morning the other side had their rally, led by US Rep. Stevan Pearce. As you can see, the parking lot was full ... an estimated 700+ attended that one, coming from as far as Albuquerque on the east and Reserve on the west, with a sizable turnout from regional Tea Party groups. Too bad our Congressman didn't appear in front of both groups, but he seems to stay in an echo chamber. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say there are dueling echo chambers.

It's a lot more fun to go hear Bayou Seco and the Fiddling Friends at Diane's Parlour on Fat Tuesday. Ken and Jeanie play wonderful, lively folk music from Louisiana and other places and they are like a kindly Grandpa and Grandma, introducing these young fiddlers to the joy of music and giving them a chance to perform in public.

A pile of garbage bags? Well, there was this grass fire. It started in all that dry grass left over from last year's lush summer SW of Silver City and 45-50 mph winds from the SW swept it along the southern border of the town Tuesday evening. They're still not calling it 100% out, but 1,700 acres were burned and about 60 structures (13 homes, I think) burned. The community is responding superbly, offering food, money and clothing for those who've lost their homes and belongings. That pile was at the Chamber of Commerce's visitor center yesterday afternoon. tv

First Friday in Downtown

2011-03-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

First Friday evenings in downtown Silver City are a fun place to be and we try to walk the art galleries and downtown when we have the chance. Here are a few of my favorite pics from last night. The tops of the colorful facades in the old downtown are the favorite hangouts for pigeons and not unlike the deer that visit us daily, I cannot resist pigeon shots when I should be focusing on the historic buildings. But I go where my lens leads me. . .sf

Ok Tom. . Me and the Big C

2011-03-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

Actually it was(is) not that big a spot of "C" and most of it is gone as of my second biopsy last Tuesday. First of all my apologies to those of you who are good friends that I have not told personally. I thought that I am tough and I can just quietly get through this without sharing the burden with others. Of course, Tom was going through the last month of tests and waiting, and more tests and more waiting so he was having to share the bad days as I waited for diagnosis with me. And then I talked to my sister Vel about it because she is a kind heart and I knew that she would make me laugh. She did. And my brother Leslie who has spent his life in cancer research and I knew he could give me good answers to my questions. He did. And then I woke up one morning and realized I wanted to continue doing some of the things I am truly enjoying with some of the people that I like being with and that they needed to know. And that by sharing my diagnosis with those in my life, there may be those who are reminded to have that neglected screening a little earlier and catch their own problem earlier instead of later. Lemonade from lemons? Yes, cancer is a bitter lemon and I know the next few months will be tough. But the good news is, hopefully to be confirmed by Mayo Clinic at my coming appointment, is that it is curable with additional surgery, chemo,and radiation. So I have invasive ductal carcinoma (breast cancer). I am not the first to fight this battle and, unfortunately, will not be the last. I think I am beyond the shock of going from a extremely healthy 68 year old to being an extremely healthy 68 year old with the exception of my left breast. So this is my story. I had told Tom that I would share it in a blog and it wasn't as easy as I thought. I am planning on setting up a separate blog prior to going to Mayo and starting treatment just to keep family and friends posted and once I have that done I will post the link here for those of you who would like to take the journey with me. This isn't my favorite blog post but I will share some beautiful flowers that came yesterday from good life friends in Newberry, Mi. and they will brighten this not so bright post. Hugs, Sandy

Waiting for Sandy ;-}

2011-03-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

I thought maybe Sandy was going to be the next to post on this blog, but time and the river run on ... ;-}

We took in the Caroline Herring concert at the Opera House in Piños Altos Saturday night. She's from Mississippi by way of Texas and Georgia, and shared a lot of insights she gained from doing folk music research in the rural areas of Mississippi.

She made a couple of comments about the altitude and needing oxygen (Slaid Cleaves made similar remarks). I learned later from a Mimbres Region Arts Council staffer that they actually do have an oxygen bottle backstage for performers who aren't used to the 7,000-foot elevation. Seems odd for me, having moved here from 7,200 feet. Good thing those folks aren't booking into Silverton, Telluride or Leadville!

Yesterday morning was the second session of my Western Institute of Lifelong Learning class on Landscaping with Native Plants. It was a field trip and we were allowed to bring friends, so my BFF Sandy and I had a nice walk around a section of Silver City that has several parks and parking lots landscaped with drought-tolerant plants, mostly native. It was a wonderfully warm morning and the explanations by Trish of Lone Mountain Nursery were very helpful.

Followed by lunch at the Curious Kumquat. I know, it's a strange name and we were a bit hesitant about it ... it's now our favorite lunch spot. Always good, and often with unusual combinations of ingredients. And the desserts are ALWAYS scrumptious (and usually VERY chocolatey).

By the time we got done with all of that, plus going to Albertson's to take advantage of the 10% discount they offer senior citizens on the first Wednesday of the month, we called it a day and stayed in to watch American Idol last night (instead of taking in a musical duo at Yankie Creek Coffee House and then trivia at Isaac's). After all, we're retired! tv

Thinking spring

2011-02-24T05:10:00.000-08:00

The weather has been nice lately, though down in the 20s at night. Time to think of what will be soon blooming, leafing out, etc.

I took my first WILL class yesterday - Western Institute of Lifelong Learning - it was on landscaping with native plants. Yesterday was slide show and tell; next week we'll actually look at real plants. I took it partly to know more about what's around us, partly to figure out if we can stabilize a crumbling bank behind the house. Looks like lots of options!

WILL also has noon-hour brown-bag lunch programs every Wednesday, so I also went to yesterday's, which was on three Silver City madams ... very popular subject; the room was packed.

There are little still life shots that I'm still discovering around me ... like the grasses in a tub against an adobe wall just up the hill from where we have Meeting on Sunday.

And the African violet blooms in the windowsill above the sink give me joy when they catch the bright morning sun! tv

Almost a year ...

2011-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

On February 23, Sandy and I first saw Silver City, NM. We were escaping snow in Mancos and we headed straight south on Monday, Feb. 22. We got as far as Truth or Consequences, NM, where it was snowing! The next morning, we set off across Emory Pass, which had about four inches of fresh snow on it, and headed into Silver City, where the fresh snow was already melting on the grass of lawns that already had some green underneath.

It's almost exactly a year now, and we went back across Emory Pass Saturday, but not in snow. We went to "Historic Forts Day" at the El Camino Real International Heritage Center, on I-25 south of Socorro, to see our friends at the Fort Bayard exhibits. Though there's still a little snow under the trees on north-facing slopes in the upper elevations of the Black Range, it was a sunny day on dry roads.

On the way back, we took a little side-trip into the old mining town of Kingston, NM. We had stopped in, and thoroughly enjoyed, Hillsboro, NM, on our first trip through the area a year ago, so this time we toured Kingston. It nestles in a little valley about five miles east of where the bottom panoramic late afternoon view from Emory Pass was taken. It apparently had a "colorful" past, hinted at by Virtue Street, and we'll have to return and explore it further.

The bell was cast in 1887 and has been used to alert Kingston residents ever since.

Today, we went to Las Cruces. I enticed Sandy by saying we'd lunch at P.F. Chang's. It wasn't till we got there that we realized we lunched at P.F. Chang's in El Paso, not Las Cruces. So, we went to Red Lobster instead!

Mall-crawled before lunch, hit Kohl's and Hobby Lobby afterward. On the way back, the officer at the Border Patrol stop on I-10 west of Las Cruces just wished us well as he waved us through ... no questions. Don't quite know how I feel about being obviously harmless! tv

It's spring?

2011-02-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Temperatures have been up in the 60s in the day and not freezing at night ... balmy spring weather. Some of us, however, are suspicious that a relapse into winter may still occur.

We haven't had a real active week. We've been watching the situation in Wisconsin and the unrest in the Middle East.

We did get to go through the Hearst Church in Piños Altos, where the Grant County Art Guild has its summer exhibit venue. We look forward to showing our works there.

It's called the Hearst Church because it received early financial support from Phoebe Hearst, wife of Sen. George Hearst and mother of Wm. Randolph Hearst. The elder Hearst had made some of his pile in the mines at Piños Altos.

And, on Valentine's Day, we enjoyed a delightful supper at BearMountain Lodge, a wonderful hideaway on the edge of Silver City, just dripping with art. (The food is good, too!)

We partook of the Wednesday night Chef's Surprise supper at the Curious Kumquat ... rapidly becoming one of our favorite eateries in Silver ... and then watched the trivia contest at Isaac's for a while. Can't believe how dumb I can be so fast!

And Thursday afternoon we caught the Four Shillings Short duo at the Silver City Public Library. They do a show they call "Around the world in 30 instruments," which brings a lot of little-seen or forgotten instruments out of the shadows, offers a little bit of history about them and shows how they sound in sprightly tunes from Ireland and elsewhere.

Tomorrow, if tonight's rain doesn't turn into snow, we're going to journey over the hills eastward to the Camino Real visitor center on I-25 and visit and support our friends from the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, who will have an exhibit on Fort Bayard there this weekend. tv

Fabulous Chocolate Fantasia!

2011-02-13T17:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Chocolate Fantasia in Silver City and what a fabulous fun day. The event involved most businesses in town, either with chocolate candies, live music, or special events. The weather was beautiful and we were on our feet about town from 11 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon! And then we headed for home and crashed! A lot of ramblin' for us senior folks but what fun! I think a good time was had by all. . I know it was by Tom and Sandy! sf

Brrr!

2011-02-07T05:14:00.001-08:00

We're gradually warming up, though a downturn in temperatures is predicted later this week. In the meantime, life goes on and the days are sunny and not too cold.

Wandering with camera often allows us to see humorous/strange situations and share them ... like a chair sitting on (thin) ice at Lake Roberts on our birdwatching trip!

Another happened-on picture is the one through the gateway of Hacienda Sur Luna, a fly-in residential development about a mile north of Columbus, NM, and thus about four miles north of the US/Mexico border at Palomas. I'll bet the border patrol keeps an eye on this place! We noticed another pilot-oriented subdivision in the Mimbres Valley when we went to Lake Roberts, but that one is separate lots and hangars around an airstrip, not an apartment-like, contiguous-walled development like the Hacienda. More on the Hacienda at hangarliving.vtchome.net/Hacienda.html and at findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5092/is_n5_v14/ai_9326431/pg_3/. The development is apparently at least 20 years old and looks like it hasn't taken off like the developer hoped it would. Border conditions probably didn't help.

Border conditions (and the recent shootings in Tucson) also contribute to the environment shown in the top picture, a state trooper standing watch outside an entrance to the Columbus room where the Congressmen were meeting. There were two troopers at that door and officers outside the front entrance, as well as 4-6 armed uniforms (sheriff's department, state troopers and Border Patrol) in the meeting room itself. tv

Bird Hunting-With Camera

2011-02-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

We had a great time early Saturday morning tagging along with some serious birdwatchers and doing an hour or so of photography at Lake Roberts, about an hours drive from Silver City. The day was cold and clear but a beautiful winter morning. Fortified with coffee, we were led to an area that will truly be a delight to come back to and find more photo opportunities in the future. sf

Is it spring yet?

2011-02-02T05:16:00.000-08:00

It's 13 degrees, with snow flurries in the air before dawn. Had about an inch on the ground off and on yesterday ... nothing to shovel, thank goodness!

We've been active, despite the snow. A friend asked us to photograph a march by the local chapter of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, marking the 10-year anniversary of the reintroduction of the Mexican Wolf. There were two "Grannies" and two "Red Riding Hoods" and several "wolves" chasing them. At one point, I was ahead of the parade, taking pictures, and a fellow walking down the sidewalk toward them commented to me, "This sure is an interesting town!" ;-}

Which is demonstrated again by the folks in the next picture, who showed up at an African drumming and dancing event in Big Ditch Park. Another pleasant afternoon of drumming, dancing, unique garb, face-painting, etc.

Last week I went to Hubbell Trading Post for a couple of days of meetings. On the way, I enjoyed a little picture taking at St. Anne's Catholic Mission at Klagetoh, AZ, and then, of course, visiting the old trading post again.

The top two pictures got reversed in order. The Gypsy jazz musical group, the Fishtank Ensemble, performed Saturday night at the university theater. We went with sister-in-law Sherrie Posternak and had a GREAT time! What live-wires! It was great to have Sherrie here for a couple of days, touring the galleries, etc.

The picture of the group was taken yesterday in Columbus, NM, three miles north of the US/Mexico border. Our Congressman, Steve Pearce, brought three of his colleagues (Rep. Phil Gingrey of GA, Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Rep. Ed Royce of CA) to tour the border in Pearce's district. We attended out of curiosity and to learn more about border issues. It was odd that there was no advance publicity about the the meeting, but the Tea Party folks seemed to know about it and turned out in force. More pics and comments are at www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=264077&id=579867778

Buds are forming, roses are sprouting leaves, birds are still at feeders but someone has reported hummingbirds around ... spring will come. TV

Where've we been?

2011-01-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

I just realized we've been off the blog an unconscionable length of time. It's true ... time flies when you're having fun!

We spent the weekend in Bluff and Mancos. This was the weekend for the 2011 Bluff Balloon Festival, so we went up Friday, stayed for the balloons on Saturday and Sunday, went to Mancos on Sunday and returned to Silver City last night with the last of our "stuff" that was still left at the Mancos house. Now to unload, return the U-Haul, pick up the dog and try to figure out where to stick the "stuff."

Back to Bluff. We realized that we really should have planned ahead earlier and come up on Thursday and stayed in Bluff. By the time we made reservations, everything in Bluff was sewed up, so we had to stay in Blanding, half an hour away. Also, we didn't get to see and photograph the ascensions on Friday. We both went out for an hour or so on Saturday morning, then spent the next hour setting up our booth for the arts and crafts show in the Bluff Community Center. Tom then went out for another hour of photography.

We have a new Epson Picturemate printer that does a great job of printing out 4x6 color prints, just the right size for our keepsake photo cards. So, we were able to print and assemble cards of balloons that had flown that very morning!

We were swamped! One pilot wanted a card of her balloon inflating for every member of her crew!

While it was GREAT to have such a positive response to our pictures and the cards, we were just not as prepared we'd like to have been. So, we learn.

We've already made our reservations in BLUFF for next year, and we will go up on Thursday, not Friday, so we can catch Friday morning's ascension. We'll have those photos ready to go and plenty of pre-printed backs for Saturday's show ... next year.

The chances of being bogged down in mud were too great again this year, so Sunday's flight was in the Bluff area, rather than Valley of the Gods, where it was two years ago. Still, the thrill of standing on Cemetery Hill, surrounded by colorful balloons and red-rock cliffs in the constantly shifting early morning light was wonderful! It was like being in the middle of a balloon rodeo, with a different picture opportunity in a different direction every second!

Well, we survived the excitement and headed for Mancos. 'Twas nice to have the apartment to fall into for the next two nights. We took in the MLK Breakfast at the Mancos Community Center, where we saw lots of Mancos friends. We got the U-Haul trailer loaded with the rest of the "stuff" in the afternoon and got an early start for the trip back on Tuesday. Sunny and uneventful all the way ... it's great to be home! tv

The new year begins

2011-01-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

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

Fifi,Shake, Rattle and Run

2011-01-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

Ever since our move to our new home in Silver City Tom has been plagued with the sleep disturbing habits of our three four legged house mates. It was either one animal or the other that was barking, meowing etc etc at early morning hours(I'm talking 3am or 4 am). I sleep much sounder than Tom so it has always been Tom that wakes and tends to whatever the problem be.Scooby-Doo and Sophie are settling into a proper nightime routine but the remaining nightime pet problem has been with Fifi and the door rattling trick that she had learned in the Mancos house. It involves sticking a paw under the closed bedroom door and rattling the door. Well, she discovered it works well in our and her new home also. Tom has in the past used the spray water bottle treatment to break other habits, such as climbing on kitchen cabinets so he decided that this would also work on the door rattling pesky cat. You know the old trick of kids ringing the doorbell and running? Now , after having been squirted with water a couple times, Fifi rattles the door and by the time Tom is there with the waterbottle to spray her there is no cat in sight when he opens the door. I would really like for Tom have a full nights sleep, but I think Fifi has outsmarted us on this game. I'm trying a throw rug under the door next so her paw won't fit under. We'll see how this goes! Meantime, afternoon naps are being had by all!

Birds of Winter

2010-12-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

Early morning good light and sunshine gave an opportunity to capture some photos of the birds that have been feeding in the back yard. The sunshine didn't last and it looks like 2010 will end in another snowstorm. We were out taking snow photos this morning and it looks like we might have another opportunity to do the same. The birds and wildlife around us are a pleasure to watch. We saw a large hawk this morning but I didn't get a good shot. So I will share the best of my bird photography for the day. sf

A Bit of Weather in Silver City

2010-12-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

To put it another way, we are having a heck of a snowstorm. Roads are closed going out of town and there are several accidents causing traffic problems. I know that our 4 wheel drive vehicles could get us around but since the other 10,000 residents aren't used to this kind of weather, I think we will just stay home. The repairman came yesterday to get the fireplace going and we are enjoying the cozy feel that a fireplace gives a room. I've taken a few pictures early this morning but should get some more. After living in Colorado, it seems strange where snow pictures are the unusual. I know many areas are going through much worse weather than this so I am not complaining. Stay warm everyone and A Happy New Year!!!

Interesting El Paso

2010-12-28T07:12:00.000-08:00

Our exploring extended all the way to El Paso. Checked out the mall but decided purchasing wasn't a good idea when one has a garage full of boxes to be unpacked. Had a wonderful lunch at PF Changs and went sightseeing in "The Golden Horseshoe" area of old downtown. We just made a quick trip through as the day was fleeting and we wanted to be home at a resonable hour. Interesting, that El Paso. . Will share a few photos from the old town area. .and then there is this interesting Giant Roadrunner Sculpture of sorts that sits along the highway on the New Mexico side which appears to be constructed of "stuff". Now there's an idea for those boxes in the garage! sf

I Did, I Did !

2010-12-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

I did post a blog about Christmas! With photos. Don't know where it has gone. So will just say we had a good holiday. . Not going to do a rewind and am on to the next blog! sf

The Many "Sides" of Silver City

2010-12-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

One of the intriguing things about Silver City is the variety in people and activities that are open to all who choose to participate. The Silver City Museum has had an interesting schedule of family oriented events which include music, book readings, children story times and socials with food. And yesterday we found this gathering in a well done river walk area with live music and spontaneous dance with spectators joining in. As well as this seems to be a haven for us older folks that enjoy a relaxed lifestyle, having a four year college here gives the community a sprinkling of young energy. We love the fact that the Arts Community is alive and growing here. And then there seems to be a core group of multi-generational families where Silver City has always been "home". Interesting and welcoming place, this Silver City. .

A Treasure Discovered

2010-12-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day of discovery. We set out to attend and photograph the wreath laying ceremony at Ft. Bayard National Cemetery , just a short distance from Silver City. The program there was moving, to say the least, with tributes to fallen and injured soldiers from all branches of the military service. The mild weather, blue skies and colorful jackets and Christmas wreaths made the photography a bonus. Beautiful music was provided by a local chorus group. They appropriately call themselves The Hi Lo Silvers. After the program we decided to spend sometime exploring the grounds of Ft. Bayard. What a beautiful setting! To me it had some of the same "feeling" as the well known Ghost Ranch retreat center. The many buildings are old, but appear well maintained for their age. Complete restoration of the complex was a vision that hangs there in my mind. As it has recently been vacated by a large health facility, it appears from what we have read that there are plans for future development, while preserving the historical nature of the area. The stately row of large two-story houses reminded me of southern influence. I think that Rhet Butler would be comfortable on the upper porches! Anyway, it was a treat to browse and enjoy the grounds. I am sharing a few of my favorite photos from the morning. This treasure has a beauty as it stands, but restoration and future uses could make it so very much more. sf

Pearl Harbor Remembered

2010-12-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

No,born in 1942, I don't remember Pearl Harbor Day. But this date brings to mind and I do remember two very significant people in my life, both of whom were adults on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

One is an amazing 92 year old lady who has a birthday on December 7th. Frieda has a sharp mind, lives independently and plays a mean game of cards. She has been such a joy to have in my life.

The other,deceased years ago, a distant step-relative, a colorful irish fellow that I didn't meet until his older years. Kelly was also in the military and his ship was in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. He is such an example of how war changes people forever. Kelly physically sealed the door on a ruptured chamber in the ship that he was on that day. It saved the ship and many others, but thereby cost the lives of those shipmates on the other side of the sealed door. Even after all the years, he still had nightmares about that day and what he had to do. Tears came to his eyes when he told the story as an old man. Yes, war changes people forever. This is just one story, one soldier, one battle.

I guess I remember both Frieda and Kelly for very different reasons this Pearl Harbor Day. Both are lessons learned.

Thoughtfully,
Sandy

Wow! Another month ... and decade.

2010-12-05T12:24:00.001-08:00

Lots has happened since last we blogged!

First, we've moved to Silver City, NM. We convoyed out of Mancos on Nov. 23, a day of sunlight 'midst days of cold and snow. 'Twas a long day, but we made it, pulling into our new driveway butt-sore and tired after dark. We found our "stuff" exceeded our vision, so had to delay a day and add another trailer to the convoy, still leaving a few items behind to pick up later.

We do have a resident herd of grounds-keepers that are usually through the yard twice a day. There's also quite a few birds and I've seen a black-tailed jackrabbit on the premises. There's still what seems like 350 boxes in the garage, but we're getting on top of it. We've got enough unpacked to be able to live reasonably comfortably. Sandy's done a great job of getting some of the flat art up around the house, so we're not just looking at bare walls. And, we've got all the utility systems more or less in order.

Silver City is full of activities as the holiday season begins. They have a horse-drawn trolley that was giving free rides up and down the main drag, Bullard Street. We were fortunate to be invited to Lorna and George's for Thanksgiving dinner with some mutual friends, and they also invited us to join them for dinner in the corner window at Isaac's on the evening of the Parade of Lights, which passed by right outside.

We've toured the galleries again and started getting a sense of how our photography might fit in. Pictured are two of Sandy's prints (second and third from left) as they are displayed in the Mimbres Region Arts Council's juried show in their gallery at the Wells Fargo Bank downtown.

There's lots of musical events during the Christmas season. Friday night we went to see and hear "Joy! 2010" at the university theater. This afternoon we're going to a chamber music concert at the Methodist Church. Last night we enjoyed a guitar-playing singer at the Buckhorn Saloon in Pinos Altos. Still to come is the concert by the Hi Lo Silvers, a group our realtor sings with.

Yesterday we went about 30 miles east of Silver City into the Mimbres Valley, on dirt roads and across the one-lane bridge in the foreground, to the Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch studio sale. Way at the end of a dusty trail in the middle of nowhere ... and the place was packed! There were about 30 artists with displays, plus music and food and drink, all on a beautiful December afternoon with temperatures in the low 60s.

Oh, about the decade thing ... yesterday I turned 70.

Drayton came down from Colorado Springs Friday, returning today. So, we got to go to Joy! with him, brunched at Isaac's, did the studio show (where Sandy snapped us standing in the entrance archway) and Sandy treated us to dinner at the Buckhorn, where a nice lady at the next table offered to immortalize the three of us!

In a way, this has been a momentous birthday for me, what with the move, the end of being a tour guide at Mesa Verde after more than 40 years, etc. And it's been a very good one. It's a joy to be here with Sandy, and we're both finding the community very friendly, very welcoming. I don't expect to be shoveling snow very much here and the sunny afternoons are warming. There's lots of cultural activities for us to share, and our photo bug juices really got flowing on the trip out to the art show yesterday ... so many places to explore and photograph at different times of the day, different seasons, etc. Life is SO good! tv

So, what's new?

2010-11-21T06:01:00.000-08:00

Packing and loading is what's new, plus a lot of other things. It's been a while. Sandy has been the superintendent of packing, and she's gotten us well ahead of the game. There's still a few odds and ends to tend to, but we were pretty ready when we picked up the truck in Durango yesterday and brought if back for three neighbors to help load yesterday afternoon. I should really say they loaded the truck, because I wasn't much help. Thank goodness for three strong backs, with one of them having a pretty good idea how to load a truck! We intend to finish off the project this afternoon ... there's a real possibility that not everything will go in the 26-foot truck, leaving us with a decision what to leave and where to put it, so the house can be rented (he says hopefully). We'll probably have to come back up, rent a U-Haul trailer and move the rest of the stuff down. That'll work out well in one way; we'll have had a chance to gnaw away at the first load before we bring down the rest. I have visions of a large pile of boxes in the garage for a while!

While Sandy was slaving away at packing, I went off to Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of the general committee of Friends Committee on National Legislation. Most of the time was spent inside one hotel in 14-hour days of meetings.

I did walk up Massachusetts Avenue one evening to have a quiet supper. On the way, I was reminded of how interesting DC can be, beyond the famous attractions ... little plaques and statues and shops and offices, etc. It's also an architectural hodge-podge, with strange juxtapositions of building styles. The quaint old structure in the bottom picture is one such, and then I noticed the sign ... it's an "I Am" sanctuary. I first met the I Am folks in San Antonio in 1959, when I was in the Army at Ft. Sam Houston. I was curious and met one of the folks ... they are the consequence of an experience in 1930, when a mining engineer met the ascended master, Saint Germain, on the slopes of Mount Shasta (www.saintgermainfoundation.org/).

Anyway, life went on and I didn't encounter them again till the Harmonic Convergence at Chaco Canyon in 1987, which an I Am leader from southern California attended. She wore a long white robe, drove a huge white Mercedes sedan (not commonplace at Chaco!) and was accompanied by a big white standard poodle.

And now I run across them again in DC! Seems like they enter my life every couple of decades. Let's see, the next encounter will be when I'm in my 90s!

Back to business. We honored our departing executive secretary, Joe Volk, who served us for 20 years, and greeting Diane Randall, who will be growing into his shoes.

Sunday afternoon we had a workshop on lobbying (our issue this year was the New START treaty, which looks dicey right now as far as Senate ratification) and Monday we went to the offices of our elected Congress persons. I walked the 2.5 miles from the Washington Plaza Hotel to Capitol Hill both days and enjoyed seeing Massachusetts Avenue up-close.

One of the incongruous sights, for me, was the "For Sale" sign on this tiny little dump, squeezed between two multi-storied buildings. It can't be more than 20 feet wide ... what in the world could you build in that space that would be cost-effective?!

Monday morning, on my way from the Cannon House Office Building to the Hart Senate Office Building, I ran across a rally in its formative stages. So, I stuck around to watch democracy in action! It was organized by Americans For Prosperity and there were about 100 participants, who had come from near and far to give the deficit and tax message to Congress. I thought it interesting that, while the recent election was supposedly about "jobs, jobs, jobs," none of the signs were about that subject. It also seemed unusual to see a hundred people in DC that included only one dark-skinned participant ... they didn't "look like America."

While many of my neighbors in the group were talking about hoping Michele Bachmann would come and address the group (she didn't arrive while I was there), they did get to hear from Sen. Jim DeMint (pictured) and Rep. Mike Pence and several newly-elected Representatives. DeMint said "no earmarks" and Pence said "no compromise."

One thing I found offensive ... the little girl perched on her daddy's shoulders to the right of and behind DeMint, holding a sign that says "Obama's bad" and on the sign is a picture of Obama with red horns pencilled on the top of his head. Enlisting one's little kids in demonizing the President is beyond the pale for me! tv

New Mexico Traveler

2010-11-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

In traveling the highway between Mancos and Silver City, this is the second time we have seen a man with a packhorse. I don't believe it was the same twosome on both sightings. It is a rather lonesome road between the two towns but some picturesque scenery and an occasional surprise such as horses and riders and wild animals such as the group of wild pigs we saw crossing the highway. So ugly they are cute! My only regret was that they are fast, and ran before I could get my camera turned on. It's always and interesting ride! sf

Moving, moving, moving ...

2010-11-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

Gee, it's wonderful to be retired ... and free of commitments! Saturday evening we went to the Millwood for dinner, and decided to go see our "new" house and check on utilities, etc.

So, Sunday morning early Sandy and Scooby Doo and Tom got in the "Radish" and headed south! Eight and a half hours later, a little butt-sore but having enjoyed a lovely trip down, we got to Silver City. Scooby Doo learned to use the doggy-door and the outdoor pen and thoroughly explored the house.

It was nice to see roses were still blooming in the yard, and the third one up, with the green door in the background, actually opened the next morning. What a nice greeting! The next pic up is the entry way at dawn Monday, and the top picture is the view out of that doorway at sunset Monday evening.

Scooby Doo and I talk a walk a block west and back on Monday morning; I was impressed with how quiet the area is! I've gotten used to the road noise here, but it was really peaceful there.

There were three stair-step deer in the yard, and we saw piñon jays and towhees come to the feeders after we put seed in them.

We got to the WNMU pool and had a nice swim Monday afternoon. It's bigger than the one at the Cortez Rec Ctr., but without the walking track, exercise room, resistance current, etc. We'll miss the Rec Center, but the pool will be good. In the evening, we had a gut-busting supper at the Buckhorn Saloon in Piños Altos, but did not stay for the Open Mic music; the bar was already filled.

We got an early start back on Tuesday. North on US 180, up in the evergreen forest, we came upon a herd of 10-12 javelinas alongside the road. Well, they were gone in several directions after the first bark from Wonder Dog! Anyway, those were the first we've seen (anywhere, ever, including Silver City). I was kind of surprised to see them up in the forest; I think they were more desert denizens.

Anyway, it was a good trip and I'm glad we made it. It was nice to spend two nights in our new home!

And tomorrow I need to be up about 4 a.m. so I can be at the La Plata County Airport in time to be on a 6:25 a.m. flight to, ultimately, Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of Friends National Committee on Legislation. Just hoping DC isn't as cold, wet and dreary as it was last year! In any case, I think I've got myself packed in the easiest way to get through security, notwithstanding the fact that a metal knee gets special attention anyway! Back Tuesday to help Sandy finish packing ... and then we load up and drive south! tv

Packing, packing, packing!

2010-11-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

Sandy knows how to organize packing and has it well under control! The place is starting to look empty ... except where the piles of boxes are.

We did take a break Thursday night to go to the historic Mancos Opera House for Michael Martin Murphey's concert. As you can see, there was a good turnout. We've heard him four times now, and I think this was his best concert.

We decided over supper to take another break and go to Silver City tomorrow. Why not? We're retired ... and free of all those club and organization commitments that we've had to plan around before. So, we'll go check on our "new" place, wake up in it, introduce the dog to it, unpack a few things we've already got at that end, etc. Never did such spontaneous things before I met my Sweetheart! tv

Times of change

2010-11-01T21:55:00.001-07:00

Had an afternoon tour of Mesa Verde today ... 21 folks from England on a train-themed tour. A little unusual in that it was late in the day (that's the bus arriving to pick me up at about 2:45 p.m.) and I got to be with the group from the time they arrived at the park until they left the park.

I first started giving guided tours at Mesa Verde. It was June 1966 ... 44 1/2 years ago. I've "told the story" in other places since then, but it felt good to have Mesa Verde be the site of the last tour I'll probably ever give, and this was it.

'Twas a cool but sunny, very clear late autumn afternoon and the sites were beautiful! The Cliff Palace shot was taken at about 5 p.m. and we're only about six weeks shy of the winter solstice, so it was illuminated almost as fully as it ever gets.

Back to packing tomorrow! tv

Home feels so good!

2010-10-27T05:21:00.001-07:00

We weren't on the road that long, but it's great to be back home in our own bed and house, with our own dog and cats. And waking to 25 degrees and snow on the mountains! We're definitely not in San Diego!

The trip back from the Sacramento area was a little quick, not much time for photography. Just pedal to the metal and drive.

However, we did cut up a side-canyon into the Canyonlands area north of Moab to catch the late-afternoon sun coming through the clouds and spotlighting golden cottonwoods in the canyon.

Anyway, we're home. Now, where were we? Oh, packing and getting ready to move to New Mexico! TV

Waking in Wendover

2010-10-26T06:03:00.001-07:00

Made it once again across the great, open, empty state of Nevada. We both agreed it was a nicer driving scene than going through endless LA!

We're in Wendover, Utah, should be home in our own bed tonight. It's been a good trip, but home is beckoning.

Some family pics attached. Saturday was Sandy's son Bob's 50th birthday. We showed up that day, which was pleasant but nothing special. Sunday morning we took Bob with us (Colleen faked miserable sick beautifully) to breakfast with Sandy's step-family, whom I hadn't met before (and vice versa). So, the bottom pic is, from left, Sandy Feutz, Curtis Feutz, Tina Feutz, Doug Feutz and the birthday boy, Bob Hughes.

In the next one up, Bob is coming back to the house (a little earlier than expected) after taking daughter Lyssa to buy cars and is getting the "Surprise!" yell. Bob's wife Colleen worked hard to make it a surprise, and it looks like she pulled it off!

Later, he had recovered enough for me to get a picture of Sandy between her two boys, Greg and Bob, and then with Bob sandwiched between Sandy and Colleen.

There was a big party with lots of people and good food, so it came off well.

We were thinking about taking US 50 across Nevada to Ely, but Greg advised us it was in poor condition, so we struck out on Old Reliable I-80 and that worked well. The temp got down to 31 degrees on the pass going to Truckee, and there was some snow on the ground, but it quickly warmed up to the mid-40s and stayed there the rest of the day ... except when it dipped down into the 30s and there was snow nearby before we came into Wendover.

Anyway, we got a room and went out to a buffet and I turned $5 into $11.10 in the slots (I never win anything at those) and came "home." Today we cross the salt flats and the sand flats and pick up the dog and breathe a big sigh of relief. Tomorrow we go back to getting ready to move! tv

On the road again ...

2010-10-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Where do the days go? Like the miles, they slip swiftly by!

We made it to Silver City safely and spent two nights in the Silver City RV Park, which is very nice and right downtown, handy to everything. We met the previous owners while doing the walk-through and they were very nice and helpful. After closing, we left the Casita and the Mountaineer (and about 20 boxes of books and other stuff) there ... leaving us feeling like we were traveling in a limo with just us and our luggage in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The trip down was beautiful! We had wondered about color in the "southland" ... there was lots of it. We came down through Quemado and south of there, toward Reserve, there were these beautiful stands of cottonwoods glowing bright gold in the river bottoms. Further on south, the leaves hadn't turned yet, so we have that to look forward to.

We went around Silver City tending to utilities, etc., and in every instance people were just as friendly and helpful as we could hope for. We tried breakfast at Vicki's, which was good. On our way out of town, we needed one last coffee for the road, so we stopped at a coffee shop we'd been looking at ... can't remember the name, but it has a porch overlooking Bullard on the west side) and got great made-as-you-wait fresh coffee and pastries.

Tuesday afternoon we trekked out to the Bear Mountain Lodge on the northwest edge of Silver City, where the folks who owned the Blue Dome Gallery in downtown SC have relocated ... what a peaceful, beautiful setting. And the art they are installing in and around this renovated facility is mind-blowing. We will for sure be going out there for brunches and other events once we are in residence! More about the lodge at: www.desertexposure.com/201010/201010_bear_mtn_reborn.php

By happy coincidence, we were in town the day entries were being accepted for the Mimbres Region Art Council's juried show. So, we joined online (we had crashed their annual meeting/party at the opera house in Pinos Altos the last time we were down) and each brought two large photographs. Wonder of wonders, all four were accepted! We couldn't be there for the reception, but the show will still be up when we get back before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, after our busy but thoroughly enjoyable fall days in Silver City, we got headed west before noon on Wednesday. Took a few minutes to tour downtown Lordsburg ... don't think we'll be finding many reasons to go there. "La Migra" seems to be the biggest industry there ... must have seen 30+ Border Patrol vehicles in the yard there. (We also got stopped at two temporary-permanent BP checkpoints on I-10 in California; they eyeballed us old gringos and waved us on.)

Tucson was 3 1/2 hours away and we found our motel and got our "Outback fix." Unfortunately, we also got an odd auditory alarm from inside the car a couple of times. Couldn't figure it out, and that didn't make me rest any easier. Checked the owners manual; nada. Went online for help; nada. Went to a Chrysler/Jeep dealership in the morning; nada after an hour or two. I've concluded the sound is coming from the TomTom GPS device ... some sort of intestinal problem it has that we haven't been able to decipher.

Onward. I-10 would be my candidate for an experimental highway with built-in automated driving controls ... get on, set the car for your destination and go to sleep, watch a movie, make love, etc. Boring!

Lunch in Yuma, taking advantage of Denny's 20 percent offer to AARP members, and into Sandy's brother's place in Poway before evening. Great supper and visiting with Les and Saskia and the four kids! A good night's sleep and then out for breakfast with Les and Saskia ... good chance to catch up on family history, etc., over good food and coffee. Did some errands and headed north.

There's a lot of cars in California! We didn't get rolling till about 11, but it was (for me) heavy traffic and often rainy as we worked our way through the urban areas and up the coast. We had set TomTom for Morro Bay, but we called it quits at Buellton/Solvang.

For one thing, we had headed out to the coast and stopped to get our "ocean fix" at Hobson State Park. It was fun to walk along the exposed rocks and sand and watch the surfers and wildlife in the water. I didn't realize till later that the surfer dude shown was sporting a white mustache! The blonde beach babes in their wet suits were just walking out with their surfboards as we were driving out of the park. Oh, well, I enjoyed watching the hermit crab!

We indulged in Solvang's Danish heritage with a so-so smorgasbord at the Red Viking, then turned in for a good night's sleep after all the driving in traffic.

Rainy, foggy, overcast the next morning. We went north a ways, then out to the ocean again and found a few spots of sunlight. Had breakfast in Pismo Beach, where we walked out on the boardwalk and watched surfers, including the water-photographer with his halo of foam.

We did finally get to Morro Bay and walked along the shore there for a while, watching the birds running back and forth with the surf. Liked the clouds piling up over the coastline to the north.

Inland through LOTS of vineyards and some other truck-farm planting, through the brown hills and canyons and into the Central Valley and the boredom of I-5. We did enjoy the sunshine for a while, after being fog- and rain-bound along the coast. But, by the time we reached Stockton and Sacramento, it was raining and trafficky again. We reached Bob and Colleen's at our ETA (LIKE that TomTom!) and were most happy to tuck it in with family! tv

Beginning the big adventure!

2010-10-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

We're off in a few hours to caravan to Silver City! I'll pull the Casita with the Jeep and Sandy will follow with the Mercury Mountaineer, both vehicles loaded with boxes of mostly books. We'll sleep in the Casita in an RV park in Silver City tonight and tomorrow night, while we do the closing, arrange for utility transfers, etc. Wednesday morning we'll park the Casita and the Merc at the new place, unload the Jeep, and head west, hoping to make Tucson that evening. The next night we should be at Leslie and Saskia's place in Poway, CA, giving us a chance to visit with Sandy's brother and his family.

From there, we intend to mosey along the coast for a day and spend the night in the Monterey area, then go inland to Sandy's son Bob's place in the Sacramento area. If we do that, this will be the first time in our tens of thousands of miles of driving together that we've been to either coast (not counting dabbling our toes in the Gulf at Corpus Christi).

After brief visits with family in the Sacramento area, we'll head back through Ely, NV, to the serious packing for the move.

We'll probably post pics along the way. tv

Winding down

2010-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Monday we head south for closing. Things are falling into place here.

I have one more tour of Mesa Verde to give, probably the last tour ever, after 44 1/2 years. Tuesday was an opportunity for a wonderful experience. Late in the season, when I was a seasonal ranger in 1966, I studied the wall abutments on the ground floor of Spruce Tree House. Tuesday, to clarify and better understand a feature we often interpret (interior decorations in plaster), I had the opportunity to visit a second-story room. Very different experience.

Perhaps the most intriguing of the features in the room is the white handprint. Someone, more than 800 years ago, put his or her left hand in some wet, white plaster, then pressed that hand against a red-plastered wall a few inches from the lower left corner of the doorway. What a personal touch! And there's another white left-hand print under the doorway and another white design at the lower right corner of the door.

In the picture at the top, the whole doorway can be seen. It sits in the middle of the wall, in an intricate plaster context. What is being learned, thanks to plaster conservation specialists from the University Museum in Pennsylvania, is that the wall was originally plastered white. Then it had a dado layer of red plaster applied up to a point midway up the doorway. There is also a horizontal floor band of white plaster applied over the red at the bottom of the wall. The top of the wall appears black because smoke and soot from a hearth on the other side of the room seems to have adhered to the white more than to the red, turning the upper half of the wall black.

In addition to the white plaster designs under the door sill, there is an interesting step-stone set in the wall under the sill and there are additional designs worked into the edge where the red overlaps the white. A series of three red triangles sticks up into the (formerly) white plaster. Like a train of marshmallows, a line of little white plaster dots runs up the hill, down the hill, etc. Except they originally looked red, because the little white dots had little red plaster caps on them, most of which have worn off.

Pretty fancy embellishment, right? According to the archeologist I was with, this appears to be a treatment found in upper rooms, not ground floor rooms. Why? Dunno.

The other two pictures show the view south from that decorated room and the view north. In the lower picture, you can see an original roof of a first-floor room that has been preserved. In the far right corner of that roof, there is a hatch through which a ladder would have extended, providing access from the ground floor to that second-story room.

In the other direction, a three-story room block is visible. There was a ground-floor line of rooms right below the camera that is gone now; it wouldn't have looked like a straight, three-story face. There would have been ladders going up onto the roofs of those ground-floor rooms, and then one could step into the second-story doorways. In addition, there would have been a ladder or ladders going up to a balcony supported on that row of poles, giving access to the low storage rooms on the third floor.

All that aside, this is a place that, in the 13th century, was alive with people who expressed their concepts of beauty in - and on - their architecture, as well as in pots, jewelry and other artifacts of living. And unraveling that story is an exercise in ongoing revelation! tv

Oh, my aching back!

2010-10-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

We've started to pack for the move ... books are heavy! Thought we'd get as many of those packed as we can carry down in the cars Monday, but I quickly discovered I need to keep the box-weights down!

We enjoyed a house concert by Lee Bartley at Burks and really had a good time. Got the other of his CDs and have been listening to it in the car.

Crew party at Pizza Hut last night for the ARAMARK tour guides; nice thought on Sara's part. Gotta get ready in a few minutes for what I expect to be my next-to-last tour ... ever!

Things are winding down. Last tour on Nov. 1. Last SWOS board meeting tomorrow. Switched e-mail addresses to fevafotos@gmail.com. Missed the last Artisans of Mancos meeting last night; we're outta there at the end of the month. Scrounging boxes here and there. Casting off books to the library. Sold a bed excess to our needs so we can pack into one room. Still hoping to sell, but have a contract with a rental agent to lease the place here. Brought the Casita down from Bauer Lake, so we're really kinda done with Bauer Lake; membership transfers at the end of the month. Etc., etc., etc.

On the bright side, we'll head down to Silver City Monday with two SUVs and the Casita in tow, plus everything that we can stuff into the vehicles. We'll camp in the RV park for a couple of nights till the closing takes place, then leave the Casita and the Mountaineer and sundry boxes at the new house and take off for California to see family. Maybe there'll still be some color in the southern mountains.

Time to go to work! tv

A Cozy Autumn Day

2010-10-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

The snow is dusting the mountain tops and the high country color is creeping into the valley. Cool fresh fall air and thankful feathered friends at the bird feeder. A cup of campbells soup for lunch. Yep, fall is here in Mancos Valley. A wonderful season to relish, despite having already received my first Christmas catalog. Back off, holidays! Let us enjoy the weather and the beauty of the fading summer and crispness of the breeze and the cozy evenings. If you notice the slideshow on the blog you can reflect on the many photos posted there of our journeys into the surrounding mountains. Autumn colors come and go too quickly, but are there to enjoy for the moment! sf

Sitting here with the dog beside me ...

2010-09-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

'Tis morning, with the sun still struggling to rise above the mountains to the east and kind of a gray, hazy look to the valley. The sky was brilliant with stars when Scooby Doo and I did our morning patrol at 5, listening to an owl in the distance. She's stretched alongside me in the recliner now, waiting to jump up and greet Sandy when she comes through the bedroom door.

The last week has been one of balloons, as the pictures show. It was the annual (6th, I think) Mancos Valley-Mesa Verde Country Balloon & Arts Festival and it was probably the best ever ... it's the only one I can remember in which the pilots were able to fly EVERY morning of the three-day event, and one even flew on Monday morning as well.

Sandy covered the launches from Boyle Park in town, and I hope she'll post some of her pictures from that angle. I went out to Humiston's hayfield on the south edge of Mancos and watched from there, then chased selected balloons.

The bottom picture is from Friday morning's inflation. That's Point Lookout, the northern prow of Mesa Verde, in the distance.

Next up is the Friday evening glow in Boyle Park, showing the eerie light around the basket when the burner is flared. Like a witches coven.

Saturday morning the Jack in the Box flew ... first time I've seen it fly. They dropped in on a neighbor to change passengers. I don't think Dick and Pat were expecting them for breakfast! ;-}

Last year, a pilot from England flew a balloon with two seats suspended below the bag ... no basket. This year, the Barnoskys from Cedaredge, CO, came down with a single-seater and the picture is of their teen-aged son Michael's first flight in it. Quite an experience! One implication of this is that it makes ballooning an accessible sport for wheelchair-bound folks. Jim Barnosky says there is a wheelchair pilot already flying.

"Fly Me to the Moon" just had to be the caption for the shot of Colin Graham's Heart balloon with the harvest moon in the background on Sunday.

And finally, at the top, it's just always a colorful event, with the green grass, blue sky and colorful balloons.

We were feeling the effects of three days of being out at 7 for inflations, followed by long, busy days and evening programs. Gettin' old! Still, it was a good weekend for Mancos and for all involved.

As we move our focus southward, we've agreed that the Four Corners is only an easy day's drive from Silver City; we enjoy the balloon festivals in Mancos and Bluff, Utah, so much, we'll probably be back for them.

Speaking of which, things are moving along for a closing around October 20 on the house in Silver City. We'll go down for that, probably taking the Casita and one of the vehicles down to leave there. Packing up is beginning, plus thinking about the logistics, sequencing, utilities, etc.

'Twould be nice to have this house under contract before the agreement with the realtor ends at the end of October, but it would be unwise to hold my breath for that. Guess I'll rent it after we've cleaned it out.

In the meantime, the fall color is reaching its peak in our area; we're hoping to get out and enjoy it tomorrow, maybe driving up to Silverton and back. tv