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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

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!

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

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

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?

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