Silver City, New Mexico

Today the museum is aflurry with all the activity involved in getting a new exhibit up. The volunteers are coming this evening to get a first look at it (an honor!) as well as see the new greeters’ desk that one of the staff has just finished putting together. It was a surprise to me and I imagine will be to most of the other volunteers. It is definitely a more spacious surface, not to mention the storage.

The new exhibit will be about Chihuahua Hill, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Silver City. Our historian has taken dozens of oral histories from people who have lived in the neighborhood. Some of the history - as with our former exhibit about Arturo Flores and a 1950 zinc mine strike - is jaw dropping.

I can hardly wait even two hours to see it.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Yesterday the city reserved parking for a couple of blocks on Broadway and British flags appeared. What is happening, people were wondering.

What was happening was a show of British-made automobiles, some of them retro. What fun! One of my daughters has a Mini Cooper and although the upkeep is not cheap, she and her husband find driving it to be the most fun of any car they have ever had.

The weather is perfect. Last night I hiked up to the top of Chihuahua Hill and although the sunset was not showy, I did meet a man who has walked a very long pilgrimage in Spain more than once. Good to hear the stories which people from elsewhere bring - as well as the stories of people born and reared here.

I sat for a while with the sound ID of my new Merlin app on, and saw a bird or two identified that I could not even hear. Very strange.

I did the same on my porch this morning. All I heard was ravens far away, but the app heard a couple ordinary birds - a finch and a sparrow. I could not see them at all. Ironic - and kind of comical. It made me nostalgic for my time in a little house in Valparaiso, Indiana, which had so many birds singing and calling in the small-ponded yard outside that I could not stay inside. I wonder how many birds Merlin would have picked up then?

That was in May, though. I will see what happens next Spring.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Fall is unofficially here. The temperatures have been up into the low eighties during the day, but not for long. The Museum is readying for a new exhibit, so I hear banging and consultations emanating from the back.

Last night I had the best sleep I have had in months if not years. Maybe folks decided to rest up before weekend partying. 

COVID is still rearing its ugly head here, and so are the rumors about it. I just got the new vaccine (I think) but people are saying that certain druggists are lying to us and that some of us are only receiving the last edition yet again. The new one requires two shots, so I have to go back in four weeks.

Meanwhile, some people are considerately sequestering themselves because they have been exposed to the virus, which is considerate of them.

Recently I visited with relatives who talked about a family member who always included humor in his blog because he does not want to be boring. Is something boring because it does not contain a comical element?

I have read that what we laugh at is what causes us pain. Does that mean we are bored if we are not in pain? Does that mean we are all masochists??

Well, that was just a little whimsy on my part to try to evoke at least a little inner smirk. Real humor is not something I can guarantee in this very freestyle blahg. (Insert emoji smile here.)

Silver City, New Mexico 

Walgreens is giving the new COVID shots, which have a different biological mechanism than the old ones. These targets disable the proteins that latch on to our cells and infect us. (This is my general understanding, not Gospel scientific truth. Heh.) These new shots require two visits - one twenty-eight days after the other.

I just had one this morning and have not taken it easy since! I hope I will react as little as I have to every other immunization I have had in my life in spite of walking for miles today.

A glorious Fall day it is, almost the equinox. I wish I had a funny story to report. I do not, although people who have had to deal with me today might! The only odd thing about today is what has happened was so unexpected. Until yesterday I had a follow-up appointment with a doctor scheduled. Unfortunately he is ill, but since I had a free morning I thought I would do an errand or two. I was not planning on getting a shot, but is not unexpectedly the best way to do the necessary stuff you are not eager to do?

I think so. Please laugh at that if you want - if you are so inclined. I do so not want to bore.

Silver City, New Mexico

I meant to go see the Diamonds and Denim Dance (hang around the door at least to see people in their get-ups) but, as usual, I forgot! I am hearing right now about how wonderful it was. Maybe next time!

A very exciting weekend is approaching October 6 - 8, all about art. All kinds of art. Come then!

Silver City, New Mexico

Wow! I have been back in Silver City for days, why have I not written?

I was sure I had written about the fabulous powerful thunderstorm we had my first night back, which washed out a friend’s driveway and overflowed the new gutter system she put up this spring.

Did not I write about The Collector Thief, a documentary about some area residents who stole a multimillion dollar de Kooning painting and kept it up on their bedroom for thirty-five years? It was a fascinating story with some local folks featured. I was so happy my sister and extended family were interested in seeing it. Eight of us! I did not.

Or how about the fact that the Museum is hosting a Diamonds and Denim Dance at seven this evening in the Murray Hotel Ballroom? Surely I wrote about that? Evidently not - but it is not too late! There are three tickets left.

The weather is sunny and not too hot. It is gorgeous here in Silver City these days. If you are suffering where you are, come on over! 

Thornton, Colorado

Been busy socializing with my sister’s new neighbors and previously unmet extended family. Lots of conversation, needless to say, including a discussion over lunch today about what makes potato sprouts and green-skinned potatoes poisonous. I went along with the discussion with gusto, but could not help wonder how many families would have a discussion about this? It was good for a laugh, but I am certainly not going to share the results of our searches here! (Not the least because I have forgotten.) Ha! Learning has its difficulties these days.

The new neighborhood is in the Eastlake neighborhood. This morning when we tried to walk around Eastlake 3 it rained pretty hard, but this afternoon I was able to take a little stroll on an Eastlake 2 path. Bunnies, prairie dogs (I think) and a red-tailed hawk were the main attractions.

Along the path was a marshy area with what I would call a tree graveyard. At the far end I saw a sign warning about coyote. There was no warning from the other end, but you have to watch especially in early morning and evening hours, whereas my walk was in the afternoon. No big deal, but pleasant.

Albuquerque, New Mexico 

Last night we had dinner at the Curry Leaf, which has buffet style dining available on Wednesday evenings. It was fabulous. They had pappadums! They had two many main dishes to sample in one evening. Everything was wonderful.

I was telling my table mates about how I used to love mango pudding at buffets but now it was too often canned. (It was not on the buffet line last night, so I was not slandering what they were offering.) One of the employees overheard me and looked at me quizzically. He said, would you like some? I said yes! He brought out a dessert serving with three spoons. It looked good, and two of us went for it. It was very good, but when he came around again I was afraid he was going to quiz me and tell me it was canned.

All he did though was ask me if I liked it. I said yes! and asked if I was right that it was fresh. Yup. It was. There was no charge.

Excellent meal. I am very glad we went.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Turns out roadrunners do have a one-note call that could be called a beep, I guess. Since I read that they eat snakes I cannot help but wonder if the rattle that goes along with the humming tongue-fluttery call I described yesterday is some kind of communication for rattlers. I have not done anything particularly noteworthy today so if we do something later that features Albuquerque I may return to the site to write more. If not, adios!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The flight here from Silver City was lovely - no bucking or swooping at all. Too bad I was over a wing. The landscape was still beautiful, what I could see of it. Surreal.

Today we went to the Albuquerque Aquarium and saw myriads of gorgeous and grotesque creatures. What a treat! Some had all kinds and styles of colored designs, others had weird spout-snouts and bizarre shapes. A sleek otter looked much smaller in the water from below than he did from above. How would the refraction of water explain that?

Earlier in the day I walked in a seemingly ordinary neighborhood and had my best yet sighting of roadrunners. Three birds were running around the neighborhood (containing well-established trees and shrubs) and for the first time I heard roadrunner calls. These sounded nothing like the beep of tv cartoons. They sounded more like a vocalized hard fluttering of the tone along with vocalization and a rattle accompaniment. I did not even realize it was a bird call at first. Now I will have to look up roadrunner vocalizations and see if any of them remotely resemble beepbeep.

Silver City, New Mexico 

The other day talking with someone I realized I have not written a thing about politics for a long time. Well, sure, it is not election year but I am already anxious.

One thing that disturbs me is that people are worried about the age of Biden, but not of Trump, who is only a few years younger. That is just silly. There is no telling what will happen to anyone in this life, including the fulfillment of possible life expectancies, and that is true of people in their seventies as well as those younger. It is a toss up between them, all other considerations aside.

So please, people, let go of the age thing. Vote for who you want to see win. I assume noble intentions on your part. (Smile.)

Silver City, New Mexico 

Lately I have been mooning over the moon. Well, technically the moon is mooning over me, I guess - but actually, astronomically speaking, nobody is over anybody - it is all relative.

The first night I wanted to experience the blue super moon it was partially hidden by clouds. That is not an unusual occurrence, of course, but I never remember seeing clouds so dramatically backlit by the moon. It was quite a moonrise. Eventually the clouds dispersed and the moon was revealed, and very bright it was. Still is, judging by last night.

Finally we have had some significant rains! All of two hardly makes a monsoon season, but oh well.