Silver City, New Mexico

Windy all day today. The university gym was closed last week. This week it is open, but I cannot face going back quite yet. Big discussion today about dogs (and people!) who are leaving feces around town. This is worse than it was when I moved here, along with people who let their dogs run loose.

There are all sorts of wonderful things happening here but 

Some folks who came by the Visitor Center today have left home for a while - where it is 25 degrees colder than here and snowing to boot! This is nothing to them.

On the other hand, there are folks from Tucson and Las Cruces talking about how it is seventy-five degrees there, with a why-on-earth-did-we-come-here? aura.

Living in any mountainous territory has got to be a lesson in relativity.

Silver City, New Mexico

It has become quite clear that I am not getting around to writing very often. There are probably quite a few reasons for this, but I assure you that it is not because I am bored with Silver City. Maybe it is because I have more to do. 

The weather is beautiful and the town is hopping. Tourists are coming back, the weather is luring folks outside, and cultural events seem to be multiplying like rabbits. Must be the Easter influence.

Another possibility (and there are many) is that I am developing a been there done that attitude. Getting old and lazy? But I want to write. I have still have things to say, but often I forget them when I get to a location with WiFi. There are people there I know. There are volunteer duties to attend to. At home there are sometimes Scrabble games to play.

As one French author whose name I cannot recall said in a novel, life is so much fun! A person can think of so many other things to do.

Not excepting reading someone else’s work.

Silver City, New Mexico

Things seem to be picking up here at the museum; it seems tourist season is arriving. Everyone has a different desire - some want a lot of history, some just want to roam, and some just want to go shopping! We cater to people and their preferences as much as possible.

I finally took a walk on Boston Hill for the first time in months last Sunday and it was very pleasant. The weather was part of my hesitation because walking on wet trails exacerbates erosion, but really trails firm up pretty quickly in this dry climate. The other part of my deferral was probably the fact that low blood salt made me too weak to get very far on a couple of hikes and that was discouraging. Sometimes our discouragement outlasts its causes (note for the future) as in learned helplessness.

Hay fever season is upon us. I still have not figured out what triggers mine. All I can hope for is a short season - and that my supposedly homeopathic remedy works.

Silver City, New Mexico

In spite of the snow it seems as if Chocolate Fantasia was a success. In fact, maybe treats are more appropriate for cold and sun starved folks - they are more appreciated and there is no messy melt. Hopefully everyone got needed supplies for Valentines Day!

I am afraid the day slipped by me when it came to sending out greetings this year, but I got a fun Valentine photo from a friend that featured her three Valentine teapots. So happy belated day!

On Saturday, Chocolate Fantasia day, I did get over to the Art Guild where a friend of mine was dispensing his chocolates. A local member of the Guild was also dispensing chocolates out of kindness to folks who did not have tickets. How sweet was that? Alas, I did not think to get her name at the time - maybe just as well since I did not warn her I might write about her.

If you decide you want tickets next year, buy them early! I met one woman who had been too late for tickets for three years before finally snagging one this year. Selling out for tickets to events here in Silver City is not an unusual occurrence.

Silver City, New Mexico

The Museum has had only a couple of visitors so far this morning to visit the store. There have been several others here to visit various staff members who are working on interesting-sounding projects. This place is hopping even when it is dead!

Today is sunny here in Silver City, but alas tomorrow it is supposed to snow. I like snow, but tomorrow is the long-awaited Chocolate Fantasia, with 270 tickets sold! The snow might make it harder for people to get around. On the other hand, my weather station says snow is fifty percent likely. And - hey, this is New Mexico! We believe precipitation is falling when we see it.

Silver City, New Mexico

In the end, someone did show up for Scrabble, so we went to my apartment and had a very close game! I lost because my last tile at the end of the game was worth four points, adding eight points to the score of my opponent. Dang! What fun!

Today is cloudy and chilly so it feels much more like a Midwestern winter, except there it would be colder - that is, in the old days. Nowadays, I have heard reports of much warmer weather than we ever had in the days of my youth.

Today, in fact, we are supposed to have rain and/or snow. We have not had either that I have perceived.

I heard a couple of ravens conversing - or singing. The male (I assume) started the conversation with repeated phrases of the plunking sounds that sometimes fool me into thinking  clunky stuff is falling into water. Then (surprise) a softer more feminine almost cooing version of the same song came into play. Is this a courtship ritual of ravens? I will definitely have to see if I can find a recording similar to what I just heard this morning. Sounded like a love duet to me!

Silver City, New Mexico

The weather is so nice today no one has showed up for Scrabble! At least, that is how I will explain it. At any rate that is how I will choose to explain the absence of those who have given no notice. A couple of folks have, and I appreciate it.

There seems to be no consensus about which is the coldest month of the year here in Silver City, but I am beginning to suspect it is not as cold as it used to be. Today I asked a man who has lived here all his life if he has seen crows here this year. He said he has only seen a crow here once and that was last year. I think I saw a group of them last week - but I heard whatever they were first. They were in a group of four or five, and they were definitely cawing like crows, not croaking like ravens. There are other ways of telling the two species apart, but I was walking for exercise and to get somewhere fast, so I was too distracted to pay them much mind. 

Then, too late, I went hey! What were those, anyway?

Silver City, New Mexico

Today we have atmosphere! A little bit of rain, a little bit of snow, and teeny tiny hailstones. Plus wind! Brrrr...

The Museum is selling tickets for the Territorial Ball, an opportunity for folks to dress up in old-style clothes and hang out and listen to the Illusion Band, oh - and dance, of course! I suspect the dancing will be anachronistic to the theme of the ball, so do not expect too much historical fidelity!

People often ask if Silver City is quiet. Well, at night sometimes, but honestly? It seems as if we have a lot of siren activity for such a small town. Not to mention the hot rodders and the garbage trucks. And the screamers. But yeah, it is usually quietish.

What we usually do have is a lot of big sky. Yesterday we had one of the best sunrises I have ever seen. Of course, given the fact that for most of my seventy-six years I was not in a great position to see many unobstructed sunrises, maybe that is not saying much.

All those years - I did not know what I was missing.

Silver City, New Mexico 

I embarrassed myself by a sentence I wrote here yesterday. I shamelessly deleted it just now, but alas it was up for over twelve hours and some people had the opportunity to read it. 

What can I say? I removed it because I know it was not true. Sorry I made that comment. There is, of course, a lot in these virtual pages I regret saying but those are mostly buried in time.

At any rate, I tender my apologies tender and hope for better judgment in the future.

Silver City, New Mexico

When I was in my twenties I spent a couple of months in Brooklyn, New York. Can I say I lived there? That seems to be a matter for debate, although I certainly was not deading there. I think that is when I first heard the word gentrification. Recently I have read/heard a lot about Brooklyn. The relationships between the races were not good, and Brooklyn youth were victims of a lot of what was bad about them. There is a lot of bitterness coming out of the gentrification of Brooklyn, it seems to me.

Reminds me a little of a program I read about that put young Jewish and Palestinian boys together in the hopes of bettering the relationships between the groups. Now, with more bitterness than ever (it seems) between the groups, I wonder how well the plan worked.

Maybe the younger the exposure of different groups to each other, given the already solid prejudices of some of the elders, sometimes the worse the experience for all. Just wondering.

A multiracial man I know here recalls that in his boyhood, it was when his family experienced the most upward mobility that he experienced the most racial prejudice. As far as he is concerned your actual racial heritage does not mean anything. What does mean something to whites, it seems to him, is the actual color of your skin.

According to his experience, it is richer whites who care about color and look down on others. Who am I to say? But I will say that for me, my prejudice tends to be anti-rich.

The only way I can deal with the racial mess is to assume we are all a little (or a lot?) screwy.

Welcome to the melting pot, all of us! I just hope it does not heat up too much.

Silver City, New Mexico 

My goodness, it is slow around town these days! The January slump has been magnified by cold weather and now, rain. But not today! The sun is shining now and the temperature will be in the forties.

The President of the University here is in trouble because of some of his spending habits. I have seen a couple of large signs on properties near the University that maintain The Joe Show Must Go! And the First Lady, Too.

Now, I do not have a problem with people expressing their feelings about an issue this important. Some folks think there is a good chance he will be heading to jail. I do not take issue with that, either.

My only problem with the signs is that the President of the country is named Joe also, and his wife is the official First Lady (although that designation is a little anachronistic, is it not?) Any such announcement of belief that might cause confusion makes me a little nervous.

On the other hand, this is a small town and most people are aware of what is going on at the University if it comes to articles about misappropriation of funds that hit the regional news. Newcomers, though, should be warned about which Joe is the subject of the signs, especially in an election year!

Silver City, New Mexico

As everywhere else, rents in Silver City are going up. Perhaps not as unreasonably so as elsewhere, I hope. And it is unreasonable. Let the workers actually start getting paid a little more and those in power over them will try to take advantage. I will have to look into the laws regarding landlord/tenant issues in New Mexico. In Indiana, where I lived until a couple of years ago, there are no limits as to how much the rent can be raised by the landlords.

That is unconscionable, in my opinion, but then when laws started to be passed about such things, it was a safe assumption that most people had consciences. That seems to be no longer the case.

No matter what heights the rents reach here, though, Silver City remains liveable weather-wise. Today is sunny and warmish. Just hope the movie-makers who rate Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces high on the list of places to make movies never discover Silver City!

Silver City, New Mexico

The weather has warmed up considerably here in Silver City. So glad to be here! Every day I hear about interesting cultural offerings. It does not hurt that this is a University town.

Unfortunately the matinee movies on Monday are going to interfere with the Monday afternoon Scrabble game we have going at the library. At present I do not know what the solution will be. How wonderful that the library will reserve a space for this activity, though, at no charge. I do not know whether this offering is atypical - something to look up in an idle hour.

The Friends of the Library here in Silver City has a variety of offerings also: books for one or two dollars which, if they do not sell, get rotated onto the free book shelf. This in addition to huge blowout sales every other month or so at an entirely different location. There are many good books floating around this town. A patron was just telling me about a partial reproduction of notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci she picked up here for two dollars!

Meanwhile I want to go by the bookstores downtown. I saw a book in a store I am interested in, but the store had a “Shut” sign up when I went by. I hope the proprietor is okay. I guess I will find out today.

Silver City, New Mexico 

The weather is warming up and that is all right with me! I hear Austin, Texas is freaking out because it is supposed to have temperatures in the twenties while Denver has had overnight temperatures below zero.

While I was sweeping snow off the sidewalk in front of the house where I live, I remembered without fondness the multiple snowstorms of a northern Indiana winter living on a corner lot with sidewalks on two sides. A good snowstorm is fun once in a blue moon, but I do not miss the labor of putting a ten-inch layer of white in its place, even if it does sparkle prettily.

Farmers Market is year-round now. Today I bought whole wheat sourdough bread, pickled beets, some sweets (in case I have some folks show up at my place for Scrabble (which cannot meet at the public library due to MLK day)) some soup, carrots, and tamales. Fresh produce in the middle of January - how wonderful!

Silver City, New Mexico 

This is the coldest weather I have experienced since I moved here. December is supposed to be the coldest in this locale, but that has not been my experience. Of course, I was in Corvallis, Oregon for three years and was told before I left that the winters were not nearly as rainy as usual. So my brief time here definitely does not allow me to make pronouncements about what is usual.

Here at the Museum we have had quite a few visitors from Alaska while I have been volunteering. I wonder what the special attraction is? Some of our visitors have been from locations near the ocean. Maybe they figure dry cold is a good break from the wet cold and I would definitely concur!

At any rate the Main Street organization has what sounds to me like fabulous plans for the Silco Movie Theater. I might end up watching two or more movies per week, starting off with Selma this coming Monday. Cinema paradise.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Played Scrabble two days in a row - once at our weekly game at the local library and once at home. What fun! Between that and the weather, though, I have not gotten the rehab place to visit my neighbor yet this week.

The latest I have heard about walking is that a person should get in four miles a day. That is a lot! I am not sure I do that even once a week. Still, I get out much more than I used to, and stand around much more, too. That is more important than you might think. Any incentive to stay on your feet is helpful.

The nights lately have been very cold. The days, some of them, are going into the forties but it sure does not feel like it. I see people walking around town, though, dressed as I might dress for temperatures in the seventies. Or higher. Or never! I have to face the fact that I am of an age where displaying too much skin might not be a good idea.

Walking down the street watching people’s pupils constrict is not my idea of fun.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Embarrassingly enough, one of my chief reasons for wanting to go to Santa Fe was a commercial one. I wanted to shop at one of my all-time favorite shoe stores, On Your Feet. It still exists! Not in the same location but near the old one. Sure, it was not the right time of year for one of their magnificent 70% off shoe sales, but I did get a couple of fine pairs of shoes for twenty percent off the regular price. Great to have brand new respectable shoes for my volunteer work at the museum.

Santa Fe is not much beloved by some of the people  I know here. The rudeness they experience there may not be as unusual as they think. After all, Silver City has got to be the friendliest town in the world! An acquaintance of mine told me his wife said it is the only place she has ever lived where she has not felt judged.

I asked a couple of my old friends how they feel about Santa Fe (which is much changed since I moved away in 2001) and one of them said, Oh well, you know, it is like the frog in the water. I am not feeling the heat yet!

I am glad I live in Silver City but I think Santa Fe feels very alive. I would be glad to return for another visit.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Well, Epiphany is one of my favorite days of the year, but I failed to wish you all a Happy Epiphany yesterday because for some reason I could not get online. My bad - I managed to get online later in the day. But is not Epiphany, like Christmas, a lengthy part of the liturgical calendar? I do not know - will have to look that up!

We actually got snow a few days ago. Most of it is gone, but we still have some on the north side of the house I live in. Supposedly more bad weather is blowing in today. So far so good, though. 

The recent trip to Santa Fe was fun. I got to see the Georgia O’Keefe Museum for the first time in over twenty years. What had been exhibited in a Victorian house is now in a much larger building on the same block, with the collection greatly expanded. It has some wonderful stuff and a lot of work that is -well - young. It was definitely worth visiting in the little time we had.

Incredibly busy, is Santa Fe, and the Christmas lights on the plaza are probably thousands of times more numerous than in my first decade or two there. It was very crowded, and it seemed as if the prices were high. But hey, that is probably true everywhere.

Silver City, New Mexico

So... part of my Las Cruces sojourn involved a trip to White Sands - first time I have been there in decades - only the second time. It was the day after Christmas and the weather was beautiful, so there were a ton of people there. Almost everywhere I go that used to be deserted is now populated with at least an assortment of other humans -if not  a multitude. Luckily White Sands is so massive a site that you don’t have to experience it as part of a crowd if you choose your hiking area.

The youngsters (that is, the younger generation) slid down the hills on saucers. I was sorely tempted, but did not want to risk my bones and the chance of turning the day into a hospital run.

Speaking of bones, four years ago I had a bone scan in Madison, Indiana and was given a diagnosis of osteoporosis. This year I had another, and my bones had improved!

That is what living in a climate where you are comfortable walking around in any season will get you. My goal is to get out of the osteoporosis range.

We tend to think that conditions like that are irreversible but it is not necessarily so.

Silver City, New Mexico 

Wow! Almost a whole month since I have written here. Maybe that is because I sent out dozens of holiday cards, none with letters but all with more than just my name. Christmas was wonderful! I spent the season in Silver City, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe.