Lunch at Millie's

Today started out with looking out the dining room window and seeing the entire valley below fogged in. As we sat down to enjoy our breakfast of homemade grain waffles with tangerine and peach marmalade, homemade yogurt, a banana and hot tea we noticed the fog coming up the mountain. Couldn't do much outside because it had rained overnight and too cold for this Southern Californian!

We decided to do some indoor chores and then go into tow to have lunch at Millie's. The story around here is that Miss Millie was known for her house of pleasure as well as her other business ventures, one of them being the restaurant!

I had the best Mushroom soup I've ever tasted anywhere. It was so think the spoon just sat right on it and it felt as if I was eating in Miss Millie's kitchen with the fireplace at one end of the room and the front hall to the other end. 

We then walked over to Ann's sister Linda's art gallery. The Bluemoon Gallery has some beautiful artwork for sale. What really caught my attention was the single hotel room she is creating with the other half of the building. It used to be a warehouse and it has these huge old doors, which are now windows, where merchandise used to be unloaded. The inside is vibrant beautiful colors and when it's completed will have amazing artwork and furniture for those lucky few that will get to enjoy it. 

The character in this town comes in many forms and here are a few things that caught my eye today!

But my best moment today was when I was able to capture this male Northern Flicker up close. Yesterday I was able to capture a clear picture of the female but only a far away of the male. They are very skittish and will take off as soon as they hear you coming.

I was able to capture from sitting inside Motel Miguel and just being patient which turned out to be a couple of hours!

This last shot is another view I have from Motel Miguel. Life is sure tranquil even when everything seems to be falling apart around you if you slow yourself down and enjoy whatever beauty is around you. 

Dinner in Downtown Silver City

Monday, January 5th Hal, Ann and myself had been invited to join Ann's sister Linda and her partner John for dinner with a group of friends we had met the day before at the Bear Lodge. We got to the restaurant early because of the road conditions so I decided to walk around downtown and take some pictures of the old store fronts. I really enjoy old buildings so this was a big treat for me. 

We had dinner at the 1zero6 restaurant. The decor inside was a mix of good and evil I would say!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner and I met some wonderful people this weekend that come from all walks of life. Some were here from Oregon, Texas and California. 

Birding Silver City, New Mexico

The moment I arrived at my friends home in Silver City I could hear lots of different songs in the cool mountain air. My friends live at about the six thousand foot elevation and I arrived in winter. You never know what's going to show up. My friends Hal and Ann have always enjoyed feeding the wild birds and put out a variety of feeds outside their kitchen window in order to enjoy them. 

The second day I was here on the first of January we got hit with a snow storm and were forced to stay indoors. I sat by the window with my camera, cup of tea and was in heaven just watching all the wild birds coming in to eat. One of the first birds to come in was this very rare Bridled Tit. There was a group of three but I just couldn't get all three in the same picture. 

Another that caught my eye immediately is this Spotted Towhee. His colors were so beautiful and he reminded me of Shama Thrushes. 

The Cassins finch was by itself in the middle of a group of Linnets. Ann was in the kitchen with me and I said to her "that one is different, it has a small crest!"  We looked it up in the book and sure enough, it wasn't a male linnet but rather a Cassins finch which a couple of good birding friends confirmed 

I was so excited the first time I saw the male Laddered Woodpecker come in to feed but there was no hen to be seen. It wasn't until the third of January that I saw her. I was able to capture pictures of each individually but I couldn't believe when I was able to get this shot of both in the same frame. Amazingly beautiful in the morning sunlight. 

Another highlight was capturing this female Hairy Woodpecker. To this day of January eight I still haven't seen a male. Now I'm on a mission to find him!

Another bird that is beautiful in this part of the country is the Mexican Jay. They come in a group of about ten birds and just push their way in. Being a large bird no one gives them a hard time and just move out of their way. 

The Scrub Jay is a bit different than the Mexican with its cute light colored eyebrows. 

I had not been able to get out and do my normal walking because of the heavy snowfall we had and then the sheets of ice on the road. Finally yesterday I had to go out and do some walking. I was told by a friend that a real birder is always ready so I brought my camera along. Ann and I set out for a short walk because it was cold and windy. Boy was I glad I brought the camera along because I got shots of two beautiful birds I hadn't seen yet. The first was this male American Kestrel sitting on one of the power lines across the road at one of the neighbors properties. He was staring down at a pile of horse manure. 

The second bird I spotted was a group of Blue Birds. This little male was sitting on the pillar just singing away. 

For now I'll leave you with a couple of silhouettes that I got the other day. I like them because they remind me of the peace I'm finding in this journey. Also because it's 4:43 in the morning, my iPads power is down to 22% and I need another short nap!

New Years Eve

My friends had New Years Eve dinner reservations at the Bear Mountain Lodge located here in 

Silver City, New Mexico. It is a Bed and Breakfast located on the edge of town where they also have a small restaurant and boutique with works from many artists. The drive to it is very picturesque on a well maintained dirt and gravel road off of one of the main roads. 

The feeling as soon as you walk in the front door is as if your walking into a very warm and inviting home with its warm fireplaces, beautiful staircase leading to the upstairs rooms and doorways into the fairly good sized dining room. 

I had the privilege of meeting my friends sister Linda, one of the owners of the lodge and main cook. We were to dine with another lovely new friend named Joyce. The conversations were great this evening and the food was some of the best I've ever had. The attention to detail and presentation of the food was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting. 

We spent three hours having dinner at the lodge but had to get back home because the threat of snow was in the air. My evening was a great one and off I went into Motel Miguel to creat more dreams and hope for great things to come in 2015!

New Mexico Bound!

My visit to Arizona was coming to an end and it was time to continue my journey on to New Mexico on December 30th. So on Friday the I decided to take the Suburban and get it washed. After the car wash it was making a metal on metal sound when I stepped on the brakes, the one thing I had not changed before leaving California. Tom said he would look at them on Sunday. When he looked at them the pads were low and to be on the safe side we changed both the front and back, and when I say we I really mean Tom because I have no idea about anything mechanical!

After removing the rear tires we found out that the rear self stabilizing shocks had blown. So in order to continue my journey they also needed to be replaced. I won't even go into the cost of the parts only and I don't know what I would have done without Tom's generosity in changing all of this for me. I doubt that it was that he wanted me gone!  HAHAHA I can't thank him and Bonnie enough for having me at their home and hopefully some day, wherever I settle down, I can repay them in one form or another. 

I wanted to do the travel from Phoenix to Silver City, New Mexico on Tuesday because it was supposed to be a clear day without too many people on the road. Motel Miguel got hooked up and I said my goodbyes. 

I finally arrived to highway 70 where I was to get off of highway 10 in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Lordsburg was once a booming town but now it's pretty much a ghost town that's falling apart. 

Off of highway 70, a few miles from highway 10 I was to get onto highway 90. 

Highway 90 is a long, tumbleweed filled two lane road that takes about forty miles up the mountains until you finally see Silver City. My friends Hal and Anne moved here a year ago and I wanted to see why they had moved here. That's a story for another day!  

I arrived at their home in the early afternoon and settled Motel Miguel onto the spot it was going to call home for January. 

As I sit here doing this update I can't help but think of how 2014 had some low points for me that made me realize life is too short. I'm extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life. Each and everyone have given me an opportunity to grow and encouraged me to follow my heart and my dreams. I miss everyone back home in California, my Mothers cooking, my family gatherings, my agility family and specially my best friends Mike and Greg. 

I'm looking forward to 2015 and meeting a lot of new people like I have so far in the last couple of months in Phoenix and Tucson.