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Connecticut River Valley, New England, United States

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Takin' It Easy With Friends

Got up fairly early and had a wonderful breakfast again--Bud makes the best bacon and eggs! OJ and toast and coffee too! One never goes hungry in this house. We decided to pack cheese and crackers --simple snacky stuff for lunch so that we'd have room for dinner at the Socorro Brewery. Over breakfast we marveled again at the idiots in W. Woodstock staying on a landscape structure covered bridge as the river raged around them--www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL8Z3dvbY9U

Once we organized we took off in Gloria's car for a lovely day in the Bosque.Before leaving Sunrise Bluffs we looked over the wonderful community buildings with the pool, exercise room, card room, library ( I could see myself there alot) dining room etc. Then we took a tour up to the bluffs above their home where there are other homes and a small airport etc. Then we departed for our day trip. We stopped first in Bernardo to check out another Wildlife Refuge but had gone only a few feet when we saw the road was totally disrupted by some kind of construction so that wasn't to be. Continued to San Antonio where they told us not to bother with either the Owl or the other hamburg joint, since they were equally awful and disappointing. We had tried to go to either last year but since it was Sunday they were closed.

Nosed around the visitors' center and gift shop for a bit and Betsy called so we chatted with her awhile and then we went off into the refuge. Most of the cranes were gone by Mar 1--which actually was a bit later than last year--they were gone by Feb 26th when we stopped. The scenery and remaining water fowl are delightful anyway--the refuge is just so serene and seemingly another world. It just is so renewing and quiet that it is as much a refuge for us as for the waterfowl and bobcats and coyotes and other birds that inhabit it. The roadrunner is one of my especial favs. Gloria and Bud have the CD tour which we haven't ever picked up, though I want to next time--it not only talks about the maintenance of the refuge, which we already knew, but it identifies some of the plants and birds that are found here. For example, the rust colored tall stems are the coyote willow and the elusive bird we tried to see last year is indeed a type of pheasant. Gloria and Bud plan to come every other month to see the changes that take place here as the seasons change--I wish I lived close enough to do that, too!

As we continued back through the small town in which Conrad Hilton started his provision of rooms to travelers Gloria and I were both taken by the forms of the collapsed beams of a ceiling in an adobe building--I also liked the shadow and sun pattern they made on the wall. The rose window in the church is broken out--wind, vandals?--so Gloria did not photograph it and I promised to send a picture I'd taken in a previous visit.

We proceeded to the Brewery and had a wonderful lunch--Gloria and I each had steak, Bud had a Southwest Cuban sandwich and Bill had chicken fajitas--he loves Tex-Mex enough to eat it every day. I like it and eat it more than once on the trip but I don't want it all the time. We talked about all the places we have gone--the four of us--back home--the Maine coast--seafood especially our experiences with lobster--NYC---etc, etc. The one place we agreed we've wanted to go is the Isle of Shoals and for whatever reason none of us have made it. I said they have to come East and stay with us so that we can do it together--but neither of them has any desire to even come back for a visit. Sigh.

And so, full once more, we wandered home and took a different route into the complex--getting to feel like a real native. You should have seen Bill yesterday tooling around residential neighborhoods in Socorro like a local! Gloria and I were a bit tired so we each took a short nap and then we gathered in the living room to visit and watch the news etc. Bill made himself some pot roast and Gloria and I munched on cheese and crackers and chocolates while we watched and roared at the 4th season of Waiting for God! That show is so funny and it was a perfect choice since all four of us liked it--it is always so hard to find something for that many people --especially when there are women and men. Waiting for God is truly a satisfy all with its incredible humor and great characters.

Around ten, and this time it really was ten, we all agreed it had been a beautiful, totally satisfying day and we bid each other good night. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

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