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Along the Natchez Trace

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Settling In and Getting Busy

We've been here in Farmington, NM,  at Bill's sister, Alberta's, and as usual, we hit the ground running and haven't stopped yet.

Catching up with family is good...
 Breakfast yesterday at the Blue Moon restaurant...  Melanie (our niece), Alberta and Ernie...
This is a diner that is straight out of the '50's....  it's always fun to eat here no matter which meal of the day.

Later we visited Bill's cousin's family...
 Here's Tim and Polly
Tim and Bill were in the same graduating class in high school...  I think Polly was a year younger.  It had been quite a few years since Bill had seen them as they had lived in California for many years before returning to Farmington.

This morning we headed over to Ann's Diner....
 That's Herman Wethington (one of Bill's many "4th cousins" that live here in Farmington and Herb Bass.  They both worked at Mountain Bell...  that's where Bill worked after high school, before he went in the Air Force, and again later before college.  These guys have a cup of coffee every morning at that coffee shop so when we come in town we know where to catch up on the latest.  Bill & Herman share their great-great grandfather as their common relative.  But... if you're a Wethington...  you're related!

Alberta has a lot of sunflowers blooming in her back yard.  I'd been watching the goldfinch as they worked on the flower heads for seeds....  finally got a good enough look to see that they are...
 Lesser Goldfinch
These guys are smaller than the American Goldfinch that we're used to.  See the black head and back?
Look closely and you'll see the yellow breast as well as the white patch on the wing.
I hope to get some better photos while we're here.

There are also hummingbirds.  I haven't seen any males yet, and the females are hard to ID.
Since the most prevalent hummers here are the Black-chinned and the Broad-tail, I'm thinking that this is the Broad-tail because I've gotten pretty-good views of the white spots in the tail feathers.  But... the jury is still out until I get a better view.  Alberta says it's time for the Rufus to be migrating through.  I hope that's while we're here and they stop at our feeders.

Bill's busy working on some electrical stuff for Alberta.  She has a "to do" list for him and he's anxious to get going on it.  I'm having a good time geocaching.  Since this is International Geocaching Month I've been trying to get a "cache a day"...  well, at least while we're here.

We've been having some rain.  In fact, yesterday, while I was in the car waiting for Bill to do his shopping at Home Depot, there was a horrendous rainstorm!  Wish I knew how much rain came down in those 20 minutes or so...  had to be a couple of inches.  Amazing!

That's pretty much what's going on here.  But I'll bet I'll find more to write about soon!

That's All For Today!

9 comments:

  1. Catching up with family is always great fun. Love the upside down goldfinch. Great picture.

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  2. Always fun to see family. I LOVE 50s diners...brings back lots of happy memories. Some things are worth preserving (or pretending!) just for the fun of it.

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  3. love that kind of eating place... the people! what fun. Glad you have family you want to keep in touch with... that's a nice thing.

    pretty birds.

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  4. Glad you're having a good time visiting with family. Love that lesser Goldfinch. Sure a lot different looking from our Goldfinches.

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  5. Those kinds of old-fashioned diners are fun especially with friends and family members.

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  6. Ah, more great times... and pictures.

    I would so enjoy a rainstorm!

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  7. I love the birds eating those sunflower seeds. Ours aren't quite ready.

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  8. In "Travels With Charley," Steinbeck says the local church and coffee shop are great places to learn about local culture - or catch up in old haunts. But Church services are usually only one day a week so the coffee shop is best. You prove it in these photos. Love the pix of birds too - so close up.
    Have a great day.

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  9. It would be great to visit with family in a small town. My family is in Chicago and I don't have any desire to go back there. Maybe someday.

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