Over The Hills.....

 

And Far Far Away....

It Was that time of year, Dear Readers, for my Annual Trek out West to visit my Family. It is a Long Long way to Silver City, in the southwest corner of New Mexico, requiring several flight changes through several airports.... up and on the road way before dawn to get to the first airport an hour from home.... a mad dash from one flight to the next in Denver on those moving walkways.... a couple of hours waiting in Albuquerque, where I could at last grab some food... and then onto the little plane out into the desert in the late afternoon. I was lucky to be able to schedule all the flights for the same day!

We took off in the middle of the afternoon up into the clouds....

I didn't manage to get window seats in either of the long flights, 

which I usually try to get because

 I love the view from up there above the clouds!

The little plane seats only eight passengers

 and everybody gets a window seat.

The pilot is right there and you can watch the instrument panels too...

Here we are approaching the landing in the desert.

It is waaaaay out in nowhere.... 

a tiny little airport in the desert.

There are a few large towns nearby 

and a couple of Enormous open pit copper mines.

My brother met me at the airport 

and brought me to my Mom's house in Silver City.

My goodness it is a long way to go!

It was wonderful to see them....

but it wasn't the same.

My Dad died last April at age 94 and 8 months...

so everything was different....

he wasn't there anymore.

 

 I spent some time at my Dad's house with his partner... 

in the house he designed.... 

sitting at the table that was my Grandparents table...

going through his things... 

deciding what to do with his artwork, 

his sculptures.... 

his writing and his photo slides.....

I packed up boxes of stuff to ship home to my house 

(not that I have much room... but it needs careful reviewing....)

This will take time.

 

 

I spent days at my Mom's....

going through more boxes of things from Dad

 that had already been moved out of his house

 and were waiting for me to look through...

packing more boxes...

discovering some treasures....

(he wrote quite a lot.... poetry and philosophy....)

a file of ancient family photographs... 

that I had never seen before...

And I spent hours with my Mom talking about "stuff"... 

family stories from long ago....

Interesting tidbits I had discovered about some family history...

(I am the family historian in case you couldn't tell)

looking at family trees I had put together...

and helping her with paperwork that had piled up.

It was much too short and way too busy....

and then it was time to go home.....

Retracing those steps...

On a crystal clear desert morning... 

at the Tiny airport.....

Except.....

There was a problem with the airplane.

It was grounded.

They moved it away and we had to wait

 for a replacement plane to fly in from Phoenix Arizona....

which took hours.....

 

It finally arrived three hours later 

and they did all the "turn- around" as fast as they could. 

And we headed North to Albuquerque...

more than three hours late and I was sure 

I would not be able to catch my scheduled flights.

It was a bumpy flight through lots of clouds...

(a bit too bumpy for taking photos...!)

And when we arrived I needed to reschedule my flights

 for as soon as possible which turned out to be not until the next day...

so I got a hotel room near the airport....

on the seventh floor with a great view of the Sandia Crest...

(that big hummock of a mountain)

and watched the rain showers passing through.

And pulled the embroidery out of my suitcase

 which I had not even had time to do all through my visit!

Yes, it is another of Janet Granger's mini stocking kits,

this time with a girl theme... 

pink, with a doll and dollhouse

and other toys.

I was so glad I had it with me!

I started right away...

and I made some good progress before the light began to fade...

(these kits are 40 stitches to the inch and require good lighting to stitch).

The sun was setting.

And the following morning, 

up well before dawn and at the airport and through security

 and on our way at seven AM...

It was pouring rain in Chicago where I had to change planes,

but there was time to catch a snack before boarding the last flight home.

Once again I had no window seats... 

so no pictures of clouds to share...

I was going Home at last!

I arrived well before sunset, East Coast time...

but after the Autumnal Equinox....

Fall had tiptoed in while I was away.

Yes, Dear Readers, 

It's a Long long way to Silver City, 

And it just wasn't the same... 

(but it really never is...!)

I am Very glad I went.... 

over the hills and through the clouds,

 and wish it could have lasted longer...

But it sure is Wonderful to be Home again!