Cloudcroft

I see we are getting close to 200 with the last post.  I will put up some pictures I took in Cloudcroft.  Most are of the house where we stayed.  It is owned by a very kind member of the church there.  The house is 100 years old and is very rustic.  Most of the walls in the house are paneled with knotty pine.  We enjoyed our stay there so much.  Our host lives next door saves the house for priests who come to provide services or good friends of his partner and himself.  All the windows have coverings that are made like quilts which is great for insullation. It is a large house with 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. There is no ac nor central heat.  Most rooms have stoves with pellets for fuel. There is a lovely little patio in the back of the house (2 pics).  One of the pics I am sharing is going down the mountain when we were leaving Cloudcroft - the pic is of the horizon - and the thin white strip is actually of the white sands on the horizon.  I thought that was amazing.  I will take some pictures of NC and post later.

Road Trip

We are once more on the road.  John is doing a service in Cloudcroft NM in the morning. Hunter, GD, is visiting us so we brought her with us.  It has been a fun trip so far. Cloudcroft is about 225 miles from ABQ and much of that is 2 lane highways.  We are about 25 miles from White Sands National Monument so visited there this afternoon.  On the way to Cloudcroft we stopped at a place called Fire Valley.  At one time there must have been some volcanos there- as evidenced by lots of black rocks.  We stopped and took pics.  So here we all are.  Oh yes, Cloudcroft is 8600 ft elevation and the temp this afternoon was high 70's  - yet 25 miles away is White Sands (not sure of elevation) and it was 102. We did get out at WS and walked on a board walk.  The sand is actually gypsum and does not have same texture as sand on beaches.  The gypsum was much finer. Not allowed to take any gypsum out of park.

Along the Housatonic River, Stratford, CT

Bad times in summer

An invited guest blew through Friday night leaving damage to both of my places and no power for 42 hours. I don't like summer!

Good times in summer

My 11 year old granddaughter had a birthday last week and of course this called for a family gathering. My DIL is great at planning a party and it was a fun one.  Here are a few pictures from the party.

Hummingbirds from the front porch

We are enjoying all the birds in our front yard each morning.  We have robins, woodpeckers, sparrows, roadrunners, and of course hummingbirds. We have a couple of yucca plants that are blooming with pinkish coral blooms.  The hummers love these plants. I believe these are the plants they make tequila from in Mexico.  No wonder the hummers love them. I took a bunch of pics the last few mornings. With a little editing on my computer, I came up with some pretty good pics of the hummers to share.

Happy Fourth of July...Happy Birthday U.S.A.