As I have been running around saying, "If you don't have the bucks for a winter get-away; get a job in the sun!" Done.
Greetings & salutations from Silver City, NM at the University of Western New Mexico, which is about the same latitude as Phoenix, only in the mountains. The sun in persistently blue skies is warm, but the breezes are quite cool and for the most part, I have been running around in a sweater.
Tomorrow, I will begin teaching 2 sections of Grammar and 1 of Speaking and Listening to classes of Mexican students coming here for intensive English. Intensive, I guess, 9 hours a day!
I did think my grand plan had gone array last Monday morning. The day dawned sunny, and I took off across campus to find the Admin building and sign the papers that will allow me to get paid here. By the time I finished, a fierce mountain blizzard that howled very like its Iowa equivalent had set in. Eternal thanks to a generous colleague who had come in her car and ferried me home.
It seems warmer than it really is, I suspect, because, though the air temp is in the 50's, the sun is hotter than farther north, and I brought all my dark clothes, so sometimes it seems like 70-plus.
The snow disappeared by mid-day Wednesday, and the place could do with a few drenchings, but that would drown the indigenous vegetation, so I will not wish for roses in winter.
Am getting more than my share of exercise hoofing about, as the place is in the tail of the Rockies, and I have no bike. Not sure I could even pump it up these hills, if I did! I have found the weight room--in lieu of yoga.
Stay tuned for more on the City of Silver itself, a fascinating place.
