Around Here

Around here we have several inches of snow on the ground this morning!  Yes, it is early for a snowfall, but no one is complaining since we need the moisture so badly.  Not only for our plants,  but to dampen the Cameron Peak wildfire that has been burning north of here since August 13th.  For weeks we've had hot and smoky days, and we hope the 14" of snow that fell on the fire will stop it from growing, if not extinquish it all together.   

Labor Day was very hot but then the temps fell some 50 degrees and we had a high of only 31 on Tuesday. That night we had a hard freeze that killed our summer flowers and vegetables and a wet heavy snow that snapped branches all over the neighborhood, including our neighbor's which just missed our new fence.   

We always have comfort food when it snows.  This time it was homemade banana muffins for breakfast and Spicy and Saucy Cherry Tomato Pasta, which was a tasty way to use the cherry tomatoes harvested from the garden before the freeze.  We added ground sweet Italian sausage and it was really good.    

I also picked several vases of flowers that are beautifying the mantle and other surfaces inside.  

I sure have loved the zinnias and dahlias this year and I'll miss seeing them from my studio window.

Around here we are celebrating Turbo's first year with us.  He arrived "home" last September 7th as a tiny little pup and is now a full member of the family.  Here he is up at Chautauqua before the snow hit yesterday.     

He sure is a lot of fun.  Lately he's been watching TV with me in the evenings.  He's always hung out with me in the TV room, but now he seems to actually watch the screen which I find very charming.  If a dog barks on the screen, Turbo gets upset and barks back at them.  Otherwise, he'll watch anything. 

Around here Sheba continues to demand equal time.  Yesterday she was so darn cute sitting on Ben's chest while he slept that I had to take her photo.  (Ben loves these photos!) 

Around here we getting ready to redecorate the basement.  Now that Paul is living with friends, it's a good time to put in new tile floors and to repaint.  We'll keep the bed and drawers for both guests and Paul to use when they visit, and hope to add a larger TV watching area than the two-seat area we have upstairs.  There will also be some open space for doing some stretching/Pilates activities.  I'm thinking of dark waterproof Luxury Vinyl Tile for the floor and neutral paints in white, cream, and soft blue or grey, as shown in the paint ad below, for the walls.   

Around here we got out for a little adventure last week, a drive up to the ruins of Caribou, an old mining town at 10,000 feet in the Indian Peaks.  It was a trick to find it and we were on a gravel road for almost five miles, so we were excited to actually get there.  But no sooner had Turbo leapt from car for a walk but it began to rain.  We enjoyed the views and the cool sweet air up at that elevation before the downpour started in earnest and we headed back to Boulder.      

 Around here I finished a cute outreach quilt out of some Princess fabric.  

And then I created a fun little reversible table topper out of some leftover wine-themed fabric. 

Around here I've been enjoying making my way through the amusing TV show,  Episodes.  Nothing better than a good show that has five seasons!  

 

Linking to my friend LeeAnna's "I Like Thursdays" at Not Afraid of Color