December 16: Holiday Fun and a New Camera

The busy work of getting ready for Christmas has been interpersed with some fun times.   

The Chautauqua Dining Hall is hosting afternoon teas for the holidays this year and my friend Inger decided it would be a fun event for her mother, who is visiting from Norway.  I was lucky enough to be invited along with our mutual friend Paula and it was a very enjoyable afternoon. 

One afternoon I had the pleasure of an after school visit from five-year-old Sophia, who needed a place to hang out for a few hours while her mother Rei was working.  We made Christmas sugar cookies and also painted some pictures of flowers, both of which Sophia liked.  But what she loved was messing around with water, pouring it from little measuring cups into glasses and then from the glasses back into the measuring cups.  I gently tucked a tray under the whole operation to corral the water and then let her have her fun.  

Yesterday Sophia's mother Rei, a newcomer from Venezuela, and I got together for some shopping and cleaning.  But first we made a visit up to nearby Eldorado Canyon, a scenic site that I'd wanted to show her. There is a short hike that provides beautiful views of the canyon walls.  The long drop offs makes it unsuitable for very young children, and I'd been watching for an opportunity to take Rei there when her kids were busy elsewhere.  Yesterday was the day and we had a lot of fun up in the snow and among the cliffs.   Rei hasn't seen much snow or spent much time up among the rocks and this was a treat!

I'd recently got the new iPhone 15 Pro and tried out its camera while we were out in such a pretty setting. This shot is looking across the canyon towards the sunny south facing wall of the Redgarden rock climbing area.   

And this is a cropped photo of some climbers on that wall, taken with the zoom lens of phone's camera. Pretty amazing, I think. 

Last night we had dinner at a friend's house and I tried out some close up shots with the new phone. This looks pretty sharp, doesn't it? 

Well, check out this shot taken with the extreme macro setting.  I'm pleased!

This morning I drove Rei over to an event sponsored by Boulder's Head Start program to help parents obtain gifts for their children.  Many of the packages wrapped in the this photo came from that program, which was a wonderful thing for Rei and her family.  The gifts are sitting here safely away from curious children until Rei picks them up next weekend.

With presents and decorations, the house is looking very festive. Ben and I are spending the next couple of days in Las Vegas as a fun way to use up some airplane miles, so it's good to know that everything is ready for the big day.