A Snowy Neighborhood Walk

After spending yesterday morning lazying around eating pancakes, doing some quilting, and working  on the computer, a bit of exercise was in order.  When I found that Ben had done all the shoveling (thank you, Ben!) I suggested a walk around the neighborhood, specifically up to Chautauqua to see the lovely Flatirons in the snow.  

  The final total for Boulder was 16 inches.   Such a deep snow can really transform the landscape.

Around Here

Our snow is about gone, though there is plenty of it in places where the sun doesn't reach, like the north banks of the Boulder Creek.   The creek has been particularly lovely these past weeks. 

We are watching with interest the approach of the blizzard that will hit our old stomping grounds back east with one to two feet of snow.  It's made us a bit jealous.  We loved big snows in Maryland, feeling all snuggled up in our little country home, warm and cozy by the fireplace while the wind howled outside and the snow fell deeper and deeper.  When I asked Ben why he felt nostalgic about those infrequent "snow-ins" he said "Pancakes!"  Well, we sure did eat well during those storms, with pancakes, homemade bread, cassoulets, lots of good wine....hmm, yum.  

Here's a collage from our last big storm in Maryland, way back in February 2010.  

It's not the same here since we don't have that same sense of isolation when it snows.  Last year we had a foot of snow in November and the street outside our house was abuzz with people walking, skiing, pulling kids in sleds, and even running.  When it snows here there is plenty of activity and no reason at all for us to feel cocooned in the house since we can walk to all kinds of stores and restaurants, as well as drive there if you're brave enough (Ben is; I'm not).   I like all that just fine; it's just different.

Remember this quilt I was working on?  I got finished enough to show to my little art quilt group and then let it rest on the design wall while I thought about how to border it using the brown and brick colored fabrics to the right and bottom of the quilt.   

Yesterday morning I decided it needed to be rotated and enlarged.  Here it is turned; today I'll buy more fabric so I can add another couple of rows on the left side.   These quilts can be so bossy! 

My art quilt group discussed our individual goals for the new year and I decided to work on improving my machine quilting.  I thought about taking some classes available through the local shops, but decided instead to join Leah Day's online year-long  Machine Quilting Block Party through which she teaches free motion quilting using a block of the month structure and online videos and lessons.   Loved the happy colors of this month's "Sunshine Surprise" block and had a lot of fun making it.

When a friend told me she had signed up for a class on how to use her new iPhone 6s I decided to join her.  I've had mine for several months now and am certainly no newcomer to iPhones, but I still learned several new tricks and plan to sign up for a session on iPhone photography.

Did you know that WWI German submarines only carried seven torpedos?  Just one of the many things I learned from Erik Larson's book on the sinking of the Lusitania.  I was slow to get into it but hung in there since it was highly recommended by friends.  I'm glad I did because it turned out to be very interesting and readable.

We had another accident!  This time some unknown person hit my car while I had it parked in front of the house the other night.  They didn't leave a note so I'm stuck with the bill.  It doesn't look like much but that dent is costing $1,000 to repair!  That will teach me to park my car in the garage or driveway where it's safer.

Well, that is too sad a picture to leave you with, so let me end with this one instead; a lovely big blue heron we spotted by the Boulder Creek last week.  Isn't he a beauty?  I was surprised to see it since we associate it with Maryland waterways, not Western mountains.

Not Your Grandfather's Bluegrass

Hello 2016!  We went to an early party at a friend's house and then to see the Yonder Mountain String Band  at the Boulder Theater.  I had spotted an ad for the concert and thought it would be nice to hear a classic string band but we got something entirely different than what I expected.  

Think string band meets rock and rock wins.  Think a smallish theater in downtown Boulder with all the seats on the main floor removed and a young (twenties and thirties) crowd standing and dancing to the very loud music.  An older crowd (thirties to forties; what? no fifties to sixties?) observed the fun from seats in the balcony.  Throw in the pungent odor of weed (despite the managements' use of incense to cover it) and a lively bar and you have all the makings for an exciting New Year's event.  (I suppose the cannabis was being smoked with vaporizers since, thankfully, there was no smoke in the theater.)

We were surprised, especially at the strong smell of cannabis (isn't it illegal to use in a theater, or maybe that's not considered "public"?) but we enjoyed the music and the scene for an hour or so before heading out to ring in the new year in the peace and quiet of our home.  Ben was asleep before midnight but I watched the ball fall in Times Square before I realized that of course it wasn't live, having happened two hours earlier than my mountain midnight time.  Paul and I wished each other a Happy New Year and so 2016 began. 

The new year to me is always the time to clean up and declutter.  I tackled my computer yesterday, sorting through and reorganizing all the photos I took in 2015 and deleting tons of duplicate files.  I had already put away all the holiday gift wrap and recycled all the Amazon boxes.  Soon we'll tackle the holiday decorations.  We did get our little silver tree decorated and enjoyed its simplicity.  Fetcher has really enjoyed sitting under it.   

We had a week of cold weather with the daytime highs in the twenties which kept the pretty snow from melting.  We hiked several times on the snow packed trails in Chautauqua and on Flagstaff which was a cool experience.  In the shade it was quite cold but when you came out to where the sun was shining the white snow glistened  and was strikingly beautiful.    Here's a couple of photos from a hike we did on Thursday with our friends Paula and Kate and their Handsome Dog Gus.  

You have to be carefully not to start hiking too late in the day or you'll still be out when the sun starts its early descent behind the mountains.  The late afternoon skies are picturesque but you quickly feel the increasing cold.   After this hike I had to stand in a hot shower for twenty minutes before I was thawed out!

Today the weather has warmed up and a nice week of highs in the thirties and forties is predicted. That's a pretty good way to start the year.

Lighting up the Darkness

Boulder is really putting on a holiday light show this year.  

It's been tradition to light up the commercial areas of Pearl Street Mall....     

...and the star on Flagstaff Mountain has been lit for the holidays for many years. 

But this year the Civic Center is all lit up...

...and enterprising businesses on University Hill began a new campaign to "Light up the Hill."  (BTW, do you notice the shorts this CU student is wearing?  We call them "winter shorts" and kids wear them all winter long, regardless of the cold.) 

 One of the things I really enjoy about the holiday season is how all the decorations light up the winter nights, so I'm a happy camper when the Flagstaff Star is lit in November and am delighted with all the new light displays this year.

Lights are especially welcome in our neighborhood since the sun slips behind Flagstaff Mountain about 4:30, leaving us in darkness.

We've done our part to dispel the gloom of night, putting up holiday lights under Paul's direction again this year.

The beautiful wreath and garland are products of the music program sale I wrote about last week.  One of the results of it is that our nice neighbors who supported the sale have hung their wreaths and garlands up, adding to the neighborhood lights and decorations.   Fun!

Hello, Monday!

It's been snowing off and on since Thanksgiving and I awoke this morning at 6:45 to another inch or two on the ground.   Too much on the streets for me to want Paul to ride his bike to school and I also wanted to put up signs in the band and orchestra rooms to remind the kids that tomorrow is the day they are to pick up the wreaths and flowers they had sold as a fund raising project.  So I threw on some clothes, ran a brush through my hair, grabbed the signs and joined Paul at the car. 

At 7:30 I was at the school putting up the signs.  I ran into the band teacher and chatted a bit, reminding him of the pickup.  I found the orchestra teacher in the xerox room rushing to copy packets of field trip information to distribute to the students today.  I've been doing xeroxing and other clerical tasks for the music teachers this year and I offered to take over her copying so she could get ready for her 8:00 class.  She gratefully accepted my offer and there were smiles all around even as I realized that in my haste to leave the house I put on my not very flattering hiking tights and my rattiest old jacket.  Oh, well.  In a few minutes the first period bell rang and I was blissfully alone in the xerox room. 

By 8:30 I was out of school and on my way back home.  I was eagerly anticipating the shower, coffee, and breakfast I would have before heading back to the school to meet the flower delivery truck and get the flowers organized for tomorrow's pickup.  As I drove, though, I noticed how beautifully the sun was starting to hit the mountains.  I decided to drive up the hill to get a closer look and saw Ben walking up to help our friend with a morning project.  He got in the car but we only got a couple of blocks before we stopped so Ben could take a picture of the snow-covered  Flagstaff Mountain with moon still visible over it.   

After I dropped Ben off I stopped at the Chautauqua parking lot and got out and took several photos of the Flatirons.   I was not alone.  I counted at least five other photographers trying to capture the view. 

 

I got home by 9:00.  I had done quite a lot in the short time I had been awake and I still have a big day ahead of me, but I felt invigorated but all the beauty I had seen.  Not a bad way to start off the week!    

November? Really?

Can it really be November? 

Boulder has enjoyed a long period of summer like weather this year with wonderful warm temperatures and no snow or even frost right up to this week.  By Thursday "a bit of snow" is expected with a high only in the mid 40's, but as of now we still have a lovely sunny day with plenty of warmth.  I love it, but it does make it hard to think that it's really November.  I was shocked to see that Thanksgiving will be here in about three weeks. 

But the mountain peaks are covered with snow and when Ben went up there to hike recently he found at least a half of foot on the trail.  Winter will be here soon.

 Halloween has come and gone, though our decorations are still up.  We had a little dinner party to celebrate the holiday and the completion of the kitchen, and that was a lot of fun.  Two people even came in costumes!  Don't you love this skunk? Maybe I'll dress up next year. 

Having a party is a bit scary.  You wonder if the food turn out well and will everyone mix nicely and have a good time.  I think some stage fright just comes with the package of being a good host, but it is still scary.

It seems like I've been doing a lot of nerve wracking things lately.  I'm in charge of a holiday wreath and flower sale for the music kids at school which means handling a lot of student orders and checks, placing big orders with vendors, and arranging for delivery and pickup of the products, all things that are well outside of my comfort zone.  And I went down to the school board meeting to make a statement about a change in the school music program which the board should reject,  which was definitely scary.  Even today when I loaded up a photo for my online photography class I was nervous about whether I had made the image the correct size and got my metadata right.

I think I'm feeling the affect of dealing with upheaval of the kitchen remodel, which not only had the kitchen in an uproar but my studio and the dining room.  For a few weeks it seemed like nothing was where it should be.  It also seemed like technology kept changing, especially apps and operating systems, and I couldn't count on anything working the way it used to.  It probably didn't help that I was at the beginning of a learning curve for my sophisticated new sewing machine. And then I upgraded to the iPhone 6s the other day, which is great but still means learning its new features.  Even the cable box was changed out yesterday and now when I go to use the TV the remote isn't what I'm used to.  

Ordinarily I'd find these changes exciting and fun to deal with and I know that it's good to move outside your comfort zone.  But right now I'm ready for things to slow down and stand still for a while.  As winter approaches, I'm feeling like being in a bit of a rut would be a nice change for a few months.

I think I'm ready to be like Spikey and just hang out and watch the world go by for a while.

It sure is a beautiful world.