November 17: It's My Turn

Well, I tested positive for Covid on Tuesday night.  I was beginning to think I might get through this pandemic without actually ever catching the virus but no.  I guess it's my turn now.  So far I'm not very sick; a sore throat, a vicious cough, and low energy being my main symptoms.  I'm rarely sick and I'd forgotten how boring it is.  You think that being in isolation for five or more days will give you a chance to get some things done, but then you can't because you don't feel well.  

But it could be worse!  My friend has shingles, and between the two I'll take Covid anyway. 

On another note, the Boulder Star up on Flagstaff mountain was lit on November 11.  This annual event marks the opening of the holiday season to me and I enjoy seeing it every winter. Usually I spend some time trying to get good photos of it from different locations, but I seem to have hit the jackpot early this year with this shot taken just outside of our house. 

I found out the other day that if you get up about 6:00 you can see the lovely glow of the sunrise off to the east. 

 

As the sun gets settled in for the day the light comes into our bedroom windows, giving a pretty view of the trees through the uncovered portion of the glass.  We installed new sliding doors there a few weeks ago and are living with temporary window coverings of butcher block paper taped into place until we decide what we permanent coverings will be best.  I really enjoy seeing these views of the trees when I wake up, so I don't want to give them up.

We'll see what we can find. I had an appointment today with someone who could apply a privacy film to the glass, but that got cancelled when I went into isolation. 

I have coughed at least once a minute since I woke up this morning.  This too will pass, but meanwhile it's annoying! 

Around Here; May 19

It's May and that means Mother's Day.  Ben tested positive for Covid on the 5th and was laid low for almost a week.  He was still in isolation on the 14th so it was a subdued celebration for us.  It was so odd for Covid to hit us just as the official end to the emergency was upon us.  While everyone else was moving on, we were hunting up our masks and tests.   And even though I didn't have any symptoms or test positive, the CDC guidelines told me to mask around other people until the 16th and I mostly did.     

Our Mother's Day dinner plans with friends were canceled but Ben was able to buy a delicious chocolate heart-shaped cake which we shared with Paul....

...and Paul brought me some very pretty vibrant red roses, which livened up the house. 

May weather around here is notoriously fickle and we aren't able to plant very much until later in the month.  This year we were treated to a long spell of cloudy, cool, and rainy days which further delayed planting.  

 

On the plus side, we've sure enjoyed some lovely views of the cloud-shrouded Flatirons. 

In between the rainfall we did have a few days of wonderful sunshine and managed to mow the lawns, buy and plant several tomato plants, some bean and cucumber plants, and got them and many pretty annual flowers planted.  

It's a lot of effort to do so much yard work in such a short time, but very satisfying to know the plants are in the ground waiting for the round of warm and sunny days we are supposed to have next week and that the grass is all cut nicely and the edges trimmed.  Since we live on a corner of two active neighborhood streets we get many comments on our yard and plants, which is gratifying.   

May is also the time when the turkey vultures and the hummingbirds return from their migration.  The vultures love a particular tree about a block here and I always am wary about their return until they again establish that tree as theirs.  One of these years they are going to get tired of that tree, and I sure hope they don't decide that the big spruce in our yard would make a perfect new home.  

Hummingbirds like to return to their old haunts as well, and as soon as I hear their distinctive buzzing cry I get our two feeders up and running for their pleasure.  Unlike the vultures who fly in and out soundlessly, the hummingbirds love to fight and chase each other around while making a lot of racket.   They are quite entertaining. 

Here are the pretty pink tulips in the bed along College Avenue... 

...and our neighbor's early poppies, which always make me smile to see.  

May 5th was the 23rd wedding anniversary of Ben's brother, John, and his wife, Dawn, and they celebrated with dinner at the Flagstaff House.  Ben and I were included in the celebration, but Ben was still sick then with Covid, so it was just the three of us.  I love having Dawn in the family and we had a great time. 

And last but not least,  May is the month when Paul's lease on his two bedroom apartment ends.  He decided it was time to live by himself so he spent a few weeks looking for studios and found a nice one about 15 minutes outside of Boulder.  He got the keys Tuesday and has until the 27th to vacant the old place, which is excellent timing.  He's managing all the planning for the actual move, but I'll still be glad when he's all settled in.  

The new place is a four-story modern big apartment building, quite a change from his two-story walk up here in Boulder.  Here's the view from his door.  A tiny room for a bed is on the left and the main living space is at the end where you see the balcony door.  There are two big windows to the left of the door, which allows for some good lighting.  

And here is the kitchen with the appliances all in a row along the side of the living area.  Check out the fridge; I wish I had space for a big one like that! Maybe Paul will let me store my bags of summer cherries in that big freezer! 

And here is about 2/3 of the living area.  I think it will be just enough space. 

   

Well, my goodness, there has been a lot going on this month!  To relax I binged on The Diplomat ...

 

...and read a great book.  

Not much quilting so far this month but I did get a big box of unneeded fabric and supplies packed up and delivered to a local quilt guild for their garage sale.  My emptier and more organized sewing studio is waiting for me! 

Summertime and the Living is Easy

Yesterday was Paul's 22nd birthday and I made him this lovely chocolate cake.  One of the many things I appreciate about Paul is that he is very kind and thoughtful.  On this occasion he wanted to share the cake with his workmates, many of which are Vegans, so he asked me to make a Vegan cake.  Ummm....well, sure, Paul.  And how do I do that?  Turns out that applesauce can substitute for eggs, Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks can fill in for butter, and cocoa used instead of chocolate.  I'm waiting for a report on  how it tasted, but you can see that it sure looked tasty! 

Our weather was hot, hot, hot for quite a while but for the past few days we've had thunderstorms most afternoons which have cooled things down.  I had Turbo up in the park the other day after a storm and we caught sight of the this beautiful rainbow.  Today is another day of high 80's instead of 90's and almost every one of the people on our Meals on Wheels route this morning volunteered that they were sure happy to have some cooler weather.   

I flew out to Cincinnati for a short but super visit to see my two brothers and a niece and nephew who live in that area.  I saw one brother last year but hadn't seen the others since before COVID hit, and it was way past time to catch up in person. 

Here I am with my niece Vicki. I love her outspoken posts on Facebook and admire her plans for her upcoming "empty nest" years.  Because her husband works for the state of Kentucky, the family gets a hefty reduction in tuition for state schools and he expects that once their younger child is out of collage he'll take advantage of this wonderful benefit and get his bachelor's degree, probably in history.  And once he's done, Vicki wants to enroll as well.  Pretty adventuresome for 40-year olds!   

Vicki's father is my brother Glenn, who has Parkinson's and can no longer do political and community activist work for the issues that he feels strongly about.  He received a special award from the Cincinnati government for his advocacy of LGTTQ rights, which gives you and idea of how he was using his retirement years before he was diagnosed with this horrible disease.  As you can imagine, it was hard to see him struggling, but we both enjoyed our visit.  Glenn's wife, Jan, is always a pleasure to see and for a special treat I got to see Glenn and Jan's daughter, Amanda, who had just come home from a tour of Ireland.  

This great pose was struck by my great-niece,  daughter of my nephew Daniel.       

...and here is Daniel and his family posing with me.  Well, most of them are posing!  Reminded me of how hard it is to get kids to cooperate sometimes when the camera comes out.  I was so happy to visit Daniel and have a chance to really sit and talk after several years of just occasional texts.   

And here is my other brother, Jim, with Daniel's little cute son.   It sure was nice of Jim and his wife Kathy to drive down to see me, and I loved catching up with them. 

Ben has been hiking more 14er's, two in just this month.   You can see from these photos how sparse and raw it is way up there above tree line.  Yes, that is a mountain goat!

The arrival of the sour cherry harvest came around again.....could a year have gone by so quickly?....and several hours were devoted to picking, cleaning, pitting, and freezing the yummy fruits.  This year my friend Lolly joined me, so it was more fun and less work.  And the other day I made the first muffins from this year's harvest. 

Ben suggested something new this year, a little celebration of Bastille Day on July 14th.  We invited our next-door neighbors, Jack and Cathy, over for champagne, brie cheese, rich butter, a baguette, and an elaborate dessert from a local bakery.  The dessert wasn't identified but we all agreed that it certainly looked French and we all thought that Bastille Day was a perfect excuse for enjoying such delicious food, drink, and companionship.   

I decided it was high time that I did a bike ride that is a classic here in Boulder, the ride up the big hill to NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  The ride from our house to the base of the NCAR hill and back is about ten miles, but the climb itself is about 1.5 miles with a grade of about 6% and an elevation of 512 feet.   It's considered a great close and short training ride and I've avoided it.  But when our friend Raymond did it on his new eBike, I got the bug and decided to give it a try.  So early one cool morning I joined all the other cyclists chugging their way up the hill.  Even with an eBike, it was a challenge..you do have to pedal all the way up... and I was quite proud of myself.  I took a triumphant photo at the top with the NCAR building in the background....

...and a couple showing the views on the way down.

It was fun and I'm adding it to my repertoire of rides.

One of these days I'll have to get my act together and show you my recent fiber art work.  Always seems by the time I've finished something it's too much additional work to write about it!   

Around here

Around here.....

It's been raining!!!  This is a very good thing.  I don't have Boulder's numbers, but Denver got 0.88" Sunday night into this morning,  more than 0.06" it received all of April.  Not only has it not rained the past month, but it hasn't snowed either.  This is spooky, since April is usually one of our snowiest months.   So we are glad to see the rain last night and this morning, even though we're only predicted to get a few showers off and on the next couple of days.   Oh, and even better is that Ben and I made a big push to get the dahlia tubers planted, the roses fertilized, and at least some mulching done before the rain came.  

Around here.....

I got my fourth vaccine last Thursday morning and felt so well that afternoon that I did a long ride on my E-bike.  I wasn't so lucky on Friday and woke up with an achy body and head.  I slept a lot during the day but was well enough to enjoy dinner at Ray and Paula's (homemade pasta Carbonara; yum!)   

The vaccine must have really kicked in by Saturday because I woke to find that my fingers were very swollen and I was out of breath everytime I moved.  If I sat down and didn't move I was okay but whenever I got up and walked around I felt light-headed, breathed heavily, and had to stop and catch my breath.  I made the short walk with Turbo to the cemetery so he could sniff around, but I had to sit down there several times to catch my breath.  Not breathing normally was scary!  I took readings of my oxygen level and pulse, and was relieved to find they were normal.  My blood pressure, however was surprisingly high.  Not "go to the ER now" high, but still much higher than usual.  I decided that if things weren't better by Monday I'd call my doctor.  It was a good day to read and then watch the next few episodes of Amazon Prime's gripping series, "Line of Duty," with Ben and Turbo.   

Chappatte/Globe cartoon

Sunday morning I took an at-home Covid test to be sure I hadn't somehow managed to catch the virus just as I was getting another booster, and it came back negative.  My breathing was a bit better and I was sick of not doing anything so I slowly puttered around doing a little pre-rain weeding and other light gardening.  And somewhere in the middle of working outside I realized that I was able to breathe normally again.  Wow and great!   We decided to take Turbo over to Dry Creek, an off-leash 3-mile loop trail which is nice and flat and see how I did.  My breathing remained normal and I felt great walking after two days of just lazing around.   Sure glad that reaction passed by quickly!  The only good thing about it was that it gave me more empathy for people who are sick, and especially those who can't breathe easily.  

Around here.....

I've been sewing.  Made a big push to finish an art piece I've had underway for a few weeks and plan to get a post up about it in another day or two.  Here's a sneak peek of work in progress. 

Around here.....

 It's CU graduation this Saturday with 9,000 students receiving their diplomas.  That's a lot of happy graduates and their parents in town, which makes for some excitement.  I do love seeing the high-spirited students getting photos taken in their graduation finery up in the park; it's so cute to watch.  This photo is from last year and one of my favorites.   

Around here.....

It's spring!  Usually our spring flowers get snow-covered in the late April and early May snow storms, but none have been or are on tap for this year, so we get to just enjoy the lovely displays of blooming flowers and trees.  Here's a few pretty images for your viewing pleasure!  

Can It Be Christmas If You Don't Have a Tree?

We had a simple Christmas this year with no tree, just one batch of sugar cookies, only a few presents to open, and most decorations left unpacked in the closet.  I just felt lazy and the warm snow-less weather didn't put me in the holiday spirit.  So with no little kids to charm we took the easy way out and really simplified this year.  We didn't even cook holiday meals, choosing to go out instead with friends on Christmas Eve and Ben's brother's family on Christmas Day.  

And you know what?  It was great!  If it was important to me, I made it happen; otherwise I just sat back and relaxed!  

Christmas lights are always important to me, so we got a few up.  

And we did put a tiny live tree out on the patio with a strand of lights so we could see it from the house.  

Seeing friends is important to me, and we did plenty of socializing, including a wonderful "splurge" dinner out with Ray and Paula.  Someone (not me!)  even had the seasonal truffles. 

Hanging out with Paul is always important and I was happy that he made time for us, joining us for both Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Of course, Turbo is a big draw!  Did you know that Australian Labradoodles like to lay on their backs with their paws up in the air?  Well, they do and they look darn cute when they do it.  

Since I was feeling so lazy this year I watched a few holiday TV episodes or movies.  After some research I can recommend The West Wing's "In Excelsis Deo" (Season 1) as the best TV episode.  In addition to showing beautiful holiday decorations at the White House and being just plain funny in parts, it contains two touching stories.  The first is about how Toby breaks the rules so that a homeless Korean vet is honored with a funeral at Arlington, and the second reveals why Christmas makes Mrs. Langeheim (the President's secretary) sad. 

As for holiday movies, my research (conducted primarily while snuggling with Turbo in front of the TV), included watching the new-to-me Nothing Like the Holidays and rewatching The 12 Dates of Christmas.  

Both were very entertaining, but neither knocked out my frontrunner, The Family Man.  Hard to beat out Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni starring in such an engaging story.   

And now we're anticipating the New Year and our first real snow.  It's finally been snowing like crazy up in the mountains and it's a great relief to watch our snowpack growing deeper and deeper.  But down here we still haven't had any more than a dusting.  With some excitement I've been following NOAA's latest predictions which is still for  4-8" to fall on Friday.  Our plan is to take the bus down to Union Station in Denver to meet a friend for dinner and then stay overnight rather than slog our way back home.  We never manage to stay up to midnight, and will be tucked into our nice warm hotel room by 9:30 or so watching the snow drift down outside our big windows.  

from Denvercenter.org web site

 Like everywhere, our Covid positive tests numbers are up due to Omicron.  Boulder County now has a 9.6% positivity rate and we know several people who are sick.  Fortunately, they aren't sick enough to be hospitalized, but being sick is never fun even if it is "mild."   Ben and I take our risks in going out to eat, but otherwise avoid indoor crowds and always mask in public interior places.   I wish I'd thought ahead and bought a cool mask/hat/glasses set like this to wear on New Year's! 

photo by Andrew Kelly, Reuters