Moving Ahead

We've had a couple of light snowfalls these past two weeks, giving Boulder a lovely coat of white.  Last Wednesday night we got ten inches of the prettiest white sugar snow, but had hardly any sunshine on Thursday.  

We like our sun around here so it was particularly wonderful to have a lovely sunny, even warmish, day yesterday.  So pleasant, in fact, that after a long walk in the nearby town of Niwot with our friend Lotus we sat for a half hour or so in the delightful sunshine at the Old Oak coffee shop.   It was great fun to be out again among happy people just chatting and enjoying each other and the nice weather, and a much needed reminder that this pandemic winter won't go on forever! 

After what seemed like a long wait,  Boulder will begin vaccinating 65-69 year-olds this week, and several of our friends have appointments.  Ben and I got ours last week by driving an hour to Bennett, a small town east of the Denver airport, where a one day vaccination clinic was organized by the Town of Bennett and the Colorado Department of Health.  At 10:45 PM the night before the clinic, there were two slots left, so we didn't feel like we had taken spaces that the good folks of Bennett wanted.   In fact, we were sorry to learn that it had been a "slow day" at the clinic to the point that walk-ins were being vaccinated although the plan had been that only appointments would be honored.   I guess people changed their minds and didn't show, which is too bad.   But it made for a good experience for us as we were in and out quickly and easily.   

We were so happy to get the shot!  Another step towards the end of this long winter.            

Meanwhile, life at home continues.   We didn't go out or have friends over for Valentine's dinner, but we did note the day with a some good homemade chocolate cake.   Isn't it cute? 

The usual 9" two-layer cake is just too much cake, even when you're sharing it, so I used a 6" pan and this small cake recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.  The first one was such fun that I ended up making two more to give away!   They did add a little pizzazz to an otherwise unremarkable Valentines' Day.

I'm really enjoying the online Photoshop Elements class I started the first of the month, but it takes a lot of time to watch/read the lessons and do the homework.   A fun thing we learned recently was how to take a photo like this.... 

...and turn it into a cutout version like this.  This isn't quite right yet but after it is I could use it to make a fiber image from it, finding appropriate valued fabrics for the four values (light to dark) shown in the cutout.  I did some other images of the Flatirons and a flower, and we'll see if I translate them into fabric or not.   

Turbo continues to be a joy.  Most nights after dinner he stands by the stairs to the basement waiting for me to go down and watch tv with him.   Sometimes he wants me to throw the ball to him and play catch while I watch, sometimes he takes a nap, but sometimes he actually watches the screen with me.   

When that happens I have to be mindful, since any animals on the screen causes him distress.  He leaps off the bed and charges at the screen, barking at the intruder.  Turbo has a loud bark and it takes a while for him to calm down, so I've learned to be on guard and hit the fast forward button!   Kind of funny, though, and always makes me smile.  

I'm writing this on a very windy Monday morning.  We'll get blown around as we deliver meals today on our Meals on Wheels route, and of course when we walk Turbo.  I have on my "to do list" to clean the kitchen floor, send out two cards to friends,  do the next lesson in my Photoshop Elements class, find and throw out old ratty t-shirts,  and to add a border to an kid's quilt that I'm making for Outreach.  Plus Turbo has a doggy play date this afternoon and we'll make a nice dinner.   So it promises to be a full day!