Red Mountain Open Space

Last Saturday I had signed up for the Nature Walk at Red Mountain Open Space and was happy that the cloud cover meant it wouldn't be too hot.  What I hadn't expected was that I was one of only two people who signed up and that I would be the only one who showed up.  Fortunately Janet was willing to take the hike with me anyway.  We enjoyed the beautiful colors that showed up in the misty rain as we hiked the almost 3 miles around the loop.  I took lots of pictures, some of which were okay other's not as good.  You be the judge.

Tour de Fat and Wild Basin Wind

Saturday, September 4th, 2010 was the Tour de Fat parade from New Belgium Brewery and back.  My Brother, Weldon and his wife, Bev, were visiting and wanted to see the parade this year as they had accidentally sen it a previous year.  We agreed to meet at Loomis and Mountain after much discussion on the phone.  Wires were crossed as I thought they were going to call me as they were entering town to let me know they were on their way.  As a result we didn't get together until 10:20 while the parade was in full swing.  They had found a shady spot on the median to watch and we spent most of the hour and a half there.  Costumes of all sorts abounded, lots of fairies, pirates, plants and flowers were just a few of the choices.  Bike trailers were decorated as boats, a personal grocery cart, and large umbrellas were all part of the mix.

Monday we arranged to go to Wild Basin to hike to Calypso Cascades.  At the early, for Bev, hour of 8:45 we left my house to drive to Longmont and up Route 7 to Wild Basin Ranger Station in RMNP.  It was a beautiful scenic drive with a bit more wind then I would have liked.  I was sure that the trail was sheltered enough in the trees that it would be an enjoyable hike anyway.    I hadn't anticipated that the gusty winds would whip the dirt from the trail around and throw it into our faces.  As I listened to the trees creak in the wind I decided to warn Weldon that we should be careful and watch the trees when they were creaking.  Bev was behind us and did not hear me so Weldon told her as well.   No more than five minutes later we heard a loud CRACK! It was a dead, gray Lodge-pole Pine falling toward us and the trail.  I leaped to the left and Weldon leaped back and to the side as it fell between us onto the trail.  My only thought, "It better not hit me on the head!"    As it hit other trees and the trail it broke apart and showered us with debris.

As we were staring and I was taking a picture (see above) a family from a branch of the trail came around the bend and asked us if we had heard the noise.  Weldon responded that we had and the tree had fallen between us.  We continued to Calypso Cascades, ate lunch, and returned home through Estes Park all without any more incidents.

July Visit to Duluth MN

In July I flew to Chicago to visit my sister and her husband.  My brother-in-law's High School reunion was scheduled during my visit and was in Duluth, MN.  We drove up and spent two days wandering the town as Ed got together with his old high school friends.  Below are some of the pictures I took.

Spring in Old Town Fort Collins

Spring in Old Town Fort Collins  


I walked from my house to the public library looking for spring flowers to make an Animoto video.  Now a bit more than a month later I have selected a few of the pictures to create the above video.  Click the above link to see it. Better late than never?

Graphic Novels for Kids

I was looking through my latest update from Booklist Online, when I noticed that the webinars that I haven't been able to attend are available as videos at Vimeo. So I took the time to watch the one about Graphic Novels for kids. 
Booklist Webinar: Let’s Get Graphic: Kids’ Comics in Classrooms and Libraries from ALA Publishing on Vimeo.

I found it interesting and informative as well as a way to have my cake and eat it too.  I could watch for a while, pause it do something else and come back to the video to continue watching. It was also an education on how to use a visual to comment on the content without reading it word for word. One of my pet peeves is how so many PowerPoint presenters are doing exactly that.

Missed the Hike but saw Crazy Heart

I thought I was going hiking today until I saw the weather forecast.  Based on that I didn't even check to see if it was canceled or not.  Apparently they went anyway.  Meanwhile I washed clothes, cleaned up (organized) some of the mess in my spare room, picked up the living room, vacuumed, and washed the kitchen floor.  Most of this after receiving a call from a friend to use my computer to upload a picture to Craig's List.  Later she called to see if I had seen Crazy Heart. 

We went to the two o'clock show.  I see why Jeff Bridges received the Academy Award for his performance in Crazy Heart.  I knew it was about a country singer who was an alcoholic but wasn't sure what happened during the course of the movie.  I admit I was grateful that the ending didn't let me down.  The last scenes of the countryside were particularly beautiful.  

The irony is that the day was really quite nice if cool.  No rain, and I wonder if it snowed up at Red Feather Lakes.  Still I will be getting another chance to hike as the weather improves.  

Spring Break is over

The possibilities are always endless before the event.  The reality is quite a come down.   I planned to paint my bedroom during this week off, but I haven't managed that.   I do have the paint.  I can't remember what I did Monday other than trying to stem the water flow from my water heater at 10:30 p.m. that night. 

Tuesday was costly in the replacement of said water heater.  Followed by complaining to those unfortunate listeners at Lambspun about the cost. I did listen to The Furies of Calderon while the repairman was replacing the hot water heater and beyond.  Having started listening I was hooked and only managed to knit as I listened. 

Friday, March 12th, was the birth day of Natalie Jane my neice, Jodee's, third child.  So deciding on a baby gift to make was in consideration during Wednesday.  I decided on the hooded poncho above.  I tried it with a yarn I had on hand,  which was the wrong weight.  I liked it enough to buy the correct weight and am now knitting the final product.  

Thursday, I biked from Rolland Moore Park to the Rio downtown with two friends, enjoying the beautiful day before snow.

Friday was for staying in, rooting around my spare room and trying to decide what I could live without, knitting and buying groceries.  Saturday, was more knitting, making soup for Sunday, sorting through books and taking them to be traded before buying the paint. Thus my fun week is over after the lunch soup meal after church.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain is the February read for the Poudre River Regional Public Library Main Library Book Club.  Before it was chosen for the Book Club this year I was told by my brother and sister-in-law that it was a great book and I needed to read it.  Right before I began reading it a friend told me the same thing.  Why then don't I feel like I read the same book?  I knew that the book was going to be narrated by a dog named Enzo.   I didn't know it was going to make me cry in the first few pages. What surprises me is that this book mentions reincarnation on more than one occasion and I am pretty sure my brother and sister-in-law don't believe in reincarnation for one moment.  They usually don't care for any fantasy element.  So why did they like it?

Enzo fantasizes about talking quite a bit and being a human in another life.  He tells the story of his owner Denny who is working at a BMW dealership while he pursues his dream for becoming a professional race driver. Enzo goes back to his first meeting with Denny and covers his marriage to Eve, becoming a father and the inevitable hardship that drives the rest of the story.  If you really are into car racing there are many references to races, drivers,  and movies about racing that you will enjoy.  There are several poignant moments in the book that drew me in, but I didn't feel a depth to this story that I was expecting.  Maybe my expectations were too high. The movement from past to future and back wasn't handled badly, but I was not caught up in this story, I could easily have put it down and not picked it up for a week or a month.  I felt no urgency to finish it and find out what happened.  Some of it was predictable, but that hasn't prevented me from enjoying a book before.  Unlike other book club choices I hadn't looked up the author on the internet to get more information.  Usually I do this before I finish the book because I want to know more about them and how they came to write their book.  

Here is the Garth Stein's web site address http://www.ravenmoon.com/ .  I'd be interested to hear what other people found or didn't find in this book.

Pigs of Heaven

A friend recently loaned me Barbara Kingsolver's  sequel to The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven.  I had read the first book about Taylor and Turtle while visiting Dad at La Possada in Green Valley.  My sister found it in their library and laughed so often as she read it I had to read it too.   Pigs in Heaven begins 3 years later and Turtle, the adopted Cherokee daughter, is now six years old.  While on Easter vacation with her mother, Turtle sees someone fall into a tunnel of the Hoover Dam.  She later asks her mother how he will get out and Taylor turns around to find someone to rescue the man.  This leads to an appearance on Oprah.  A Cherokee lawyer sees the show and suspects that Turtle has been illegally adopted.  When she pursues it Taylor panics and whisks Turtle away from Tucson and their life with Jax, a musician.  Kingsolver effortlessly peoples this novel with many characters and draws you into their lives making you care about each one.  Although Taylor and Turtle desperately want to stay together, there are many light-hearted moments that give the reader a break from the desperation Taylor feels as she struggles to earn a living and keep Turtle.  Barbara Kingsolver 's Website