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

Red Mountain Hike

I took this picture Sunday, September 13th but when I began to add my title to the blog I discovered it was printing in Hindi.  After becoming frustrated with trying to change it I gave up until today.  Cooler head prevailed and I was able to understand the help advice someone posted on Bloggers FAQ. 

We left Fort Collins to drive up to Red Mountain Open Space to retrace the hike I had done in the moonlight in July.  It was easy to see why the open space is named Red Mountain.  Almost everywhere you look the soil is red.  Some of the areas have sandstone and quartz, but the red predominates.  Although I would have doubted it (during the moonlight hike) the trail is just over 2 miles and is a wonderful trail for someone like me who has been spending too much time on the couch.  It makes a loop from the parking lot through the canyon in the picture to The Big Hole, then around the south ridge and back to the stream.     The stream is still flowing which makes the stepping stones across the water welcome.  The weather was perfect for the entire hike, with clouds moving in to bring some rain as we drove back to Fort Collins.
On the way back we saw this stump which looked like a pump from a distance.  It was positioned on a somewhat hollowed out slope next to the trail.

Some pictures of Red Mountain from the July hike before the sun went down are  posted in my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27063931@N05/3749062117/ 

 

Soapstone Open Space

Susan and I went to the Archeology talk about the Lindemeier site at Soapstone Open Space yesterday, May 16, 2009. There were beautiful views of the mountains. We learned that the Coffin brothers actually discovered what is now labeled "Folsom Points" before they were discovered and publicized in Folsom NM. They were excited about the discovery but didn't get any attention from anyone until the 1930's. Our lecturer was Dr. Jason LaBelle from CSU and he pointed out the dark line on the arroyo which is the layer that is identified as the layer from the Folsom people period.

With all the rain we have had there were lots of wildflowers and mushrooms.

Moonlight x/c Ski

Oh, how I wish I had had a camera last night. My "Don't Hike Alone" group drove to the Colorado State Moose Visitor's Center for the Moonlight x/c Ski and Snowshoe Night last night. We arrived before sundown around 5:15 and had a glorious view of the surrounding mountains tipped by the setting sun. Everyone bemoaned not having a camera to capture it. I guess we will all have to rely on our mental pictures of the sight.

We collected glow in the dark bracelets and headed down the trail as the sunlight slowly faded. The moon was visible with only a few clouds in the sky. One of our number commented that it was a 9/10s full moon, not completely full. However full it was it was gorgeous and lit the trail with the help of various glow sticks to mark the trail.

Conditions couldn't have been better. There was plenty of snow, moonlight and no wind. The temperature was warm enough that many of us had to remove extra layers. There was the silence of the night broken only by the occasional skiers and people on snowshoes. Not only were the two footed critters out but we met our fair share of four footed companions. At least 4 skiers with their huskies pulling them up and down the trail. Some dogs had blinking lights to alert the trail users that they were there.

I had a great time and only the one fall on the last leg. I lost my balance and twisted my ankle on a basically flat part of the trail, how lame is that?

Reflections on PSD 23 Things

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

The puzzle maker from a picture was one of my favorite discoveries. Exploring online applications that I had never heard of and trying to see how they might be used in an educational setting.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

I was aware that there were podcasts available but I had not really explored this area and I think that I will continue to explore it for lifelong learning as it is another tool for my toolbox.


Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I think I may work on blogging more since I created the one I did for this class.


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

Yes I’m always interested in what is new and may be useful to my endeavors.