Celebrating

You are currently browsing the archive for the Celebrating category.

New sage growth filled the air with its intoxicating scent and had the hubster and I swooning.

Our wonderfully cozy digs (and sweetest dog, ever). Greg and I have never been so enamored with a rental, envisioning, were it to come on the market, how we would make it our own.

The Taos Museum of Art at Fechin House. Every bit of the woodwork hand carved by Nicolai Fechin (feshin) in the first half of the last century. My photos pale in comparison to the in-person beauty. The artwork was pretty stunning, too, featuring Marjorie Eaton and Juan Mirabal (student and teacher to one another).

Well worth walking to their our of the way location on Kit Carson, tea.o.graphy serves and sells a stellar selection of tea. I also bought a fantastic mug with an old school pick-up on it, handmade in Taos, of course. If I can’t drive the truck of my dreams, I’m gonna drink from its likeness.

The above two photos are from the Mabel Dodge Luhan house, which was also owned by Dennis Hopper. It has quite the history!

San Francisco de Asis Mission Church

One of the most photographed buildings in the world gets its annual spruce up. How lucky we were to see it in progress. Sad to miss the interior, however. Next time!!

Year round hollyhock beauty! Now that is a thought. We have a massive volunteer in the back yard and a few in the front that I am hoping will bloom this year.

The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in the Moreno Valley is a humbling and moving space created out of a father’s deep and abiding love. Doc Westphall began the memorial after his son David was killed in an ambush in 1968. It was the first Vietnam memorial, dedicated in 1971.

When we were there, the Angel Fire Garden Club was busily and quite cheerfully creating beautiful garden beds on the grounds. I was touched to see such an out of the way place so filled with love for those who gave everything in Vietnam. There is so much good in the world, peeps.

More dazzling green! Our nephew Tyler came for a visit last week, and we chuckled that some poor person might move to Colorado or New Mexico believing this is what spring looks like on the regular.

Red River reminds us of Colorado mountain towns of our childhood.

La Veta Pass greening up after last year’s massive fire. Hope springs eternal…

A final glimpse from the road, with gratitude for the best way I can conjure to celebrate the start of my 48th year!

Tags: ,

Homemade marshmallows! This batch, for the holidays, were peppermint, and oh SO good.

A niche shelf with the painting of Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak I bought in Manitou Springs and promised to show you.

No tree this year, but the holiday mantel was pretty lovely!

Peggy, the tin tree is the one from Clair Ann. It needs a repair, but I still love it!

Adorable little L is serious about photography but not fun, got it?

Christmas Day! Sweet and sparkly and filled with some of the best peeps I know. The food was pretty great, too.

The last snow of 2018 – the fluffiest!

Last homemade kombucha of 2018 – giant red grapes whose essence sank to the bottom.

<<>>

This post is dedicated to my hospice friend J.C., who opened my eyes to the world of alzheimers, dementia, and the great beyond that lies so very close at hand. E hoʻomaha me ka maluhia…

Morningtime

Our morning walk is a cold one. Hats and gloves and puffs of hot breath. Most days, though we live smack-dab in the city, we see no other humans. We see their gravelly footprints. We hear their cars racing and spy their contrails flying to greener pastures. At least, I hope. It is so curious to live in such proximity, to witness such evidence, yet make so little contact.

My life of late has been a steady rhythm of baking, cooking, walking (always walking!), entertaining. I made all manner of cookies and sweet treats for our dear neighbors and a gaggle of women I am proud to call my friends. We came together at our house, seated around our sturdy table. We broke bread and laughed and shared all that is us. Two days later, we did it again, with my Mom and Dad and two of our three nephews. The true blessing of any season, not just of the Christmas variety, to be known and heard and loved.

Here is hoping the same for you on this, the *darkest day of the year…

<<>>

Well, at least in this hemisphere.

Orange Horned Poppy

Hummingbird Moth

Moon Carrot

Wabbit

This and the one above – Apache Plume

Colorado Springs – home of my dreams…

Well, we did it! We hosted our cousin’s birthday party Saturday (and took not one photo of the actual festivities, only the frosting, which was Y U M) and yesterday, a little afternoon garden party for our ever curious neighbors (What on earth are you doing??). What fun! And what a great relief, too, to have all that work behind us and everyone enjoying the beautiful fruits of our labor. There was much laughter, lots and lots of cake, and hummingbirds zooming about. WooT!

To treat ourselves, we’ve pulled not one weed, nor put one plant in the ground (though there are three echinacea waiting). This weekend maybe, but for now we are enjoying long walks to breakfast with the girl (thank you Good Neighbors!), book reading, game playing, and home improvement show watching, because that, my friends, is our JAM.

Happy Wednesday!

<< >>

p.s.

Look at that little river flow!!

HELLOOO! If you’re local and haven’t tried the I-Cool Thai Ice Cream, do yourself a favor and go, go, go! They use super cold frying pan-looking surfaces to make liquid turn to ice cream, lickety split quick, which is then rolled up like a super thin crepe. Boy is it delicious, too! We shared a banana nutella and got it topped with coconut, caramel, and M & M’s. A perfect Happy Birthday to Greg!

At the Fine Arts Center now for Free Friday. We practically had the place to ourselves, which was rather nice.

Monique Crine

He’s handsome coming and going.

Alex Harris

Julia Fernandez-Pol

Always beautiful Pike’s Peak

Had a fun jaunt to Victor for Gold Rush days. We hiked and snooped around the various mines. What history!

Juniper saw no gold but looked pretty stinking cute in her new bandanna!

Oceanspray at nearly 10,000 feet

This building was used to store dynamite. BOOM!

Victor is sweet and sleepy and in need of a little TLC in places. If you go, make sure to stop at the Victor Trading Company on Third. It’s a lovely collection of everything you never knew you needed. We bought a beautiful broom (hand made right there!), letterpress cards (also made there), and a swell hat. If your jam is beeswax candles, old-timey cookie cutters made from tin or a period correct tin (also made at the store!), they’ve got you covered there, too.

I am not a baseball fan, but put the teams in period era costumes, and I will at least give it a second thought.

A very fine weekend to inaugurate the hubster’s 47th trip around the sun…

Tags:

« Older entries § Newer entries »