Aspen

Saturday, October 1st we take a car trip to Echo Mountain on Mount Evans to see the aspen turning.

Aspen trees intersperse the mountain side in colors of bright yellow and orange. The of aspen to pine varies greatly. The aspen shine as if lit from within. When a breeze moves through them their name, Quacking Aspens (Populus tremuloides), is perfect; they look like moving flames.

Between about 5500 feet and 9500 feet is the Montane Ecosystem

Climbing to 11,000 feet is the Subalpine Ecosystem. In this elevation lies Echo Lake. There is easy access all around the lake and lots of picnic areas so family members of all ages can enjoy fishing, sitting around a table visiting and enjoying the sights.

Kids can wade into the water and capture and release fairy shrimp. And if the weather is warm enough and the kids fast enough there are also plenty of minnows.

In the slightest breeze you can see that the name, Quaking Aspen, is completely appropriate. The leaves flutter; the trees appear alive. The occasional yellow butterfly passing through the leaves which are glowing as if lit from within give the impression the tree is exploding.

Pearly Whites

Justin has his braces removed.

When we get to the orthodontist’s office I snap a picture of Justin smiling to show his braces. 

He started this journey in September 2009 when he had seven teeth pulled to make room for permanent teeth that had no where to go. The day the doctor pulled all of the teeth he looked so pale as we left I felt like we’d let him down. I knew it was the thing to do, but the doctor said several would just fall out, and they didn’t. When we got home he slept a little and then instead of relaxing he felt fine. Wow, what a recovery! Wish I bounced back like that.

Leaving the orthodontist’s office I took another picture in the same chair, of my same child, without braces! He has a clear retainer to wear full-time a couple of weeks, and then just at night. Now its time to see how his permanent teeth come in. What a smile!

Hip Hop

Justin took hip hop lessons July 18th through the 21st, then Friday family and friends were invited to watch the class perform.

Monday the kids started off the week excited. They did appear to have much previous experience, but lots of enthusiasm. There were probably nine or ten girls and three boys.

The second day the teacher began to string moves together. She has blond hair that flips across her shoulders. Her posture is strong and smooth, more ballet looking than hip hop, she looks like a satisfied cat.

Wednesday my son let me know we couldn’t watch his class anymore because he wanted Friday’s performance to be a surprise. He told me this as he dressed in two shirts and added a studded bracelet to his wardrobe.

Friday kids arrived with big smiles and lots of extra accessories. Girls had frilly skirts and boys had baggy clothes. And everyone’s hair had attitude.

Kicks and handstands moved a line of dancers across the room as family watched. Then the kids turned to watch themselves in the mirror, and performed a full routine. Justin gave himself to the music, his shoulders bowing with the beat.

July in the Front Range

This month we’ve had lots of rain for the past three weeks almost every afternoon. We live in a high arid desert area so seeing green instead of rock, pine needles, and dirt is not the norm. Neighbors say a decade ago wet summers sometimes happened, but they don’t remember a summer like this in the near past.

The Rocky Mountain Raspberry bushes that grow throughout our yard look better this year because of the rain. The white flowers, five petals with yellow stamens, lasted longer. When the heat takes over the shrub looks spindly and sick, but in truth that is just how this raspberry looks. The branches split easily, the bark chips, and the fruit is small and doesn’t taste good.

The beauty of many of the plants in our yard is knowing they grow among rocks and soil that few plants would tolerate. They appear quickly with rain and hang out as long as possible. They add color to a landscape that it 99% brown and green.

Summer Flowers

FIRST FLOWER

Justin points out the first flower of spring, a light purple pasqueflower. It grows on the hill in Mr. Jim’s yard of the way to the mailbox. During the day it opens revealing a bright yellow center. In the late afternoon it closes and the flower hangs down the hill in a long bell shape revealing a hairy stem and leaves.

DOWN THE HILL

In Lakewood poppies and irises brighten my day as we deliver school supplies for Books for the Barrios. The poppies are as big as my hand and fire engine red. They are tall and move back and forth in the breeze as if whispering secrets to each other.

The woman that coordinates Books for the Barrios has a house sitting high on a ridge. Bright yellow irises have spread around and between the rocks on the steep hillside in her backyard.

WALKING THE LAKE

Field Bindweed weaves its messy carpet of blossoms along the edge of the trail around Evergreen Lake. The foliage isn’t pretty, but the white funnel-shaped flowers opening in the sun catch your eye as your sneaker skims the air inches above. On closer examination you see the mat is held firmly to the ground and the stems of the plant weave themselves around other plants and rocks.

Plants at the lake come in a wide variety, some loving the water, others loving the rocks and packed earth of the trails. The cattails that line the marsh side are dotted with red-winged black birds. Their shrill call and small splash of red on the top of each wing is a bright contrast to the brown ducks checking out the bottom water below. Sometimes a catch a glimpse of a red creature that looks like a little lobster scurrying from sight as a approach on the trail.

Near the lake house clumps of purple irises grow. They are the foreground for the beautiful mountains behind the lake. Your eye focuses on the flowers and then drift off into the purple repeated in the mountains and sky. I always stop to look at the mountains when we head to the parking lot. They are so big and dramatic they at once I feel small and large.

BACK AT HOME

A nine point buck was eating some of the lilac bush outside the study window. When I got up and walked to the window he didn’t seem afraid. Turning to look at me we were less than three feet apart. 

I bought three Geranium, Brookside plants for the front of the house. They are hybrid Geraniums. The flowers have bright pink/violet veins that attract bees by reflecting ultraviolet light. In the afternoon they almost glow. The stems grow in long tangled masses with lots of wildflowers. They look like unkempt bushes of wildflowers. When the bees land on the stems or the wind blows the plant ripple with waves. The large black bodies of bees stand out in contrast to the bright cupped flowers.

This geranium’s vivid blue flowers that last into fall. The plant is a hardy perennial that will come back year after year. I’ll have plants to divide and share with neighbors.

Mauri's visit

We haven’t seen Mauri since December 2009. Eighteen months is way too long. It’s good to be able to talk on the phone often and see each other on Skype. But nothing is better than an in-person hug with someone you love.

Mauri surprises the boys with a gift card for each to Wal-Mart. The boys talk non-stop on the car ride home from the airport. We stop at the Olive Garden and it is as if they know this is a special occasion. We are brought a never ending supply of breadsticks and checked on regularly with smiles.

Hurray, our first day of the season at Elitch, and we get to spend it with Mauri. Arriving we see a long line to pick up season passes and remembering how long the process took last year we think about bailing. Thank goodness we don’t, in less than an hour we’re in the park. Tad stops at the water park and rents our own cabana by the wave pool. As we walk to our table Mauri is thanking Tad, saying how she feels like a princess. The boys are smiling ear to ear. 

We had so much fun at Elitch. Most of the day we were in the water, food was brought to us, all the soda we could drink, and about four kinds of fudge, all totally rich and creamy. I watched as everyone rode a couple of rides and then the “win a prize” games began. Everyone left with a prize.

Mauri went to one of Grant’s rugby games. She met friends Tad and I have made, and Grant got to introduce her to one of his friends. After the game we went to the mall and she got her shopping fix. Since she lives in a small town she loved the idea of lots of shops. The boys bought a game, Mauri found cute clothes, and everyone picked out something to eat in the food court.

Mauri and the boys made brownies, the gooey kind that sticks to the spoon.

When one of Justin’s friend came over to meet Mauri his family was able to come too. We ate pizza and chocolate chip cookies, talked, rode the zip-line, and just hung out. Mauri had gone through some old photos we were keeping for her so she got to tell the kids stories from when the boys were young.

The morning Mauri was leaving for home we all took the boys to their acting camp. I thought there would be tears, but what happened was lots of tears. I realized the boys were now old enough to have more of a concept of time, and were more aware that they’d miss Mauri. 

Tad and I drove Mauri to the airport. I just my usual lump in the throat on the way. Mauri talked on her cell phone so we avoided a weap-a-thon. Waving goodbye as she completed check in I thought of how proud I was of the woman she was becoming.

Great Sand Dunes

We are camping at Great Sand Dunes with six other families. The boys have kids to play with and we have friends to visit with swap recipes.

The dunes are incredible. For a couple of weeks each spring the water melting on the nearby mountains come to the surface of the sand and make streams that move side to side. The streams are shallow, but along the edges the water cuts out deep pits that make super cold swimming holes. The boys spend hours jumping into the water from the sides of the dunes.

The dunes heat up quickly in the day, but the breeze above the hot sand can be cool. People sit around with beach equipment: chairs, balls, hats, and suncreen. We wear white socks to climb the giant dunes, and even then there are hot pockets that keep you from slowing down. But at the top of a tall dune the sight is totally worth it. On one side the mountains stand behind the dunes. Behind the dune we climbed is a line of dunes running into the distance. Specks move in the distance; as we focus we realize the specks are other hikers.

When you start climbing the dunes you find different types of sand. Some is firm and grainy, easier to walk across without sinking. Some is powdery and ripples in the wind in wave patterns. Up high we find corse that has a glass like quality, making it appear to be streams of sand.

To get to the Dunes is a 200 miles journey. We took US-285 S from Evergreen through mountain areas, cities, and then into flat land with mountain off in the distance. The last 75 miles or so the land is very flat and the few towns have low building that sell gas and ice. 

The day we drove to the park there was a lot of sand blowing in the air so even during the last leg of our trip west on Ln 6 N we didn’t see the dunes, just mountains in the distance. Five miles out they finally appeared, but seemed small as if dump trucks had been working for years to build a tourist attraction. The magic was in these five miles, the dunes grew, no longer dwarfed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Now the question was, where did they come from?

The ranger station has great exhibits about the dunes. It is estimated they are 440,000 years old, started from the bed of large lakes and added to throughout the years by the wind following through three passes in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Outdoor Celebration

Justin’s Outdoor Celebration for Marshdale third graders became a mainly indoor celebration because of several days of rain and left over mud. The day begins with a hike up the open space area behind the school for the opening ceremony and then instead of setting up camp there a return to the school gym.

The third graders have been studying about Native American Indians. Each dyed and fringed a t-shirt for the day. We set up tents in the gym and share popcorn and beef jerky.

Kids break into groups and visit different classes to hear stories, make shields, be part of a buffalo hunt play, and decorate face masks. During one of the sessions I get to read a story about where the Indian Paint Brush got its beginning.

A stick horse race with kids and adults gathers everyone back to the gym at the end of the day. A thankfulness ceremony is the last celebration. Each child tells what was enjoyed and draws a rock on paper in the center of the gym.

Popup Camper

We are now the proud owners of a popup camper. It will sleep 6 to 8 easily with two king size beds and two tables that collapse down into beds. Best of all it is off the ground, has a furnace, stove top, small refrigerator, and outside shower. We have the comforts of home that I no longer want to give up to go tent camping.

In Texas when I went camping keeping cool was a prime objective. Here is may get hot during the day, but at night it is weather for building a fire and cooking s’mores. And as the night progresses it is two sock and knit hat weather. With the popup you just snuggle into your sleeping bag and wake up in the morning still warm and ready to cook breakfast.

Orchestra Finale

Grant has his end of school year orchestra concert. Wow, what a difference from the first of the year. Now the violins all use bows and they don’t make constant screeching noises. They are smiling and happy showing off their new talents for family and friends.

The evening is shared with the band’s concert. One group plays and then the other. So cool to see the kids dressed up and looking grown up. The weather is cold so several girls have on pretty dresses and snow boots.

Breckenridge

Breckenridge is 1 1/2 hours away if I-70 isn’t backed up from accidents or being hit by snow. During ski season there’s always something happening on I-70. The question is, what?

Short to medium delays aren’t bad because the trip takes us 3,500 feet up; where the scenery is dramatic. Snow lines both sides of the road and often clouds hang low in the valleys between the mountains.

In Breck snow covers the ground in heaps. At night coats are needed for walking. Hats and gloves are stuffed in pockets all the time because even though the sun is much brighter and warmer in this high altitude it is cold in any shadow.

The town is buzzing with an assortment of people. People with money shopping in boutiques and eating gourmet meals. People on a budget in t-shirt and gift shops checking out the sales racks. People with accents checking it all out.

Going skiing the slopes aren’t crowded. If I scare myself making a parallel turn no one is behind me ready to run me down. The slopes are broad up top and the earth looks endless across the mountain range.

Walking we saw the markers for trails we hiked last summer, but winter hasn’t released them yet. It will be another couple of months before the ground lets go of its greenery.


Coming home I-70 is closed for rock mitigation so we take Hwy 9 to Hwy 285 and see the Continental Divide up close. The sky is a bright periwinkle blue that sets on the snow topped mountains. Swirls of colors appear on the sides of the mountains as the snow melts; lopsided like an ice cream cone.

Spring Break

Last week we had six inches of snow that left before the end of the day. Yesterday I opened the back door to find a ground squirrel staring at me. Mother Nature’s winter fights hard to keep her grip on the foothills.

The Abert Squirrel appeared after months of invisibility. He sat in the tree, ran up and down the trunk and chattered at the dogs. Wonder what he thought of the big yellow dog that was only a small puppy before winter began.

The fox has been cutting through the backyard each afternoon about 4:30 pm. She checks out the compost heap behind our shed and walks around the rocks where she played with her pups last year. Her coat is full; red with tips of black. Soon her coat will thin for the summer and she will have the look of a hungry feral cat.

The elk come in groups of 20 to 25. The mule deer come in groups of 10 to 15. They munch on the small evergreens in our yard and head to our neighbor’s front yard. Our neighbor had a pile of leaves delivered just for the elk and the deer. They run and play in the leaves. Maybe because they are something they don’t see here in the mountains where most of the trees are evergreen. After they play they lay down and watch the cars that pass by.

This week we are looking forward to spring break. It’s been snowing every day for a week at the ski slopes one hour away. Looks like we will have time to make up for the times we didn’t get to go. When we are around home we can hike around the lake and watch the birds returning to the water that was ice a few days ago.

Basketball Awards

Tonight Justin’s basketball team went to a party to celebrate the season and eat pizza. We ate a a local pizza house that gave us a room and waiters.

Everyone on the team started at as newbies. At the very end of the season they started playing as a team. They moved the ball down the court, got rebounds, captured the ball from the other team, kept the other teams from scoring-- all the things they had been taught by coach (and dad) Tad. Their first win was the last game of the season. In the tournament they won two of three games in round one. In the second round they won another game, finishing in fourth place.

Blue Belt

We now have a blue belt in the house. Grant was the first in his class to test for his belt. The kata he learned for this belt had a knife hand move that was cool. He did great.

Testing was last Friday right after school and then the belts were awarded today in class. Out of about thirty kids there are only 5 or 6 that are upper belts. After class the upper belts stood together looking at each other’s belt and talking. When they first started as white belts the group didn’t interact much, they’re too busy learning the moves. The upper belts help teach the beginners during the class, but the relationship is definitely teacher to student, not peer to peer.

The color of the belt the student’s rank. Grant started as a white belt, progressed to yellow, then orange, and now blue.

Now that Grant is an official upper belt we’ll see what the added perk of seniority brings. So far a big smile has appeared.

Karate Tournament 2011

Today we are sitting in the gym at the College of Mines in Golden to watch Grant compete in a Japanese Karate tournament. He will perform his kata and them spar.Grant started classes the second half of second grade. He takes one day a week after school so progressing is quite a bit slower than with the Kenpo Karate classes he took a couple of times a week in Carrollton.

Last year Grant competed in Japanese Karate for the first time. Being a beginner he didn’t score high, but the idea he performed in front of so many people, remembered all of the moves impressed me. In Grant’s group there are 6 boys.

Wado-Kai is the name of the styles of Japanese karate Grant is learning. Wado-Kai is one of the four main styles in Japan and Europe. The name means “way of peace”. A visual used, empty hands, is the same as used in Kenpo.

Grant won’t go home with a metal today, but he will go home with high marks, and a proud family. This year his movements are stronger and crisper than last year.

Spelling Bee

Tad and I sit in the gym waiting for Grant to walk in from his class to join the other kids in front of us that will compete in the spelling bee. Both our boys amaze me with there willingness to try new challenges seemingly without fear.

Most weeks Grant get all of his spelling words so we already know he is a strong speller. We practiced on and off the week before the competition.

Grant is the last student to show up. He takes his sit and I begin to relax. The 25 contestants introduce themselves, tell the name of their teacher and their grade level.

When the rules of the bee are explained we find out it’s just fourth and fifth graders competing with each other. Oophs, we should have been practicing those fifth grade words too.

On the first round several kids go out. They exit to the side wall and sit with a teacher that gives a couple of pats as tears roll down the cheeks of the kids.

Grant goes out in the second round and my heart goes out to him. Its the luck of the draw to quite an extent, you may get words you know or perhaps like Grant, the word you don’t know.

Round seven starts with seven kids. This time they drop one by one until the last boy is standing. Eirik is one of Grant’s friends and he is also I strong speller. Then the work, rodeo. What? Rodeo is kind of a let down.

After the bee parents and kids hug, and everything is good again. I find out Eirik’s parents offered him a bribe. It worked.

P.S. The first winner of a national spelling bee died at the age of 97 on March 23, 2011. Here's the link to the story.

Dig It!

Before Christmas Justin tells us he has a speaking part in the 3rd grade musical. The homework folder he brought home for winter break had instructions for the parents on types of costumes and the two pages of the script containing his lines. Wow, he has l-o-t-s of lines!

Four days before winter break is over we remember the lines are still safely in the homework folder. Justin starts memorizing the lines one segment at a time. Within three days he knows them all, plus he in the embodiment of his character,Gilgamesh. He has the swagger and pompous air of the warrior and leader that will build a great city in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Back at school the kids continue to practice during music class. At home we start looking for things he can wear. We look through the costumes he and Grant have collected and Justin suggests his purple top from Halloween. Adding black and silver amour he has a royal tunic. Adding a narrow black headband and sandals he is warrior.

At the play the gym is packed. There are three 3rd grade classes and his is up first. He delivers his lines just as practiced, with confidence and animation. I’m so proud of Justin and happy for him. Can’t wait to see what interests he will carry with him; what activities will feed his soul.

Qigong

It’s Saturday morning and I’m on my way into Denver to join twenty-five people for a medical Qigong class. After the introduction we start the exercises. Come to find out its very similar to the meditation and visualization I learned in college over thirty years ago.

My Tai Chi instructor had shown me a couple of Qigong stances to help the flow of energy. In medical Qigong positions aren’t stressed, visualization is.

In the afternoon we added chanting. I knew how wonderful sound vibrations could feel from listening to music. Chanting was even better because you make the sounds yourself.

Last year I had acupuncture treatments for a cold, a sore shoulder several times, a bladder infection, and stress. When the acupuncturist mentioned bringing someone in to give a Qigong class I signed up.


During class my shoulder hurt a few times and the teacher mentioned people react differently. She shared how sick she’d felt the first day of intensive Qigong she’d done.

After four hours of class I walked to my car feeling energy and contentment in equal degrees.

Sky lights

The skies in Colorado are beautiful.

Often streaks of pinks feather across the sky in the early morning. As the sun rises above the mountains its as if someone turned a light on in a room; sections of the hills are electrified and bright white floods the area. Section by section the mountains come awake.

During the day pure blue is often the color. Driving through the mountains it feels as if you are driving into the sky. If there are clouds they are usually fluffy and white.

In the evening pinks and yellow join the blue; you can’t ignore the contrast. The combination of mountains and sky gives valleys of lights and darks. Section by section the mountains go to sleep.

Yep, the skies in Colorado are beautiful.