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.