twice, actually

aidan (read naphtali) slept fitfully his first night so naphtali decided that the hot tub before bed might be a good idea on the next night. it was. everyone slept well. and aidan had a great time sitting in the hot tub with his daddy. twice, actually.


during our trip i was informed - twice, actually - by aidan that "i don't know that yet, nana. there are some things that i don't know yet (i am just a kid) but someday i'll know everything". hmmm... forewarned is forearmed. it makes a cute story just reading it flat like this but to have heard the earnestness in his voice along with the shrugs and gestures was simply too much for me!!
i should add that james experienced more that his fair share of hot water on this trip. he also washed a lot of dishes for us.

changing scenery - deux

it's so hard to capture the granduer of the mountains (although naphtali has done a pretty good job of it) so i think i'll share some of the smaller thrills with you.

the wild turkeys delicately picking their way through the morning mist outside our cabin,


the bull elk bugling his intentions across the basin, oblivious of the spectactors chased off the mountain by an afternoon rain storm,and.....





the brain trust

gathered under cover of darkness at this heretofore undisclosed location to solve the world's problems.


these are the smaller pleasures. the images and sounds that take their quiet place among the bold and grand memories of a trip to the mountains.

changing scenery

kudos to naphtali for managing to get her 3rd entry covering our trip to colorado posted. this is a pathetic first for me.... and due to time constraints and a sloooow computer you're only getting 2 photos and a short comment.



this trip has been one of the highlights of our year since we came out here in 2003 (can you believe we've been here 5 years!?) we look forward to seeing the 'kids', naphtali's newest haircolor, aidan's growth, james' sartorial statement and the mountains. i can feel time, irritations, routines slip away as we begin to wind our way through the big thompson canyon. for me it truly is an other worldly place. i wish we could get away more often. last year we made a trip with jacob and kate, naphtali and aidan in june as well as our traditional september run with the kahls and that was a treat.



aidan is now able to hike along with us so we have made some adjustments to the our trail picks. and he doesn't just walk - he hopsskipsrunsaheadrunsbackchecksaplant ontheleftthrowsarocktotherightshowsgrandaacaterpillarandtalkschatterslaughs all along the way. if we've climbed 6.7 miles he's easily covered 10!!

we had some rain. saw more snow than usual. the aspens hadn't really begun changing so we missed their brilliant patches of color along the mountain sides. but we were there. and it was wonderful. i'll be back with another installment.

changing seasons

growing up we drank koolaid every summer. we had a dedicated pitcher using 3 packets to 2 cups of sugar. did the last day of school prompt the first pitcher of the summer?? did it disappear at labor day?? i don't remember. i just know that it was a staple of summer at our house.
at some point in my own home i switched to country time as the summer-time beverage of choice. at yet another point i thought that i should learn to drink tea. it seemed a mature thing to do. who was i kidding?? i did try. i gave it an honest try. my compromise was sun tea (made with green tea) as the base for my country time lemonade, thinking that at some yet to be encountered point, i could gradually decrease the country time and find myself (drum roll please) a tea drinker. who, indeed, was i kidding??
last week the cool weather prompted thoughts not just of flannel sheets and sweatshirts but more seriously of the possibility of the summer's last jug of 'tea'

this week we have tempera-tures forecast for the 80s and there is a fresh batch of tea in the fridge. it should be the last but i have enough country time left for another jug and fall in nebraska can be an extended season. the leaves are beginning to fall. the nights are cool, mornings crisp but if the sun shines warmly there is still time for one last round of summer time's beverage of choice. salut.

classic

cool nights, brisk mornings and mild afternoons have been the pattern most of this past week. those days when the sky is high and blue and you notice that leaves are starting to change.
of course, i had planned to enjoy the fine weather with some ambitious weeding and outdoor work this weekend and its raining.
i'll have no trouble filling my day with indoor tasks. tim has finished this portion of the basement so we can put rooms back together, shelve books, arrange furniture, hang pictures. taking pictures to record/blog all these things still doesn't come automatically to me. this project would have made for good photo ops but by the time it registers that i should have taken pictures i've missed the visual impact point. or my hands are filthy. or my shoes are wet. so you won't see any 'before' or 'during' pictures of the basement. nor will you see the delicious pie i baked yesterday with those peaches, taking advantage of a lovely, mild september afternoon. or the cupboard full of peaches in the kitchen that will be processed for the freezer when i get done here.

a common refrain

at the library is that none of us cook anymore. so why did i run 10 pages through the copier last night bringing home more recipes that will never be used?? what is it with cookbooks?? is there some mysterious (primal?) motivation for thumbing through cookbooks??
and of course our favorites are the christmas books that have begun to books to trickle in combining recipes with gift and decorating ideas. i took a few ideas from this one and it actually prompted plans (the whole idea really) for my mother-in-law's gift.

these books are so fun to browse. it's free. it's harmless and we do take and adapt some of the ideas presented in glossy perfection on their pages. i have to admit that a certain amount of eye rolling accompanies our perusals. yes, my breakfast table looks like that christmas morning. ( what fun it would be and with a few minor tweaks well within my range of time, talent and attention span !!) the bucket of party favors for the friends and neighbors at our holiday open house?? lets go with the mini scrapbook featuring vignettes from past parties. another reminder that some do seem to inhabit a parallell universe where chalk boards are hung from bedroom doors announcing the menu options for aunt susan's breakfast. so we look and make the appropriate oohs and aahs and have our fun and make our plans and look forward to the family visits and general hustlebustle of the holidays.