Chautauqua and beyond

Today we took Betsey to work at 9:30 a.m., and then had until 2:30p.m. on our own. I had two prescriptions to get filled, which I was able to do at Rite Aid in  Boulder, because I had them filled originally at Rite Aid in Brattleboro and I was in their system. I also needed to go to Staples to print a file to make a cover for a CD for Betsey, so we did that, and we also did some shopping at Alfalfas and went to the P. O. to mail a package for Betsey. Then we went back to the house and took care of some things we hadn't had time to do in the morning, and by then it was time to get Betsey! So we picked her up at work and took her to Lyria, her energy healer, for a  2-hour session. During that time we went to the nearby Chautauqua grounds and had a snack on the porch of the Dining hall, which was very nice, and then we drove up the Flagstaff road past Chautauqua which winds up into the Flatiron mountains and has some pull-outs with great views. Then it was time to bring Betsey home. Ellen fixed supper while Betsey napped, we watched some golf, and that was pretty much the day!

                             Chautauqua snack time 

                                     View of Boulder

Gold Hill and Bald Mountain

Ellen and I had some time on our own today while Betsey and Rob went back to Anschutz for an appointment with Dr. Denise Damek, Betsey's neuro-oncologist. They are not back from that yet. So I'll wait on news about Betsey until we hear that report.

Meanwhile, today was a gorgeous spring day, and after R&B left, we went to Gold Hill, which is a little town about 5-6 miles farther up Sunshine Canyon Drive from R&B's house, at an elevation of about 8250 feet. It is an old mining town that has hung on and survived, inhabited, I suspect, by a contingent of aging hippies, plus others. There is a school, so there must be some younger families. The houses are a mix of pretty rustic shacks to more splendid mansions, and much in between, but the impression is largely rustic.

Street scene in Gold Hill

The Gold Hill Store goes back a ways. The owner says it sat empty and unused from about 1940 to 1970, then someone fixed it up and it's been in operation since. We had a nice lunch there.  He was getting a fair amount of biker business - a lot of bikers climb up out of Boulder - amazing!

The Gold Hill Store

Old cabinets in the store

Lunch time

After lunch we took a walk and went by the Gold Hill Cemetery - also very rustic and sort of haphazard, like the town.

Entrance to Gold Hill Cemetery

We went in and looked at graves - one of our favorite occupations - and then for a long time we sat on a memorial bench and watched a remarkable process. A creature - a flying ant? - was digging a hole, and we watched it burrow in, back out with a load of dirt, deposit it on the ground outside the hole, and then go back in. That went on for some time. It would sort of fly around and come back and start digging again. Then it flew away and stayed away for some time. But then we saw it coming back, crawling over the ground, and it was carrying something bigger than itself underneath its belly. It look like a caterpillar. It proceeded to take it into the hole and bury it! It finally crawled out of the hole - head first this time - and then it proceeded to carry dirt to fill in the hole, sometimes scratching backwards with its legs like a dog or cat, and then it went to great effort to disguise the location of the hole by dragging bits of sticks and leaf litter and little stones and arranging them all over where the hole was so that when it was done, you could not see that any digging had gone on there at all! Really, quite remarkable!  Here's the creature, resting from her labors:

The object of our fascination

View inside the cemetery

Monument for two infants

Eventually we left the cemetery, but enjoyed our time there very much, walked back into town, and then drove back down Sunshine Canyon, stopped at the house for a pit stop, and then drove a bit more then a mile further down the canyon to Bald Mountain Scenic Area.

Bald Mountain Scenic Area

This is a short trail Rob told us about. There was a loop trail that spiralled around the mountain and led up to the summit where you were treated to a 360 degree view, including the white-capped continental divide.

Continental Divide from Bald Mountain

View of summit of Bald Mountain

View of Boulder from the summit - red-tiled UofC buildings clearly visible

This walk had the added bonus of an abundance of alpine wild flowers! So that was a really nice hike. Ellen, especially, is always thrilled to discover wild flowers.

Prickly Pear Cactus blossom

Sand lilies

Pasque flower

Remnants of fire of 2010 - Mullein in foreground

Phlox

Betsey and Rob just got back. Betsey is exhausted, so she went down for a nap. Rob said there wasn't a lot of news to report. Everything is just going to take time and require a great deal of patience. Betsey will have a healing energy session with Lyria Pascal tomorrow and that will be good. But she also starts five days of chemo tonight. Those five pills cost over $2300!! Imagine it!

An unexpected turn of events

Ellen and I came back to be with Betsey bolstered by a report from John that during the days he and Cynthia were with Betsey, she gained in strength and mobility. But we arose Tuesday to a very different situation. Betsey felt that in just the past 2-3 days, she had gone backward. She could not move her fingers, hand and wrist in ways she could have a few days ago. Her left foot felt less stable. She had a scheduled appointment today with Colin Catel, Dr. Lillehei's "right hand man," and when he heard her story, he immediately was concerned about the possibility of bleeding, or cyst enlargement due to blockage of the catheter. Both of these are very common post-op complications, and are not immediately apparent. We also learned that the effects of radiation treatment - swelling, inflammation - can show up three to six months after treatment has been stopped. He felt the need to get an up-to-date image, so he ordered another MRI, which is taking place as I write. It's now after six - we've been here at Anschutz since about 1:15pm, expecting originally we would have long since been home and be having supper. To make things a bit more complicated, Betsey has another appointment with her oncologist tomorrow, and is slated to start another five-day round of chemo, which leaves her weak and tired and kills her appetite. So this is another rough patch. Hold us in the light!

Later

We're home now. Betsey got out of the MRI at about 7:15, and Ellen got the car and we took the E470 tollway, and US 36, back to Boulder. It was a beautiful evening, not a lot of traffic; the colors of the mountains and the sky at dusk were very lovely, as you can see below. We were home by 8:30 and Betsey went right to bed. It was an exhausting day for her. No one needs to get up early tomorrow, but right after noon Betsey and Rob will be heading back to Anschutz to meet with Dr. Denise Damek, Betsey's neurooncologist. She will have all the results of today's MRI. We should know more tomorrow night.

                     In the neurology waiting lounge

                 Driving north on US 36 outside Boulder

                             Almost like a painting!

                                Dusk near Boulder

In Boulder

Tonight we are in Boulder. We had originally planned to meet Rob and Betsey at the college of music for a concert by the Takacs Quartet, which is in residency at UofC. But Betsey was very tired today and they decided not to go to the concert. We offered to come back to the house and free up Rob to go, but he preferred to stay home, so Ellen and I went by ourselves. It was a wonderful concert. The Takacs quartet, which had its origins in Hungary back in the 70's, is outstanding. They played a quartet by Haydn, a new piece by Carter Pann, a UofC faculty person, and a piano quintet by Franck. Ellen didn't like the Franck (neither did Charles Gounod, who said the piece  "raised incompetence to the level of dogma") but I loved it and we both thought the Pann was quite powerful. Haydn was delightful as always. The musicianship was superb. We didn't get out until 9:30 and when we got back to the house, R&B had gone to bed. We'll see them in the morning.

                The Takacs Quartet

                  Taking a final bow

The concert hall, which has an excellent acoustic. 

Our drive down from Alpine today was smooth. We left Alpine at about 7:45am and arrived in Boulder a bit after 5pm. So between a  9 and 10 hour drive. Great scenery. 

       Typical scene out the car window 

I read an Alice Munroe short story aloud, and we listened to several lectures on the history of the English language. Very interesting! 

We'll miss Max, Paul, and Jenny, but see them again in July. Now we have a chance to enjoy Betsey and Rob again and we hope Betsey has a good week. We will certainly try to help make it so. 

The unexpected at church

I Ellen and I went to church this morning - at Star Valley United Church in Thayne -   our first opportunity to go to church since we left home. It was Ellen's first time to hear Alan Schoonover, the new minister. Allan had gotten maybe five minutes into a sermon based on the 23rd Psalm - mainly on the phrase "he restores my soul," when one of the congregants, a man on his seventies, began to have a medical emergency. Allan stopped speaking, of course, people gathered around the man in concern and helped him recline and elevated his feet, while someone called 911. Eventually, Allan offered a prayer, and then invited people into the fellowship hall for an early coffee hour, with the idea that we would resume the service after Scott, that was the gentleman's name, had been taken to the hospital. The EMT's came pretty soon - which was reassuring in such a rural community - and Scott was alert and responsive when they left. It happened that the woman in front of him was on oxygen herself and had a portable oxygen tank she could share, so he  got oxygen even before the EMT's arrived. Ellen and I stayed nearby instead of going to the coffee hour, and had a chance to get better acquainted with a couple we had met before. It turned out that they were going to be visiting a daughter- in-law in Hanover, NH in just a couple of weeks and could have visited us, but we'll probably be in Boulder! They moved to Alpine about 17 years ago and built a retirement home next to a spot that unbeknownst to them was to become a development and landing strip for out-of-state billionaires' second homes and their airplanes! Many of these billionaires are Californians who by living in Wyoming for a few months out of each year can avoid paying income tax in California! Which probably amounts to  $ hundreds of thousands a year! Another tax loop-hole for the wealthy. To add insult to injury, the billionaire next to them put up a huge berm so that he can't see their house, but the berm blocks their view of the mountains! They seem to have accepted all this with remarkable grace and humor. So, the service was not the usual. Eventually it did resume in a somewhat shortened form. 

This afternoon, Paul sanded the kitchen, dining area and living-room floor. When he originally built the house, he used a water-based varnish that had spotted wherever it got wet, so it looked pretty crummy after a while. So he's redoing the whole floor. 

    Newly sanded floor, but before sealer

               Living-room area 

Tonight we watched episode 4 of Wolf Hall. Pretty gripping. British history in the days of Henry VIII is quite a soap opera! 

Not too much to report

Well, here it is, Saturday afternoon, and there's not much to say. I got up fairly late, had breakfast, and since Max had a friend, Olivia, visiting, to play with, I went with computer to the Library and worked on some letters for Katie, and took advantage of being there to print out some other things also. Came back, had a light lunch, Olivia and Max had transformed the living-room into a playhouse, and so Ellen and I took a walk. After our walk, Olivia's parents were  here, and we all sat on the front steps in the sun, sipped beer, and talked. A nice Saturday.

Max's birthday celebration

This afternoon we went to Max's school in Thayne to visit his classroom for a celebration of his birthday. It is not actually his birthday, but since his birthday falls in June, when school is not in session, the school allows students in that category to pick a day during the school year when the class can celebrate their "fake" birthday. Today was that day.

Regrettably, my cell phone/camera was at home. Paul took a couple of photos with his phone, and I hope eventually to incorporate them here, so be sure to check back. But let me describe the event. 

When we arrived, the class was dancing in front of a large video screen to the music of Y.M.C.A and were having fun doing so. Sort of a throw-back to the 1970's! Then the teacher, Mrs. Perkins, gathered them in a circle on the floor around Max, who held a place of honor in a chair. There are 17 children in Max's class. Paul, Ellen and I were introduced as family and we sat at a nearby table.

Parents are invited on this day to bring "show and tell" items which tell something about their child. Paul had a knapsack with several such items, which got passed around. The first was a picture of their house and family, and then he showed them a Lego truck -  a tractor-trailer that carries autos - that Max had just made - a gift from Ellen. Paul explained that Legos are Max's favorite toy, and that he puts them together very quickly and with no hesitation. He then showed a few other things Max likes, e.g., a book about Star Wars characters and one of Max's favorite movies, Batman, and explained that Max likes super-heroes in general.

He also showed a couple of "angry birds" that Max had made. I'm a bit out of it here, but I guess these are characters from a popular video game, related to Star Wars. I can't figure out if they are part of the original Star Wars franchise or a spin-off. Max has a reader titled Angry Birds Star Wars; Lard Vader's Villains but I can't figure out how it relates to the original Star Wars story. The kids in the class all seemed to know all about this but I guess someone will have to enlighten me. Anyway, Max had made little models of "angry birds" out of play dough and uses them to act out scenes with them. 

When Paul was through with his "show and tell" presentation, which he did very well, the children got to ask Max questions. They had a lot of questions, mostly along the line of "What is your favorite . . .?"  Animal? Color? Super Hero? Etc. "Had he ever been on a plane?" Etc.    

Then he got a certificate for his "fake" birthday and we handed out little Twix bars to everyone that we had brought as a treat. Everybody shouted out Happy Birthday Max !  No singing, however. 

Max seemed to enjoy his. "Fake birthday"

       Max's "fake birthday" certificate

                "Angry birds" reader

       Max's angry bird that he made

Today i also finished backing up my computer at the Library, so that is done. It took over three hours to do the job.

Now, it is raining pretty hard. Thunder storm. The newly planted spruces in the front yard are getting a good drink! No hike up the hill tonight. 

I heard from John yesterday that he and Cynthia had made a side trip up to Estes Park. So glad they are having a chance to do some fun things. Betsey is going to work each day and reports on Facebook that she is "doin' good." We are blessed. 

Ben Affleck and me

Ben Affleck, a well-known actor and screen-writer (well-known by everyone but me; I don't think I've ever seen any of his many movies, including Good Will Hunting, which I have at least heard of) has been in the news recently because he suppressed the revelation that one of his ancestors had been a slave-owner. The revelation came in a PBS series on Finding your roots that Affleck was doing with Henry Louis Gates. Apparently  Affleck was "embarrassed " by the discovery, asked that the ancestor not be mentioned on the program, Gates concurred, then Wikileaks leaked the news, and now there are a lot of red faces at PBS, etc. Affleck (who is very liberal in his politics) has since revealed the ancestor's name - one Benjamin Cole, several generations back, who owned 25 slaves on a plantation near Savannah, GA.

I mention this because I too have an ancestor who was a slave-owner - Thomas Persons, my great-grandfather no less, who had a plantation near Glenn, GA, where he reputedly owned over 100 slaves. I'm interested in Affleck's embarrassment and wanting to hide this knowledge. I'm not proud of my great-grandfather but it seems important to me that I realize that I have benefitted from being the descendent of a slave-owner.

As it happened, my grandmother, the daughter of Thomas Persons, who inherited no wealth or land from 

her father, married Wade Crockett, who was a modest dirt-farmer, cum country-store owner, cum postmaster in Georgia and Alabama, and her son, Barney, my father, grew up in a family of ten or so children in relative poverty. But still, he did go to college and become a minister, which  probably was not the case with the descendents of my great-grandfather's slaves. There is no question that I have benefitted from that ancestry. That awareness was very important to me when I decided, almost 30 years ago, to try to support an African-American man, who came into my life through a friend, Gail Lobenstine, who had befriended him. I tried to help Stanley over a period of more than twenty years, including a long prison term, and more importantly, the years following his release from prison. I may have made a difference - I 'll probably never know. But the important thing is that I felt I had an obligation, because of my ancestry, to try to do something. And I think Ben Affleck does too. The big question is - do all of us white folks have an obligation, regardless of our ancestry?

I'm reading a book titled The Half Has Never Been Told; Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, by Edward F. Baptist, a professor of history at Cornell. My son, John, gave it to me for my birthday. Baptist argues pretty persuasively that our entire economic system in this country, south and north, was built on the back of the institution of slavery, and that institution, which endured for over three hundred years and  still resonates today, was far more cruel and brutal than we can imagine, and amounted to the systematic torture of millions of African-Americans by white enslavers, a torture from which we all benefit. To put it succinctly, that torture was necessary to drive slaves to ever higher levels of efficiency in the harvesting of cotton, to keep pace with the efficiency in the processing  of cotton that the cotton gin made possible. That torture, in effect, built this country and made it an economic power in the world. This is a fact we all benefit from, especially those of us who are white, who clearly benefit disproportionately from our economy. That should give us all pause. It's not an easy book to read, but I recommend it. 

Computer sequel

I have established pretty firmly now that the computer works fine at, e.g. the Alpine Library, but doesn't want to work at all in Paul's house. Why this should be, I do not know. Paul and Jenny have a laptop, and it works fine. But it isn't a Mac. Maybe there is something in the air here that does not like a Mac!

Anyway, it's a cause for concern. This trip, I did not bring my external hard drive with me. I meant to, but forgot. We were under a time constraint leaving the morning of the day after Easter, which had been packed so full from early morning till late at night, so I didn't think of everything. I've been worried that if the computer did fail, it wouldn't be backed up. Thus I decided to go to Jackson today and get another external hard drive. They are a pretty good deal - $99 for 1000 GB  (1 terabyte). So Ellen and I went to Jackson after lunch, and she dropped me at the Simply Mac store while she did some errands. I hoped I could back up the entire hard drive while I waited, but it became clear that it was going to take two hours or even three, and Ellen needed to get back to start supper, so I interrupted the backup. I can finish it tomorrow at the Library. I'll feel a little easier then because I'll know that if these computer issues prove to be internal, like a failing hard drive or logic board, I won't lose everything. 

This evening I watched the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 3rd playoff game. I've never been interested in the NBA, but for some reason the Celtics have caught my eye. I think Jim Tolles contributed to that. He's a Celtics fan and we watched a game when we last visited there. The Celtics are in a building mode. Several new players. A younger group. One of their players is a former Tar Heel - Tyler Zeller - who I like. They are definitely the underdogs against the Cavs who are just HUGE -  LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love - good grief. The Celtics star shooter, Isaiah Thomas, is only 5'9" - he looks like a midget on the court. The game tonight was as exciting as any NBA game I have ever seen. The Celtics were playing their hearts out; really scrappy. They even led briefly, but the Cavs were just too big and too talented. The Celtics lost in front of their home crowd, and are now down 0-3 in the series. One more loss on Sunday and they are out of the playoffs. But they made it a good game.

I walked the hill again this evening after supper, saying the Betsey mantra. The hill didn't seem as steep - maybe I 'm finally adjusting to the altitude. 

Tree day

Today was an exciting day at the Baker  house. Paul and Jenny had ordered nine or so large spruce trees to be planted on the berm around the front of their house. They arrived today. Eventually they will provide greater privacy, reduce traffic noise from the nearby main road, and will probably attract birds. They are a very nice addition to chez Baker.

                  The trees arrive

          How it looked without trees

            Digging a hole for a tree

             Putting a tree in place

                      Setting it in

                     The new look

           A forest in just a few hours!

The Betsey mantra

I just returned from a walk up the hill behind Paul's house. Ellen was doing things with Max, so I went by myself. When I 'm walking alone I use my Betsey mantra. My prayer for Betsey is that she experience healing of her tumor, be given patience for the long road of healing, grow in strength, especially in her left hand and foot, know moments of joy in the midst of everything, and be able to fulfill three goals she has articulated: attend her 35th Wellesley reunion with Katie in early June, go to Florence, Italy with Rob and a UofC group later in the summer, and eventually be able to again run a half-marathon in New Orleans as she did a couple of years ago and loved!

This prayer becomes a mantra of seven words: healing, patience, strength, joy, Wellesley, Florence, marathon, each said  in my mind as I place my left foot on the ground. So the mantra covers 14 steps. I have long counted my paces when I walk, using my fingers as a sort of abacus (right hand counts off tens and left hand counts off hundreds.) In this case, my right hand counts off a full mantra- 14 paces per finger, up the fingers and back again for a total of ten mantras or 140 paces for the right hand. Then the left hand counts off one finger per ten mantras. The round trip up the hill and back is 240 mantras. In distance that works out to about 1.7 miles or so. Spiritually, immeasurable.

Another quiet day

I got up fairly late after a very restless night punctuated with nightmares and, after breakfast, went to the library, where my laptop computer works (whereas here at the house, when I click on any file, a colored ball just spins forever). Strange doings! But at least it works somewhere!

I spent two hours writing notes on a cluster of letters between Shirley and myself written between March 2 and March 5, 1955. Then I sent notes and letters to Katie - a project that is now in its fifth year. It's been quite a revelation to us  both. These letters contain not only personal thoughts and feelings, but cultural references. For example, in one of them I refer to a film that I had arranged to have shown at my field work site, titled The Quiet One (1948). I had forgotten about this film, but In the letter, I wax enthusiastic about both the film and the reception it got. The audience was an entirely African-American group of parents and teens (except for me, of course), who were part of a group I had helped organize to deal with the problem of juvenile delinquency in a public housing project called Robert Brooks Homes - all under the auspices of the West Side Christian Parish, my field work assignment as a student at Chicago Theological Seminary. 

The film turns out to have been something of a classic. It is a semi-documentary about a disturbed ten-year-old African-American boy who is abandoned by his family and taken in by the Wiltwyck School, an Episcopal school for "delinquent" boys in Esopus, NY (Eleanor Roosevelt was a big supporter). The commentary and dialogue were written by James Agee (The African Queen, A Death in the Family), and the screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Amazingly, the entire film can be seen on YouTube. I would guess that from today's perspective, the story would probably be deemed patronizing and subtly racist. I hope to watch it and form an opinion. But back in 1955, I was pleased by what seemed to have been a successful evening. 

After getting these letters in the mail and doing a little shopping, I came back, took a little nap, and then played a little bit with Max and two neighbor girls who were having a good time in a camper trailer Paul has set up out in the driveway (visible in one of yesterday's photos). 

Later, Max read aloud to me from Look out kindergarten, here I come! by Nancy Carlson, part of a homework assignment. Max is a good reader!

Now we're waiting for supper and Max is snuggled next to me watching his Kindle.

                     Me and Max

Welcome party

Paul, Ellen and I all went down to the corner to meet Max off the school bus. He was one happy guy to see his dad, nana, and grandpa.

We waited at the Trail Ridge sign (the name of the development) for Max

                  Waiting for Max

and everybody got  a hug, with a special one for nana:

     

and then we waked back to the house 

Max got a snack prepared by Ellen and Paul went back to work on a built in buffet for the dining room

             Staining a buffet shelf

Bizarre computer behavior

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that last February I was having computer problems here in Alpine. Well, those problems disappeared back home and the computer has been fine - no repairs or anything, it  "healed itself." Now, the very first thing I tried to do here, I had problems - the colored ball began to spin and just kept spinning. This time I took the computer to the public library to see how it performed there. It was fine. Doesn't  that strongly suggest that there is some kind of electronic interference here? Can't imagine what it could be. But I 'll probably limit my computer usage to the library!

No word from Boulder, so I'm assuming that Betsey, John and Cynthia are doing well. Ellen did a wash this morning here and Paul is working on projects around the house. Jenny is at work and Max is at school. The weather is gorgeous. 

We're in Alpine

We made it to Alpine from Boulder without incident. It was a beautiful day all the way. The only wrinkle was that on I-80 between Laramie and Rawlins, (we learned all this later) there had been an accident in which two trucks had collided, jackknifed, and then got hit by numerous vehicles including a truck carrying 22,000 gal. of flammable liquid which caused a huge fire. About 16 vehicles were involved with one death and many injuries. The interstate was closed and we were detoured on to Rte. 30 for about 60 miles. We are fortunate we were not involved but our hearts go out to those who were. It can happen any time, anywhere. 

We got to Alpine by a little after 9pm, Max was asleep but we talked with Paul and Jenny and now are about to retire. 

Cynthia got a photo of all of us last night in Boulder. Hope she can eventually forward it. 

Arrival!

We left for the Denver airport at about 4:20pm and got there at about 5:30pm, just before J &C's plane landed. The Denver airport is quite handsome. 

               Denver airport terminal 

            Interior of main terminal 

John and Cynthia showed up pretty soon, collected their bags and we were off in good time and back to the house by 7:30pm or so. So nice to be all together and I think it 's going to be really great for John and Betsey to have this time together. I am so blessed! 

Clean and pick-up

This morning we cleaned. We cleared out of our bedroom to get it ready for John and Cynthia, washed the bedding and remade the bed, cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, etc. I took things out to the car we don 't need tonight, and cleaned up the front hall and outside entry. Everything looks nice for J&C's arrival. 

We'll leave at 4 pm to go to the Denver airport. J&C arrive at about 5:45pm on Southwest. We'll have this evening altogether, which will be really nice. Tomorrow, we'll help them pick up a rental car in Boulder, come back, do a final packing up and be on our way to Wyoming. 

Here's the bedroom we prepared for them:

                  Guest bedroom 

Dramatic weather

That gorgeous sunny day turned into a wild snow storm in the later afternoon, variously sleet, big fluffy flakes floating down and wind-driven snow -a real blizzard. Then it cleared and now the stars are shining and the lights of Denver are visible. Rob fixed a great supper of meatballs and pasta, macro-biotic style, e.g., no tomato sauce. Delicious. Tomorrow, John and  Cynthia arrive and we'll overlap with them Sunday evening and Monday morning, and then head to Wyoming. 

A trip into town

Betsey felt up for going into town today for a trip to Alfalfa's to do some shopping, so after a delicious lunch of cauliflower/toasted almond soup, Ellen style, we went into town. Regrettably, I did not bring my iPhone, so no pics from the store, but I have these showing how beautiful the light is on the new-fallen snow. It is still very snowy around the house, but none at all in Boulder. Today is a gorgeous, sunny day.

           Photo taken from the patio 

                From the kitchen window

      From the entry-way picture window