view from beyond

After seeing a cemetery photo on another blog yesterday morning, I decided to drive over to the Golden Hill Cemetery a few miles from where I live. Many of the people buried here in this old hill section died of 'consumption' and many of them were paupers. The cemetery is not completely fenced so there is access from several sides. I arrived around 8:30 a.m. and the sun was bright and the temperature rapidly rising. The first thing that struck me was how dry this hillside is. I don’t believe that this cemetery is ever watered and the small number of burial plots with individual plantings (Iris are common) are bone dry and partially wilted.

I remember reading of groups that go in and clean up overgrown vegetation and assess damage from vandals. I was alone there but there was a large dumpster partially full of tree limbs and evidence of on-going pruning of the trees. The ground is crunchy and many of the plants are weedy. Even many of the trees are the kind you find in waste areas.

Golden Hill reeks of neglect and decline but yet there is the hint of former grandeur. There are many elegant headstones, some that look as if they were just set when in fact, most of them are from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s or earlier. The hillside setting is majestic with Green Mountain and the trees of Golden and Denver down below. Looking down the hill is the most poignant view – the newer and regularly tended main section of Golden Hill Cemetery. After getting thoroughly hot and parched, I headed down the hill and across the tree shaded, ditch-lined street to the new cemetery. I walked around and was unable to find an open gate. On the far side I found the main entrance, with a sign that said they are closed on Saturdays. I will have to go back to get a few shots of the contrast between the two cemeteries. They each have a view of the other. Online you can view photos of some of the headstones. While headstones are interesting, I am more fascinated by the ambiance and view that belongs to the spirits that were laid to rest here. I wonder how it came to be so neglected.

Pat - photographer's assistant

wild Colorado weather

There is a certain glowing-green color that is created by the rushed approach of dark stormy weather.

I hurry out to capture the moment before the raindrops chase me back inside.

Next we have clearing and sun and then more clouds, part of the endless cycle.

the moon and venus in the morning sky

Pat watches the nest

If

     looks

               could

                         kill



birds would be falling from the sky!

light late night-skies

A day of extremes

Bright blue skies filled with puffy white clouds

Dark swirling clouds, winds increasing until the big heavy raindrops slap against the window.

From quiet with gentle breeze to roaring winds with leaves ripping off trees.

Afternoon storms and evening storms.

The thermometer tells me 52º but my bare skin tells me it is much cooler.

Will the night offer more thunderstorms or will it be quiet?

Going to sleep with anticipation

story of the morning *CLOUDS*

and my cornflower-blue varigated-leaf iris in the early morning light!

lessons of the day

Each morning,
I look forward to being outside and photographing the unfolding of the day. I love the peace & solitude, the drama & intensity, the potential that each day promises. As I move through the seasons, I see patterns in the sunrises that I plan to compare with next year at the same time. Looking back over my own photos, I know that I take some of the same photos over and over, finding comfort in them as some people find comfort in certain foods. Their beauty and potential seem fresh to me each time. Cycles in life can become mundane or they can offer a base from which to explore. I tend to see life as having infinite potential, although getting from here to there one of my greatest challenges!

needs

I need to turn over a new leaf. Time to shift gears back to regular exercise. If I want to photograph those dark colors in the hour before sunrise, I need to get up EARLIER.

I’ve been getting up to Top of the World just before the sun ACTUALLY rises above the horizon.

Tomorrow, just you wait!

**the end of Green Mountain baseball**

bird fever - not to be mistaken for bird flu!

Wiskerz suffers because of my procrastination. If I would just get outside and plug that hole in the side of the house, we wouldn’t have birds nesting in there now. The young are growing rapidly and they make quite a ruckus. It sounds like their nest is in the kitchen cabinet.


Wiskerz, I promise I will get to that chore as soon as this clutch has flown, but before the next tenants move in!

daily gifts - evening rain

It is the sheer magnitude of beauty that draws me to sunrises and sunsets.

I wake up each morning wondering what kind of breathtaking show Mother Nature has in store.

Other times, it is the subtlety that makes me look twice – am I really seeing this faint pink glow or am I dreaming?

so easily distracted am I!

showing off among the thistles & bindweed
beautiful blue-eyed Wild Flax (Linum lewisii)

dawn to dusk

First view of the morning

Just after sunset, I admire the fleeting pink peonies,

while Pat admires the catnip patch!

Which path to chose?

Life offers so many choices.
Sometimes the right path is obvious but more often the path taken is based on a hunch.
I try to make sure that my hunch feels right and that I experience a lot of different paths.

Life - a mixture of sunshine and clouds.

Pat Pat Patty!

photos by my son, Andrew

a convergence of beauty!

Before bed on Tuesday evening, I heard the pleasant sound of rain. A little later I went outside, as I usually do before bed to take in the night air and sky. Not really to my surprise, it was snowing heavily – a typical spring snowstorm. Living a few hundred feet higher than the city of Denver means that we often get snow when they don’t.

Wednesday morning, I was tired and didn’t want to get up when the alarm went off at 5 a.m. My younger son tried to coax me up with a plaintive, “I’m really hungry!” I turned over for a few more minutes. Then my older son said, “There is a beautiful sunrise happening outside right now!” I was out of bed, dressed and up at Top of the World in less than 10 minutes!

Up to a white world, wet and crackling with the sound of the rapidly melting and sublimating snow. So much was falling from the trees that it looked like it might be still snowing.

I checked out my old favorite tree and was charmed by a succulent green lichen that coats its bark, invisible except when we get these wet, warm moisture events.

Don’t ever think that you have seen it all.

golden

shadowy soft sunlight
breezy, wind swaying trees
gently awaken me with beauty

what Ptelea does on her day off

I played on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado yesterday while the students studied and took final exams!

Old buildings

Denison Laboratory
from the Boulder Public Library, Carnegie Branch:
DESCRIPTION: Collegiate Gothic, beige brick Gothic arched windows, castellated parapet, buttresses.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Denison Laboratory is one of the few buildings on the University of Colorado campus built in the Collegiate Gothic style, and is unique in its shape and color scheme.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Built in 1911 as a medical laboratory, Denison Laboratory was a gift from the mother of Henry S. Denison in honor of her son. Mrs. Denison was the wife of Dr. Charles Denison, a prominent Denver physician who was an international authority on the treatment of tuberculosis.

Varsity Lake


1890




2006 – Reflections of the Past

Macky Auditorium
Built in 1922