Apple Watch

What a difference one day can make. After all, this is Colorado. We had warnings all day that a little shift in the storm setup would bring us snow and yesterday 's strong winds seemed to give weight to that possibility. March is normally one of our snowiest months - just not this year.

The snow comes at just the right (wrong?) moment. The fruit trees are flowering but for some lucky reason, my apple tree is holding back. Maybe there will be apples this fall!

foreign visitors

Green Mountain just after sunrise

I have been out a lot indulging in photography and just haven't felt like parking in front of the computer!

As I walked along my front sidewalk this morning, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something different. I have planted perennials in the front flower bed and the plants are small but coming up nicely. Wiskerz and I both had quite a look at these volunteers – there are at least seven of them!!

forty year old angel

It has been a week of hard work on both my job and my photography. It seems as though I have been too busy to post although I do have a backlog of photos. I am getting critical of my photography and am working to improve my skills! There is so much to learn but for some reason it is “work” that I love!

Today I stopped by Riverside Cemetery on the way home from dropping my younger son off for a flight to Seattle. I have photographed it before and wished that I could capture an image of the train that goes along one boundary. I was in luck today except for the fact that it was raining! I can work under an umbrella but I can’t change the color of the sky!!

I roamed around, taking a different road through than last time and ended up in the civil war veteran’s section just as two trains came by.



Later I found a beautiful ceramic angel that was lovingly placed next to a stone marking the passing of a little girl. As I took photos of her, the rains came on strong and I retreated to my warm dry car!

inimitable

What a difference one day can make. Both days are spring-like and warm. Yesterday, I discovered a shoreline cottonwood that had beautiful exposed roots. Against the choppy water and pale magenta sunrise lighting, the look was irresistible. After looking at the images, I decided I wanted to come back today and try and get more color and more light on the roots. The lake had different ideas.

The water was almost eerie in its smooth glass-like stillness. A few clouds streaked across the sky but the look and lighting were nothing like yesterday. Today the tree roots didn’t look all that special against the perfectly calm water.

And then I saw the pussy willows…..

Each moment is so unique and although some moments may resemble others, each is best savored in the present.

intoxicated

Even though daylight saving is early this year, the weather is telling me that spring has arrived. The arrival of spring in Colorado can be a L.O.N.G D.R.A.W.N out process. There are almost no flowers yet, the grass is still dormant and there are no leaves on the trees. The feeling is mostly in the air. Here it is 9 p.m. and still 50º F. For those of us still recovering from a hard and cold winter, this warm air caresses me and I come under the spell of spring fever.

What are the symptoms of spring fever?

laziness
lack of focus
lethargy

but oddly enough only about

chores
work
paying bills
etc.

I seem to have plenty of energy to enjoy

photography
sunrise
clouds
petting my kitty
taking naps (?)
chatting with friends at work
etc.

is there a cure for spring fever?

Enjoy every second of it!!

things I want to do.....

I am not a list person. Well, I do make lists of the unimportant things like chores for the day and what bills are due what day of the month, etc. “Things I want to do before I die” is an internal list that keeps changing, depending on my state of mind. A few things keep popping up, so I guess these are my top five or six…..

Visit Italy – not for a few days but for at least 2 weeks or longer if possible. I want to go to a few of the famous places like Venezia and Firenze, but also to as many places as I can as suggested by a native Italian.

Live in a very small house somewhere on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. If I cannot or choose not to move there, I would like to find such a place to stay for an entire summer.

Get my financial affairs in order

Have more close friends or possibly get married

Go on as many back-road trips as I possibly can and photograph what I see

Pass on some of the knowledge that I have picked up about life – by volunteering my time and writing at least one book (I have at least one book in mind)

So there you have it – I am pretty much of a dreamer who luckily has a fair amount of common sense – or at least enough to survive!!

p.s. one of my beliefs is: Don’t just survive – Thrive!!

p.p.s. I know this is more than six things –

one foot in spring

We are having our first rain of the season. If it keeps raining, there is a very good chance that the rain will melt the rest of the snow that lingers in shady patches. The sunrise was all clouds except for the tiniest glimmer of light.

I am thinking about 5 things that I want to do before I pass from this life, since George, the Bike Riding Donut Guy asked me to – I need one more day! Tomorrow!

This time of year we have one foot in winter and the other in spring. Blended together it can be rather bland. With the warm cloudy weather today, it is hard to imagine piles of snow. But March without snow would probably be some kind of record-breaker!

(photo taken Dec. 4, 2006)

more voices from the past

After taking so many photos of Golden Hill Cemetery, I decided to do a little reading. Part of the cemetery is the final resting place for some of the paupers who came to Colorado in the early 1900's seeking a cure for their tuberculosis.

On Saturday, I decided to visit the former home of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society(JCRS), a sanitorium founded in 1904 for the treatment of tuberculosis patients from all around the country. There is a wealth of information and photographs online from the Penrose Library at the University of Denver about the JCRS.

On the old campus, now the site of an art school, one remaining tent house that the patients lived in sits next to the old Isaac Solomon Synagogue, both waiting for renovation.

It is easy to feel some of the history.

"A group of patients taking a sunbath at 18 below" (photo courtesy of the Ira M. Beck Memorial Archives, Penrose Library, University of Denver)

perseverance

The lake is more water than ice these days. For a few brief moments while the sky sparked awe, I watched one Canada goose struggle over and over to lift itself onto a patch of ice.

Minutes later, the surface of the lake looked less like water and more like quicksilver.

beyond the golden years