Snow Teaser

 Exactly a week ago today we woke up to our first snow!

Last weekend, Schwab and I were sipping our coffee, curtains still drawn tight from the night before. And he was telling me he needed to go to HomeDepot that day to buy a snow shovel. I looked at him like he just told me his name was Kathy. Why in the world do we need a snow shovel? It's been in the 80s and there was no snow forecasted in the coming days? Yet he was so adamant that it had to happen today. Today was snow-shovel-purchasing day. Okaaay I thought. Weird. But wouldn't you know it, when he stood up and opened the front door, lo and behold, he turned around and said See? It snowed last night. Now. If you know my Schwab, he has very limited facial expressions, much less any variance of voice-influctions. So his statement was dry, to-the-point, and very actual-factual. Well. If you know me, and many of you do....I started squealing, jumping up and down and, at the same time, doubting him. No way, it did not, oh my gosh how cool, it did not snow, you're lying, oh wow this is so cool! Oh but sure enough, it had snowed and was still snowing. A little "skiff", Ol' Schwab told me.

At this point the kiddos were still asleep, but as soon as they heard me doubting and cheering, they woke up. You can imagine the screaming from our house. Squealing, not believing its, oh-my-goshing, where are my snow booting, smiling, glowing. Amazing. It really was amazing. They grabbed their ski jackets and snow boots and long pants and naturally headed out. Catching snowflakes on the their tongues, throwing snowballs at their momma, and smiling, glowing, and bursting with amazement. It was the most beautiful, magical moment we've had since knowing Ken got a job here.

Oh but, now, today, it might break a heat record in the mid-80s. Wow. What a difference a week can make. 

But, look, we still have an amazing sunrise this morning. I am learning that this really is God's country. It is so stunning sometimes, that it literally takes my breath away. And it's not because of the altitude. 

Falling for Fall

Oh my friends, it has been quite a summer. I have been looking forward to updating my "Seasons" because I am so sick of hot weather. I feel like I have been living in the summer season for the past 34 years. (I say that a lot.) And the locals here assure me that cooler weather is a-comin'.

I have something funny to share. About the second week of September, you could tell the temps were cooling a bit, especially at night. Well, while watching the news one evening, the weather lady says. "Well tomorrow will be the last day of temperatures in the 90s!" I thought yay!! but how could she say that? Never in Texas could you say, "Ok people, this is the last day of 10,000 degrees for a while." So I held my breath, not quite believing that she could boldly make this statement. I was proven wrong, people. She was right. After that day, there were no more 90 degree days and the evenings were quite cool. We even started sleeping with the windows open...something I had never done before. Pleasure, pure pleasure.

We are still in the beginning stages of fall, and honestly the weather has been too warm. In fact, it's a big ol' myth that Colorado weather is constantly cool, cold, or freezing. We are a mile closer to the sun, and the sun can be intense. Even when it's cool out, if the sun is shining, you might need to shed your sweater.

Last weekend, we took a little drive to our favorite place in Pine, Colorado called Buffalo Creek. I have to confess, before we ventured out, I was a teensy-weensy disappointed in the fall colors. I prefer the reds and deep purples, but Colorado colors are mainly yellow and gold. Around our neighborhood it's snowing leaves everywhere and the Aspen trees are rustling with their little golden chimes. And it IS pretty, no doubt. Still, I was not too excited about driving up to the mountains to see the colors. BUT. Let me tell you. (and of course the pictures aren't going to do the beauty justice) The drive up to Buffalo Creek was divine. Yes, it is mainly yellow and gold. But against the deep green evergreens, the fall colors were magnified.

Pretty, right?

I know you can't fully experience being here through pictures, so I thought I would bring some mountain-life to life for you. I took a short video of Buffalo Creek, just so you could hear the tranquil water and pretend you are here with me. :)

He is mighty, He is strong

You know how one thought leads to another? I had a collision of thoughts last night that kept me awake for a long time. But in a good way.

A few weeks ago, Wess Stafford, president of Compassion International, spoke at our church. What an extraordinary person to listen to! Not only did we feel called to "adopt" three children to sponsor, but he left us with a very different image of Christ that I had never thought about before.

He started his speech with several pictures of Jesus on the screen. These pictures depicted Jesus as gentle and holy, but also pale and a little wimpy-looking. I'm sure you've seen similar pictures, because I had. These were pictures I had grown up with and for so long had had this image of Jesus in my brain.

Beautiful pictures, no doubt. But Stafford was suggesting that they painted a very incorrect portrait of Jesus. Because Jesus was a carpenter's son, you can be sure that He had his hands dirty often and that sweat poured off His brow frequently in the years before He began His ministry. In fact, Stafford, who himself has visited many 3rd world country villages, said the strongest man in the village was the carpenter. Keep in mind that they are builders, constructers, and in Jesus's time, they had no powertools. They relied on their muscles and sweat to get the job done. I loved hearing this. I love knowing my Jesus is strong. I always knew Jesus was strong in the sense of mighty and all-powerful. Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient. (always present, unlimited power, all-knowing) But in the sense of Him being strong, with strength and muscle-power....I guess I had never put 2 and 2 together.

So now THIS is how I picture my Jesus:

So back to the thoughts that collided.... I am currently in a book study called Heaven by Randy Alcorn. In the book, among other thoughts on Heaven, Alcorn refers to the passages on God preparing a house for us in Heaven. Building us a mansion. (John 14:2) So now, knowing, or I guess grasping, that Jesus, God's son, was a carpenter, how cool is it to think about Jesus building and designing and constructing our "place"? Just for us? Can you imagine Him walking us through our place He prepared for us, giving us a tour? Couldn't you just see certain details of your life or your character throughout the design of your space? It just gives me chills to think about. You think about how much pride carpenters take in their work, how each turn of the knife and every detail of the carvings have meaning. Jesus knows us more intimately than anyone else can. He would know our inner struggles and how we conquered them and how we relied on Him for strength. He would know the trials we faced alone. He would know our suffering, love, failed relationships. He would know, unlike anyone else, how we care, how our heart hurts for the hungry, for orphans, how we fight for His name. Can you imagine how detailed and how personal that designed place might be? 

Now I realize that with one word, or breath or hand-wave, He could create our place. He doesn't have to sweat or struggle with tools to get the job done. But isn't it interesting to think about that He just might take pleasure in that? Just for me? Just for you? 

My God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY. There's nothing my God can not do. 

Sharing is Eating

My father-in-law has a garden full of fruits and vegetables. Now that we live here, he's able to share his crop with us. So far we've received strawberries, raspberries, homemade jam, squash and zucchini. All are very yummy but the zucchini scare me a bit.

See? They are HUGE and there's no way I could possibly make my family eat that much in a week's time. Soooo, I searched through my handy-dandy Southern Living Cookbook..... Now, hey! Listen up! Just because  I moved out of the south doesn't mean I have to start cooking all western-y and bland. No way, no how. What's the saying? You can take the girl outta the south, but you can't take the south outta the girl? Yep, that's it. I'm a proud GRITS* and always will be. Soooo, I pulled out the book.....

Ahhh. The ULTIMATE book.
And I searched for a zucchini recipe......

Found one! Zucchini-Honey Bread. Easy and I had all the ingredients. Yipee! One recipe makes 2 loaves but I had enough zucchini to double the recipe.....

It's pretty easy, aside from having to shred the zucchini - but even that wasn't all that bad or time consuming. So you have a wet bowl and a dry bowl.

After you mix and bake you get two yummy loaves. The description of the recipe under the title says "Your kitchen will smell like a bakery as this honeyed loaf cooks." And they weren't lying! Even my kids said how good the house smelled when they came home from school....a few hours after I pulled it from the oven. Yum.

So then I put a cute little label and ribbon on a wrapped loaf and shared with friends and family. (I had FOUR loaves, after all)  Isn't that what cooking is all about? Sharing? At least that's what I've learned throughout the years from my Italian/Sicilian family. Eat and share, share and eat, Love, Eat, Food, Share, Love some more....it all goes hand in hand.

*GRITS: Girl Raised In The South

Now you know I'll give you the recipe, right? 

The Recipe:

It's from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, 1999

Zucchini-Honey Bread

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans (I've used almonds too - whatever you have)

2 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup honey

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; mix well.

Combine zucchini and remaining 5 ingredients, stirring well.

Add wet to flour mixture and stir until blended. 

Spoon batter into 2 greased loaf pans. 

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until set; when toothpick in the middle comes clean.

Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and continue cooling on wire racks.

Labor Day Away

We did it! We always wanted to, especially on a 3-day weekend like Labor Day. But we never did. We never could be spontaneous, never could find anything affordable, never could make it a quick-drive. Until this year. This year we did it! We took a little trip, a staycation of sorts! Well, we stayed in the area, not in our house. Ken found a horse-drawn carriage ride for the family in Keystone. The ride included a BBQ dinner, bonfire, singing, games and dessert. We also found a hotel to keep us and the dog because lawd knows I would not let us be driving those mountain roads home in the dark. (See Finding My Way and/or Not Exactly Roughing It)

So we left in the afternoon on Saturday.... I had plenty of time to mentally prepare myself for the drive because we would be taking the same route to Keystone as we did to Vail. Interstate 90% of the way, thank GOD, but we still had those dang passes and declines, etc. But I had to remind myself, I did it once, I can do it again, and the weather was still nice. No snow to worry about. 

Well, can you guess what happened next?? 

I DROVE!! Yep, I drove the 1 1/2 hours up the two passes, through the 11,000- some-odd feet Eisenhower Tunnel and down into Keystone. Yay me! Yay me! I was very proud of myself. I kept asking Ken if he was so proud of me too, but every time I looked over at him he was holding the chicken bar! Hahahaha! I should have captured a picture of him, but you know I wasn't about to take my hands off that wheel! That big Sequoia would have taken off on its own for sure. Annnyway, I did it! I don't think Schwab was scared because I did anything wrong really. Later, while reluctantly admitting that I did a good job, he happened to mention that I was going slower than anyone should legally drive on an interstate. Well, poo poo, then. I did good and I was proud of it. I kept reminding him again and again that it was huge progress for a flat-lander to drive these kind of screwed up roads.

He jumped in the driver's seat on the trip home though. I think it was because he felt he needed to show me up because I did such a good job.

So into Keystone we went. It's a family-oriented ski town. Small and easy to get to. I can handle that.  Our hotel was there and that's where we took a shuttle to the horse barns for the carriage ride.

The carriage ride was fun. I knew it included dinner, so that's always a plus. What I didn't know was that the bus taking us to the horse barns had to travel down a windy mountain road full of switchbacks! I just kept talking to the kids and trying not to look out the windows. It ended up being a non-issue, I just wish someone would have told me ahead of time so I would have had plenty of time to fret and worry myself into 20 more grey hairs.



If by this point you're thinking Chuck Wagon, you'd be right. Here's the view from behind us.....

And on the way....

Once we arrived at the location in the canyon, we got to see our drivers up close and personal. This is Jake and Elwood. They are Belgian Draft horses and were 19 1/2 hands tall. That's all I know about them. That and they were very strong to be pulling a wagon full of about 20 people. 

The property had many little sheds like this one used for various things throughout the years. 

This was the old wranglers' bunkhouse. 

It was getting cold!

Practicing roping skills.

The bonfire.... I am laughing at this picture because it looks like a little tin can was on fire. 

It was much larger than this. 

Snuggling up! Momma didn't bring a heavy enough coat!

Ok, so onto the rest of our trip....after we sang songs around the fire and had dessert, it was time to head back. In the morning we took Charlie for a walk and discovered.......

Frost on the ground! It didn't even seem that cold, but somehow when we saw the frost, 

we all got chilly.

After our walk, we took a short and very scenic drive from Keystone to Breckenridge. I had never been to Breckenridge either. I really liked this little town. MUCH more down to earth than Vail. 

These signs along the way are so interesting to me......

Crazy...it's September 4th!

Timber Line: Have you ever heard of this? I had, but it had been a while. See in the following pictures how the mountains have trees only up to a certain point and then nothing but rock? Where the trees stop growing is called the Timber Line. There isn't enough oxygen past that point to sustain tree growth. Crazy huh? This mountain is about 12,000 - 13,000 feet at the peak. 

More pictures of the Timber Line.....

Ok and this. If you are familiar with this area or have been skiing before you are going to laugh at me. After looking at this mountain, I turned to Ken and said Isn't that so weird how the trees are making paths up there on the mountain? I've never seen anything grow like that before. Well, after he caught his breath from laughing, he informed me that those paths are man-made for skiing. They are ski runs. Oooooohhhhh. 

I just thought God had made pretty patterns in the sides of the mountains for me to enjoy! 

At the end of our little excursion into Breckenridge, we drove into another nearby town: Frisco! Ha! Yep, friends, I have gone from Frisco, Texas to Frisco, Colorado. But it got us back onto I70 and that's where we needed to go to get back to Denver. 

Since I was an "experienced" mountain driver now, I felt very comfortable alerting Schwab of every turn and sign on our journey back down to 5,280 ft. I'm certain he appreciated each and every piece of valued advice I provided him while he was behind the wheel. At one point I saw him searching for a liquor store. Isn't that sweet? He wanted to celebrate my accomplished driving too! 

Once back into Denver, we ended our staycation with dinner at the White Fence Farm. If you're from Frisco/McKinney area, it's like Babe's Chicken married Cracker Barrel and when they had kids they put them on steroids. This place was massive, fun-filled and exhausting. After stuffing you full of corn fritters and fried chicken, they send you home. A good way to end our little adventure and to end my first summer season in Colorado.