Aspen in August

Each year my husband and I spend a week in August tucked into the woods in a campground just above Aspen. I  love it here. How the light shines through the trees as the sun rises in the morning, moments of stillness, the surrounding peaks that mercifully remind me of my relative insignificance, the occasional afternoon thunderstorm  dramatically rolling in and then just as quickly back out. We go during the music festival with formal concerts, opera, dress rehearsals, theater, along with hiking, biking, four wheel forays into the back country and a few carefully curated Aspen dining experiences.  Accommodations  in town are breathtakingly expensive, but with the $15/day Forest Service senior discounted camping fee the cost is quite manageable. 

I feel very privileged to live in Colorado where these kinds of experiences are so easily available.

By: Bonnie Shetler

Mountain Dreaming

                                                                                  

         I love to sits

         And when I do    

         I dreams of soaring 

        'Bove morning dews

        With butterflies and

         Birds of hue

        Remarkable what my 

        Dreams can spew

Submitted by Steve Nelson

By: Kirsten Hartman

Gardening in Containers

 

     A sunflower growing in a container! WOW.  Several years ago, moving into a new home, with no yard, forced me into container growing. From my young years to now, I often lived with or near a yard. Growing plants in a garden, is quite different from container growing. Yes, of course you still need soil, seeds, sun, water and fertilizer. However container gardening also includes, the type of pot, how porous it is, drainage, its location as well as how whatever will "over winter". Some pots are easy to put in garages and basements. Others, due to their size remain outside.  This particular pot did not have any protection in the winter, ie no covers, no protection via a building.  Imagine my surprise when the sunflower "magically" appeared this summer! Yes, container gardening has as many miracles and surprises as yard gardening does!

                                     

 

By: Kirsten Hartman

Notes on Aging

Saw this in the Guardian this morning. Notes about aging. The author is16 years younger than I am but his points were so relatable. Hope this link works.

 https://apple.news/AUxb6nEjhQEG8kq69MFi6Iw

By: Bonnie Shetler

Ode to the Bike

    

   There's nothing like the two wheeled wonder we all seem to have in our garages or on the back porch or chained to the rack. Some await the "straddle" while some the mechanic, and others the kid still under the covers.  We've (in our house) are "lusting" electric and marvel at iteration after iteration that are appearing. All-no matter put our face in the wind, our curiosity at full tilt and bod and soul out the door.

          

 Written by Steve Nelson

  Submitted by Kirsten Hartman 

   

By: Kirsten Hartman

I Like Retirement

   The peace of the morning is drifting through my open back  door.  There are two calls or morning pleas…one from a Bluejay trumpeting to its mates that peanuts have been laid on the back wall to pick through.  I always chuckle…one isn’t enough and it tries to pack two into its beak only to drop it.  The other sound, very mechanized is the siren (sireeeeen) call of a lonesome freight moving untold goods across the vastness of the United States.

Then I “zoom” out…

  On a massive scale earth moves at unbelievable speed around our sun after blocking its light to the moon just last week for us to see a nifty eclipse.  If that isn’t “vast” enough pull up images of what the James Webb Telescope is beginning to see.  My gracious the galaxies and space gases as that telescope peers to the beginning - perhaps 13.7 billion years ago.  What if it captures a telescope peering at us?

 

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

                                            — Arthur C. Clarke

Written by Steve Nelson

By: Bonnie Shetler

Pride vs Necessity

 Two weeks ago we embarked on a raft trip down the Colorado River through the length of the Grand Canyon. We had been warned by the outfitter that we would need to be in good enough shape to manage the physical challenges of hiking rugged side canyons and the daily loading and unloading of the boat.  For weeks ahead of time I walked up and down country roads, hiked rocky hillsides, and in general felt modestly prepared. Imagine my shock when the first challenge was to figure out how to lift myself into the boat. No footstool, no ladder, no ropes, just squeeze yourself between a pontoon and the boat, put one elbow on each and swing your legs over the prow. Small matter that the tops of these things rose to shoulder height. Upper body strength fell far short of the requirement. 

Until I finally figured another strategy for raising myself over the edge, I was reduced to depending on my husband to push me from the bottom up and over like a very big sack of flour.  He, on the other hand, simply lifted himself up and in as did most of the younger passengers.

This was just the beginning.  No room for pride or dignity on this trip.

By: Bonnie Shetler