You can fool the fans - but not the players.... John Cage

Lakes, snow and no hiking over the passes very soon

I was in Mammoth Lakes yesterday for a few hours and took the dogs with me to get out of the heat and get a little walk in. I drove up to the Lakes Basin to Horseshoe Lake only I couldn't get to Horseshoe Lake. By car. The road is closed about 1/4 mile before the lake.

 

Because there is still a lot of snow up there. I think Horseshoe is around 9500 feet so this is probably indicative of many of the other higher lakes and a good preview of the backcountry. I did meet a PCT hiker coming out and he was dressed in shorts so I guess it isn't too bad out there... but they must be enduring wet, soggy feet with all the fording of creeks, all the slogging through meadows, and all the times they post-hole through. I gotta hand it to them - most of them are very determined. Of course, hiking the PCT takes months of preparation and planning - not a dream you would want to abandon despite the challenges of a late summer.

 

There aren't just the occasional drifts left - there is some substantial snow, especially in the trees. It was fun to see kids playing in the snow and lots of people checking out the waterfalls and the temperature was in the 70s so you know this snow is melting fast - there's just a lot of it.

 

The lake is still partially ice-covered and you can see the far side is still blanketed in snow. In a "normal" year this campground would be full and there's be people sunbathing, dogs swimming, and a steady stream of hikers heading up to McCloud and beyond.

 

There's something about snow that really energizes the dogs and they had a fabulous time romping around.

 

It doesn't take much for this young one... a pine cone, a scrap of a branch and she's off in her own little doggy playground.

 

She tries hard to ge the older one to engage but often he has more important things to do, like carefully, thoroughly, sniff every shrub and tree to determine who's been by.

 

They went in the water, cause that is what labs do, but they didn't stay long.

 

Third week of June and this is what the campground is looking like, folks. Good thing? No mosquitoes yet. I don't know that I can remember a year when Horseshoe wasn't open by June although I'm sure it has happened. We just forget those years. And will be grateful to see this lake full as there have been plenty of years when it was just a puddle.

 

And look at all that snow in the backcountry. Will it melt before the first snowfall of the 2011-12 season? Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if it didn't - sort of a stockpile up there against the unknowns of the next year.

 

Ive got to end with a couple of shots of happy, happy dogs - finally the sage old guy decided to humor the persistent young dog and play for a bit.

 

I love watching their dynamics - she's got the strength and the agility to take him down but he still holds a dominance over her that he was careful to establish right from the first moment we brought her to live with us.

 

She still looks to him for reassurance and back-up when they head outside to investigate something. Last night they were sent out to break up a party of yowling feral cats and the old guy takes that job very seriously (and he is very good at it). He tolerates our cat but has little patience or affection for the ones that wander into the yard looking to beat up our guy (and neither do we - we wish the feral cats would live elsewhere).

We are heading out later today to round the horn of the Sierra and spend some time up at the VVR (at last). Out of the valley heat for awhile and into the pines... my next post will be via satellite.

Vintage

I have a love affair with vintage. I believe I have a mistaken belief that life was simplier in decades past. These days seems so input-heavy to me - and I live in a very rural place! But I'm quite "plugged-in" and I don't know, I dream of being a farm wife some days.

With my Waring blender:

 

In an old house with creaky wooden floors on about 100 acres... with my dogs, cats, horses and of course, JC.

Making fruit smoothies in the morning with this blender, and margaritas in the evenings while we sit out on the front porch and watch the summer thunderstorm in the distance.

 

I know it is a pipe dream but let me dream it, ok?

BTW, this blender works perfectly and I found it at our local thrift store along with three cashmere sweaters on a day when I must have made it in before our local collectables people... normally these finds are snapped up long before I mosey in. Lucky day.

It is summer, hot and heavy in the afternoons. Mornings are still fresh and I've got to stop staying up so late and start getting up earlier in the mornings to ride. Seems like you just get in the house after the sun goes down, grab some dinner and before you know it the clock is striking 11 pm or later. Too late for getting up as early as I need to be up to beat the heat in the valley.

Summer's just here but it will fly by. I'll be loading the dogs up and heading to the resort tomorrow evening - driving around the horn and staying in Fresberg for the night then finishing the drive early on Saturday. A good solid week plus up there will do me good. I fret about leaving the tomato plants and the "pond" and the peonies that are just coming up but only the hardiest survive around here - plus we have our caretaker from next door. Gotta let it go.

Summer only lasts so long.

True confessions of a stacker

The house is staying pretty clean these days since the dogs and the man are up at the resort but without anyone else to blame for the clutter it has become even more apparent that I have some issues. Some stacking issues. I'm coming out right now, folks - I am a stacker of things.

I had a conversation recently with another artistic soul and we found we have much in common with each other and little in common with people who put things away. I like to see things. I like to see my art materials, my works in progress, my to-do list of things - I like it all out in the open. Unfortunately, when I can't get to everything very quickly (if at all) it makes for a very cluttered lifestyle.

Evidence:

 

Clothes stacked and draped on a chair next to my bed. I'll wear these again this week or put some things away but I haven't decided yet and meanwhile - they get stacked. So do books to read on the vanity.

 

Pillows for the chaise lounge are stacked inside our room - why? I can't remember how they ended up here but they are still here weeks later.

 

Working on my Photoshop class materials - stacking and spreading them on the office floor.

 

Camping sheets, towels and so on waiting for a storage container to appear so that I can store them in the garage without spiders and other scarey things getting to them. But they've been stacked here since, ummmmm, after Memorial Day? Shameful.

 

Mending - stacked on the sewing machine. I do get to this occasionally and the stack gets smaller, then I find other things that need mending and the stack grows again.

 

We don't have linen closets and I blame that for this... guest linens stacked on the twin bed downstairs in the art room. Clean, folded, and stacked. That's my style. My "issue".

 

I even stack collage elements - organized (sort of) and contained.... but stacked.

I'd like to be the type of person who can store everything neatly in drawers and behind doors but if I can't see it, if I have to go looking for it, if I have to find it before I can do it - the chances are I won't have the time.

 

I'm going to work on this, though. I'm going to try to only have stacks of stuff I'm actively working on. The rest - the projects that are waiting for me to have time for - they are going to have to be put away. The clutter makes me jumpy.

 

Are you a stacker? Or a filer? Are your clothes promptly put away? Or stacked and draped for awhile first?

 

They say the first step is to just acknowledge your "issue" and I've just publicly laid it all out there. Updates promised.

So.... are blogs yesterday's news now?

I just signed up for a tumblr account - the newest form of blogging (I guess) and as you can probably tell, I'm not entirely sold. I read that it is a newer, faster, better way of communicating short posts and that these long, rambling posts I tend to create are so yesterday. But I already use twitter, and that is limited to 140 characters,and tumblr seems so similar to twitter. Is everything moving towards these short, immediate bursts of sharing and away from the type of journaling writing I tend to do? Am I already obsolete? (I feel like Carrie typing away on her mac laptop right now as she contemplates what outrageous outfit she's going to wear and what pair of shoes to buy after she composes her next article. And about at the same level of life importance.)

Well, I'll keep posting here and who knows, maybe I'll end up migrating completely over to tumblr - maybe not. I occasionally glance at my journals, which I used to lovingly collage and sit and write in early each morning, those have for the most part been replaced by this. Sadly. Life is constantly changing and what you thought you'd never stop doing - writing, painting, baking, running - gets shoved aside for the next thing you are doing.

And what I've been doing, in the evenings while watching movies or back episodes of "Glee", is sewing. And I just finished my first Alabama Chanin dress.

 

Two layers of cotton knit - a grayish blue and a dark gray. The dress turned out to be completely reversible, giving me two dresses in one.

 

All hand stitched and with no embellishment, yet. I thought the first one should be plain so that I could check the fit and all before spending a lot of time with a stencil and more sewing. This fits so perfectly and is so comfortable that I will make another one - I think I want to make the inked and quilted dress from Alabama Studio Style:

 

I can't stop making these designs - they are truly addictive and satisfying to make - but I do need to STOP temporarily and start making flowers for the reception.

Anyway, back to the dress.

 

The hand stitching goes along quickly once you get into the groove - the only thing is that if you sew through an entire movie your fingers might get a little sore from pushing the needle through two (or more on the seams) layers of fabric. A thimble may be in order.

 

The neckline and arms holes are finished with a stretch stitch. I haven't ventured beyond this stitch, which I used in both my camisole tops. The thing I like best about this dress, which can also be a tank top or tunic, is that the neckline is cut a little higher and a little more modest than the camisole, which I am always hiking up when I wear one of them.

 

I now have a dress to wear when I sit outside and watch the parade of hummingbirds to the feeder. And I'm hoping to catch the oriole and the finch that are sipping from the hummingbird feeder - I see them occasionally but never have my camera around at the right time.

 

I fill this daily now and I suppose I should be filling the other one that is in a less convenient location for me because these little guys and gals are going through the sugar water. And always competing for it.

 

They are not bothered by my presence - in fact this morning when I went to hang the freshly filled feeder I still had a hand on it and a hummingbird was busy drinking from it!

 

They don't stay all summer so I'd best enjoy the show while it lasts. In my new, hand-sewn, reversible dress!

Wedding plans - resumed

After a fun-filled month of graduations, travel and re-uniting with friends and family it is time to turn my attention back to the daunting task of wedding planning, especially now that we are down to the seven month mark or so and I just know that everything is about to accelerate.

At the same time some things are beginning to come together.

While at Mule Days JC tried on and purchased the bulk of his wedding clothing.

He's going to look dashing in an old-fashioned wool frock coat from Old Frontier Clothing Company

 

worn with a paisley vest, shirt and silk wild rag all from the same company. Even though we hadn't planned to buy everything right off the rack and at the end of May (quite possibly the WORST time of the year for us to do any purchasing) - he's relieved that it is out of the way and all we have to do now is get him a pair of black Wranglers and decide what he is wearing on his feet.

Groom - check!

Bride - well, we won't go there yet. I have a long lists of "needs" and I do put that in quotes for good reason. We'll see what I actually prioritize and end up with. But I'd better get crackin' if I want a pair of boots. I saw some beautious ones at the Slopeside Cowboy in Breckenridge - Lucchese and Old Gringo - but again, not the time of year to be buying. Plus, I don't only want wedding boots - I want wedding shoes. What to wear on my feet in the middle of winter with a beautiful gray silk dress? Still to be decided.

Like this?

I can't believe these aren't knock-offs at the price but here's where I saw them: christian-louboutin-gray-pumps

The Lucchese Diva collection is pretty special and Old Gringo always has a great selection. Once I'm ready to fork out the dough I'm sure I can find the right boot.

And I'm going to need a sweater, or a stole, or a wrap of some sort.

Like this?

Eileen Fisher from Garnet Hill...

Or something more along the lines of this:

This one sold from Etsy but love the little pockets and the swing back.

Sigh.... so much to decide.

But onward. We have a draft version of our invitation hand printed by the fabulous artist Lori Michelon.

Don't mind the color or the blotchiness - just look at the design. We love it.

I'll be sending out Save-the-dates next month and am making those myself - but on the list of still to-do is to have a stamp made for the wedding invitation text, figure out the RSVP cards (another stamp), and all the other paper goods needed for a wedding. I spent some time on Martha Stewart's wedding site and found some inspiration:

 

I really like the camp / lodge hand-stamped look of these menu cards. Oh snap, we'll save paper goods for another day of brainstorming.

And flowers.

And music (we might have our dj... crossing my fingers)...

And the photo booth - we must budget for the photo booth.

I like the Mognolia Booth but will they come to the mountains in mid-winter for a price we can remotely afford? I just submitted for a quote. Better to know now.

Well, folks that is enough rambling about the wedding for the time being. Writing about it in such a public manner keeps it uppermost in my mind and not shoved to the side with all the other things competing for attention - work, the resort, projects, horses, etc. Thanks for being here for me!

Around the house in early June

The first thing I did on arriving home from Colorado (and Idaho and Reno and all the other little trips I've been on this spring) was to re-acquaint myself with our house and yard. So much changes in so little time once it warms up. Plus, we'd had our windows and house cleaned while we were gone and everything was sparkling.  Dang, it looked good! And it has a chance of staying this way for awhile since it is just me and the cat here, living lightly.

 

Trader Joes had peonies and I can never resist peonies so these came home with me. Unfortunately they only lasted a few days. I'm not sure why - I know I've had peonies last in the vase much longer, but these were a bit of a disappointment.

 

Someday my own peonies will bloom. I planted two more this spring and one of these days all this peony planing will pay off. Until then I'll continue to snap up cut peonies whenever I see them.

 

I put this mirror up. I bought it with the thought I'd put it up on the back fence once I had painted the back fence some bright and cheerful color. I haven't painted the back fence yet and the poor mirror was stuck behind the toolbox in the shop so I pulled it out, cleaned it up and hung it on the front porch.

 

And did a little more decorating with the roses that have been hanging in my art room for a year or more. Things have got to start moving around here. I bring stuff home to make things with and then it just accumulates. 

 

The hollyhocks are blooming and there is such a variety this year. I've got a love / hate relationship with hollyhocks since they can quickly look shabby - but they are such an easy plant and their old-fashioned look just goes with this house.

 

Perhaps this year I'll be a little better about trimming down the spent hollyhocks - but then I haven't gotten to clipping back the spent iris or roses yet. What exactly is going to change? Am I going to suddenly have more time or inclination? Or does hope spring eternal?

 

This is my favorite - I just love the fringe. This one is out by the pumphouse and I transplanted it there - but I don't see the fringed flowers anywhere else. A spontaneous hybrid.

 

This rose is beginning to thrive. I found this tucked away in the back yard being strangled by the virginia creeper and have paid special attention to it over the last couple of years. These are the cutest roses - candy-striped. And there are more blooms this year than ever.

 

The tomatoes are in, late but at least in the ground. And I put up this brick barrier in hopes of preventing last year's tomato-cide by weed-whacker. Several heirloom tomatoes - Cherokee Purple and a couple who's names I don't remember, and several yellow pear tomatoes. Grow babies, grow!

 

The black grass we bought at the San Diego swap meet is blooming and what a nice surprise - pretty little hanging bells. Happily it is doing well in all three locations.

 

This year, for the first time, there are daylilies blooming in the back yard. Luckily, too, because they are growing where nothing else seems to grow and thrive - in the concrete planters.

 

My new baby, the bench grinder. It still needs to be bolted or clamped to the workbench but I used it already (gasp!) and all I need is a brass brush wheel instead of that course grinding wheel on the left.

 

And this is one of my latest thrift store purchases - a spontaneous purchase much like the barn painting. I looked at this, looked again trying to figure out where to put it in our house, and finally just bought it for $3. Ended up in our bedroom. And it fits.

Summer is just about here and the temperatures are rising. This is that brief period when it is still pleasant to be outside before the heat really sets in. I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Holiday Rambler makeover - almost complete

Months ago JC acquired an older 30 foot Holiday Rambler trailer and it became his winter project. Practically gutting it in our front yard (you think fish are bad? Try the innards of an RV!) and spending hours and hours patiently putting it all back together. It'll be living on the shores of Lake Thomas Edison soon and will be a camping vacation rental for the season. We took it for a test run over Memorial Day and it is going to be hard to let it go.

 

You may recall these photos taken last January when the remake began. The trailer had sat in a barn in Fresno for years after housing a couple building their permanent abade. It was in remarkably good shape with mainly dust, cobwebs and damage from age and heat.

 

It had a few leaks, some funky furnishings, horrid carpet. All that had to go.

 

I had my doubts from time to time but it was a great project and has really turned out nice.

 

We've got to find some good seating for the living room - but we liked the roominess of this front area and want to maintain that. The flooring turned out awesome and I'm making new curtains (that would've been in here if I hadn't forgotten to split them in the middle!).

 

New fridge is spacious and there is a ton of storage in these trailers - we'll never fill it up but we'll stock it with dishes, pots & pans, utensils, etc.

 

New platform bed in the back, queen-sized, and curtains from IKEA.

 

Roomy, light bathroom with all new plumbing and water heater - and again, plenty of storage.

 

Nice shower - we replaced the sliding shower door with a curtain. Again, new plumbing.

 

Another view of the bedroom with the classic rotating TV arm...

 

Looking towards the front....

 

and towards the back. Check that glass front china cabinet in the front!

 

The awning is in great shape and got a good washing over Memorial Day, as did the entire trailer. It is heading up the the Vermilion Valley Resort in a week or two and will start making camping memories for other people.

 

Buffalo Bill Musuem and Georgetown, the last Colorado pics

I just finished importing and editing the last batch of Colorado photos and my post-vacation funk has faded into my new routine of riding, working around the house and yard, and of course, working. As much as I miss JC and the dogs suddenly I have a wide open schedule that I can fill in any order I want. Stay up late, sleep in.... my responsibilities have lightened a bit. And the cat is so much friendlier these days - what is up with that?

Our last day was spend en-route to the airport - but taking hours to get there. We had a full minivan, with my mom, sister and great-nephew with us. Poor AS - a teenager and he had to endure four adults who's idea of a good time was old buildings, antique shops and Buffalo Bill's grave-site!

First stop, Georgetown.

 

Georgetown is nestled down in a canyon and has a great coffee shop / pizzeria - Mountain Buzz Cafe. We had coffee there on the way up to Dillon and lunch on the way down... pannini, pizza, sandwiches. Highly recommended.

 

Georgetown also has a narrow-gauge open-air train ride you can take that puffs its way up and back down the mountainside. And a dynamite, teeny-tiny cake bakery named: Cake

 

The smoke from the Keystone fire had cleared and it was the most beautiful day of our visit. We walked around town enjoying the sun and winding down from the weekend.

 

Plenty of peeling paint and wavy glass for me...

 

Old signage for JC...

 

 

Love, love, LOVE the ornateness and the detail on all this old architecture.

 

At last it was time to leave the Rockies and descend into Denver... but we were still too early for the airport. As we drive down I-70 we kept an eye out for any interesting stop we might make and we found.... Buffalo Bill's grave-site and museum! Who knew that Buffalo Bill Cody was buried in the Rockies? Just outside of Denver?

 

There is a grave-site and an incredible view of Loveland Pass to the west, Denver and on a clear day, Kansas, to the east. There is a little museum that costs five bucks and is well worth it for the Wild West posters, the costumes, the stories. There's a little gift store with all the cheesy mementos you could ever want - sheriff stars, toy pistols, stuffed buffalo dolls. Yee haw! We loved it.

 

Who knew that Wild Bill Cody was invited to tea with Oscar Wilde?

 

That the rodeo girls had trunks lined with floral fabric?

 

That buffalo were THIS big?

 

Nothing like gettin' off the beaten track. After this stop we forged on to DIA, dropping off the only minivan we'll ever drive (although it was a good choice for this trip) and settling in for our flight. Bye, bye Colorado... see you again soon!

Lovin' Leadville

Ever arrive at a place that immediately feels like home? That was Leadville for me. There have been few places in my life that have given me that feeling - Sierraville, the eastern Sierra, Leadville. 

Leadville is high - 10,200 ft - and open, unlike many of the mountain towns we visited that are nestled in canyons or tucked into the trees. Leadville is wide open. And getting there we drove through ranch land with horses. Done. 'Nuf said.

One of the things Leadville is know for is the Winter Carnival featuring skijoring with horses.

 

Photo by Peter Greenburg

We weren't there in the winter but you can bet that the Winter Carnival is now on our list of to-dos... this looks like a hoot and a half.

 

We hit town in the spring, late spring, and it looks like this. Seventy square blocks of Leadville have historic buildings and the main street is like a slice out of history. 'Cept for the cars, of course. We saw more Dodge diesels in Leadville than anywhere else we visted in the Rockies and that told us that this is a horse town - our kind of town.

 

But not only horses - this seemed to be a biking, fishing, climbing and skiing kind of town. Not glitzy skiing that you find in Aspen or Vail, but backcountry skiing, nordic skiing, skijoring for Pete's sake!

 

And the buildings - glorious, old buildings from another era. What it must have been like in the mining heyday...

 

My next trip to Leadville will be when there is snow. It was hands-down my favorite stop on our trip because it wasn't like anywhere else. Frisco was my second favorite and I know we only scratched the surface of the towns in the Rockies, but for me to like a place it can't look like a cookie-cutter of some other place. It needs to have authenticity. History. Of its own.

 

My only souvenir from this trip came from Western Hardware in Leadville - This old building housed a big antique collective. We loved the rolling ladder and the hodgepodge of goods in this store.

 

Prices seemed reasonable and the floor creaked as you walked around.

 

Who wore these ski boots and where what adventures did they see?

 

I took way too many photos of old buildings but it was like a drug - trying to get that perfect shot, angle, color palette.

 

There's no shortage of modernity here - we found at least one solidly hip coffee house and I could not resist this sign. Unfortunately the business was closed.

 

This was stenciled on the sides of the newspaper stands. It was too early for produce but they must have a good growing season and a viable CSA.

 

The town wasn't filled with high rises so the steeples really stood out.

 

We loved the contrast of the shabby, slightly decayed exterior with the shiny, fiberglass kayaks at this house.

 

The gingerbread house on the hill....

 

The landmark Golden Burro Cafe with this priceless sign in the window:

 

JC of course LOVED this sign. I don't think he is quite ready to post something like this at the resort, but close.

 

The sky was still smokey from the Keystone fire but I imagine the vistas are simply beautiful when it is clear.

 

Loved this plain and simple color combo - and the whole symmetry of the front of this house.

 

I would've loved a peek inside these rooms.

 

Or these. Can you imagine the wood floors, the banisters, the wallpaper, the iron bedsteads, the high ceilings, the chair rail, the creaking wooden stairs? I can.

 

Leadville businesses seem to have a sense of humor - perhaps it is the lack of oxygen at this elevation. Last year's winning town slogan was:

"We're here in Leadville because we're not all there" or something very close to that.

 

 

This is inside the Tabor Opera House - this tub is seamed.

 

Before we left we visited the cemetery, which is filled with very old gravesites.

 

So old that many of the headstones had toppled and were worn away. Leaving this melancholy, forgotten symbol of someone's life.

 

JC noticed a large number of headstones dated from 1898 - 1891. We think there must have been some hard winters or some kind of epidemic during those years.

 

And you know you are somewhere unique and rural when signs like this are put up.... can you say cranky redneck?

It has been a long time....

Since I have blogged. And it is because I took a vacation. Yes, that strange, foreign concept of time off and away. I did take my computer but wonder of wonders there was no internet access at our lodging. No. Internet. Access. Astounding. It threw the lot of us, let me tell you. The kids were speechless, JC and I felt the floor slip out from underneath us, and all of us to varying degrees felt slightly derailed. We have become a connected world. There was cell service so the smart phone crowd could still access email, weather, mapquest. And you know... it was kind of restful.

We went to Colorado for a family reunion - one side of the family and even that incomplete - but there were enough of us there and from far enough away that the time spent together was precious and rare and good. When I was young we used to have frequent family reunions in Oklahoma but then the generation of my grandparents began to pass and the reunions ended. There really isn't anything like getting a bunch of family together.... bonded by blood and marriages we have to search for the threads of common interests or at least enjoy our differences.

 

Two houses, four days. Days were left unstructured and we set out each day to explore nearby towns. Dillon, Frisco, Breckenridge, Vail, Leadville, Georgetown. We met each evening at the big house for dinner. Everyone in the group did one dinner. I got to cook with JC, my beautiful niece, my handsome & funny great-nephew, and one of my gorgeous sisters.

 

I took many photos during our days - mostly of old buildings. Colorado has a rich mining history and many of the old buildings have been maintained. Some of the towns have built up a different identity - particularly the ski towns - but even in those quasi-Scandinavian burbs you will find remnants of old Colorado.

 

I could have this chandelier.... I really liked the combination of bent ash, rawhide, and the antlers. This is a mountain chandelier.

 

Lots of bikes around. Plenty of road bikes but of course I like the cruisers. This one was for rent in Breckenridge and we regretted not renting bikes for a day and just riding around the back streets and bike paths.

 

There were plenty of bronze statues around but this caught my eye (along with the moose I posted above) in Frisco.

 

The blue reminds me of high, alpine lakes or tarns - the ones up above tree line. With the ice just breaking up.

 

Or - tailing ponds. I'll never forget riding down from above Pine Creek and looking down on the tailing ponds of the tungsten mine. The color of the water in those ponds blew my mind.

 

I saw enough peeling paint, wavy glass, and old rusty metal to last me for a little while.

 

Thank you Colorado for not tearing down your old hotels and storefronts - for encouraging people to live in and keep up the historical buildings. Thank you for having history and uniqueness and not turning your mountain towns into cookie-cutter ski resorts. Of course, you could have left the outlet malls down in Denver.

 

Strange isn't it? I complain about not having wireless in our rented condo but all I want to take photos of is a world that predated electricity.

 

But ok, how about this? Breckenridge has a distillery! It was closed on Sunday so I couldn't check it out beyond their great logo - but I do really like the idea of a mountain distillery. Small lots, locally grown grains (one would hope, anyway) and an artisan distiller. (Is there such a thing?)

Leadville is the next post. I loved Leadville. I could move to Leadville tomorrow.

We're home now and climbing back into the saddle of work and home. Came home to sparkling clean windows and suddenly, summer. Filled to the brim with warm memories of cousins and aunts and sisters and parents and nieces and nephews.