Sounds of Winter

This is how it has looked for days at my place.  The fog and snow from Berthoud Pass has come right down to my place.  Not only have we gotten quite a bit of snow already but two more storms are heading in.  Both of them are being touted as "two-three feet of snow" producers.  So was this last one and while they were right on the drop in temperatures, more than forty degrees, we didn't get two feet of snow on this side of the divide.

This morning I have been inundated by the sounds of winter.  The highway must be icy as I've heard one siren after another all morning.  The avalanche blasting has gone on for hours.  They need to get those cornices cleared out before those next two storms come in.  It's hard enough to get the roads reopened after a "normal" snow slide, let alone one that has gathered snow from several dumps.  As houses warm up here I can hear huge piles of snow sliding off the roofs.  The town plow has come down this road three times already in an attempt to get things cleared out.  My road is very steep and has only one outlet.  Often we are unable to get cars out of here when the rest of town is very accessible.

The neighbor's snow blower just kicked in, another winter sound.  The horses across the street are running around having a good time, blowing off some of that pre-storm energy.  The ravens who hang out in their barnyard repeatedly caw and take to the sky as the horses take yet another run around their area.  You can heard everything so easily when it is one of these icy cold days.  

The blasting just started again from the CDOT trucks and the sound of cars idling while they wait to get through the resulting snow drop just adds to the many sounds of winter.  You'd think it might be quiet on a day where the temperatures are beneath zero but you'd be wrong.

HUNKERED DOWN

It's warm in my house this morning in spite of the forty degree temperature drop.  The fire is roaring.  I've got it built up a lot more than usual as I'll be here all day.  I'm going to make candy, pack Christmas boxes and do Christmas Cards.  The blizzard we were promised, two to three feet of snow, hasn't panned out quite that much.  

Don't get me wrong, there's snow and plenty of it.  It hasn't stopped snowing yet so who knows what it will amount to but it isn't coming down heavy like yesterday.  Usually it doesn't get as cold as this until the storm has cleared out.  This doesn't bode well.  I'm going to get under my trailer and make sure all the heat tapes are working.  If it feels cold down there I'll put in a portable heater to keep my pipes from freezing up.  

By afternoon I'll have to restock my wood box but that's good exercise.  I'll do it after the dog and I have gone on a walk.  Right now outside is black and white and cold looking.  When it gets really cold during a snow storm it seems to suck the color right out of everything.  That's all right by me as the smell of bacon frying and the coffee pot brewing make up for that.  This time of year I seldom get to indulge ALL senses at the same time.  I have to pace myself and appreciate one or two things at a time.  

It's only seven in the morning and already I have so many reasons to feel grateful.  I may live in a tin box but I've made it into a warm tin box.  The food may not be expensive but it's there and enough to share with my friends tonight.  The display of Christmas lights and decorations is smaller than the days when children filled my home but it is still there and cheerful!  I live alone but I'm making gifts and filling boxes for the people I love best.  Our connection is still strong.  

I live in God's country, cold though it may be, and so far I'm able to do the daily work required to live in this part of Colorado.  I am a person who is basically kept alive on medicines and certainly kept moving by them.  I'm so lucky I live in a time when these things are available.   It allows me an independence I wouldn't have if I lived a hundred years ago.  

I am poor but few of the things I enjoy cost much money so that seldom bothers me in my daily life.  I have a library of music, movies, books and art that will probably last me the rest of my lifetime.  Boredom is never an issue in my life.  Every day presents it's own form of adventure whether it is hitching a ride to work or trying out a new recipe on innocent victims.  

I am grateful for my life and for the possibilities it offers for now and the future.  I guess that's as good a reason to enjoy hunkering down as any!  

Moon

Last night the moon was stunning.  It reflected off the snow piled around my yard like a neon light.   I took a walk around 2:00 because it was so enticing.  It was surprising to find that after I got out of town it was still bright enough to hike up the road and avoid the drifts.  The whole experience was like being in another dimension, some place like Earth but not quite the same.

Roland had refused to go with me perfering his warm bed to jaunting around in the cold.  He wasn't there to chase after the rabbits I saw or the deer standing in the meadow.  Maybe I wouldn't have seen them if he had come but it made me sad.  He's getting older.  I remember a time I couldn't have gotten out the front door without him.

I got up to the overlook between Georgetown and Empire.  I wish I'd taken a camera.  The moon and Christmas lights reflecting off Georgetown Lake was beautiful.  The lights on the houses showed like a rainbow surrouding them.  The sky was black and clear and full of stars.  I'll hope for another clear night tonight when the moon is exactly full and try to get a picture of that scene.  I'll use it for my Christmas cards.

Colder Than Hell

It's right at zero. That is not the coldest weather we're going to get this year but it's cold enough for me to whine about.  Last night while it snowed it was down right balmy but when the skies cleared, the cloud cover wasn't holding in warmth anymore and the temperature plummeted.

I think my winterizing has worked!  The draft that no one could find the source of appears to be shut down!  I don't know if that is because I lined the inside of my trailer skirting with Visqueen or because I swathed my screen door in plastic or any of the other strange things I did to warm this place up but the curtains are no longer swaying in the wind!  

It's hard to even think about going outside today but I've got to plan for a ride to work, load up wood and get my poor dog some exercise.  I'm putting on layers as I speak.  It takes twenty minutes to get ready for a twenty second jaunt out to the woodpile.  Winter's  here in all it's glory.

What Next?

I'm looking outside waiting for some light to show in the darkness of the early morning.  It isn't coming soon enough for me.  I've been up for hours and I'm not good with my unsettled feelings this morning.  Ever wake up and know something major was going to happen that day?  I have those premonitionary moments on occassion and this is one.  I never know if it's going to be bad or good, just that something is going to happen.

So here I am, on edge, drinking more coffee just in case I'm not nervous enough.  The way my luck has run lately, ie; the last thirty years, I'm not thinking it will be a pleasant surprise!  However, this is the first day of Christmas Market and I'm looking forward to it!  The smells, sights and sounds of the Mart are always the first thing to really pull me into enjoying the season.  I'll get pictures of the Santa Lucia singers, the hayride, all the crafts, booths, food and ringing bells of the historic event we put on are hard to resist.  

The sun is coming up now.  The grayness is retreating.  I gave myself a good mental shaking and I'm getting ready to face whatever is coming my way today.  Who knows?  This may be the day my life changes for the better?  Or at least for the calmer.  

Icy and Windy

It's 5 Deg. F outside and the wind is cooking.  It's gray, foggy and hard to believe the forecast calls for clearing and sun.  I'm sitting in a cold house wrapped in a blanket just too sleepy to build a fire this morning.  Coffee hasn't kicked in yet.  I was trying to keep it cut back but the last couple of mornings it has seemed unusually attractive.   Winter has scenic Empire in it's icy grip alright.  

I got a ride home from work last night after 7:00.  All the town Christmas lights were on and beautiful they looked.  However, the new LED lights seem to give off an icier appearance than the old fashioned lights.  Maybe that's because of the colors chosen but you'd think purple, green, pink and blue would be fairly festive.  Not so much!  

The Library decorated our trees outside with the oldfashioned lights and the new stage in the plazza with white and blue LED icycle lights.  They are positively chilling to look upon.  The older lights are just cheerier and more warming.  Well, they are when they work.  The town crew has spent the last week in a daily battle against the squirrels who feel personally threatened by the lights.  They chew the bulb portion right off and most mornings there are bulbs strewn on the ground of all three of the big evergreens.  Traps, snares, everything but poison has been tried to no avail.  You can see the squirrels waving their little fisted paws at the town crew most days throughout the holiday season here.  

Well it's time to unwrap from my quilts and get dressed for the day.  From one cocoon to another.  

BAD TIMES

So I'm going through some bad times right now.  Well, to be honest, pretty much constant since 1979!  My original personality was almost giddy in it's constant good nature.  It was something I had a reputation for as I kept smiling through things that were pretty terrible.

I have been called strong, gallant, fearless and spacey at various times but in the last three years I have lost much of my sense of humor and a ton of the store of happiness that seemed to never run out no matter what the situation.  My Father and I were discussing that the other day.  He told me no one can remained unchanged as they age unless they were either extremely fortunate or brain dead.  His theory is that every time you get screwed or go through the death of a loved one or have health issues, whatever, each thing takes some of that joy of life from a person.  

Maybe he's right.  Until a few years back I could be diverted back into happiness so easily I laughed out loud during the love of my life's funeral.  That may have been somewhat stress oriented but I could still so easily slip into the feelings of good times then.  The last year I didn't really decorate for the holidays much.  I love this time of year.  I crave the lights and music.  

I'm going to make an effort to divert myself back into happiness.  I'll probably end up in a mental institution as happy is not the way a person in my situation should be feeling.  Tomorrow the Christmas decorations go up in my house and I start cleaning.  Maybe the normal Holiday activities will brighten my mood!  I will make the effort to get to holiday gatherings.  I will allow myself enough heat in my home to get more than five feet away from the stove and start working on the Christmas baskets I'm sending to friends.  

Maybe I'll be able to get some joy back in my head!

Layers

It's that time of year here.  There is no throwing open the door and leaving.  No, there are layers to put on first.  You start on the underwear sock layer.  Forget the plain old underwear, you need something thermal!  So over the top of your regulars, there's a layer of long john type action going on.  Pants, socks, turtleneck, shirt, coat, vest, scarf, gloves, and hat make up many of the remaining layers.  

My day is spent taking off my clothes.  No, don't go there.  No one wants to see that.  I'm talking sweaters, shirts, jackets, etc.  At least four times during the course of my shift I'll have to reverse that to go for the mail, picking up book drops, or getting supplies.  The taking off and putting on of clothing is a process that goes through the entire day, every day until spring hits around July.

People here have a tendency to get pretty tired in the winter.  I think clothing has a lot to do with that, and shoveling snow, and  putting out salt on the walks, and breaking up ice, just the added exertions winter puts on us.  My house is freezing when I get up in the morning.  There is work to be done hauling wood and building fires before anything else.  By the time the coffee is on the fire has started warming a small area of space around it.  I often sit on my stove for the first twenty minutes the fire is going.  About the same time I have put on enough clothes to tolerate the chill air the coffee is done and when I'm back from fixing a cup the stove has warmed the whole room.  

I think I would like to move to a warmer climate but humans are such creatures of habit.  What new routines would fill in my winter morning ones?  What would replace the feeling you get when the fire is crackling, the coffee is ready and the morning is new?  Would I appreciate getting up so early to be able to write?  Would things be too easy to make them valuable to me?  Would the old layers of my life have to be ripped away and replaced by new ones?  Would I have to throw out my winter clothing collection?  

Life would probably be easier in many other places.  I'd probably grow new layers but I'm almost sixty and changes get harder as you get older.  I am looking through all the layers of my life and trying to decide if good friendships make up for the daily pain.  So far they have.  My layers are thin, old and threadbare but they are mine and I gather them to myself for warmth.

MY SON

Today, twenty-seven years ago, my son was born.  He was a miracle baby.  I'd been told I couldn't have children after two surgeries and three years of trying.  I got up one morning sick to my stomach and two weeks later was fighting with the doctor, "You told me I could never get pregnant, are you sure?"  Another couple of weeks of morning sickness and I was convinced.

Pregnancy wasn't easy as I had to keep working and the chances of carrying my child full term were slim.  I tried to be as healthy as I could but I had a non-working husband and someone had to pay the bills.  My Mom drove us to the hospital as our car heater wasn't working and it was a blizzard outside.  Just making the 50 miles to the hospital was an adventure.  Everything about that night remains burned into my brain, every smell, every emotion is still shiny and new when I think about it.

And you know, most of the next twenty-seven years have been full of that same joy.  My son has grown into adulthood as a loving caring responsible person who doesn't automatically feed into the bullshit around him.  He asks questions.  He thinks about things before he takes action and he enjoys his life.  I feel like I succeeded as a mother when I see him smile and know he is happy in his life.

This day what I wish for him is a lifetime full of happiness and creativity.  I wish him a lifetime full of love and joy.  I wish that where ever he goes or whatever he does, it is what he wants and that he finds fulfilment in it.  I love you my son. 

Thailand

I read this morning where the Thai people had managed to get rid of their corrupt government by blocking their airport for more than a week.  A judge threw out the Prime Minister and effectively disbanded his corrupt government!  Good for the Thais.  Why couldn't Americans have done that during the last eight years?

We let a President (and his government) who even now is admitting he did "a few things" wrong and he's "sorry" about the state of the economy , ruin our country, rape our Constitution and lose the goodwill of the world.  We, as a people, did very little.  The few protests were not held where they might have made any difference as people could get arrested if they didn't have a permit to march.  Asking the corrupt government to allow you to protest just isn't all that ballsy an action, is it?

Our protesters just didn't have the stick-to-itiveness of the Thais I guess.  They were worried about getting arrested ( I know it passed through my mind when we were being reviled for our anti-war protesting BEFORE the Iraqi war.)

 They had too much and too many other interests to have the passion it took the Thais to get rid of their very own version of BUSHCO.  I look at Obama and hope I am looking at Change.  And I hope if I am not, that people get off their dead asses and do something before the tattered rags of America are completely shredded.  Think about Thailand, a poor country with  brutal punishments , and what they have accomplished and be ashamed we let it go so long.

Nasty Miserable Cold!

What a miserable morning!  I got up in the cold, listening to the winds howling outside for the fifth straight day.  Today I'm taking my poor dog for a walk no matter what.  I'm lucky that my fire-building skills are hones to a fine edge.  The fire was built and roaring in a matter of minutes.  One match, that's all!  A smug smirk is on my face just in case you need help visualizing the scene!  The tea water is on.  This morning I'm having Honey Vanilla Chamomile!  That sounds good.  

The Thanksgiving storm may be the beginning of a long winter in Empire.  Already we are having stead snow while the rest of the state is show blue sky and fluffy clouds.  There is nothing fluffy about the day up here.  The snow is still coming down sideways and it is cold outside, 10 deg F, not to mention the wind chill with thirty mile an hour winds.

Inside my house though, I've just let the dog back inside and he's in front of the stove getting rid of the snow.  The cat is sitting on the wood cabinet trying to decide if a flying leap only to dog's back is in his near future.  Tea water is starting to boil and I can no longer sit on the stove, it's too hot.  I think things are looking up!

HOW NICE!

It is howling like a banshee outside, sucking the heat up the chimney.  I've got the damper solidly closed and it doesn't help a bit.  Still the air is slowly heating in the room.  The tea water will be hot soon and the smell of some spicy mixture will drift through the whole place.  

I recently did a cheap but effective change over from a screen door to a storm door by covering the backside with a multi-layered plastic sheet I made from a #.99 drop cloth and duct tape.  It cut down the draft in the house that the weather stripping just wasn't getting.  I don't know, a loose door frame perhaps?  Whatever the reason I'm pleased with the result.

The sun is starting to come up enough to change the landscape outside from dark and miserable to white, foggy and miserable.  What a good day to be inside!  I still have to throw and stack another quarter of a cord of wood but that is warming exercise.  It also smells good.  Then, I'll take some pictures or maybe even just start outside, painting watercolors on the porch.  I want to paint the white, grays, silvers, charcoals, blacks and tiny flashes of red and green that can be seen in the blowing snow.

When I've proven once again how limited my skills are compared to nature I'll go inside and make cookies.  I'll have to cook them down at the neighbor's as I still haven't gotten a new oven but he doesn't mind that as I split the results with him.  While I'm waiting for those cookies to cool I'll take my dog for a walk.  I like bundling up and walking in a snow storm through our local cemetery, another place where unexpected spots of color show up,

An afternoon of reading and music, watching a movie and fixing something good for dinner seems like a great idea to me.  The limited amount of groceries in my cabinet (I didn't get to go shopping before the car broke down) is a challenge.  Some of my best meals have come out of situations like this.  I'm looking forward to this one.

How nice not to have to drive on icy highways with the holiday crowds. This year there are probably fewer people but I haven't been close enough to the Highway to know.  It's part of my mini-vacation.  So far, life is good!

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving morning and my fire is blazing merrily away.  I'm drinking a Gypsy Chai with black pepper, cinnamon, cardoman, orange peel, ginger, and a number of other tasty ingrediants.  It is a tea that makes me feel cosy, homey, and grateful for a number of things.  My animals are enjoying the warmth and their company is an unending source of joy, humor and unconditional love.    I have a wedding candle burning with it's lush floral scents and on the wood stove a piece of pine sap is just starting to melt and send out it's aroma.

I'm not gathering with friends and family today as I'm ill but I'm still grateful for them.  I have the best son I could ever dream of having.  His partner is a joy to me and I love to talk to her.  They make me happy just by being happy together.  The rest of my family are all unique individuals and life would have been poorer without them. 

I have long friendships with people I can never hope to live up to in generosity, kindness and understanding but I try.  My friendships have been one of the great joys of my life and one of the things I am most thankful for now or at any other season.  

At any time I can look out my windows and have to catch my breath from the beauty I see there.  The air I breath still smells good to me and there are still springs on the mountain I can drink from without fear.  

I am still in good enough shape to find my way up the side of a mountain every so often,  I can still wild craft my herbs and find mushrooms to eat.  I can walk my dog beside rivers and see bear, coyote, deer and elk.  

So, though I won't have the big dinner and gathering today, you can see I have many things to be thankful for.  Perhaps the top of the list has been gaining the patience and wisdom to know this is only one missed holiday and that next year will brings it's own joys and celebrations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NOT THIS YEAR!

This is what it looked like here last year at this time.  Not so much this year, like the ground is bare and some things are still green in the garden!  Tell me there is no global warming in effect!  Our ski areas are hurting and their only snow is manmade.  There's a thought.  When did man start wanting to make snow instead of hibernating during the cold season?

It's going to be one of those days.  You know, the kind of day you think about odd things.  Your thoughts don't really focuse for quite a while on any one subject.  I can't seem to get a coherent pattern going this morning.  Must be because I have no coffee.  AAARRRGG!!  What am I babbling on about when I could be counting the seconds until the local coffee shop opens?  

When is that shop going to start delivery service?  When are they going to open before 8:00 in the morning?  The day is half over by then..  I think I'm getting nervous!  LOL!  Have a good morning and I hope you have coffee.

THIS MORNING

I started the day with a feeling of awe, a drenching in beauty, a gift from the earth and sky of colors.  My whole mood was better after spending time watching this sunrise from start to finish.  It takes as long to drink a cup of coffee as for this miracle to come to a finish.  I think watching the sunrise is a meditation.  It soothes me and directs me into a calmer more peaceful day than the last one. 

Today I start begging rides to work again while I hope my car's clutch won't take forever to replace or cost my Christmas money!  So I needed some calmness.  I do try to live in the day and I have a ride to work today.  To each day it's problems and it's solutions, tonight I will worry about tomorrow's ride!  

 I talked to my boss last night and we'll work on a schedule that will allow me to get weekly doctor visits again.  Much as I hate them, if the end result is good, I'll do it.  I want to be able to keep on working and to get many problems fixed before my insurance is no longer available to me, should that happen.  In four more years I will have my car paid off and hopefully in good shape.  After that i can take a breath and hope that all my medical issues will be in line and maybe old age won't be as bad as my grimmer moments portray it!

In fact, after watching this morning's sunrise I'm pretty sure nothing will be as bad as I thought last night.  Mornings have a way of doing that for me.

SO MANY THINGS!

Everytime I read a political blog, watch the news, read a newspaper, listen to NPR I hear yet another crisis is in progress.  These events aren't just happening here but all over the world, ever day, hour and minute.  Many people I know give as much as they can.  Many of us make special time to give our neighbors anything we can to help.  Those neighbors can be next door, next town, next continent, the effort is still made to give!

We keep on trying but most of us aren't even sure how many different ways and means this country is in trouble.  Which conspiracy theory should we believe?  How dare the political parties that have had scandal after scandal run in the name of family values?  What kind of families do they have?  My family doesn't encourage pedophilia or call girls.  Does yours?

Petroleum companies have posted record earnings for years now but suddenly gas is down to under $2.oo a gallon.  Do you think there is no profit made at that price?  I bet there is.  Food is staying high in cost.  Houses are not worth what is owed on them.  Even the Swiss have been pulled into the financial mess by their bankers.  They are damned mad about it too!  However, they like us aren't sure how many companies, CEOs, politicians, etc. may have known this was going to happen and still willingly participated just out of greed.  The lack of forethought among so many is hard to believe.  

There is an excellent new book out called "Our American King" set in the very near future that might make some folks very upset when they read it.  The horrible future shown is this book is so frightening because it is so possible.  

I'd like someone who really knows to tell me the truth of our financial situation globally and nationally right now, not someone who is only looking in one or two directions but someone who understands the whole mess.  From what I'm reading there may not be such a person.

Grim Post, I need to find a nice picture to end it with.  Just to remind us all there are beauties all around us.  And that beauty is.....that it doesn't look like that here today!

   

Crabby Old Bitch

Yep, that's just what I'm in the mood to be!  I remember when I was in my twenties, working in resturants, wanting to get old.  Why?  So I could be the bitch I really am at people and they wouldn't hit me!  Unfortunately I still need to work for a living so that hasn't worked out well for me.

The getting older part happened.  I'm not quite a blue-haired raisin only because I don't use hair dye and blue isn't the happening hair shade it used to be for the senior set.  The hip-hop group has pretty much taken over that color and all it's shades.  However as the years have passed the respect youth has for the aged has lessened.  I would probably get smacked just like I was a 20 year old cage fighter if I told people half the thoughts that pass through my mind in the course of a day.

My chance at the American dream passed by decades ago, poor choices, poor Karma, whatever.  My chance at being that nasty old lady who lives alone with 30 cats and her dog is still possible.  Support me in my efforts to be that old lady who scares children on my block!  I thank you.

Wondering about the picture of the day?  That's my 81 year old father fishing last fall.  I can only hope to live up to his level of independence as I get older!  Just thought I'd end with an up note.

My Place

I got up this morning very early.  I'm going back to work today and I thought I'd try to get accustomed to walking around again as I've been in bed since Tues.  I got dressed and went outside only to find the wind had blown the half a tree back up the hill again.  

I can't get this picture right side up but if you turn your head you can see half a dead tree hanging off my power,cable and telephone wires.  Might I add that all of the forementioned companies have refused responsibility saying it was someone else's line?

I don't know about you but I just think it screws with the view.  Badly !

WHEN YOU JUST CAN'T SLEEP

Sometimes you see beautiful things.  These pictures were taken a few nights ago.  I find I can do some effective thinking sitting outside on the porch and looking at things in the dark!

The moon rise was happening when I took these and as it rarely does, it showed color!  If you look carefully you'll see the pinks and reds reflected in two of these pictures.  While I was out there drinking hot tea and taking these shots the coyotes serrandaded me.  The owls who live in the tree above my place were out and hunting with their triple calls.  And just to make it more  special I heard one of my old friends and neighbors sitting outside on his porch playing guitar and singing the blues.

By the time I finished my tea, "Lights out Campers" is the name of it by the way, the show that nature and neighbor had put on for me had quieted my mind and body.  I spent a last few minutes looking at the beauty in the night time sky and then went to bed again, this time to get a few hours of sleep.

PROM NIGHT

Last night the Advocates held a prom.  The Advocates are who you call if someone just died at your house or your husband beat you up.  They are there at every car wreck with a person or animal injured.  The Advocates volunteer time and energy to situations where the victim needs something more than just a policeman taking down facts.  Three times a year they have fund raising events.  This time they held a prom with cocktails, dinner, auctions and dancing!  

People were asked to wear something from their Prom era;  we had everything you can imagine, dresses and tuxes from the present back to togas!  The local women who more often wear hiking boots were in stilettos.  In fact there was a contest on who's were the highest.  More bare skin was shown last night than in the last ten years!  The building this event was held in has huge windowns that looked out on our first BIG snow and a mountain range.  You couldn't have asked for better decoration.  Women wandered around in LED display tiaras while the photographer did a big business as did the sales of boutineers and corsages!  Another addition to the old fashioned prom that made big money was the bar! 

The sale items were often home made and of an unbelievable quality.  Clothing, quilts, paintings, stained glass, jewelry and multiple baskets filled with a variety of theme items were all offered.  The local winery had donated bottles of their wine with sets of glasses to go with them.  Clothing from local designers highlighted the sophistication that has come from the old hippies and their children who located here.  The biggest surprise was the fact not one person who came was in any sense secure financially but they spent with open hands.  The Advocates are a valued asset in our community.  Once again we didn't bother to go to the government that only takes from us but to our people who give.  

The laughter, music and fun continued while the blizzard conditions outdoors added to the beauty of the situation.  Groups of people stood outside watching the weather, getting their gowns and tuxes soaked without caring.  Small town people and their sense of community will make it through the coming years, with or without a government of fools.

MELANCHOLY

I'm going to miss Fall more than usual this year.  I've relished every second of sunlight and warmth.  My heater isn't on and I've only built a couple of fires.  I'm huddled in a warm cashmere shawl while I watch the Bloomberg Report.  It isn't quite light outside,  I'll move out to the porch for my second cup of coffee and watch the sun cause the color show in my yard come to life.  

I'm lucky.  In the middle of winter I still have my rose bushes full of red rose hips and purple and orange leaves.  No matter how dark it gets in the cold time of the year, no matter how gloomy that splash of color brightens my days.  Who knows what will happen this winter?  Will I have enough wood?  Is it going to be a long winter(they all are at my age) ?  Will our economy collapse under the weight of the corrupt Bush government, broken beyond repair?  Will there be an epidemic of homelessness?  

Will food be at a shortage soon?  Gas is already here although not the problem it is in Georgia.  What will inflation be like?  I'm going to get that second cup of coffee, go sit on my porch and enjoy the beauty while it's left.

This is The End

I've hauled in a ton of wood and built up the fire.  It's dark and cloudy outside, already spitting rain Everything around my home glows in a riot of color.  The aspens are gold and green mixed, the rose bushes dull red leaves against shining scarlet berries show against the sage and lamb's quarters still growing almost as fresh as in summer days. 

The sun breaks through again and again shining through my windows showing the smoke from the pine sap I throw on top of my old wood burner.  It scents my entire house with help from pine scented candles burning in preparation for the dark quickly coming down the valley.  My geraniums are full of blooms, the dainty lilac flowers on my rosemary plant are at their best right now as are the nastursiums and heliocarnas.  My portalaca is gorgeous with it's pink, orange, and yellow blooms.  It's hard to believe that tonight we are expecting up to a foot of snow.  Often we have another few weeks of good weather after the first big snow.  I'm hoping that's what happens this year.  

Somehow I feel this fall isn't just the end of the growing season, it is the end of something more.  The good times may be over in America.  I feel the whole country, possibly the entire earth waiting as if holding it's combined breath.   We have tipped over the edge, economically, environmentally, locally and globally.  We have lost our sense of destiny.  Some hopefully have lost their sense of entitlement.  There are not large areas of calm to be found when traveling the astral seas the end of this fall.  Harvests have been destroyed and disrupted.  Transport has been lacking or expensive.  Prices are rising and tension overwhelms the best intentions towards positive thought.

But still, there is the Mother's beauty given generously and freely.  This is the most beautiful year I remember.  Is it really more beautiful or am I trying to hold on to each moment of security and "easy" living I can?  I just know it soothes my soul now when I need it most.

I've Been Thinking

Always a dangerous thing for me, thinking.  This time however I'm no more dangerous than the problem I'm mulling over.  What happens next in America?  What happens in the whole world?  I am not one for conspiracy theories but it's hard to believe the financial devastation wasn't planned.  Are we supposed to become slaves in the new world order?  Is there any hope for the aging poor? 

I think that although painful this cataclysmic event in our economy, nationally and globally will be a good thing.  I have poor health and will probably be one of the casualties of the upheaval but I am trying to think over and above myself.  Here are the probable goods that will come out of this "leveling".

Families will be living together as children who's homes are being repossed return to the nest. Assisted living for the elderly, infirm and disabled will be a costly affair totally out of the reach of the poor and the middle class.  Daycare will be even more expensive and much scarcer as the few stay at home mothers left head out to find something that will bring in cash.

Seniors will be involved in their families lives on a daily basis.  Their help with child care, their knowledge for homeschooling and other life lessons will become invaluable.  Disabled people will not have the access to many of the things they do at this point.  They will be on the loosing side of the slate in that but they may forge closer bonds with their families also.  

Fewer people will have the money to buy things, things like phones, vacuums. jet skis, computer games, fast food, dinners out, clothes, the list goes on and on.  Instead we will be shutting down factories, turning more people to agricultural work as many parts of the world are already suffering famine and more to come.  Food is always a necessity, lipstick, not so much.  Priorities are going to become more realistic. You can't eat diamonds, you can't find shelter under an Xbox, and clothes need to provide some warmth!

Some fairly outdated skills us old hippies learned may actually have some value in a more barter oriented society.  Life will be greener in general if no one can afford to drive without a major purpose.  Recycling won't be hip it'll be a need.  Gardens have already been popping up.  Next year there will be more.  Herbs cost less to grow than medicine bought in a store.  Another change already occurring in our society will progress more.

The best thing is that we may finally realize that we can't afford war.  We can afford military protection for our national boundaries if we are careful not to let Generals get too much power but we really can't afford Iraq or any other war.  Not many people are mentioning the part this war had in bringing American down financially.  It's not all those faulty mortgages.

I may be overly optimistic.  I hope not.

Harvest Time

Well it's all over except for the shouting!  Harvest time has come in Empire.  I took my crop of cucumbers (2) , wax peppers (2) Jalapenos (6) turnips (40) tomatoes, (40 and still going strong inside) lettuce, spinach, rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, and numerous other little amounts and made one big salad!  The tomatoes, eggplant and squash are still growing inside so we'll see what happens with those.  I haven't bought salad greens since June so I've saved a lot of money with that.  Next year garlic and onions go in also.  The mint patch is kicking.  I have plenty of tea for the winter and I'm just starting to bring in the rose hips.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.  Until then, happy eating!

Yesterday's Hike

While I saw four more people than I wanted to on this trip it was a wonderful day!  The weather was breezy, leaves were blowing around, trees are about half and half in color.  I love those trees that look like yellow is just staining the green edges.  I went up the Argentine Railroad grade and then on to an old mine road up the side of the moutain.  Once I got there I didn't see any more people and my day was perfect.

This picture of the side of the mountain shows you where I'm going, right up to the top!

There was so much rain this year there is moss everywhere.  Under blankets of moss and lichen the rainwater has washed out around rocks and tree roots.  The side of the mountain is full of these places.  They look like altars to the Goddess.  The leaves and berries laying on top of the peat moss are the offerings to the end of summer.

Fall Color in the Garden

My rosehips are abundant this year as well as beautiful!

TODAY IS THE DAY!

I know I have been insanely lucky.  My tomatoes haven't frozen yet but they will.  They will freeze and I'll be kicking myself a lot!  So Today I'll finally start bringing in plants.  My living space will change it's whole ambiance as it does every year at this time.  I start rearranging and moving the things that sit in sunny windows.  I always end up throwing some things out, nowhere near enough and deciding I don't need some plants to winter over.   It's kind of like kicking one of your kids out of the house.  Especially like that if you think they are going to freeze to death!  MMMM, maybe not such a good analogy?  

I've already been outside checking if they made it through one more night.  The temperature was 34 deg. F.  Two more degrees and my veggies would have been crunchy and then black.  I'm looking forward to a day of melancholy as I get my place ready for winter.  On the other hand, I rather enjoy the feeling of Mother Earthishness I get from harvesting the mini crops!  This year I have jalapenos, dill, sage, thyme, rosemary, chives, turnips, carrots, spinach, arugula, meslin mix, onions, peas, beans, hollyhocks, heliosomethings, columbines, wild roses, dianthus, primroses, cucumbers, mint, narcissus, and Gerber Daiseys.  Quite the haul for a garden about four by six hey?

Fog In The Air

Oh no, fog down to the ground  this morning!   It wasn't so bad early but it's getting there now.   I need to start hauling in my plants, at least to the porch so they don't freeze.  I had to scrape ice yesterday morning from my windshield.  When I drive to work I see groups of Mountain Sheep feeding by the highway, getting ready for a storm that will keep them from getting food easily.

The leaves have been turning yellow for a week everywhere.  My Dad, who is 81, says he hasn't seen any of them.  I know he has.  He just hates the idea of winter coming so soon.  So do I.  I want another couple of months, hanging out in the garden, walking without hiking boots and coats, heating easily with low costs, not having to dig out the driveway.  You know, summer things!  Or at least Indian Summer things.

In the time I've written this post the fog has come down to the ground and there is no blue sky left.  The trees just slightly higher up the hill from me are frosted.  I will bring my tomatoes in this morning.  Ah, gone are the times of being able to walk freely around my house.  For the rest of the winter it will be a greenhouse.  In exchange I will get that lovely smell of green inside my home.  It's worth it.  Not to mention a live-in grocery store of fresh veggies, salad greens and herbs.  

SUMMER'S ALMOST GONE

I haven't posted here for much of August.  I guess I was too busy enjoying the short summer season of the high country.  My garden is going great but I fear many things will be taken inside before they ripen.  The cool nights have already come and most mornings I need to build a small fire to take the edge off.  

We've had a lot of moisture this summer and things have grown well although slowly.  The heat only lasted four weeks up here unlike the record breaking run in the Metro area. 

The three minature cucumbers are the largest grown from seed I've ever had up here.  I'll see how big they get before freezing but I may end up digging them out and bringing them indoors with the tomatoes, strawberry plants, patty pan squash and eggplants.  My house will once again go back to smelling like a green house!  I have no problems with that only meloncholy for the end of summer.

It is supposed to get cooler today, like down to the 50s.  I haven't been able to carry anything due to a fall and I'm behind on wood gathering, painting and winterizing in general.  I need to go fill the hummingbird feeders.  They are power feeding, getting ready for their next long trip away from cold and snow.  I'll hate to see them go but today, I'm enjoying every last second of summer I can.