Skate the Lake New Year

“New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights”

 ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

New Year's Eve Fireworks at "Skate The Lake" in Evergreen, Colorado

Happy New Year to All!
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Holiday Fascination

"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find
that the simplest things -not the great occasions -
give off the greatest glow of happiness."
~ Bob Hope

As a toddler, my daughter was fascinated by all things Holiday.

 
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Caroling, Caroling

Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Joyful souls donned in gay apparel troll the ancient
Yuletide carol in Denver's festive Larimer Square.

This was taken several years ago when my teenage daughter was just a wee girl. She was enthralled with the carolers but too shy to join them in song. Ah, those were the days. . .

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Winter Peak

“Mountains are earth's undecaying monuments.”
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

A snow covered peak looms over Colorado's
Eisenhower Tunnel near the Continental Divide.

 I took this photo as we were coming back from skiing. Traffic was at a standstill, as it often is during the ski season, so I was afforded many opportunities to make images from the car. It's not so bad being stuck in traffic when views like this are available.

As far as I can tell from the map, this mountain seems to be about 12,200 feet high.

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Autumn Reflection in New England

November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

Bright orange foliage is reflected in a quiet pool of water.
Bear Brook State Park, Allenstown, NH

 
With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
|And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.

~ Clyde Watson

Despite what the calendar shows, for me, autumn is over when November is over:  "Earth sinks to rest," as the above poem, says. And as I relish these last few quiet days of fall before the hectic holiday seasons begins, I reflect on autumns past and remember a place I loved to hike in my youth. One glorious fall day in New Hampshire, as I walked along one of my favorite trails, I came across this beautiful tree in full foliage reflected in a pool in the stream that follows the trail. My camera always at the ready, I was able to capture the moment.


The light patch about a third of the way down on the left is a rock just under the water. The shot I took was of the tree upside down from the opposite bank but I thought the tree looked better upright. 

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Curious Fox

"The field has eyes,
the wood has ears;
I will look, be silent,
and listen."
- Hieronymus Bosch

This beautiful Red Fox was highly interested in what my husband was doing on the deck.

We have shared this mountain with foxes for nearly 20 years and I never cease to be enthralled by their beauty, grace, curiosity and friendliness.  They will often sit or lay by us as we work around the house or property. Whether they are looking for companionship--or a handout--I can't say.

 
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Autumn Foliage

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a
bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." 
~ George Eliot

Shorter days signal the remarkable transformation of fall in the Rockies.
Reynolds Park. Conifer, Colorado

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October Snow

“Snow not falling but flying sidewise, and sudden, not signaled by
the slow curdling of clouds all day and a flake or two drifting
downward, but rushing forward all at once as though sent for."
~ John Crowley

 

My daughter braces herself against the wind-blown snow.

A blizzard dumped nearly four feet of snow on us last week. While not extremely unusual for Colorado, it's not exactly welcome this early in the season.

But, when it's over, the mountain, and our home, are blanketed in beauty.

Our house after the storm.

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Light and Shadow on The Sawtooth

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's
peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The
winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms
their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves"
~ John Muir

Late afternoon shadows move across the face of The Sawtooth.
Guanella Pass, Colorado

 I made a short trip to nearby Guanella Pass last month to do some shooting. The trees were not at their peak so I wasn't able to capture the spectacular foliage shots I was looking for, but it was a perfect fall day and I can always find something worth aiming my camera toward. The light and shadow on the side of this mountain is a perfect example.

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Aspen Leaf on Glass

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”
~ Jim Bishop

A single Aspen leaf rests on our glass patio table.

While fall Aspens are normally bright yellow, they can on occasion be a brilliant orange or red, which makes the trees bearing such leaves truly stand out in the crowd. 

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Morning Elk

“An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.”
~ Martin Buber

A young bull elk on a morning walk through the forest.

I had to stop for a beautiful bull elk and his harem as they crossed the road in front of me last night. Being the perfect gentleman, he let them cross first, then, when they were all safely on the other side, he ran full speed to catch up with them, tossing his head and kicking up his heels like a playful horse. I imagine he wanted to make sure he didn't lose any of his harem. It is rutting season, after all, when males compete for females. You don't often see them running like that; he was magnificent.

It was too dark to capture any images last night but the above photo of a young bull among the aspens was taken from my deck early one summer morning a few years back.

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Mesa Verde and The Ancient Ones

"The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region
of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged."
~ Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux

The Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park

I feel a strong affinity with Native cultures and ancient peoples: there is pure magic in the lands where they lived and worked, laughed and cried, hunted, cooked, tended children and created art, for so many thousands of years. To walk through their homes, sit quietly in their places of worship, gaze upon their rock paintings, and hike their trails, fosters a deep sense of connection to these people, to the earth, to time itself. . .

One such magical place is  Mesa Verde National Park. The ancient homes of a vanished people are located there as well as at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and other sites throughout the Southwest. These cliff dwellings, nestled deep into the canyon walls, far below the mesa tops, are hidden from view and difficult to get to.

Aspen Gold

“The tints of autumn...a mighty flower garden
blossoming under the spell of the enchanter, frost.”
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

Aspens from a previous fall near my home in Conifer.

Autumn is by far my favorite time of year and unfortunately, due to illnesses running through our household this year, I missed it. And it missed me. Even here on the mountain, which is normally glorious, there was a dismal show of color. I imagine the foot of snow we received earlier in the season had something to do with the aspens simply going from green to brown.

But, thanks to the magic of photography, I have more than memories to go by.
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The Summer of Ladybugs

They crawl out from warm mulch, just after snow,
In hidings from tunnels row after row;
They rest among dew drops and fly out to bring
Their red spots of colors to gardens of spring.
~Marlene Glaus

Ladybugs congregate on the end of a stem.

 

This past summer we saw an infestation of ladybugs. They were everywhere. The air was thick with them. I couldn't walk from the house to the car without having to pick several out of my hair. At first it was awe-inspiring--I had never seen so many ladybugs in one place. They would congregate together in huge bunches (apparently mating) when the sun was in and then take to the air en masse, filling the sky, when the sun came out.

The local news did a report on the phenomenon and said they would disperse in a few weeks. They didn't.  The nights started to get cooler on the mountain and I was sure they would depart for greener (and warmer) pastures. They didn't. We got a foot of snow last week and endured many cold, snowy days. Surely that would take care of them. Au contraire. They are as numerous (if not more so) than ever and are still at it, eager to reproduce.

I wonder if they will be around all winter??

A Ladybug walks across a patch of ice.

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