Birthdays in Denver

We had a good trip home -- sure was long, though. Thank goodness we had the Birthday Break in Denver! The weather soured just before party time, so we weren't outside, as planned, but it was lots of fun.

By the time I found my camera, Will had finished with his cake, so Alex will model the chocolate face for both of them. Will was much more interested in his party hat, and had it covered with chocolate icing, but I missed the opportunity to capture that for posterity.

Guests included both sets of grandparents, Laura's brother Rick & wife Marcy, my sister Elizabeth, and our niece, Julie, who lives in Boulder. She's really our great-niece, but that sounds as if we're really OLD, and we're definitely NOT. So let's call Julie Steve's second cousin, and not worry about greats and grands. My picture of Julie was too blurred to keep -- but she took this one of Alex, so her touch is upon this post.

There were lots and lots of presents, and Steve & Laura had a great time opening them . . . the twins went for the boxes . . .

But they also showed a lot of interest in all those toys. Blocks and more blocks. Rick & Marcy found a hilarious clucking chicken toy (see Alex below) that probably got thrust in a closet by the end of the day, but it was really funny the first dozen or so times we heard it do its "cluck-y, cluck-y, cluck-cluck-cluck" number. Sadie seems to be enjoying it, too.

Will's "favorite" for the afternoon was a stacking toy. He went back to it again and again, after trying out other things.

By the way . . . it was my birthday, too, and I got my very own cupcake with a pink "C" on it. Mmm-mm-mm. It was a good party.

Now we're back in Texas, and it's HOT and STICKY, despite the "cool front" that moved in with us. Even Orvis was tired out after a short romp at the river.

But it's good to be home, and we look forward to seeing all of our Texas kids/grandkids very soon!

Snow in them thar hills--Time to go

There's snow in the mountains, and the fall colors are prime. Hard to leave such a beautiful place, but the time is at hand. We depart tomorrow (October 4), leaving all this glory behind.

Today, my Whitefish walking group came out for a trek to Stonehenge, a to-scale replica made out of Texas limestone and located at the edge of the golf course here at Crystal Lakes. The rather wealthy man who owns the course had it built a few years ago . . . every year at the Summer Solstice he hosts an exclusive party, complete with kilted bagpipers from Canada. We have only watched from afar, of course. Supposedly, the sun does just what the ancient druids in England planned for the real Stonehenge. Anyway, it's beautiful this time of year, and with permission, we did a circuit that included the monument and some spectacular scenery. We've had rain for several days, including this morning, but the clouds parted just long enough for us to have some blue sky as we reached the rocks.





We've also had some close-up visitors at our cabin. The deer was on the house-side of the driveway, only a few feet away from our porch. Later, there were two does grazing just outside my kitchen window. Tried for a picture, but it was through the screen, and didn't turn out well at all. We've never noticed them so close to the house before. Orvis was inside, of course.

The bird is a Stellar's jay. I've seen them on hikes, but never at our feeder, or even in our immediate area. This guy has been around for several days now, along with the usual nuthatches, chickadees, juncos and woodpeckers. Lots of Canada geese overhead these days, too. What a beautiful season this is.
The one splash of color that we have in our yard is the remnant of a mountain ash that was here when we moved in. Nearly lost it to sapsucker damage the second summer, but we're nursing the remainder along, hoping it will survive and grow big. The aspens down in our hollow are barely yellow-green (the lighter tree to the right with a reddish top), but out in the open, they're radiantly yellow.

We'll be back in Fort Worth on October 9.