June 18th

June 18th,  9:16am

Well.
Here's the deal.
It's summer in Colorado and there are a million more things I want to do than sit in front of a computer. I do that at work. If I had a laptop and could sit outside and write, I would do it. But I don't. I have a big ass desk top computer that sits upstairs and an iPad and neither one of those works for writing on this blog.
So this morning I will do a wrap up of the last 6 weeks or so...

I saw a fireball. Seriously. A meteor that went over my head, no more than 50 feet away it seemed. Probably more but literally so close I was amazed, confused, and somewhat thinking I was hallucinating. But I saw it. Over the road, into the woods next to me. It wasn't dark, just almost so. Carlos and I were walking, he stopped, I turned to look at him and there was a softball size ball of fire just arcing over the road and off it went into the woods. I waited for a forest fire but it didn't happen. Logically I should have marked the spot or gone into the woods to look for it....but instead we walked on as if nothing had happened. Then I came home and googled to see if it was possible to see what I saw. And of course it was. Meteors arc through the sky all the time. I see them at night, early morning.  Frequently they will survive their entry into the atmosphere and land, burning up as they approach the earth. So why couldn't one land near me? It did.

There was a Kentucky Derby party in Twin Lakes at the wonderful old Twin Lakes Inn. Hats and ties required, mint juleps served. Love making new friends.  And how cool that Justify went on to win the Triple Crown!

Guess which hat won the prize?

Not mine!

I went to Denver and stayed with friend Diana. She invited two other ladies over, one known to me, one not, and it was a wonderful dinner/wonderful evening filled with champagne (me)/ margaritas (them ) and lots of laughter and great stories. Dinners with friends are THE BEST.   A trip to Costco netted some gorgeous geraniums that the deer promptly ate as soon as I got them home. They are just now recovering.

Beautiful table, beautiful friends, fabulous food. 

Dinner in Denver with Diana, Laurie and Pam.

While I was in Denver, a bear came by and knocked down my hummingbird feeders and broke them. He visited neighbor Sue's house also and broke all of her feeders. So. Bird food and hummer food put away for a bit.

Kaiser, the carved bear, had nothing to do with these shenanigans.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married. A high school friend that lives further north in Colorado came to visit and we got up at 3:30am, put on our WalMart veils, mixed up mimosas and watched the spectacle.  That was also the last time I turned the TV on. What a beautiful wedding and the gospel choir could not have been more magical.  Susan and I managed to make it out to dinner in Salida on Saturday night...again fabulous food, fun dinner and great company. I truly have the best friends...new and old.

Shallots in Salida.

Drinks and food at the bar.

Me and Susan enjoying a Saturday night. 

A Saturday was spent with a friend in his little convertible Beemer driving to Red Cliff for lunch at the only restaurant in town. Beautiful way to spend an afternoon and I got to watch Ole Miss play baseball during lunch.

Great old building outside the only restaurant in Red Cliff, 

Mango's Mountain Grill.

No mangos on the menu that day, though. 

Tried to hook Bunny up with some of the baseball players from Ole Miss but she kept texting me back that they all had girl friends. But they were so cute!   Irrelevant in that Bunny's friend boy was just signed by the Red Sox and she was there for the draft. Exciting for all.

Isn't this an adorable picture? 

This boy has worked so hard to get to the big leagues. 

And no, Bunny does NOT get to be on WAGS.

Belle has been working on finding her own path. She spent a week in Florida attending Private Flight Attendant Training School. Doesn't she look the part? 

Belle being business like!

If you have a private jet that needs a flight attendant, she's your girl.  She knows her flight safety, how to plate your cheeses and crudités and, in a pinch, how to kill someone. 

And.... work is the pits. Old doctor gone. Now we have the "Doctor of the Day". Understandably the patients are upset and confused. The big mucky mucks sent out a letter that confused everyone even more. I spent my days in May doing nothing but explaining where the old doctor was, who the new doctors will be, what will happen now and what I can and cannot do. Exhausting.

So. There you have it.

This may be the last post for the summer.  As this is my first full year with four seasons I am finally "getting" it.  In the winter you hunker down, light a fire, eat comfort food, read a lot, watch Hallmark movies (ok, maybe that is just me) and wait for the sun to reappear.

Once it is Spring (we kinda skipped over that this year) you enjoy some pretty days followed by dumps of snow that melt quickly and more pretty days.  Garden planning starts, weeds get pulled, beds prepared.

Now we have hit summer with full force and it gets dark about 9pm, light at 5:45am.  I come home from work, walk the dog, make dinner which is eaten outside at either the beautiful blue table or on the porch at the little mosaic one, play in the yard, visit with the neighbors and discover it is past my bedtime. Morning comes too quickly.   But I know this too will change once we hit the summer solstice and the days go back to getting shorter.   In the meantime....I intend to enjoy all of the Colorado summer I can.

Don't you want to have dinner with me here? 

Come on!

This weekend is FIBArk. Friday night I have plans to see Devon Allman/Duane Betts play live- second generation Allman Brothers. Under the stars, next to the river, mountains in the background and all free. Last weekend was camping and fishing. (One fish caught, one rattlesnake avoided, lots of sun baked into my skin.) And repeat....
(Previous FIBArk posts so you know what the party is about HERE and HERE.)

Fall will not be much different, just requiring more clothes, a little flannel, red wine instead of Lemon Drops or champagne, until the evenings close too early and the chill gets too much.
Until then...