Ducks and Flowers

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

France !!  We did it -  we flew to France forty years after our first trip !  Now there were movies to watch on the plane and Jeremy a travelling companion with Jay as we left him with my folks on our first trip as he was 7 months old !  We were hoping to see Molly, Matt and Jonah 5 in Toulouse !

Jay drove 4000 km in a Peugot rent a car with Jeremy navigating --  we travelled to Chartres the first day after arriving and after a drive into the hapeart of Paris to get to the Musee D'Orsay for the first time - the big train station clock was amazing along with the huge collection of Impressionistic art !

Little did we know a man wielding a machete at a guard at the Louvre across the way had just happened when we arrived in the congested traffic ahead of this -  the main parking lot in downtown Paris was closed with police on horses and lots of security but we did not know what causing the traffic snarl till the next morning on the TV eating breakfast in Bois !

We enjoyed the Chartres cathedral in the rain after Paris even though we were jet lagged -  we fell into bed with amazing memories on our first day in France !    We had nine or ten to go with meeting the kids in Toulouse the next day in the country !    Hope I can share more on the trip - a lasting memory was seeing the windmill painting by Monet and seeing Sacre C'oeur Cathedral on the hill near Montmartre in the distance north in Paris through the huge clock window in Musee D'Orsay plus the Rose windows at Chartres Cathefral and a great city center with our umbrellas !   ❤️

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

I am back !!


Winter changes to summer and it is June in Colorado again !!
Beaver Creek is running behind our house and I am hoping to enjoy the summer again !

I am glad to be back on my blog with plants on the deck!!

Jay has a Colorado garden going and hoping to hike 100 miles this year for the 100 anniversary of
RMNP in 2015 !!

Hoping to do art, writing, reading, hiking and travelling !

Mostly we hope to enjoy Colorado and summer - same to you wherever you
are !!!   Found a fun blog to encourage doodling, drawing, art and journalling plus
writing :  artsyneststudio.blogspot.com  enjoy your blogs !!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

More than a consignment shop: Majestic Treasures incorporates Chapel Gift and Bookstore into its operation - The Grand Island Independent : Business: business, robert pore, majestic treasures, christie kelley, chapel gift and book store

Love Thrift Shops and Consign Shops : Recycling and sorting out our things!

Time for me to start sorting for retirement :  it might have to be on the other side as well!
Thank goodness for Goodwill, thrift shops, antique shops and consign shops that are great ways
to recycle and help us out when we have to start sorting our STUFF!  

See this article about a Consign shop in G Island that was formerly the Majestic Theater showing
silent movies and doing Vaudeville shows in the 1920's in town!    What a jewel and history too!
It is on Second Street downtown and hope you can visit sometime!   The old theater is in the back
but not visible unless you mention it to the shop owners.    Get a trip down memory lane too!

More than a consignment shop: Majestic Treasures incorporates Chapel Gift and Bookstore into its operation - The Grand Island Independent : Business: business, robert pore, majestic treasures, christie kelley, chapel gift and book store: Majestic Treasures at 216 W. Second St. in Grand Island is now handling the inventory of the former Chapel Gift and Book Store and expanding i…

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Curious George is back!

I love the idea that some of our books from raising the kids are coming back and being revisited through our grandchild again!  

Curious George is one of them!   He is a long time favorite in our house!

I found a hard page book about Curious George last spring and now it has landed in the hands of our grand to read and enjoy with his folks, with us and others. It was a book we read on the trip to Tampa in the spring over and over.

The new feature of this book is that it has things you touch and feel --  textures!   There are the pink flamingos in the water and a fuzzy panda bear at the zoo!   The adventure this time is the zoo!

Curious George also showed up at Halloween this October and here is the pic of our kids and grand as he was curious george and his dad was the Man with the yellow hat made from dying clothes and find that giant yellow hat!  

Our daughter was an Olympian for Halloween with the muscles of Atlas with the man in the yellow hat.  It takes lots of muscles to hold up Curious George these days!   He is walking and talking more each day and climbing onto chairs like a monkey.

More stories are coming about Curious George in the days ahead so be watching! 

We even have a Curious George stuffed animal around here somewhere to find and recycle again for a certain little boy almost two after the holidays!    I think we have some books to find too!

May you have a Curious George day with some Man in the Yellow hat days of fun with the strength of an Olympian!

Monday, September 03, 2012

LETTING GO : of our Large Teddy Bear

I have been trying to LET GO of a few things which is tough for me as I am a packrat being an old art teacher and scrounging for art supplies in college and in various art teaching classrooms that were sadly lacking art paper, paint and more!  I have also inherited my packrat tendencies from my folks!

A month ago I decided to take THREE things to the new local Consignment shop and one of these things was a 56 inch bear that someone left at our place.   They left it behind for us as it would not fit on the plane after they purchased it.

We thought about keeping it for our grandson but it was taking up lots of space and needed a new home as we are into smaller teddy bears that can travel with a small child or adult more easily.

I gathered up the large teddy bear with two other LETTING GO items and proudly took them in to the shop called ROCKY MOUNTAIN REDO.  My husband nearly went into shock after I told him I was trying to get rid of a few things at a consign shop to start down sizing or sorting! 

I went in to check my consign items a few times this month and the Teddy Bear was sitting happily  on the western couch near the front widow once and then he disappeared along with the other items I took in!  I asked and they said the Teddy bear had sold for $40 but of course I will get part and the shop will get part of the income some day in the future.

I have not collected the $$ yet but I am sure it has a new home as a very large teddy bear!

Then to my surprise I saw what I think was the LARGE Teddy bear turning the corner downtown in the backseat of an SUV looking quite thrilled!  Boy I wish I had taken a photo of the bear going through the intersection and down Riverside Drive.  I don't know for sure it was our large teddy bear but it certainly looked like it sitting proudly in the back seat!

I will now imagine it to be enjoying the sights of the mountains now each day and riding around town!  I will see how the consigning goes and if I can LET GO OF MORE STUFF!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Scarey Summer of Wildfires

Today I just read another article about Wildfires in the WEST that are threatening three towns in California, famlies and their homes!  It has been a scarey summer for many folks in the WEST and the Plains too this summer.

We can hope for more SNOW and RAINS coming with fall, winter, and spring! Get out your mittens and snow shovels!

This has been the summer of Wildfires in the WEST and Heat on the Plains with haze in the area in CO yet today from fires burning other places!  With dry conditions from less snow in the mountains last winter, the summer has been a very dry one even in the high elevations and tundra areas along with plains. 

Wild flowers are less plentiful this summer with less snow but the rains have been like gifts of gold all summer when they have come North from the SW monsoon rains.    The Plains have been hot too with severe draughts for farms with even a large wildfire in Nebraska back home.

I have heard that 100 miles of the Platte River is completely dry now!

There was a second wildfire in our area that started naturally in a remote area of Beaver Mountain.   It took firefighters two hours to walk to it and a helicopters brought in water from Lake Estes so the fire didn't go too far but we could see the smoke from it. 

Wildfires are still burning in SW Colorado near Pagosa Springs, Wyoming, MTN, Idaho, Washington and California.   There have been fires in Oklahmoa and South Dakota too near Custer.  Fires are going to be happening more in the WEST with higher temps from climate change.

This summer we have see the HIGH Fire West of Fort Collins take many homes and one life.   Then later came the Fires in Colorado Springs with the largest fire in CO history taking homes and the Boulder fires caused evacuations too.  It was sobering to see the High Fire driving to Co in June with many hazy days and making for anxieties all summer.

I spoke with a woman at a concert recently who lost her HOME in Conifer, CO last April.  This fire burned many acress and homes during a prescribed burn that went wrong during high winds!

She was renewing her spirit in a music concert of DAKOTA BLONDE with her husband.  They lost everything and have not decided if they will rebuild or not.   After four months she said some green is starting to come through again but they are not sure as it was so devastating.

West of Fort Collins fires were burning when I came to Colorado in June.   It was scarey to see the huge clouds of smoke coming out of the canyons West of Fort Collins on my way up Big Thompson Canyon.

In our town in Colorado the fire started June 23 about noon from a reported electrical wire rubbing on a tree with very hot temperatures and VERY dry conditions!     Our place was evacuated for the day and if the HIGH PARK fire equipment had not been called over for airpower to take water out of Lake Estes in HUGE bucket loads and long hoses, the story might have been very different!   The volunteer fire department did their best and the fire burned 22 houses and two more building in High Drive but it was headed over Deer Ridge if it has not been stopped that same day!

There was a second wildfire in our area that started naturally in a remote area of Beaver Mountain.   It took firefighters two hours to walk to it and a helicopters brought in water from Lake Estes so the fire didn't go too far but we could see the smoke from it.  

In the HIGH DRIVE FIRE in June, if it had gone over Deer Ridge to take homes of friends and it could have gone right into town!  Thanks to all the firefighters and equipment from the HIGH FIRE to help and swift evacuation with quick actions by RMNP.   This fire was ONE THIRD of a mile from us --  so we are grateful for many things now this summer with hopes or more wildflowers in future summers and more snow this winter and next spring to bring more water to the Platte River, the Colorado River and other rivers of life!

 I even heard an elk bugling this week so fall must be on it's way and the mountains are bare in need of snow!  We can hope for the flowers and new birth for areas devastated and lives torn up!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Spirit Summer

It is time to renew my spirit in the mountains this summer!

Here are some of the first signs of summer with flowers on Trail Ridge Road!

After busy times this year, it is time to spend some time centering my mind, renewing my spirit with signs of hope in nature!    

The mountain streams are flowing and we can hope the wildfires in Colorado get some relief with rains and that the firefighters get rest as well!     

Time for rest and renewing my spirit with summer breezes!