Something to Do

It becomes so easy to hibernate once it turns cold. It's natural. Get comfy. Stay dry. Stay warm. But, we needed something to do.

So, what did we do? Got up early.... checked the weather...it said snow in the high country. Great! Just where we planned to go this early Saturday morning. Got the nervous call from our traveling partner(Sharen/Tish) "The weather's not good. Snow in the mountains. I70's a mess.

I'm still in. Let's go! Worse case scenario....we turn back, have lunch and call it a day.

Well three hours later we are standing at the Square in Breckenridge. Our planned destination. We are bundled to the core and ready to check out some snow sculptures. We weren't disappointed.

This was the first time to this event for Joe and I. We almost decided not to make the trip. It was snowing and yep, the roads were awful and it was cold and going to get colder. But, you can't have snow sculptures without snow and cold, right?

There were some beautiful exhibits. Some very talented people put a great deal of time and effort into their crafts so I thought I'd share some photos with you.

We checked out the exhibits, met up with with my nephew and his girl friend, ran into an old friend (Nancy "used to be" Goodwin said to tell Mom and Dad hello), found a place to enjoy lunch and then made the trek back home. Yep, three hours back. Yep, the roads were awful.

Was it worth it? Yep! You bet.

We didn't stay home. We didn't stay 100% warm or dry but we didn't miss the exhibit we've been trying to get to for several years now.

We saw the movie the next day when it was 19 degrees in Greeley. We saw Ink Heart. Cute movie but we could have stayed at home, warm, dry and comfy and waited for it to come out on DVD.

Enjoy the photos!

Worth the wait

This past weekend I spent some time in Estes Park with my friends Jeff and Tina Graham.

Jeff's mother is a artist (painter) and was suppose to be part of a studio tour but she mixed the weekends and ended up being out of town so Jeff and I held down the fort trying to peddle our own wears. He with his engraving and me with my piddly checkbook covers. Due to poor attendance the weekend lacked a sale for any of us with the exception of the two water color originals that I bought of Mrs. Graham's. After knowing the Grahams for over 30 years I was way over due!

The weekend was not a total loss. The Grahams have a lovely home with a beautiful view in Estes. It was very peaceful and the promise of elks sightings had me anxious for the evening to come on Saturday. Well, it came and went and no elk! A few deer in the distance and more eagles, hawks and mountain blue birds than I could count but no elk. Until on my way home on Sunday.

This had to be the most incredible sight I've every witnessed of the wild life kind.

There was a small crowd standing on the sidewalk next to the golf course. I was following Tina out the "back way" and all of a sudden she is pointing at the golf course. There lay the biggest animal I think I've ever seen. My jaw hit my lap and I about wrecked my car! He was massive. Fortunately, one of the golfers had the good sense to pull his gold cart a little closer so there was something to "compare" his size too. The photo still just doesn't do it. He was beautiful.

So, here is the photo of the elk and one of my favorites which I hope to send to Mrs. Graham to have her paint.

Kharen

The Last Goodbye

A sad day. I put my darling Maltese dog TC to sleep this morning. I thought I was ready for this and didn't think it would be so hard to do but I was devastated as he collapsed in my hands after he was given the shot to go to sleep for the last time. All I could do was cry and tell him how sorry I was. I couldn’t even come home this evening until later because I knew he wouldn’t be there and I had to put away his things. He was my loving and loyal pet for 17 years. I will miss him very very much.

Lost and Found

Hello Family: As I post this I actually feel as though I've found something that I've recently lost. A sense of family. I don't mean my immediate family. Joe is here. I talk to Amber every day. I talk to Brandon (although not enough) on a monthly basis. My sisters are within a short drive, an email or a phone call as are my parents and my step daughter.

I'm talking about the members on the extended branches of our family trees. And as someone some what "lost and found" said to me yesterday ..... "We don't do this enough. We don't spend the time together as much as we should". He was right. We only make a point of it when there seems to be a purpose...good or bad.

Joe echoed the same sentiments. Not enough time is spent with family and friends.

We recently lost Jim Cook. Husband to Janet, my dad's cousin. I am so sad to know that even though we have recently only seen each other at holidays and family get together's that we won't be seeing him again except in our hearts. So, I've posted one of my favorite photos of him here.

But out of this I found family that I know means a lot to the Marti side of the family that I have not seen in many years. Although yesterday was meant to celebrate Jim I felt a little extra celebration to be able to see Carl, Margaret, Nate and Mitch Marti. It has been many years and for me it made the day a little brighter just to see them there.

Janet...Please know that you are loved and cherished. And, that the celebration you had for Jim not only celebrated your love for him, and our love for you both, but the opportunity to bring family a little closer even if for a day.

You are in our hearts, always.

Kharen

Joe vs. The Barn

Neglected....That's how Joe was feeling when I forgot to put what he was doing while I was on vacation.

No, really. I did forget to mention what Joe was doing while Sharen and I were hangin' with Mickey and friends.

He spent the better part of a week and a half in Indiana tearing down and restoring part of an old barn on his Mom's property.

When we were there last year the roof and a good portion of the barn had caved in so Joe, our friend Mark Wilkin and Joe's brothers dug in, knocked down and rebuilt it over the course of about 5 days.

The rest of the time Joe and Mark did a little fishing, spent some quality time with Joe's mom and brothers and drove from here to there.

Oh, they took a little side trip to Cabellas in Nebraska. That's like Michaels craft store for hunters, fishermen, etc.

I'm proud of you Honey. You did a wonderful job and I'm sure your Mom truly appreciates what you did.

P.S. Thank you to Mark Wilkin for going above and beyond the lines of friendship to travel all the way to Indiana, work from early morning until dusk (with very few breaks) in the rain to help Joe and his family. You are a true friend. And, thanks to Robin for letting him go!

Love,

Kharen

Magic!

Bippity, bobbity, boo...(or something like that)!

I saw a t-shirt not long ago that spelled out "Supercalafragilistic..." yada, yada, yada. It made me think about how you really "spell" out magic. You don't. You have to find it.

So, that is exactly what Sharen and I did the week of May 12 - 16. We spent a few days in Orlando, Florida with family and the Magic Mouse.

Aunt Sandy and John graciously put us up in their home. It's always very comfortable (and beautiful) there and it gave us a few extra hours with them. We didn't have many as they were off to a conference in Boston that Wednesday. Thank you so much Aunt Sandy and John.

We also spent a limited amount of time with Butch. We had dinner with him when we arrived, spent the better part of a day with him and then went to dinner at Wolfgang Pucks and to Cirque de Soliel la Nuba on our last night in Florida.

But, we did take some time to ourselves! We spent a day at Epcot and a day at the Magic Kingdom.

We road my favorite ride in Epcot, Soarin' but not before we took a Behind the Seeds tour of the hydroponics used in the growing of some of the plants and vegetables used at Disney theme parks and restaurants. It was very, very interesting.

We ate a wonderful meal in "Tokyo". We took lots of pictures....or Sharen did. I ran out of room on my memory card. We saw a show performed by Davy Jones (of The Monkeys fame). John didn't think we should tell anyone that! We spent a little time with Crush from Finding Nemo and found a few Nemo's and other very strange fish in the small aquarium in the Coral Reef area. We stayed to watch the fireworks over the lake in the middle of Epcot. It just gives you goose bumps and I've seen it three or four times now!

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom. Is it just me or does that place get smaller as I grow older? We rode all the typical rides....Haunted Mansion, Small World, Space Mountain (yes, I said Space Mountain). We ate the typical frozen banana and Mickey shaped ice cream bar. We saw some new things like the Pirates of the Caribbean (remade to include things from the Johnny Depp movie) which was a little disappointing since it was the main reason we choose Magic Kingdom over Sea World or Animal Kingdom. We had our picture taken with Chip and Dale just like we did several years ago.

We stayed for the fireworks here too and we almost missed a real live Tinkerbell flying through the air! She must have been on a very high wire and she just "flew" past. It was a very nice night and a perfect ending to our two days to ourselves.

We found some Magic in the down time we needed. Our feet hurt from walking all over but our hearts were full with the special time spent together and with family and the beauty of Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

Kharen

Guilt Ridden

Okay....Guilty as charged! I am obsessed with having the cutest grandchildren in the world. Even though one of them tried to rip my face off the other night at dinner (I still love you Claire) and that two of them went on their first trip to the zoo without me (photos to follow from "the other" grandparents) and two of them live just to far away (new photos to follow of them as well) Joe and I still feel very, very lucky to have such beautiful children that have such beautiful babies.

Told you I was obsessed.

Hugs,

Kharen