tiptoeing back to blogdom

Picture me, fumbling about while trying to find my way in this unfamiliar space.

Sigh.

Blog failure. Turns out, when life shifts into overdrive with Thorny, Loony and Murky riding shotgun the first thing to be jettisoned is the blog.

But here I am, blogger of dubious perfidy, kicking Crazy to the curb. Coming back. Starting over.

And here's a diverting little tidbit for the new beginning. One of Court's newest endeavors is hiking to every named lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. There are more than 100. Maybe 150 even. I'm avoiding knowing real numbers - like quantity, distance, elevation gain, technical class. Especially technical class. Simply better to not know.

To date, we've knocked off three. There's a long road ahead, literally.

I'll sign off with some photos from our first ventures out. Keeping it concise here on reentry. Still a twinge of timidity on board.

maintaining status quo

Yesterday I found myself wide-eyed again by the backdrop for my commute - so darn sightly to be the avenue to and fro the daily drudge.

I had the luxury of turning a 30-minute commute into 90 because C was out with friends (a.k.a. five episodes of Wipeout and pizza). This is the first Wipeout extravaganza from which I've managed to extricate myself - and I have no shortage of thankfulness for that. I've admittedly chuckled once or twice (probably once) when I've been coerced into watching but truly the repetitive enjoyment a certain someone gets from that show is baffling to me.

The other night he asked if I would see Transformers II with him and oh-so-begrudgingly I said yes. I considered sneaking in a flashlight and crossword, or sleeping pills, but I recently made him sit through My Sister's Keeper (a movie I equally loathed- and was chosen by guests) so I owed him one.

ONE.

Incidentally, I'm not sure which movie was worse.

I'm a bit concerned I've started a disastrous trend here - one where we're all maritally sacrificial and go to movies of one anothers choice.

This would be a bleak development. In five years of marriage I've masterfully dodged the torments of ghastly wonders like Bulletproof Monk, Hellboy, and Ghost Rider. He is equally thankful to have escaped the wonder, WONDER I tell you, of masterpieces like Mrs. Brown, Waitress, Once, or Pride and Prejudice.

There's no telling what a compromise like this would do to our marriage. It could end in total, um

Wipeout.


(photos from the daily jaunt; they get monstrously big if you click on 'em)

double aftermath

Another evening commute photo opp. This rainbow was stunningly vibrant, from one end to the other. I've never seen a rainbow that was a complete arc such as this one was. I didn't have my wide-angle lens in my car with me- and I'm still not quite over the missed opportunity resulting from that...

(click to enlarge)

cloudy with a chance of ... photos

Generally my camera rides shotgun by me wherever I go. Somehow, a couple weeks back, it mysteriously landed in my trunk and until today, hadn't seen the light of day since.

Yesterday, driving to work, I inwardly grumbled at the recent vacuum of interesting life for me to photograph...

... then today, before leaving work, I fished my, ahem, rather expensive camera out of my rather chaotic trunk, and returned it to its rightful place.

And on the drive home, all the sudden... so many things to see.

Funny how that happens.

a word of advice

I was driving back from the store today when I saw this train stopped on the tracks.

The sun was way too bright for capturing a good image, but just for kicks I tried anyway.

And I'm thankful I did, because it turns out this generous little train was doling out advice for those close enough to read it:

I'll be printing this out and posting it above Dakota and Gemini's water bowls.

rush hour

From slogging up I-5, crawling over I-90, inching up I-405, and trudging across 520, it's an understatement to say my Colorado commute is a colossal upgrade over my Seattle drive to work.

My daily jaunt to work takes about 35 minutes but my scenery along the way has improved considerably.

No freeways. No grid-locked traffic. No road-rage impaired drivers. No Mariners traffic, no floating bridge closures, no 405 s-curves.

Instead ...

Horses. Sheep. Miniature donkey's. Chickens. Wide open spaces. Hot air balloons. Lakes. Mountains.

Somebody pinch me.

I've skidded into work at 7:59 the last two days because along my way I'm continually sidetracked by something that demands photographic attention.

Today it was a hot air balloon. It came into view just after I left home, still on the ground just across the field from where I was driving. I haven't yet mastered the highways surrounding our house so I was whipping around dirt roads like a mad woman trying to reach where it was before it launched. I didn't make it in time but it was impressive nonetheless to see it lifting up, up, and away.

Yesterday I almost ran over a chicken.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

gone country

Here are several photos of the girls from their visit to Colorado last week. The swing and lake are across from our new home- a feature I hope will prove effective at drawing them back for many more visits - imminently!

In particular I love the third photo - E looks like the perfect 6-yr-old ragamuffin that she is.