Our time in Colorado has been very relaxing (at least for me!) and enjoyable.  We went to Steamboat Springs on Sunday, October 9 and stayed two nights.  We loved the little town, (off-season for sure!) and enjoyed our walk up to Fish Creek Falls through the forest.  Our drive over to Loveland on Tuesday (the 11th) took us the scenic route.  We wanted to go through Rocky Mountain National Park that comes out at Estes Park, but the pass was already closed for the winter.  So, we drove another scenic route through Winter Park, Idaho Springs, Central City and then through a corner of Estes Park.  It was a long way around, but kept us off the Interstate and we were able to see some gorgeous country.  We had rain, snow and bright sun off and on all day.  W stopped for coffee and ice cream in Nederland, a funky little town somewhere on the way.  The little shop we stopped at was a bookstore, ice-cream place and coffee.  It was truly a step back to the 1970's!    We are staying at Erin and Nathan's new place and are enjoying our time, even though Doyle is still working.  Pete and Heather also came up and they stayed at Sara Philip's house at the farm, about a ten minute drive from here.  I love this area, one reason is because they are so close to the country, but in town...the best of both worlds.  It is truly a beautiful area.  Peter is doing some re-finishing for Nathan and Erin and Doyle was doing plumbing and electrical in their basement for Erin's studio.  Tomorrow we head down to Colorado Springs for our nephew's wedding.  He will be married on October 15.  We are excited for him.  Peter is in the wedding, so they left today as they have rehearsal tonight.

  We just got back from the "Home Tour", a tour of some of the most beautiful homes in Farmington.  My friend, Mary had her house on the tour, a simple, ranch style home completely decorated by her and her thrift store, antiques and yard sale finds.  Her house is amazing, but what is most amazing is the fact that she has done it all for a fraction of the cost of the other people's homes.  But that doesn't even matter so much as the fact that it can inspire each of us to do the same.  My sister, Beth talked to a woman who was at the house while we toured it and Beth said she kept saying, "I can do this! She did this with thrift store and yard sale items.  I can do it then!"  And that was the real reason we wanted her house on the tour, to encourage the regular, everyday sort of woman who doesn't have a ton of money and to show her that, "yes, you can do it too."  From her house we went to three other places, one of which was a huge, beautiful home (also for sale).  It was unique and did I say, huge, and beautiful, but the guide told us that the couple got a divorce and that spoiled it for all of us.  Another sad thing was that on the beautiful walls (that the husband had done himself), was etched the husband's name (ex, I should say) and the wife's name....etched on the wall, still there after the marriage is over... I can't help but wonder what the new owners will think when they see names and pictures etched on the walls....so sad that the etchings have outlived the marriage.  All that money, all that work....did the couple work on their marriage as hard as they did on the house?  One has to wonder...

It's been raining here lately and yesterday we had snow in the rain, which prompted us to "panic" and decide we needed to bring in the tomatoes in case we had a hard frost.  So, Doyle and Peter (and the little boys) worked in the mud and cold and brought in our tomatoes.  They brought them into the greenhouse where they now lie on trays and will ripen.  This morning I made some more of  Beth's (now famous) Roasted Tomato Sauce and canned it in pint jars for the winter.  We will be having pizza tonight with a jar that couldn't fit into the canner.  It smells amazing while it roasts and everything in the sauce came out of our garden, the tomatoes, onions, garlic and the herbs.  If we could only bottle that smell, we would be millionaires!

I made Roasted Tomatoes with Fresh Basil and Mozzarella with all our tomatoes last night for supper, along with a Roast Chicken and biscuits.  Of course, since Jonathan was here we had to make cookies, so we made the Toll House Brownies for dessert.  The Roasted tomatoes were fabulous, had a lot of garlic on them, plus my fresh basil.  YUM!

I guess if winter is on the way (and it seems that way) we might as well enjoy our yummy roasted foods!

To say that I've been deluged by garden produce would be an understatement...  Today I'm having a bit of fun and making Jalapeno Jelly.  We have a young man living with us, Jerome who is in the University of St. Francis program for Physician's Assistant's a two year Master's program which is of course exceedingly intense and time consuming.  He has been here almost six weeks will leave next week for his next assignment in Sacramento, CA.  Anyway, he is an original Southwestern guy and loves Jalapeno's and talked me into making this jelly.  It is pretty and smells wonderful, I'll say that much!  We will try in on crackers or bagels with cream cheese at Christmas.  Jerome is the cook in his family (he is married and has a young son) and so he will get a first taste of this...he has made it many times.  (Our next student from St. Francis will arrive within the week....there may be a pattern here!)

So, I haven't kept up very well on this blog because I've been preserving and putting away food for the winter....it takes an enormous amount of time, but shopping out of my pantry over the next year is so much nicer than the grocery store.
 

   We DID have some fun this summer!!!  It wasn't all work and no play!  Here's to family and friends...good times around the table, good times hiking, playing games and hanging out with cousins we are just getting to know.

It's that time of year when the hard work of tilling, mulching, feeding, irrigating, weeding and who knows what all, pays off!  My sister Beth came over this morning to help me pick beans, way beyond the "call of duty."  She's been our chief weeder this summer and the garden looks beautiful.  But not only that, the garden is finally starting to really produce.  It started out so slow, because it was so cold, then it got blistering hot for a week or so (don't even remember how long!) and then the nights turned cold and we were afraid of some freak early frost.  But, it's seemed to settle down a bit and we have gotten lots of green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, some tomatoes (they are just starting to ripen), onions, garlic, corn, dill, grapes, green peppers, okra, and the list goes on.  It's also the time of year when we are exhausted, Beth, Heather and I from "putting up."  I'm so thankful for our bountiful harvest, but am always glad when we aren't so overrun!  Heather and I were talking the other day about how popular it is to grow a garden and learn to can or freeze the excess.  I started in 1980 when my neighbor down the street from our first home in Aztec, taught me how to "can."  I've been so thankful she took the time to teach me.  But, I think for the most part when times get a bit easier, the popularity of "putting up" (and I DON'T mean with your husband or kids!) will fade!  Why?  Because it's so much WORK!!!  It sounds very romantic to say you are "green" and you eat "local" or organic, but when it involves as much work as it truly does, I fear the novelty will wear off.  I hope not, but it probably will, except for the few weirdos like us out there!

Today's canning will be Dilly Beans and if I feel real energetic, peaches, or peach jam (bought from our local orchard near here.)  But I have to say going out just now to pick my dill for the Dilly Beans, I had to smile...........is there anything that smells so wonderful as fresh dill?  (I had to chase the bees and butterflies off of it....felt just a wee bit selfish for doing so, but, Dilly Beans HAVE to have DILL!!!)

Fresh from the garden; corn on the cob, tomatoes and grapes...it's moving day for our friends, Bil, Jody and Rachel!  Doyle and Peter are helping them move and I'm helping by cooking dinner for them.  Along with the fresh veggies and fruit we are having Mint Iced Tea (with mint from our garden), Sloppy Joes and homemade Oatmeal Cookies.  We are SO excited for our friends....it's been a longgggg time coming and LOTS of hassle, but good things do come to those who wait!!!  I will be delivering the food this evening to their new house.  I've seen it before, and I think it's just the greatest little house, built in the 1950's on some acreage outside of Bloomfield on a country road!  They have a screened in back porch, and a big garage, fireplace and a place to garden.  They will love it!  Isn't it great to have good news these days?  I think it is!  (Enough already with bad news! We don't need any more of that!!)

  There's a new girl in "town" or "down on the farm" is more like it.  "Pippin" is her name.  Jonathan wants to call her "Motor", Doyle wants to call her Damia, I call her "Pippin" (from the book Minna and Pippin by Harriet Pincus).  She is VERY small, this picture is deceiving.  She is also very thin.  She was at Joy's house when I went to get milk on Tuesday and I did something I don't think I've ever done before (anyway that I can remember!), I took her home with me without consulting my husband.  He was NOT happy to say the least, but by the end of the day he decided he needed to "meet" her,  I had her in a special house in the pergola for the day as I had to go to Durango, and after he "met" her, they were friends.  She has personality coming out of every pore and she is just as sweet as can be.  Well, we shall see if she can "make up" to Blondie, our cat of about 12 years old.  Blondie, so far, does not like her.  Sia, our dog, on the other hand loves her and wants to "mother"her.  I still don't know why I took her home, probably because Joy was rather "beside herself" and she cried so piteously.  I couldn't help but think as I took her home that the least we could do if my sister didn't want her, was to try and give her a home.  She is definitely a survivor that's for sure and is not afraid of anything, except maybe.......Blondie.  Welcome to our new little "girl."  And by the way, Daniel also loves her and just giggles and chases her all over.

Colorado flowers,  time with family in the Rocky Mountains, a breath of fresh air...........Our family got away for a much needed rest over the weekend of August 5-7.  All the kids with their spouses and the grandkids were able to meet at the Crider cabin at Purgatory or Durango Mountain.  We are so grateful for the friends that made this possible.  God is good.  We don't get enough of these precious times, Heaven will be so awesome because times like this will be normal!  My favorite time (if I can choose) would have been Sunday morning when we gathered around the table, sang beautifully (or at least loudly!)  while Christopher played the guitar and then we broke bread together as a family.  How  precious is that? 

We did break away for the wedding of our special friends' daughter, on Saturday, August 6.  Ken and Glenace Stanley saw their youngest daughter Amy married to a wonderful Christian young man, Bryce Elkins.  Doyle officiated at the ceremony and I think he did a superb job.  The special time of the ceremony was when Ken sang a song (and Glenace accompanied him on the piano) to the young couple.  I don't think there was hardly a dry eye in the place.  Special times!  (Because I babysat Laura and Amy (sisters) for so many years this wedding was especially wonderful.)

Christof and Megan and Analiese were here from August 4-August 14.  We were so happy to celebrate Analiese's first birthday in our backyard with extended family and the Crider's. The weather was perfect, we all ate too much and laughed alot.  Good times, good friends and wonderful family.  That's what the good life is all about....

Navigating life's ups and downs and ripples and waves is sort of like learning to sail.  I can't say we've even scratched the surface on the sailing bit, but after 50 plus years (but who's counting?), we are learning that when life dishes out disappointment and hard things, we  can always know that #1 God loves us and #2, God has our best interests at heart.  It doesn't make it easy, but it does and can give us peace.  When I feel the panic start to settle in, I can trust in a God who knows the future, and as the old hymn says, " holds my hand."  The past month has brought good things and hard things, watching and praying for a friend in pain, giving thanks for a job for our son-in-law, seeing my son and daughter-in-law struggle to find relief for their son's allergies (on-going for these past few years), the delight of our grandsons as they bite into homemade ice-cream.  Knowing that we have disappointed family by not going to Washington but giving thanks for a husband who perseveres even when the going is rough.  Knowing that in life one sure thing is that we will be disappointed, we will disappoint others and ourselves, but also knowing that God loves us and God has our best interests at heart.