Not long ago, when walking to a music concert with my friend Wendy, she asked, “Do you miss your garden?” That question, out of the blue, had nothing to do with our ongoing chatter and was rather innocuous. “Yes,” I answered. “Yes I do.” Although we quickly moved on to more important topics – her…
#fromage friday (SAY CHEESE, PLEASE)
THE PAST As a kid growing up in Iowa, I knew three cheeses: Velveeta, Maytag blue and Swiss. My Mom always kept a 16-ounce block of Kraft’s processed cheese in the fridge. In Newton, located 140 miles from my home town of Manchester, Maytag Dairy Farms with its herd of prize-winning Holstein cows was producing…
SUMMER’S FLEETING, TIME FOR SLAB PIE
As an amateur photographer, using a point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot which isn’t even manufactured anymore, I have one rule: Never let the picture get in front of the experience. That’s why I missed a magnificent opportunity to photograph the illusive Sharp-shinned Hawk during a recent birding field trip. We were studying the astonishing number of Violet-green…
FOOD, FRIENDS, FACTS, FEATHERS & FIRE
Call me crazy, but I’m wondering if the 24-hour day has declined into 21- sixty minute cycles. The world’s in a twirl, spinning a bit faster, can’t you tell? If Jupiter can claim ten more moons, bringing its number to 79, I can suggest each day seemingly three hours shorter. Now this isn’t a whine…
FIRE!
In my last post I discussed my summer responsibilities as a volunteer USFS wilderness ranger in Colorado’s White River National Forest. “With full-on fire restrictions already in place,” I wrote, “we’ll be on the lookout [for fire].” Of major concern were lightening strikes, tossed cigarette butts or campground mishaps caused by uninformed tourists. We never…
A DAY in the LIFE of a RANGER
Since the mid-1990s, with a time out for Michael-care, I’ve been a volunteer wilderness ranger in the Colorado Rockies. During those 25-some years my life has changed dramatically but the one constant has always been my ranger gig. Hitching myself to Smokey Bear’s wagon was a bit of a stretch. Never considered a rough-and-tumble outdoorsy…
A GRATITUDE ATTITUDE in EVERY FLAVOR
Memorial Day is now a memory. Hopefully, a joyful one. Now it’s time to get serious about summer. That’s why I just made my first batch of ice cream. This past winter I treated myself to more scoops at Berthillon’s (Paris most famous glacier) than necessary and regretted not one lick. Missing that occasional flavor…
BEETS, BAGELS & BIRDS
“May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel most alive.” Fennel Huston Today’s post is a full-on Happy Meal. I need that, don’t you? This week Mother Nature shot Springtime out of a cannon into the High Country. We went to bed in Winter and miraculously woke up to this…
VERY FULL TART, VERY FULL SCHEDULE
When I was in second grade my teacher had us raise our hand if we wanted to be a nurse, fireman or fill-in-the-blank, when we grew up. She never asked if anyone wanted to be a juggler. Yet most of our lives have probably been a juggling act. How well do you juggle? These days…
LIGHTS on BRIGHT in ASPEN
For the previous four winters I’ve emptied my Aspen condo of personal belongings, parking them in my down valley storage unit, and handed my keys to The Gant’s front office personnel. There’s no way to make this easy. Physically, it’s double-duty difficult, packing for a 51/2-month journey while converting my home into rental space. Mentally,…
A PARIS LIFE
Dear Miss Manners, When I was in Paris recently, I attended a small dinner party with four other American friends. Our gracious host and hostess live in an apartment with a balcony view of the Tour Eiffel. During our marvelous dinner we set our Apple watches for “on the hour” alarms to catch the 5-minute…
UH-OH, PARIS MELTDOWN
This past week Paris dished up a full-flavored smørrebrød of must-do’s which bordered on sensory overload. At what point does all this seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching turn the senses into senseless? For me, it was last Wednesday at 9am. At the 4-week marker, I caught a 24-hours case of comatose. The day started…
