Blues and BBQ at Beaver Creek

The weather was perfect on Saturday for the Beaver Creek Blues and BBQ Festival.

I found a nice spot for us to sit and listen to the music.








Right here.








Someone else liked our spot as well.








In front of us, it took three people to change this baby's diaper, while a little girl reading a book didn't seem to be bothered at all.







Behind us, some young folks were enjoying a quinceañera.
The young lady looked like a princess.









We enjoyed the food,









and the people-watching, while listening to some really great music!

Thankful Thursday

I volunteer once a week at the nearby elementary school, working with the Literacy teacher in the library. But during her planning period I get to go to Kindergarten, and do math with the little ones. What fun! The class is divided into small groups and I get to play a math game with my group. I'm also there for anyone who needs a little one-on-one help with a particular concept.

Sadly, next week is the last week of school and I will miss those little folks. They keep me young. So young, in fact, that a couple of them thought I was in high school! (I graduated from hs in 1971) I'm not reminding myself that they lump together everyone in high school and beyond and label all of us as "old people!" :-)

This past Monday they gave me a card that they all had signed. What a treasure!

Wordless Wednesday

Beauty

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
~Confucius

Hope

Never Let Go of Hope

One day
you will see
that it all
has finally come together.

What you have
always wished for
has finally come to be.

You will look back
and laugh at what has passed
and you will ask yourself,
"How did I get through all of that?"

Just
never let go of hope.
Just
never quit dreaming.
And
never let love
depart from your life.

Poet: Jancarl Campi

Thankful Thursday

Now that I am finished wearing the Holter Monitor, I'm really looking forward to a long soak in my tub --- with my Mother's Day gift. Ahhh...... I'll be a happy hippy, for sure!

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday hike

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
~ Herman Melville

We got up this morning and decided it was the perfect day for a hike. We've had almost winter weather for the past week so we wanted to take advantage of the sun.

We headed out on Midland, which is the road across the river from us. Fortunately, one of the two bridges across is right by our home. I thought I would take DH on the Red Mountain Trail that I had hiked on this past winter with my hiking buddy. (Who, by the way, is spending this month hiking across the state of New Mexico!) A very nice lady was gardening in her yard near the start of the trail and pointed us in the general direction. However, a few minutes later when things didn't look familiar to me we asked some young mountain bikers if we were headed correctly, and they told us we weren't.

Fearing that we'd get into something we might regret, I thought it prudent to just forget about this hike and head back to town until I got a map. The nice lady from earlier asked us if we'd found the trail and when we said, "No," she proceeded to take us to the trailhead herself! A little hiking angel. And, by the way, the part she took us on turned out to be the steepest of the whole trail. What a sweet lady.

A sweet sign on a bench we passed.









Near the start of the trail.












The usual warning sign. Today, even more important:
The bears are back!








Beautiful views and a little stream.












The area we were hiking was burned in a terrible fire about nine years ago but is coming back to life. Most, if not all, of the trees were destroyed, and what remains are charred.

Made it back home before the afternoon thunderstorm!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Live right now

The secret of health for both mind and body

is not to mourn for the past,

worry about the future,

or anticipate troubles,

but to live in the present moment,

wisely and earnestly.

~Buddha~

The Day After

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr

UPDATE:"The trouble with quotes over the Internet is that you never know if they are genuine." - Abraham Lincoln