New Adventure

Well, our textbook has arrived! DH and I begin our next adventure next Monday. We are officially college students again. After studying German and Russian for so many years, I'm curious about how this class will work for me. Sometimes I actually speak to myself in German, even after graduating 35 years ago. We'll see.

We did already call the professor as we wanted to know if we could get by with buying just one textbook. This book was $122 used!! What??? She left us a phone message. Yes. Just one book! Yay. Now we may have enough cash left over to buy a coffee before class! I've already had the dream where you show up to class for the final exam and realize you haven't studied for the whole semester and you know NOTHING. Oh my gosh. Does that ever go away?
I did mention to the Spanish-speaking student I'm tutoring in English that she will have to help me with my class. She got a big kick out of that. Even though the Literacy folks claim you can tutor better if you don't know the language your student speaks because immersion is more effective, I do think this will help. (Very poorly constructed sentence, I know!)
Wish us luck. Adios for now.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday hike

We strapped on pedometers and headed south this morning -- early. Beautiful morning, a bit chilly, but perfect for heading out to see how far we'd get.

DH spotted "his" house. He'd like to live there, perfect with it's southern exposure and it's right on the river.







We kept walking and discovered this sign. What??? We never doubted we were in the United States. But why does someone feel it necessary to fence in this area behind barbed wire, and label it "Property of the United States?"









We made it all the way to the airport. Nice yellow plane!








Here's that funny sign that has you stop in the middle of nowhere to watch for low-flying aircraft.







Certainly they don't mean this plane?








Oh, they must mean this one!








We saw a festively decorated high wire








and fence.








And this young lady heading up to Sunlight for some skiing.












And check out this lovely gargoyle. Who knew gargoyles got cold?








Rosebud cemetery. I wonder why this grave has a wrought iron fence around it? DH thinks perhaps they were iron-workers....







Almost back home.








Thanks for traveling the Roaring Fork Valley with me. Oh-- it was a bit over 13,000 steps.

Christmas hike

Went for a hike this morning up the Mitchell Creek Trail past the Fish Hatchery:








Typical warning signs for this area:



But if you look closely:










Some of the things we saw:





























My "hit the mountain lion when attacked" stick:










Some hitchhikers DH picked up:









There must be some years when there's a lot of snow. See how high off the ground the door is?













As for wild animal sightings, here is one we saw on the trail. DH didn't even need to use his "hit the bear" stick, as the critter was quite friendly.









After our hike, we stopped by the beautiful Hotel Colorado and did see some wild animals there:












Merry Christmas!

Not much time for blogging....

A friend and I --- and her adorable dog --- went for a long walk out to Cardiff Glen and the Airport a few days ago. What a treat! Weather was perfect and we got to check on the progress of a new part of the Rio Grand Bike Trail.

Little Run'way got a bit annoyed with us at one point because we had turned around to backtrack just a little. He plopped himself down and said, "No more!" So he had to be carried for awhile. This is a dog who hikes 30 and 40 miles at a time so he really was annoyed --- not tired! :-)








This is the Historic Cardiff Schoolhouse. It's used for small community productions. Run'way didn't understand why no one would let him in.










Walking next to the airport we came across this stop sign. There are no other streets around --- just the airport runway, which runs parallel to the road we were on. So, we're not sure who they want to have stop there. We stopped, just in case!









Finished this absolutely wonderful book recently. It may be one of my all-time favorites now. While reading it, I had to track down a copy of Euclid's Elements. Found one at the Parachute Library, so our local library procured it for me.








Sewing has taken up most of my time lately. This is my favorite apron so far!

Crafting time

I headed over to the nearest thrift store to see what I might find. I was looking for old velvet -- the kind I could emboss-- and old jeans that I could turn into little stockings. I did find both and when I went up to pay, the cashier mentioned how pretty the dress was. I told her, yes it was, and that the stockings and ornaments I would make out of it would also be pretty! Well, she then tells me that someone had brought in some Christmas fabric and it hadn't been priced or packaged yet. Would I like to see it? Sure! I waited a few minutes and she comes down with a laundry basket FULL of fabric and some other sewing goodies. She told me I'd be saving her some time by not having to price it, etc. so I could have the whole thing, including the laundry basket, for $5.00. Oh my goodness. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I left her the basket though, as I was walking home. I must have looked like an odd Santa, walking back home with an overstuffed black garbage bag!

I washed all the fabric, as I'm sure it had been stored for awhile. After drying it, I measured and folded it all. Grand total: 42 yards of fabric, 35 full skeins of DMC embroidery floss, and lots of other "stuff." I recently bought Christmas fabric at our local store. It was $10/yd. And the floss: I think it was about $1.25 the last time I bought one. What a haul!! My lucky day.

Some little bird ornaments:











A birthday card:










A special order coffee sleeve for a friend:





















What are you crafting for the holidays?

Virtual Retirement Dinner

DH has worked for IBM from home, alone with his phone, and his co-workers live -- on the other end of the phone line -- in India, South America, Europe, and the Far East. He always referred to his "virtual job." Join us, won't you, for his virtual retirement dinner.

He picked Rivers Restaurant for his dinner. It's conveniently located near our home so we could walk to dinner. We've eaten here for Sunday brunch, especially enjoying it in the summer when we can eat outside on the lovely deck, right next to the Roaring Fork River.










They have a wonderful menu and the problem was narrowing down what we would order.















We chose the Smoked Trout Pate with homemade scallion bread, and Calamari with Jalapeno Lime Aioli.
Quite good!



We then had a Warmed Spinach Salad and a House Mixed Greens Salad-- the lemon herb dressing was SOOOOOO good!














Our entrees were Blackened Mahi Mahi with Blue Curacao Sauce, and Surf and Turf, filet mignon with lobster tail. They were so beautifully presented and tasted delicious, although I have to say, I've never seen anything edible that was that shade of blue!


Dessert was Pistachio Creme Brulee with Caramelized Raspberries. A beautiful and tasty end to a great dinner.







Here's the man of the hour.






And here's what he wrote:
My Virtual Retirement Speech
When I was hired by IBM in 1979 the company was expected by Frank Cary the CEO to be a $100 billion dollar company in a matter of a few years. There was no Apple; no PCs, much less laptops; no internet, much less Google; no visible Microsoft; phones were still pretty much connected with wires. HP made oscilloscopes.

The IT world changed.

IBM is sill looking for a 100 Billion dollar year. Apple owns the number one spot for market capitalization. HP enjoys more revenue. Microsoft makes more profit.

It is not just about cost cutting. Creativity is critical for survival. It has to be creativity that the world needs. I am looking forward to seeing if IBM can capitalize on its Smarter Planet idea.
Looking forward to a wonderful retirement.
Thank you IBM. It has been an interesting 31 years. No regrets.

*******************************************************


I sure am proud of my newly retired guy and I'm looking forward to enjoying retirement with him!