sunflower

A friend of ours asked me to paint a sunflower for him to give to his mom for Christmas and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I usually paint small, detailed things but it was very liberating to do something big and bold. Here it is:



Hopefully he'll like it and, more importantly, his mom will, too!

comic genius

Yesterday one of Cole's friends came over after school for a playdate, or "club meeting" as they called it. They had a great time since my husband seems to enjoy playdates as much as the kids do. He orchestrated a paper ball fight while we waited for the pizza to arrive.

At dinner the boys clowned around telling goofy jokes as they scarfed their food. They went around the table spouting innane, non sequiturs and cackling maniacally. All the big kids had had a turn when the friend, who is an only child and doesn't have a lot of experience with two year-olds, said, "Your turn Cooper!" The room fell silent and all eyes fell on the little guy. I don't think his brothers had ever considered that he might be able to tell a joke, too. Cooper's face got serious and you could see the wheels turning. He looked a little worried. I was about to explain to Cole's friend that two year-olds don't really tell jokes yet, when Cooper brightened up and shouted,

"I AM POOPY MAN!"

They roared with laughter and he glowed from his comedic success. It seemed pretty advanced to me that he already understands a basic rule of boy jokes:

When all else fails, resort to bathroom humor.

aspens

We went to the mountains today to see what all the fuss was about. We'd heard it's the peak time to see the Aspens turning and I didn't want to miss it. I'm a tree person and when we lived in Texas, the oak trees that filled the hill country were my favorite, hands down. But as far as Colorado goes, I've fallen for the Aspens. I love their unassuming, willowy trunks and heart-shaped green leaves that blend in with the evergreens though out the year. Until...the fall arrives. I'm not sure what triggers the amazing change, whether it's temperature, light, or some other biological signal, and I'd rather it remain a mystery to me. No matter what the cause, it is a feast for the eyes and soul. I was overwhelmed by their beauty. To me, trees have personalities and it was like they were shouting, "Hey! Look at me! I'm not so ordinary any more, huh?"






A verse came to mind:

You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12


They did seem to be clapping, even cheering with all their magnificence.



We headed back home through the forest, strewn with the colorful leaves. Once again, I'm thankful to be here.



I wrote a little haiku in honor of these beloved trees:

crimson, gold, green, orange
dancing, shimmering, on fire
did the pines taunt you?

fall

The weather's a changin' and bringing on nostalgic butterfly feelings for me. The last few mornings as I've awoken, finding myself buried a little deeper under the covers and a little more reluctant to leave the warmth of my bed, I've had just-like-it-was-yesterday flashbacks from falls gone by. Some of the best times of my life, so far, happened in the fall.

Going to College
In the Fall of 1991 I made the huge trek of 45 miles from home to start my new life in the beautiful Texas hill country town of San Marcos. My parents drove me up, helped me get my stuff into the dorm room and then departed. That was the first moment it dawned on me that I was on. my. own. Terrifying with all its potential. And I knew not a soul. But things quickly turned around when I found out my roommate was the funnest girl I'd ever met and we became fast friends. A moment of zen occurred on our first trip up I-35 to the metropolis of Austin. I had not been there in years, especially not as an 18 year-old, dressed in a tight little dress from Express. As I sipped my wine cooler in the back seat on the way there, I could see the lights appear on the horizon and thought "There it is..." Austin. WOW. Next thing I knew we were heading toward the famous 6th Street. It was 11 at night and the party was just getting started. And I could be out as late as I wanted. I remember feeling this overwhelming sense of elation and freedom and thought, "Surely I'm going to die. Life can't be this good. It must be about to end for me." A cowboy walked be me and said, "You must have stole all the stars from heaven and have them in your eyes.." or something cheesy like that. It was from a Garth Brooks song but it didn't matter. I felt so cool. My roommate and I went bar hopping and dancing and even though we had to wear obnoxious bands to show we were underage, we still had a good time. If you know what I mean.

Meeting my husband
In the Fall of 1992, I was dating a guy who was all wrong for me but I wasn't smart enough to know it yet. I went with him to a friend's house and was in the back yard spending time with my pet turtle (seriously), while the guys loaded up a boat or something. Next thing I know, they said their new friend D was there. I walked over to meet him and can still distinctly remember shaking his hand. I was very shy at the time and remember being embarrassed that I had my turtle with me. And that I was carrying it in a basket. But apparently that didn't scare him off. We didn't officially date for another two years but that's another story...

Moving to College Station
We got engaged in May of 1997 and that Fall I decided to move to College Station, Texas, to be closer to my soon-to-be husband. Paying $300 phone bills had gotten old really quick. He had a business there and I figured I would end up transferring to Texas A&M to finish my degree after we got married. Anyway, we, I mean I, oh what does it matter, we've been married almost 9 years now, Mom...WE rented out a double-wide trailer in the tiny town of Millican, on the outskirts of College Station. It had a huge oak tree in the front and the walls were about 1/2 an inch thick. In the Texas heat it would heat up like a greenhouse. We were so broke it wasn't even funny. It is now, but it wasn't then. I had a job at the Aggie Ring office making about $6.50 an hour and he was struggling to keep his doors open. But we were so young and naive that we weren't terrified, as we should have been. We ate lunch out way too much and floated checks to pay for it. We were making plans for our wedding in the spring.

First Baby
We didn't wait long after getting married before deciding to start a family. In the Fall of 1999 we had been trying for about 8 months and were getting worried. We had just about decided that maybe the time wasn't right and I should get back on the pill when it finally happened. I remember going to the grocery store after work to buy a test and I think I already "knew". I heard the song "Say a Little Prayer" on the radio and was singing along. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the air was just starting to change. I went home, took the test and set it on the counter to wait. I opened the flier included in the test that showed the development of a baby in the womb. I was engrossed in the material when I glanced over at the test and my heart stopped. Glaring back at me was the brightest red line I had ever seen. What. On. Earth? I had taken so many tests over the past few months and spent time squinting at the results, hoping that maybe I was seeing a little bit of a line...I had never imagined it would be so...real. My legs went weak and I was filled with joy and terror at the same time. It felt like the beginning of a roller coaster ride. There was no getting off now. I went to our bedroom and got on my knees. I prayed like I hadn't prayed in years. A prayer of thanks and a prayer for guidance in the years to come. I knew things were never going to be the same, I just didn't know to what level they would be changed. You just can't know it until you've lived it.

Cheers to the Fall.

texas o texas

* warning to my sister who just moved to Colorado from Texas, you may not want to read this particular post

I'll admit I've been a little emotional lately, but I was caught off guard tonight when I turned Austin City Limits with Lyle Lovett on and I burst into tears. It's the first time in about a year I've actually felt homesick for Texas. Memories sprang to mind of driving through the hill country at sunset and swimming in the cool, green rivers. Texas truly is a state of mind. I took much pride in being a Texan and felt defiant when we move out of state. I almost wanted to put a Texas flag on our house to show people that we were not "one of them". We were Texans. And Texans are really a unique group of people. It takes juevos to stand to 100+ degree heat for months on end. It takes a thick skin to stand the pestilences of fire ants and cock roaches the size of your hand. But it really is a beautiful state with everything from beaches to mountains to rolling green hills. A country in itself. It breeds artists like Lyle Lovett and Norah Jones and Stevie Ray Vaughn. And me.

I almost feel like I've been cheating on Texas with my love affair of Colorado. I've been swept away by the Rocky Mountains and turning Aspens and thought I'd never look back. But apparently, you can take the Texan out of Texas but you can't take the Texas out of the Coloradan. Is that what we're even called? I really don't know.

September 11th

I watched United 93 over the weekend and no surprise, it was very upsetting. I think they did a good job telling the story and honoring those who lived through it and they did not throw in any gratuitous violence. It was fascinating to see how everything unfolded from the inside that day as the airline industry grappled to deal with a situation they could hardly even believe was real. By the end of the movie I had a knot in my stomach and the anger I felt on that day was fresh again. It was very disturbing to see the terrorists "praying" to their god in preparation for what they were about to do. They even cried out "In the name of god!" as they slaughtered an airline employee. What kind of people are these? Animals. Vermin. Rat bastard sons of bitches.

I also watched the first part of Path to 9/11 last night and was impressed with the job they did. It really amused me how the democrats whined like children about how it was unfair to portray Clinton that way and it was not based on fact. This from the same people who cheered on Michael Moore like he was a genius saint for the "docu-dramas" he presented as fact. Of course Clinton was distracted by the scandal and it affected the decisions he made during that time. It was interesting to see on the movie how after he ordered some rockets to be launched at a site believed to be a terrorist hide-out, but was really just a medical factory, the people paraded down the street burning American flags and dolls that looked like Clinton. They even held signs saying "Clinton is Satan." Hmmmm. I thought Bush was the only American president hated by the rest of the world. I thought it was all his fault we are not "popular" any more. Could it be that we are hated throughout the Muslim world because they hate Israel, want to wipe them off the map, and we support Israel?

A couple of weekends ago the second in command of Al Qaeda issued a warning for all Americans to either convert to Islam or face the consequences. And then a news commentator actually said, "This is starting to look like a religious war." Do ya think? After five years I have yet to hear a leader from the Muslim community condemn the attacks on 9/11. Strangely enough, it seems that it is usually us, the naive, politically correct Americans who defend them. Wake up, America. This jihad is not going away any time soon.

big week for little people

So the middle man has begun pre-k this week. Typically, he will not admit he had any fun except to tell me his teacher gave him an invisible dragon to take home. He has quite the imagination. When I came to pick him up after his first day on his own, he looked happy to see me but immediately went to his signature scowl. If we took the boy to Disneyland he would not admit to having fun. But I totally relate. He is actually me, just smaller and a boychild.





It was also a big week for the little guy. He's been in potty-training limbo for a couple months. Some days are good, some not so good. So I thought that buying him some new undies of his own might inspire him to give up the diapers. He picked Thomas the Train. When we put them on him I couldn't stop laughing because he looked so cute. He took it the wrong way and asked to take them off because they looked "Tupid". After we straightened our faces and took a couple pictures he was reassured that they were cool and not tupid.

I really wish they would stop growing up already.

Ta-DA!

Now that school is in session for my two older boys, I'm looking at possibly six, count 'em, six free hours a week to do whatever I want! (The little guy naps in the afternoons, for those of you doing the math.) So while two are away socializing and learning and one's in la la land, I plan to get back to painting. And while I'm at it, I am going to try to start my own little home-based business of home portraits since I happen to love architectural subject matter. So here's the painting I've been working on to use on my marketing materials. We drove around Denver and found this house, which I love, to use as my sample. I have no idea who lives there but I wish it was me. I took a picture to work from:





And now, here is my rendition of it:




Yes, I took the liberty of adding some extras, but hopefully it looks close to the original. I hadn't painted in so long I know there's room for improvement but I'm looking forward to doing more. I haven't decided on prices yet so if anyone has any advice on how much a 9X12" acrylic painting with about 12 hours worth of work in it is worth, please let me know!

AWESOME

Yesterday we had some family visiting and we decided to take them with us to try out a new hiking trail we'd recently heard about. It was in the Pike National Forest, less than an hour away, and once again we were reminded of how lucky we are to live in Colorado. It was absolutely gorgeous. The day was cool and breezy with a cold front on the way. We hiked the mile and a half to the top of the mountain and found a stairway with about 200 steps that led up to a look-out tower. The tower was built in 1951 and it took 72 pack-mules to bring up the supplies to build it. Before 1951 there was a make-shift look-out station there that was only accessible by a series of ladders. It had been created by a woman who took it upon herself to guard the forest against fires.

We regret our oldest son wasn't with us because he was in school, but we plan to take him there soon.


Once we reached the top, we met a man who works for the forest service whose only job is to keep look-out over the forest and report any fires. He'd reported about 13 so far this year, most caused by lightening. He stays in a cute little log cabin with his wife at the bottom of the look-out tower when he's off duty and goes to town about once a week to get supplies. It seemed like the coolest job for a retiree, which he was. You could tell he really enjoyed it. He had little notes all over the inside of the tower with factoids about the forest and even had little signs with the names and ages of the smallest children to have climbed up there. He also had a board with a bunch of insects hot-glued onto it for the kid's enjoyment. Apparently it can get a little lonely up there.



The panoramic views were amazing. You could see for hundreds of miles.



As a souvenir, we were all given a card that certified that we had "Climbed the Devil's Head Lookout Station guarding the Pike National Forest against fire" and are "therefore recognized as members of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels." Sounds pretty important.

To those of you still living in Texas, it is about 60 degrees here right now and we haven't had our air-conditioning on for a couple of weeks. But don't be jealous! Just move on up!