Even Peregrinators Find a Place of Stillness Sometimes

Warm weather the week before Christmas.

 Preparing trail (week before Christmas).

Christmas Day -- 2010 

 Christmas angel amid winter grass and granite.

I'm not in Texas anymore...

My car got broken into last night, but don't worry, nothing was taken.  I never thought I would be saying this, but thankfully I didn't lock it so the window wasn't broken in.  Unfortunately, Bre, Ben, and several neighbors weren't so lucky and they now have no windows.  On the up side, my concert last night was SO FUN!!!!!!!![these last six are for you Dad]!!!!!!  It was a huge success and I think it was the best we ever played.  A few squeaks here and there, but that was expected.  Finlandia was a crowd favorite and ours as well.  Yall will have to listen to it on youtube, but it is kind of a scary and intimidating piece because of the strong tympanum and winds and the minor key (four stinkin flats!) and we played it so aggressively last night that I think we scared Kasia (KA-sha), our conductor.  I was so into this one part that I almost threw my bow into the stand next to me!  I guess I maybe shouldn't have played the up-bow with that much gusto because I was only holding on by one finger and had to take a whole measure to recover.  Fun times.  I have so much to do before I come home, but I will conquer and hopefully be home on the 11th.  The weather has been relatively warm (hi 45, low 20) and we have had clear skies except for a storm over the La Platas last night, so I am not worried about the winter weather on the drive home. 
I love yall more than Finlandia.

-Kate


"Happy times are sure to last as long as you throw your belongings at other people and never lock your car."
                                            -anonymous wise person

MORE SNOW!!!

Still no pictures but it snowed about six inches last night so now everything really is covered in snow.  I hope to go practice driving with Marci sometime this week.  It looks like I will be coming home at the perfect time!  Love yall

-Kate

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

Hello All,
delinquent blogger here signing in.  I wish I could post some pictures of all of the snow that we got last night, but I can't find the cord from my camera to my computer (could that be because my room looks like a pigsty?).  I have been sitting here doing homework and admissions stuff all morning but it is hard to get work done when huge flakes of snow are swirling outside your window.  Despite having worked the past six days (and the next four as well), I managed to squeak in a rather nice Thanksgiving with Marci, Carli, and a friend.  We didn't have much but we had enough to fill us up and make it feel special.  Marci cooked the turkey which turned out surprisingly well for her limited cooking skills and I fixed a strawberry spinach salad [thanks D] which also turned out surprisingly well.  So, with our plates piled high with turkey and salad we sat around the island in the kitchen and pondered over which dessert we should have first.  We had three different kinds of pumpkin pie, one which held a surprising amount of Jack Daniels, chocolate snowflake cookies which I made, and a bourbon filled chocolate one that had a creme de menthe topping.  All in all, we were stuffed.  The Palace was surprisingly slow on Thanksgiving thanks to the fact that it snowed just about the whole day contrary to weather reports.  Only about 2/3 of the reservations showed up which was a bummer for all of us.  However, at the end of our shift we ate a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, gravy, turkey, rolls, stuffing, and pumpkin pie topped with homemade whipped cream.  So, both of my Thanksgivings were good, but I would have rather only had one and been home with yall.  I hope all is well on the home front and I can't wait to see yall.  Only 13 more days!!!  Time really has flown up here.
Love yall much

-Kate

I miss you people.

Kate, you inspired me to cook.

Tomorrow night I am making Kevin and me tortilla soup (made in slow-cooker), corn/black bean/avocado salad, and chiabatta bread. So, as I write this, I am realizing two things: 1)I forgot to buy black beans at the store today (maybe I will make baked-bean salad instead. Yum.) 2)Chiabatta bread doesn't really fit the picture.

C'est la vie. I will let you all know how it turns out.

I love you all.

Selina

Hi

So look who got to spend the cold November day on somebody's bed . . . .

And not too much changes out in the hen pen. 

Note the pretty cool design on that middle cup.

Things Going On In Kate's Head

1. Kate has decided to switch her major to Art History with a focus on Gothic architecture.
2. Kate made tons of soup yesterday and spent a good 45 min. this morning just trying to get it all into bags.
3. Kate has made nice with the boss that she previously hated and is finding much friendship in her colleagues at work.
4. Kate had pot stickers for dinner.
5. Kate wants a dog.
6. Kate can't get a dog.
7. If Kate could get a dog she would want a Newfoundland.
8. Kate has spent the past hour reading about the Newfoundland breed and drooling over pet adoption sites.
9. Kate wants a cat.
10. Kate misses her cat.
11. Kate might get to move into a bigger bedroom with her own bathroom in the spring.
12. It is 16 degrees Fahrenheit outside tonight.
13. Kate is warm under her covers.
14. Kate spent yesterday afternoon being moral support for Marci while car shopping.
15. Marci finally bought a car.
16. Kate is still thinking about switching her majors and wanting a dog.
17. Kate is also thinking about how great her orchestra performance went the other night.
18. Kate can't wait for the real performance in December.
19. Kate new favorite instrument but one that she would not like to play is the tympanum.
20. Kate is loving mom's idea about the frozen ciabatta rolls.
21. Kate thanks mom.
22. Kate is missing her dear family much this evening.
23. Kate can't wait to be home for Christmas.
24. Kate is wishing that she had taken pictures of the soup to show yall how beautiful it turned out.
25. Kate has discovered that a perk of living in the cold is being able to use the back porch as a giant refrigerator.
26. Kate has discovered that sometimes when it is below freezing, stuff left on the back porch freezes as well.
27. Kate found 1" worth of frozen soup in the pot this morning.
28. Kate noted the irony of thawing soup so that it could be fit into the real freezer.
29. Kate keeps using first person grammar even though she is writing in the third person.
30. Kate went out to eat yesterday for the first time (The Palace does not count) since moving to Durango.
31. Kate discovered the wonderful fish tacos at Zia Taqueria.
32. *singing* "If I were a rich man. Deedle deedle deedle deedle deedle dumm. All day long I'd eat a fish taco..."
33. Kate's landlady got laid off (don't worry downsizing was expected) and thus we will actually be having Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving.
34. Kate still has not made up her mind on what to fix.
35. Kate is getting tired thinking of what she is thinking.
36. Kate says goodnight.
37. Kate loves yall much
38. Kate says DDL and sends xoxoxoxo yalls way.

I can't think of a good title.

Howdy all,
I hope yall have had a productive weekend.  I spent the day out at Hope and Tony's knitting, reading, studying, and practicing violin.  It was good to have a change of scenery for a bit.  Tomorrow is going to be an exceptionally busy day so this is going to be a short post.  Starting at 7:30 I take Carli to school, then go to the grocery, at 11:15 head to work, at 3:30 I have orchestra rehearsal, and at 5:00 I have my first orchestra concert up at the college.  It is part of a one day music festival for the kids at the middle and high school, so about 70 kids will be joining us in performing Finlandia.  It is going to be crazy because we only get one rehearsal all together, but I am looking forward to it.  Our real concert is not until December but because of the festival and Thanksgiving and blah blah blah, we will only have one more rehearsal until our performance which is crazy and a bit stressfull, but I'm sure all will turn out well.  Well, I should head to bed.  Love yall!!!

-Kate

p.s. Mom- Sorry I missed your call yet again, I am not very good about keeping my phone with me.  I didn't want to call you while you were in Houston cause I knew you would probably be out and about, but I will put an honest effort into calling you tomorrow :)

Look what I woke up to...

I rolled over, open the curtains, grabbed my camera, and shot this

Eleanor enjoying a Swedish snow bath. 

Shoes got wet at work and spent the night outside...being wet is now the least of their problems.

On our back porch with my new boots

A beautiful snow covered valley.

I have to go take Carli to school...love yall!!!

-Kate

AKA Snow Bunny

FIRST SNOW!!!

Hello All,
I am thouroughly exhausted after a surprisingly long shirft at work and I am simultaniously not wearing my glasses and too lazy to wakl  across my small room to go get them.  My vision seems to get worse by the day so no promises on spelling or typos because I can't tell the difference :)  However, the big news is that it snowed for the first time in Durnaog this afternoon.  I walked out of class and to my surprise and amazement, it was snowing!!!  Now, I don't mean blizzard snow and it was not cold enought to stick but there were some defineite snow flurries winding their way around the parking lot.  To honor the snow, I went down to the Steaming Bean and sat with my cup of coffee knitting while being totlaly mesmerized by the whirling white stuff outside.  It felt like a happy combonation of Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland (interesting mental pictures come to mind).  I thien rushed to work (almost late because I forgot to iron my pants...that is what you call a quickchange!) and ended up staying late to cover for some folks.  Only two servers showed up today out of the expected four servers and two bussers.  Thus, the rest of us were subjected to the boss' rage at the missing people and the crowds that seemed to keep on coming like we were Noah's ark in the flood.  But, more tips for me!  Tomorrow (or really whenever I get around to it) I will post pictures of the snow falling on the mountains.  I didn't have my camera with me when it was snowing here, but I hope I was able to capture the massive white/grey clouds of snow that were enveloping the La Platas across from our porch.  Well, I really must get to bed as tomorrow is a long day as well.  I love yall more than first snows!!!

Good night  (English)
Head ööd (Estonian)
གཟིམ་ལཇག་གནང་དགོས་། (Tibetan)
An guuta nacht (Cimbrian)
Fonaneng (Sesotho)
Buinegnot (Friulian)
تصبح على خير(Arabic)
Қайырлы түн (Kazakh)
Unnuaqhatkut (Inuktitut)
Oidhche mhath (Scottish Gaelic)
शुभ रात्री (Nepali)
Goeienaacht (Stellingwarfs)
Lala kahle! (Zulu)
สวัสดีครับ/ค่ะ (Thai)
Dobranoc (Polish)
Сайхан унтаарай (Mongolian)
Axşamınız xeyir (Azerbaijani)
Góða nótt (Icelandic)
לילה טוב(Hebrew)
Sinilluaritsi (Greenlandic)
Բարի' գիշեր (Armenian)
Bonne soir (French)


-Kate

Zdravei! Hafa adai! Mambo!

That is hello in Bulgarian, Chamorran, Conganese.

I wouldn't do any extensive research on those words. Let's pretend that I got it right.

Kate and Dad, I enjoyed your photos. I am glad that Colorado has spared my sweet sister another week without frostbite.

I am preparing for an in-class essay in tomorrow's American Literature class. I think the first part of the test on Monday went well, which makes up for a sad calculus grade. Don't ask. I look forward to studying the difference between the common cold, sinus infections, allergies, the flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, etc. I have one of them. We have been talking a bit about viruses in Biology. Fun stuff!

Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. I miss each of you.

Akwar nojoka("good evening" in Utesan, spoken in Uganda).


Peace,
Selina

Crappy Phone Photos, but Thought You Deserved a Couple Peaks Anyhow

Here is Adair and the family of Vance fixin' to eat over at Hope and Tony's.

And then the next morning after UT's loss.  Hard to see it, but Guapo is dressed in burnt orange, too.

And finally, my view of the HSB creek a couple hours ago.  Always sane, that creek.

Revisiting Mom's Trip

Hey All,
I just remembered that I forgot to post the pictures from the last day that Mom was up here of our hike on the Telegraph trails.  While colder than a polar bears backside, we did have fun.

Interesting frost-cicles

 The ever-energetic speed hiker

Print of unknown animal.

I am anxiously awaiting the drying of my pants in hopes that I won't have to wear wet ones to work...again.  Laundry procrastination is not the best of my qualities but it is better than some.  It has been "warm" these past few days and almost all of the snow on the mountain that I took pictures of is gone.  It is sad to see it go, but a relief that we can go one more week without snow.  I can't wait to see yall in December and tell Mao hi for me.  Love yall!!!

xoxoxoxoxo

-Kate

Taken on the Junction Creek Trail. It was such a great hike and I'm loving all of the colors.

Kate and little snow friend on the road up to Silverton. Beautiful! ~ We met a young lady at the Avalanche coffee shop who has been on a "mission" with Engineers Without Borders through Fort Lewis College. It might be a good avenue for Kate to try some day. Apparently people from a variety of degree plans go on these trips. Too cool!

Junction Creek Trail Hike

Here are some photos from our hike up Junction Creek Trail today with Papa Tony and Guapo.  It was so beautiful and the perfect distance for getting out and seeing the mountains.  We met up with tons of trail runners and a few mountain bikers and we were all in awe of their stamina and rock solid calves.  Once we got to the top the view was amazing and we had a nice lunch of tuna fish, apples, plums, goldfish, and a few chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that we made last night.  We were all commenting on how we wish yall were here (vise-versa would have worked as well).  Mom and I just finished eating the yummiest pizza that we made and playing some Gin-Rummy, and now we are settling in for the evening.  

Starting out on our hike.

"It's gonna crush me!!!"

Crossing Junction Creek about to start the long climb up.

The view from our little bench.

About to start the hike back.

Love yall buckets!!!
-Kate

Snowy Drive To Silverton

Mom and I had a very nice drive up to Silverton this morning/afternoon.  We marveled at the bright fall colors but what was really cool was all of the snow.  I had no idea that there would be so much snow this early in the season but apparently this is normal.  We even got to drive in a light sprinkling of snow which was very exciting.  Eleanor had some trouble keeping up to speed on the steep grades but we made it and 3rd gear did wonders for the trip back.

 Just past Purgatory

Mom and I acting like giddy tourists

Ah, fresh snow under my boots...

 Mom posing by the toilets

It looked just like a Christmas card.

Sitting on the coldest rock in Colorado at Big Molus.

We had a great time walking the main drag in Silverton and we had a yummy lunch at the Avalanche Cafe before heading back home.  We are now both pleasantly exhausted and about to make oatmeal cookies for Papa Tony.  Wish yall (D and Na) were here with us to enjoy the colors, views, eats, and cold.

Love yall!!!

-Kate

Greetings From the Dwelling

Hi sweet family,

I just looked through all of the posts from the last month and officially feel part of the family again. And Kate/Mom, nice work on the comments on one of the photos in particular. YOU know what I mean.

Hugs to everyone! More to come, sometime. My last classes are on December 3. Finals are as follows: 12/8 (9-12; 2-5), 12/10 (9-12), 12/13 (9-12), 12/14 (2-5). My last final is the second to last final time block for the entire university. Empty campus...

12/14- 5:01 Selina speeding toward Marble Falls screaming in glee and drinking serial venti non-fat iced caramel macchiatos.

1/18-Selina excitedly racing back to school to do it all over again!

Selina

Carol's new standup desk...that she is probably just too proud of. I think I get more accomplished and it feels like I have more energy. Three beers for standing!

Adair is saying, "I see that arm around that cute guy." Selina's trying to be discreet. Kevin's saying, "Mmm.. I like that hand on my back!"

This is the Peace Garden at Holy Communion Church Shepherd Hills. Several of us got together to weed and just play. In the second picture, Lori is kneeling by the dove and Jeanie is probably searching for the next space to attack.

CASA Run day. Fun, humid, fun, humid. Susan RAN the last bit through the finish line! Yee Haw!

Too Much Hill Country

Sometimes there's too much hill country for a patient with a pelvis fracture.  We couldn't drive him out from behind Wildcat mountain, so we called in StarFlight to lift him up in a basket.

Here's a video of the same (notice the dorky firefighters with their dorky smart phones doing nothing better than capturing the scene in dorky photos or even dorkier video form):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xUbaqa_eoM

And for small entertainment, here's a link that will send you to one of my recent mornings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmr228hUGA0

The Mothership Has Landed

So, I picked up Mom at the airport last night after miraculously finding the airport in the pitch black, foggy, rainy night through tons of construction and unmarked lanes.  After some much needed sleep we laid in bed this morning and talked for about an hour while watching the deer in the backyard and the rain and fog over the mountains.  I have a feeling that today will be an inside day so we might do some shopping, make cookies, and do some crafts.  Unfortunately it is supposed to rain all weekend, but hopefully the weathermen are wrong.  I wish the rest of yall were up here with us to enjoy this beautiful overcast day.  Love yall!!!

-Kate

Foggy Morning

I know the pictures don't do it justice, but I got to wake up this morning to the snow covered mountains and the colorful valley all covered in a thick layer of fog.  Hopefully the weather will clear for Mom's flight.  We do have a winter storm advisory for this weekend so...

Love yall more than fall leaves and first snows!

-Kate

Walking + Fall = Falking

On this beautiful overcast day I just had to take a walk when I got back from school so here are the photos I promised of the fall foliage in the neighborhood.  I wasn't quite able to capture it like I would have liked, but these will do.

Love yall!!!

-Kate