Music in the Valley

One of the things that made life worth living this year was rediscovering music. I went to a folk music weekend called Stringalong in Wisconsin last November, thinking to take up the guitar. Imagine my surprise, however, when instead an autoharp called to me. What is an autoharp, you ask? Well, you put 30+ strings on a box that rings...and tune for the rest of your life. The link above will tell you more about this delightful instrument than you'd probably ever want to know. I fell in love with it, bought one and by December, I was playing it and singing in the town Christmas show.

I met some other musicians at my church, and have started playing weekly with them. We just did a benefit last month in Pueblo at the Union Depot. It was a lot of fun, and only our second time playing in public.

There are a LOT of musicians in Westcliffe - both amateur and some professionals, too. Probably our best known band is the bluegrass group Sons and Brothers.

My next venture is to start an open acoustic jam/coffeehouse at my church on Wednesday nights. I have a feeling people are going to come out of the woodwork, especially in the summer.

As for music - well, I can't get enough of it!

Big Changes

It's been over a year since I last posted, and my life has changed almost beyond recognition since then. On February 1, 2006, my beloved husband John died in a household accident. I have dealt with my grief elsewhere, so I do not intend to expand on it in this blog, but suffice it to say that this year has been a journey of finding out who I am without him.

I have learned that it is possible to find joy and fulfillment again after a period of grieving, and that death is not the end of all. I am much less scared of death now than I once was.

The candidate announces

A friend sent me an email invitation to "A Big Annoucement" that he was making at the Custer Co. courthouse last night, so I went. Turns out he's running for County Commissioner. It seemed to be a meeting of the Custer Co. Democratic Party - all 15 of them! I'm kidding - there are a few more Democrats in the county, but they didn't show up for the meeting.

Actually, in a county this small, I'm not sure how much party politics matter. But then, someone did say that 'all politics are local.' Alan Urban is the candidate and his platform is one of getting more people involved in local govt. For instance, he'd like to have commissioner's and zoning meetings in the evenings, so that working people could actually go and find out what's going on.

This has been one of my pet peeves about trying to get involved in organizations in the Valley - most of them have their d#*n meetings in the daytime!

Maybe things are starting to change - hope so!

Not Winterized Enough

Didn't make it out of the driveway yesterday. We got about a foot of snow and that was too much for my little car to handle. Sure was pretty though. I was telling John that we didn't do too badly last winter - only hit one deer and totalled the truck. But we're going to have to get more serious about winterizing the car(s).

Just finished painting the deck a couple of weeks ago - none too soon for the October snowstorm.

Preparing for Winter

Seems like we've spent most of our summer preparing for winter - painting the deck, plugging woodpecker holes and staining/sealing the house, etc. We've been trying to get a garage built (without much success) for the last four months...so that we can house the cars, to keep the mice from gnawing through wires and nesting in the exhaust valve, among other things. The chimney of the wood stove also needs a visit from the sweep. We're planning on using it more this winter, with the price of fuel going through the roof.

I love looking out through the big windows on a snowy day when it's nice and toasty by the wood fire. But I also want to get out and do some winter sports this year, particularly snowshoeing. We'll see!

Mile Markers

Funny how I never noticed mile markers till we moved to the country. But I've since learned their importance in terms of navigating the landscape where there are few road names and fewer landmarks to give shape to your directions. Turn right just 3/10 of a mile past the 4 Mile Marker - in the black night of the Colorado high plains, without mile markers, we would surely be lost, time and again.

Baby mountain lion

We think we saw a baby mt. lion in the front yard today. Too big to be a cat, and sort of chunky in build, tawny color. No mom in evidence though.

Speaking of cats, we are adopting two more kitties (indoor/outdoor) to deal with the mouse situation. Two girls, one 1 yr. old, the other 1 1/2 yrs. - one b/w, the other a brown tiger, both longhairs. For the next few weeks, they'll be occupying the garage, and beginning to learn that this is their new home. We're building a detached garage next spring, so eventually, this will be their domain. We have to keep them separate from our two strictly indoor cats, at least until everyone's properly vaccinated and we're sure that they get along.