Beloved Rocky

Some time in our beloved Rocky Mountain National Park was just what I needed yesterday so we drove to Many Parks Curve, the Alluvial Fan, and around the loop. The beautiful day added to our enjoyment but I love the park in any season, any weather, any time of day. The only wildlife we spotted was a herd of bachelor elk hanging out close to Sheep Lakes. A ranger was on the scene to keep foolhardy tourists from getting too close.

We're going to have to adjust to the big construction project along Bear Lake Road for the next two years but the work on the road will be a welcome improvement. Picnics at Sprague Lake will take some extra planning but I'm an inveterate planner, so no worries. We saw dozens of slash piles waiting for burning. A quote from the official RMNP web site explains:

Fire managers from Rocky Mountain National Park plan to take advantage of any upcoming winter weather conditions to burn piles of slash from several forest thinning and hazard tree mitigation projects. Exclusion of fire for the past century has resulted in unnatural forest conditions in some areas, with significant accumulations of forest fuels and an increased risk of a wildfire. In addition, park crews have been cutting hazard trees caused by beetle kill. There are an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 piles park wide. If these are all burned, it will be roughly three times the number of piles that are normally burned in a year.

A Day with my Favorite Five Year Old

Emma, the paper doll - with candy heart necklace

What could be more enjoyable than spending an entire day with my youngest grandchild (five years old) at her home. It was a wondrous experience and, for that day, I felt like a child again, myself. For her, it was a "nightgown" day.

She wanted to play hop-scotch and, because it was too chilly and damp outside, we made a hop-scotch on the tile floor using electrical tape, chalk, and a marshmallow for the "throwing rock." This project occupied our time for at least an hour.

She loves to do arts and crafts and so we made paper dolls, paintings, and models with play dough. We also made bowling alleys, houses, and towers with blocks. We made up stories, danced, did yoga, fixed lunch, and played with her entire family of dolls.

I hope to have another opportunity like this soon.

No Photo; Too Frightful

For the past few days I've been suffering from shingles on my face. It began on my right ear and quickly spread across the entire right side of my face from hairline to jaw, ear to nose with accompanying pain, swelling, fever, and itching. The worst of it has affected the skin surrounding my eye, which for a couple of days was swollen closed. I've been on Acyclovir, an anti-viral drug, since the second day. The infection is slowly clearing and I'm hoping my face will be acceptable for public viewing soon. I've considered covering all the mirrors in the house.

This has all occurred in spite of having had a shingles vaccination a few years ago. My doctor tells me this could happen again ... expletive deleted!

The Unfortunate Demise of Letter Writing

Email, texts, and the like have made communicating so quick and easy that the elegant art of a handwritten letter is ill, if not altogether dead. Getting a handwritten letter in the mail is still a joy for me and, although I do my share of emailing, I don't intend to stop putting my lovely vintage fountain pen to paper. I have a love of fountain pens and beautiful and whimsical stationery of all kinds. I enjoy the easy flow of ink applied to paper that only a fountain pen can provide. Yesterday I received my order of blank note cards I had designed on snapfish.com using several of my Florida photos for the fronts of the cards. I am pleased with the end result and am looking forward to sending these with a handwritten note inside to my family and friends.