A Pre-Christmas Memory

I'm thinkin' it must have been about 40 Christmases ago... (Which is completely impossible, of course, because there's no way 1974 was actually 40 years ago. My math must be off somewhere.) Anyway, somewhere along in through there...

My mother, an accomplished and professional seamstress, sewed many of our Christmas gifts when we were growing up. Her project that year was to make five large rag dolls... one for each of us, boy dolls for my brothers, and girl dolls for my sisters and me. This was the pattern:

These were very large floppy dolls... about 2 feet long... so you can see it was quite an undertaking too make five of them, including the clothes. It seems Mother was sequestered in her bedroom with the door closed for days. We children had strict instructions not to go in there because she was working on "Christmas presents." Once our Christmas break from school started it was so hard to obey and not bother her.

One morning, shortly before Christmas, a friend of my mother's stopped by our house. Janie brought with her five large, flat wrapped gifts... and five much smaller ones. Even though it wasn't yet Christmas we were allowed to open them! Each of us received an over-sized Christmas coloring book and a box of crayons! We didn't even have to share our crayons with our brothers and sisters because we each had our own!

Probably a little birdy had told Janie that the preacher's kids needed something to do while their mother sewed. In any case, we happily gathered around the dining room table and spread open our new coloring books. I don't know how many days or hours that kept us occupied, but my mother still gratefully remembers the thoughtfulness of her friend that year.

I'm pretty sure I still have my doll from that Christmas packed away somewhere, along with other cherished rag dolls my mother made over the years. I would have liked to find her and take a picture to show you... but "ain't nobody got time for that" today. (I just Googled the pattern picture above.) But here's a snapshot from that era that I already had scanned. Obviously, it wasn't taken at Christmas time... but oh-so-definitely mid-1970s!

And yes, dear friends and readers, I do have good intentions of getting back to blogging! Maybe that will be a good New Year's resolution!

Merry Christmas to all!

Talkin' to the Squirrels

 All of us... especially Cookie... have enjoyed our shady backyard this summer. Cookie likes to chase rabbits and talk to squirrels, both of whom are frequent visitors.

The three snakes who have shown up at different times, however, are not welcome. I guess I ought to put up a sign:

NO SNAKES ALLOWED

They'd probably pay about as much attention to that as the door-to-door salesman pay to this one:

(Photo courtesy of Laura.)

But I digress. 

Our backyard is fenced all around and lined with trees and shrubbery, so though we have close neighbors we also enjoy a sense of privacy. It's lovely.

 As the leaves fall, it won't be quite so private, but I have to say, fall is just gorgeous in Colorado. Not just the aspens in the mountains, but also the city streets and brilliant blue skies.

The kids raked the leaves into a big pile. Doesn't it make you want to just go jump in it?

Maybe we'll build a fire in our little patio fireplace this evening and toast marshmallows.

Autumn in the Rockies

 Last Sunday afternoon was overcast and gray, but we decided to take a short drive up in the mountains to see the aspens anyway.

 The brilliant gold is a sharp contrast to the dark green of the evergreens. Just breathtaking.

 I especially enjoyed this scene with the farm pond and the barbed-wire fence... and the little bit of blue sky peeking through the clouds.

 And, of course, we had to pose in front of the leaves!

 This one is just to embarrass the kids. Because that's what we do.

 What a privilege to live so near such beauty. It's almost worth putting up with city life. Almost.

Wonder if I can talk the man into going again this Sunday. Maybe the skies will be clear? You never can tell about Colorado weather.

Rainbow Over the Mountains

Just a glimpse of the gorgeous, full-arched rainbow that spanned over the Rockies early this morning. I snapped these quick pictures on my phone on my way to work.

My co-worker, Chris, took this one from his house.

Helen Hunt Falls

We had company for the 4th of July weekend this year. Two of Lyle's brothers and their families were in the area. On Saturday we drove into the mountains outside of Colorado Springs to hike along Helen Hunt Falls.

Some of us only made it up to the bridge over the falls looking out over the parking lot.

 It was lovely shady place to sit on the rocks and enjoy the splashing stream tumbling over the rocks.

The men and kids hiked on up the mountain. I'm not sure where it took them and or what they saw, but I guess it was a pretty good hike.

They stopped at the bridge on the way back down.

No telling what the brothers were talking about... but they enjoyed being together. They don't get to see each other very often, since one lives in Kansas, one in Idaho, and one in Colorado.

We look forward to finding other pretty places to hike around here.