It's alive!

I do apologize for the lack of posts of late. Simply put, there has not been that much going on up here in Estes to work up a post. I've also been dealing with some personal struggling in terms of how bleak this winter has been, which only added to the non-postage. Happily, things are now on the upswing. Spring is on its way--we're supposed to reach the high 50s today--and Daylight Savings, which is my favorite day of the year, is next Sunday. Won't be long after that until we really start reaping the benefits of this paradise we live in.

With any luck, soon we will also be rid of the wind that has been plaguing us for a while now. Since Christmas we've had some terrible winds which the locals all say is worse than the norm. There have been several nights when we've had winds up to 80mph sustained, not gusting, all night long. While Cameron loves the "white noise", it makes it impossible for me to sleep and I've had to start sleeping with my iPod headphones stuffed in my ears to try and drown it out. It would be an understatement to say that I am very excited for that weather pattern to go away for good.

Another reason for the upswing, I've found gainful employment. Hooray! Starting today, I'll be waiting tables at Mama Rose's, an Italian restaurant downtown. I'm excited, if not terribly nervous, for the adventure. I'm hoping that it will be a challenge to keep me going.

We've had an influx of wildlife around the house of late! The elk have been coming to the field next to our house quite often. We've also heard a couple of coyotes around the house at night, and a few weeks ago we spotted a bobcat in the back yard about 50 yards from the door. Recently we've also heard a pair of Great Horned Owls in one of the trees around the back. Looks like a lot of the wildlife is coming back out from their winter slumbers.

In the meantime, here's a few goings-on that we've had in the last couple of months.

Snowshoeing in RMNP

Elk hanging around town

Elk hanging around our house!

Our new cat, Sherlock

I'm also rehearsing with the Oratorio Society of Estes Park, which will have performances in the end of April. We are performing Beethoven's Mass in C Minor. Very exciting! It's a new challenge for me that I have never done before and I decided on a whim to join back in January. 

Hopefully, I will be more regular with posts as spring comes on.

WinterFest in Estes Park

Today we went to the Stanley Park Fairgrounds to check out the 3rd annual WinterFest. It was fun! There was live music, vendors, beer and wine, and chili. Lots and lots of chili. The biggest part of the fest seems to be the chili cookoff, but since we arrived relatively late in the afternoon and didn't want to spoil our dinner, we didn't partake in the voting process. We did try a couple of samples, most of which were really yummy. The place was packed! I am sure it's been really great for Estes Park.

Outside the main stage there was a Candy Land ice castle, ice bowling, and a snow cone ice luge! There was also a petting zoo with one of the most adorable--if not completely aderpable--llamas I've ever seen in my life.

We didn't stick around for things like the jalapeno eating contest or the bonfire, and we missed the Ceilidh Irish Barn Dance that they put on last night to kick it off, but it was still a cool little event. It's expanded a lot, apparently, and now takes place at the fairgrounds instead of at Bond Park. So yay for Estes! I actually also ran into a vendor I once sat next to at a craft fair in Louisville where I was selling my wreaths, so it was neat to catch up with her.

Nature's Beauty

The sunsets lately have been absolutely stunning. These pictures don't do any justice at all, but hopefully you get the idea.

The weather has also been unseasonably warm. With the exception of a little snow on Saturday night, we've been dry and fairly warm, if not a little breezy. Last week Cameron and I took advantage of the nice weather to go and take a hike in RMNP. We started at the Cub Lake trailhead and wandered a little bit. We didn't really have the time for a full out-and-back hike, but we wanted to go out, so we deviated from the trail a bit and walked along (and on) the river, which was frozen solid in most places. When we got back on the trail we found that most of it was very icy and we had not brought our snowshoes or crampons, so the going was a little treacherous and we turned back after a while.

Admittedly, I've stolen several photos from Cameron because as it turns out, his new iPhone takes way better pictures than my actual camera.

Please note that I do not ever suggest deviating from any marked trail or walking on ice unless you are completely comfortable and sure that you know how to get back from where you are going. I should note that where these pictures were taken, the ice was not only a foot or two thick, but we were within sight of the highway. Please be safe if you want to go hiking in RMNP and use your best judgment. Getting off the "beaten path" can sometimes bring you to some really exciting places, but it can also be dangerous if it's not in the right conditions.

All right, PSA over.

On the home front, I'm occupying myself with wedding preparations. Right now that includes making the invitations. I decided to "DIY" most of the wedding for the sake of saving as much money as possible, so I'm typing the invites on my typewriter. It's still a bit early to be sending things out (save-the-dates will go out next month) but I figure since there's a lot of time involved, I might as well get them done now so that I am not having to rush in the summer when I am working full time. And in the end it wasn't actually as tedious as I thought it would be; I typed all of the save-the-dates yesterday while I was watching football. (Go Broncos!)

I am still waiting for a rubber stamp to arrive in the mail to put the final touches on them. Mostly it gives me something to do in this period of time when there is not much going on and I am only working one day a week. I'm enjoying it.

Here Comes Santa Claus....hope he packed his long underwear....

Because it's bloody cold up here!

This is after we received just about a foot of snow yesterday. My car is stuck at the bottom of the hill below our house because neither Cameron nor I could get our vehicles up the incline that is our driveway. This is what my car looked like yesterday...before I had to leave the driveway.

I happen to love the snow and I'm glad we're in for a White Christmas, but I'm not thrilled about the prospect of being unable to get up the driveway--especially since I haven't yet done my grocery shopping and the notion of lugging a turkey and other Christmas dinner trimmings (plus food for us and the in-laws for the next few days) up my drive is a bit daunting. I guess I could leave them in the car for a while, not like anything's going to thaw out there anyway...

As chilly as those pictures look, we are actually pleasantly warm in here. That picture of the temperature read says that it's about 62 in here which might seem chilly to some, but it's not terrible. (Could be worse.) Although we only have one large Coleman heater (from probably the 60s) that does not blow air, we stay fairly cozy. My parents bought us a very handy space heater that warms up a room almost to the point of being too warm. I just hope that our visitors staying with us over the next few days will be sufficiently warm. (Although to be fair, 3/4 of them are from Kansas and Chicago, so I have no doubt they'll do fine.) It's all about the long underwear!

And when in doubt....there's always Longs Peak.

"Business? Mankind was my business!"

Well, we are within spitting distance of Christmas now. Conveniently, I've come down with something. Cameron came home last week from a trip to Chicago with a sinus infection, so I'm really hoping that it's not that and I can just knock it out with Vitamin C and rest and not have to make a trip to the doctor. Too much to do! Cameron's family arrives on Friday to stay for the holiday, which means I have to spend some time deep-cleaning this little house. (I am still perpetually amazed at how messy it gets with only the 2 of us.) I also have to shop for food and get everything prepared for the cooking of my very first turkey for Christmas dinner!

In the meantime, though, I'll share with you my wonderful experience acting in a recent production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It was produced by the Estes Park Repertoire Theater Company, a little community theater here in Estes that has done 14 productions in the last 3 years. I spotted their casting call ad in the paper before we had even moved to Estes and I came up to audition. I did a lot of theatre in high school and in college (I have a minor in Theatre Arts) and I really enjoy it, so I was eager to have some opportunities in Estes and to meet some people. In addition, A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Christmas stories and is very close to my heart both from a literature standpoint and from my own personal memories. Every Christmas Eve, my family and I sit down to watch the George C. Scott version of the story, so the story is very close to me and I was very excited to get to be a part of a staged version.

The version we performed was a much abridged version from the normal story. It only ran about an hour long and was narrated, and as a result much of the excellent points the story makes were "lost in translation" as it were, but I still think it was a good version that covered most of the best points. I was originally cast as Mrs. Cratchit--with a whole two lines!--and so I also invested serious time in the tech aspect, which is something else I also enjoy. I helped built the set and designed several of the set and prop pieces, including Scrooge's grave and the Cratchit's Christmas turkey. About two weeks out from the production's opening, one of the young ladies had to drop out of the play and I assumed the role of Belle, Scrooge's past flame, in one of the flashback scenes he witnesses with the Ghost of Christmas Past.

That's me in the middle there as Mrs. Cratchit--and actually I'm here half in and half out of both of my costumes; the photographers for the newspaper didn't have enough time to allow us to fully change in and out of our costumes, for those of us who had more than one role, so I really just had to throw some extras on top of my Belle costume.

We played the last 2 weekends to very receptive crowds. It was a wonderful experience and I'm very glad that I was able to participate; and even more, I'm very glad to have been so accepted by the theater company. I've never felt so welcomed by a group of people, and I think that speaks largely of the kind of community that we have up here in Estes. (If you know theatre people at all, you know that sometimes they can be somewhat standoffish, from a competitive standpoint, until you're allowed in the club, but I felt like a member of the family right away.) They've already asked me to join the board of directors as the Assistant Director of Productions. Next year we have on tap a production of the musical Nunsense II in the spring and in the fall, Ira Levin's Deathtrap, and any other productions have yet to be decided on. I would love to be involved and potentially direct Deathtrap, but depending on the timing I might not be able to because of the wedding.

Here are some photos to share with you from the production. All photos are courtesy of the Estes Park Trail Gazette and the Estes Park News.

Backstage with Scrooge, Michael Dzik, with his tombstone, designed by yours truly.

Little Tiny Tim, 8-year-old Woody Moreau.

Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come--the latter was played by 82-year-old Margie Corcoran, a former restaurant owner here in Estes. We had a very wide range of actors and experiences in this production.

Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Mark Edwards. He is also new to town and the only other "newcomer" to the company.

The cast at large. Some of the roles had to be changed to fit the actors we had available--so for example, Scrooge's nephew, Fred, was changed to his niece, Elizabeth (Gracie Moreau, seated at left) and the Collector and the Ghost of Christmas Present was also changed from a male to a female part (Christann Higley, seated at right). That's me again in the back with the red and blue cape, to the left of Scrooge.

So, at this time of the Christmas season, whatever you may believe, I'll leave you with the words of Tiny Tim:
"A Merry Christmas to all, and God bless us, everyone!"

Preparing for Christmas

The last few days have been quite pleasant up here in Estes. Daily temperatures have been in the mid-high 30s and with the exception of today there's been nearly no wind. Delightful! Most of the snow from the last fall has melted, except on the north-facing areas of town where the sun doesn't hit.

On Saturday, we experienced a full lunar eclipse. We are lucky to have seen the majority of it, as it appears that most of the other residents of town were too low in the valley to see much of it. We weren't able to see totality before it slipped behind the mountains, but we saw almost all of the first phase. It started at roughly 6:05 in the morning, and by the time it disappeared it was just before 7. I am lucky that my parents happened to be visiting for the weekend and it helped get me out of bed in time to see it!

Although the weather here has been peaceful lately, it's been a little tumultuous over the edge of Long's Peak. If I could figure out how to do a time-lapse video of it, I would. The changes in atmosphere around it at any given time are stunning. Here's two photos taken just about 15 hours apart of the old boy:

On the wildlife front, we have deer and elk prints literally beneath our bedroom window. Perhaps I need to set up a security camera of some sort, if only to see what time of day they are coming by, because we have yet to see any of them. Although to be honest, I think the idea of waking in the early hours of the morning to an elk outside the window might be a bit frightening. Just about an hour ago, I was sitting in my office on the computer and something dog-sized and white ran right by the window. I have a feeling it was the neighborhood coyote, but it could have been a bobcat. On a not-so-nice point, I found what I believe was a Black Widow spider in a pile of boxes I had set aside for recycling this morning. This was not so exciting for me, because I am terrified of spiders. I dumped the lethargic bugger out onto the snow and promptly squished it. I had assumed that because of the cold, the spiders had gone dormant for the season, but I guess not. Yuck!

Tomorrow is my Christmas cookie-making day. One of our neighbors recently brought us a hefty stockpile of elk meat (shot in our yard, coincidentally) so I have a pile of cookies planned to thank him for the gift. Christmas is quickly on its way and Estes looks lovely with all its Christmas livery on. With any luck, I'll be able to get some photos of the downtown area with its nighttime lights on. In the meantime, here's a photo of Conklin House all ready for Christmas...well, not including my exterior Christmas tree, which is currently making its stage debut in my production of A Christmas Carol with the Estes Park Repertoire Theatre Company...which I'll update about this weekend before we close.

December sure came in with a bang

And a severe fall of the temperature!

Since the first of the month we've had 3 major snow events, each bringing about 3 inches or more. Nothing too serious; in fact, most of the Denver metro area got significantly more snow than we did. It's typical Colorado snow, though, which means that it'll snow overnight and we'll wake up to a crystalline snowfield, but the sun comes out immediately and will shine all day even if it remains cold. It's one of the reasons I can handle Colorado winters.

Still, that being said....it's about 9 in the morning now, bright blue skies and full sunshine and not a cloud in the sky...and it's still ten below zero. Yeesh! When I took the dog out for his morning business I was afraid he would freeze and get stuck....

This is what I found this morning when I woke up. Our front windows are great, but unfortunately they're only single pane, a design flaw if ever there was one. I know this house was built a long time ago, but surely someone must have realized recently that single pane windows are not feasible in Estes Park in the winter. (Our landlord said he would have a second pane put on when we signed the lease, but he hasn't come through yet. Hm.)

The good thing is that when the sun comes around the front of the house, it melts right off. It's just a little disconcerting the first time you see ice on the inside of your house.

In any event, we are staying warm and enjoying it all the same. The dog loves the snow.

Now, with any luck, I'll be able to get my car to start so I can make it to rehearsal tonight!