If You Don't Like the Weather...

There is a popular saying in Colorado: "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes, it will change." In this case, it waited one day. We had around five inches of snow last Tuesday, with temperatures in the high twenties, and by Wednesday it had almost all melted and temperatures were in the sixties. Before and after photos are above

More before and after views. The snowfall we had this month almost broke an all-time record for snow during April in Colorado! This enables me to take unusual springtime photos......

....... instead of pink blossoming trees, I can show icicles in April!

Or grass and snow at the same time!

Also, people wearing shorts while they jog in the snow!

The late snow also made for some fascinating critter sightings, as I spotted a red fox hunting for rabbits in my yard and a hungry squirrel that was dining on a chunk of ice.

The weather has been beautiful this weekend -- we hit the high seventies--but who knows what next week will bring? It certainly makes life interesting! 

The robins have returned, so perhaps Spring may finally be here to stay! Thankfully, all this moisture has returned the Colorado reservoir levels to a more normal level and reduced the fire danger in this region, so, all in all, it's been a very good thing!

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Why I Should Wear A Sexy, Loose Bun On Bad Hair Days

Oh yes, as you can see in this photo, it was a bad hair day! 

My husband and I were on vacation in Ireland when this photo was taken. We were on a tour of the beautiful Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland. It was a beautiful day, but windy. and we were about to walk over the very scenic Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. You can read more about this bridge on this post, and also on a second trip to the same area, with a video, on this post.

This is a distant photo of the famous bridge..

 ...and a close-up. It is a thrill to cross it.

Here I am crossing the bridge,  hanging on for dear life.

Enjoying the sights on the island as I sat recovering my nerves for the walk back over the bridge.

It was extremely windy on the journey back, and my hair was blowing in my face and eyes. It was not a good situation when you only have a narrow couple of boards to walk on and the bridge is swaying!!

We traveled on to the mystical Giant's Causeway -- you can read more about that on this post, and again three years later, with video, on this post.  As you can see, it was another windy place!

The Giant's Causeway rock formations are very rare and unusual. It is a fascinating place to visit.

After this day of touring, this is how my hair appeared--a windblown, shaggy mess!  Yes, I really should have worn a pretty bun that day. If you watch the video at the top of my post you will learn an easy way to make a stylish and sexy loose bun.  I have to purchase the product the stylist in the video uses to control what she calls "the baby hairs," though in my case it would be called frizz! Do you think it would help?


  

Denver's Largest Consignment Sale

My daughter and I attended the "Just Between Friends" consignment sale held in Denver, Colorado, this past weekend. They are part of one of the Just Between Friends franchises that was started by two Mothers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has grown to be one of the nation's largest maternity and children's consignment sale events that are held in many states all over the country. With over 90,000 gently used children's items at 50-90% below retail, the Denver event has become a twice a year shoppers dream!

Held at the large National Western Complex, located at I-70 and Brighton Boulevard in Denver, consignors bring their new and gently-used children's and maternity merchandise to sell. Shoppers can then browse and purchase these items at great savings. Anything not sold by the end of the sale is returned to the consignors or they have the option to allow Just Between Friends to donate the items to charity.  It is a win-win situation for all!

We attended the sale on the third day of its opening, yet there was still a wonderful selection of goods to be found! Shelves and racks of good quality baby and children's clothes, children's toys, furniture and equipment, tables full of children and parenting books, DVDs, toys galore and maternity clothes were available in neatly organized and clearly labeled sections.

These are just a few of the purchases we made, both at this sale and a previous one we attended earlier in the year.  As a grandparent, the sale enabled me to stock up on toys, books, and movies for my grandchildren to use when they visit as well as baby equipment I need when I babysit at a fraction of the cost I'd pay at retail. It's really a wonderful way for Mothers to sell what their children have outgrown and bought items to supplement what they presently need.  I wish Just Between Friends sales were available when I was a young mother!

Do you buy and sell at consignment sales? It's a wonderful way to save money!

A Gentle Word....

A gentle word, like summer rain,

May soothe some heart and banish pain,

What joy or sadness often springs

From just the simple little things!

~ Willa Hoey

Pleasant words are as a honeycomb,

sweet to the mind and healing to the body

~ Proverbs 16:24

Be like the flower,

turn your face to the sun

~ Kahlil Gibran

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,

or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

~ Abraham Lincoln

I'm praying for Boston and those killed and wounded in the horrific act of terrorism at the marathon. May those responsible be caught and brought to justice. May we all strive to make this world a better place.

 "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Talking to the animals....

I took a walk over to our community's equestrian center this weekend to say hello to the horses. As soon as they see someone come by the corral they trot over to the fence hoping you will have a carrot or other treat for them.  The management asks that we not feed them, so I only give them a little pat on the head. Most of the horses are privately owned by neighborhood residents, but there are some that are available if one wants to take horseback riding lessons, and both English and Western style lessons are offered. I'm not planning on doing that but perhaps one day my granddaughter will?

Whenever I walk in my neighborhood in the late afternoon/early evening the fields are full of mule deer nibbling on the grass. I love taking photos of them. They are quite tame for wild deer and do not seem to care that cars and people pass by. The Rangers that are based in our community ask the residents not to feed the deer, as that causes them to rely upon humans, and it also introduces foods to their system that can cause more harm than good. I noticed the males have all shed their antlers and they were all also shedding their thick winter fur. I hope that means the nice weather will soon be here to stay!

I love that the trees along the trails are full of magpies ...

and that my backyard is full of wild bunnies...can you see all three?

I'm not sure how good they will be for my flowers, but how can I not love a face such as this?  It's Walt Disney's Thumper in real life! I will always ♥ New York, but Colorado is now my "home sweet home," and I ♥ it here too! Yes, it is so different from New York City, but I love it all! I feel like I'm on a permanent vacation.

I will tell you what I miss the most about NYC in a future post. Can you guess?  I'll also blog from time to time about in some places I visited in NYC before I moved, that I never had a chance to blog about. One future NYC tour will be a big surprise -- you won't believe that such a tour actually exists, but it was really quite interesting! I hope you won't miss that.  Do you need a hint? One word: Alligators!

Colorado Sky

Colorado has beautiful skies! The entire state, even the flat plains, are at a high elevation. The average elevation is 6,800 feet above sea level, so it seems the skies are bluer to me because of that fact.  Even the skies full of impending weather change seem more intense.  The photo above is the view my son and daughter-in-law see from their new home's front window. The storm clouds that brought us snow a couple days ago were beginning to accumulate that day.

This is the brilliant blue sky that Colorado usually sees over 300 days of the year!

Did you know that we get more sunny days than Miami, Florida or San Diego, California?

Even the clouds look whiter against such a deep blue sky!

I couldn't resist showing the angel-shaped cloud I saw one afternoon, one more time.

Towards dusk, the clouds begin to take on a beautiful glow from the setting sun.

They take my breath away!

Flaming clouds light up the sky at night.

Even stormy days are beautiful here when they are framed by such scenery!

The foothills seem made for snow.

The blue and white combination looks so clean and refreshing.

A snowy day here is so silent and peaceful.

One last photo I am proud of. It is a view of Denver from the highway. Look at all the puffy and swirly clouds in the sky that day! I took this photo from a moving car (no, I wasn't driving!). It may not be the familiar New York City skyline that I saw so often and loved,  but it's my new home. I love it for the love of family it holds and the future it represents for them. It's a big sky for big dreams! I'm glad to be a part of them!