Quotes for a Pandemic

"Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day."

--unknown

"The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also."   

--Harriet Ann Jacobs

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."  

-- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Going out into nature was one outlet that I had, which truly allowed me to calm down and not think or worry."

 -- Richard Louv

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God."  

--Anne Frank

"When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate.  When life is bitter, say thank you and grow."   

-- Shauna Niequist

I hope these favorite photos and the quotes will give you some hope and inspiration as we continue to stay at home during this COVID-19 pandemic. 

My state of Colorado is relaxing some restrictions tomorrow, with our governor's executive order called "Safer At Home." You can read what that entails here. However, the county I live in, as well as a few other counties in Colorado, will continue restrictions until May 8th. 

 Be safe, happy, and healthy!  

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Buena Vista, Colorado

How is everyone holding up during this COVID-19 Pandemic?  I was so worried about the spike in cases raising higher and higher across the USA and the world that I found it difficult to be online last week and took time off to do other things. I finished a few books I was reading, cooked and delivered Easter dinner to my children, watched some wonderful musicals and theater productions on TV, video conferences with family and friends on Zoom, and even ventured out to shop in Costco while staying very careful by wearing a mask and continuing social distancing. We have relatives in northern and southern Italy, and in New York City--both places severely affected by the novel coronavirus--so we were particularly stressed and worried. Thankfully, all our relatives remain well. Sadly, we did hear of many who passed away from this vicious virus--friends of friends, parents of children my children went to school with, neighbors and co-workers of other friends. Each life lost is a tragedy.  I know there are plans to begin to "reopen" and return to some areas of regular life, but my husband and I, being older, will continue to social distance, wear our makes when out, and stay home as much as possible. Most likely we will do this until a successful vaccine is developed. The hardest part of this regime is staying distanced from our children and grandchildren. I will never take hugs for granted again! 

Happily, my husband and I always loved to travel, and I have much in my files to blog about.  I've been reminiscing the past few months about a wonderful road trip we took to central Colorado last autumn, in the Sawatch Mountain Range area, where we enjoyed many locations in that locale. I realized I did not highlight the town we used as our base on all our separate drives, the charming town of Buena Vista. Buena Vista means "Good View" in Spanish, and as we approached the town from US Route 285 west, you can see how it acquired its name with its mountain vista.  We were fortunate to see an afternoon rainstorm over the mountains as we arrived--quite a sight to see!

This was in mid-September, so the trees were beginning to show their autumn color, and it was still warm enough that there wasn't any snow in the mountains as yet.

Buena Vista is located in central Colorado roughly midway between Salida and Leadville in the Upper Arkansas River Valley at an elevation of 7,965 feet.  The town's name is pronounced BYOO-nah VIS-ta by most locals. It was named by Alsina Dearheimer, a settler from Germany, who suggested the name with its unique pronunciation when it was incorporated as a town in 1879. Mining, agriculture, and ranching were the main occupations at the time.  Tourism is now a major draw of the area.

We stayed in a small local motel where this beautiful view of the mountains greeted us every morning from our window! From this location, over the next few days, we visited the artsy town of Salida, the Mount Princeton Hot Springs in nearby Northrop, the picturesque St. Elmo Ghost Town, drove over the newly paved Cottonwood Pass into Crested Butte, back to Buena Vista over Monarch Pass, up into the mountains to see the ghost towns of Vicksburg and Winfield, and then a side trip to Leadville! Click on any highlighted word to read those blog posts.

With mountains on one side and the river on the other, Buena Vista is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Numerous rafting companies are based around Buena Vista, offering guests thrilling whitewater rafting trips on the Arkansas River. Anglers also share the river, which was awarded Gold Medal Trout Water by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.

On the west side of the valley, Buena Vista offers convenient access to numerous fourteener trailheads. Here is the highest concentration of 14,000-foot peaks in the lower United States, with 15 peaks over 14,000 feet elevation in the area, including 14,433 foot Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado.

The beautiful Browns Canyon National Monument is in the area with 21,586 acres of pristine canyons, rivers and backcountry forests. One can enjoy backcountry hiking, horseback riding, and snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter.

The town of Buena Vista retains much of its Victorian-era charm. I enjoyed strolling around its downtown area one evening between our many excursions.

We dined at a local family restaurant called Quincys Tavern where the menu is simple and the quality is exceptional! We couldn't believe the price of the delicious filet mignon dinner that we enjoyed, complete with a salad and dessert. I highly recommend it if you visit Buena Vista or one of their other four locations.

"Free Bear Hugs"

Some cute carved bear statues for sale on the main street in Buena Vista.  

I think right now a bear hug sounds good--any kind of hug sounds good!  Let's hope it won't be long before hugging and traveling and life as we knew it returns in time. How are you coping in this strange new world?  Stay well!

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I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, All Seasons, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Little Cottage Link Party, 
 Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Photo Tunes, Happiness Is Homemade, Over the Moon, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday Turn About. Tuesdays With A Twist, Let's Keep In Touch, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday, Say Cheese!,  Party in Your PJ's, Wordless Wednesday, Nanahood WW, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Worldless  Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home, Full Plate Thursday, Friendship Fridays, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday,   Pink Saturday, Saturday Critters, 

 Grammys Grid-Month Long Linky Party

Baby Doe Tabor and the Matchless Mine.

When my husband and I visited Leadville, Colorado--click here to read that post--we decided to visit the legendary Matchless Mine site. In 1879, silver tycoon, Horace Tabor, had purchased the richest silver mine of the time, an investment that brought in $2 billion by today’s standards.  Prospectors had first come to the Leadville area looking for placer gold in the 1860s but it was soon depleted. Siver Carbonate was discovered in 1878 and by the 1880s Leadville was the world's premier silver producer and a thriving metropolis.

Please click on this photo to enlarge it

We were also intrigued by the true saga of Baby Doe Tabor whose rags to riches to rags story was the subject of an opera "The Ballad of Baby Doe" that we saw a few years earlier in Central City, Colorado.  Baby Doe was born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt in 1854, one of fourteen children to a family of moderate means in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  She was known for her exceptional beauty of golden locks, large striking blue eyes, and petite figure.  She was also ambitious and wanted to marry out of poverty.  Elizabeth met and married Harvey Doe in 1877.  Harvey was an heir to a mining dynasty, as his father William Harvey Doe, Sr. owned a substantial number of mining claims in Colorado.  They moved to Central City, Colorado where her husband began mining for gold. The other miners found Elizabeth so beautiful that they started calling her “Baby Doe,” and the nickname stuck. After three years, her husband fell into debt and began drinking and soon afterward Baby Doe sued him for a divorce. She moved to Leadville, where she met the "Silver King," Horace Tabor, who was twice her age. They fell in love, but Tabor was married at the time and he divorced his wife of twenty-five years, Augusta, so that he and Baby Doe could be married in 1883.  Baby Doe's extravagant silk $7,000 wedding dress is part of the History Colorado Center's collection, and you can see it and read the interesting story about it on this link.

The couple became known as “The Silver King and Queen,” for living an elaborate life together in a Capitol Hill mansion in Denver. They had two daughters, Elizabeth, known as “Lily” and Rose Mary, known as “Silver Dollar.” Many of Denver’s elite disapproved of the Tabors and they especially shunned Baby Doe. Tabor's divorce and remarriage to the young and beautiful Baby Doe was the biggest scandal of the 1880s in Colorado. 
Tabor was one of the wealthiest men in Colorado, supporting his wife in an extravagant and lavish style, showering her with jewels and expensive clothes. Unfortunately, he eventually lost his fortune when the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act caused the Panic of 1893 depression, which resulted in widespread bankruptcies in silver-producing regions such as Colorado. He was destitute when he died in 1899, and Baby Doe returned to Leadville with her two daughters, living out the rest of her life there.

Legend has it that on his deathbed, Horace told Baby Doe to "...hold on the Matchless mine … it will make millions again when silver comes back." Baby Doe, loyal to her husband and hoping to regain her wealth, moved to Leadville to oversee the mine and got permission from the eventual new owners to live in the supply cabin at the Matchless Mine. Baby Doe spent the rest of her life in the small one-room cabin as seen in the photo above.

Inside the cabin

For nearly thirty-six years following Tabor's death, Elizabeth struggled to profit from the Matchless Mine. She was able to lease the property for various iron, zinc, manganese, and silver ore mining operations, though it never produced what it had during Leadville's great silver boom days. In her later years, Elizabeth became somewhat of a recluse and was seen wandering in Leadville, wearing rags on her feet.  After a snowstorm in March 1935, she was found frozen in her cabin, aged about 81 years.

Sadly, after her death, vandals broke into Baby Doe's cabin and stole everything. Many were looking for her legendary jewels, but most likely they had all been sold long before her death.

The "Best Dressed Woman in the West" and the last known photo of Baby Doe in 1933

Please click on this photo to enlarge it

Meanwhile, as fate would have it, Tabor's first wife, Augusta, went on to become a millionaire after their divorce by investing in the Singer Manufacturing Company which made sewing machines.

It's easy to see how the story of Horace Tabor and Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor's lives of riches, scandal, great love, debauchery, poverty, devotion, and tragic endings could be made into an opera and the inspiration for a movie and many books.     

 The Matchless Mine itself is surprisingly small in size.

Please click on this photo to enlarge it

During its profitable years, it produced 1.9 million dollars worth of silver--worth billions in today's economy.

Please click on this photo to enlarge it to read the placard

In 2006 a rig drilled a new core hole to investigate deposits of the Matchless Mine and it was determined that almost all the valuable high-grade silver had been removed by Horace Tabor's miners in the 1880s, leaving the area worthless as a mine, but rich in history.

We enjoyed visiting and learning more about the tragic life of Baby Doe and learning more about the Matchless Mine. Colorado is full of history in so many unique places.

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