Winter Days

This is life around here these days...slushy and icy roads, tree branches white with snow, and my husband and I working hard to clear our driveway. Nonetheless, I love winter! To me, this is the cozy season where life slows down a bit.

When I open my window shades in the morning I often see a herd of deer passing through my backyard, foraging for food.

On some days the deer fill my window views all day long! 

They are inquisitive and have excellent hearing, so they look up at me when I take their photos.

They are such beautiful and graceful creatures.

For the most part, my husband and I have been hibernating at home this month as Omicron coronavirus numbers were high in our area. We had an errand to run in Boulder last week and we drove there by US Highway 36, which we have not driven on in a long time.  We stopped at the "Scenic Overlook" or Davidson Mesa Overlook. It was nostalgic for us because the first time we visited Colorado nineteen years ago we stopped there to take photos. Our son was attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for his Master's Degree and we drove cross country to give him our car, as we had purchased a new one. Back then US 36 was a two-lane highway, and now with population growth in the area, it is a six-lane highway in some sections!

Double-click on the photo to enlarge it to its largest viewing size

The overlook has also been modernized as it has benches, an information placard, and a small booth with tourist information brochures.

The views from the overlook of the Boulder area foothills and Rockies are beautiful!

More views.

The Flatirons--the iconic mountains of Boulder, Colorado.

Sadly, although we were not close to the epicenter of the Boulder County Marshall Fire, a wildfire that burned 6,000 acres, destroyed over 1,000 homes and businesses, and killed two people, we still could see burned-out grass, trees, structures, and smell the horrible smell of burned debris.  It was unbelievable how hurricane-force winds the day of the fire made the fire pass right over a six-lane highway made of concrete and asphalt!  Flying embers in the wind carried it far and lighted objects arbitrarily.  There is an investigation going on now that a burning underground abandoned coal mine that dates back to 1863 may have possibly caused the fire--click here-- to read that story. 

One thing we have been doing is preparing ourselves for the possibility of a wildfire in our area, as the weather seems to be getting hotter and dryer every summer.  Following up on the blog post I wrote about the lessons learned, we have made videos of our house and possessions and uploaded them to the cloud, and we are in the process of scanning all our older family photos and uploading them to the cloud. We practiced opening our electric garage door with the stand-by pully system it has as a backup in case we lose power and we have localized all that we would want to evacuate with us to make it easier to pack.  Once before, years ago,  our community had a practice evacuation drill and, hopefully, they will do another one soon, as I'm sure this time more residents will take it seriously.  It is good to know all the routes of evacuation and how long it takes one to get ready, no matter where you live.

On a happier note, I won this wonderful cookbook Treasures of the Mexican Table, full of classic recipes and local secrets from all the states of Mexico, in a giveaway sponsored by The Book Club Cookbook.  The Author, Pati Jinich, is on the PBS three-time James Beard Award and Emmy-nominated cooking show called Pati's Mexican Table. Her cookbook is full of delicious recipes from soup to desserts that I can't wait to try. Expect to see some in upcoming blog posts!

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