Happy Birthday, Janis

The Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go

-Supposedly said by John Muir, American Naturalist(1838-1914)

Me at Chasm Lake on Longs Peak in 1989. I like this photo of myself even though I was suffering from a killer headache at the time. I always have problems with altitude sickness when I go above 10,000 feet.

Fool Me Once Shame On You....

Written on the back of a bottle of wine I bought the other day:

"Our winemaking tradition dates back to 1847 when Johann Gramp planted his first vineyard on the banks of Jacob's Creek.

A full bodied wine, rich in blackcurrant and plum fruit flavors with smooth tannins. Enjoy with beef fillet or roast leg of lamb."

Sounds tasty, doesn't it? The lesson I learned here is to never, never believe what is written on the back of a six dollar bottle of wine.

Computers, Cell Phones And Books

Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology.
-Unknown

Monday my computer was not connecting to the Internet so my husband, who is my tech support, set about fixing it. It should have gone quickly but instead it took most of the day. In the end everything worked more than noticeably faster but the cost was the loss of some photo files. That was really my fault as I have not backed up any photos since, well, almost never. This morning I called my sister and we could not maintain a solid connection and ended up recalling each other several times before giving up and switching to text. Since I am new to the cell phone game, she texted me these two questions: (1) How many bars did I have? Three. (2)Out of how many? No clue but as I stood there staring at the strength of the signal bars on my phone they bounced from two, to four, to two, to three, and back. I'm still not sure what the maximum number of bars are but whatever it is there is nothing I can do about it here at my house as three is about as good as it gets.

I had better luck with a less aether product this week, books. Yesterday the bookcases we ordered arrived and my husband spent an hour putting them together and I spent most of the afternoon unpacking and shelving books. I never realized how solid a wall of books can be; it gives the family room a nice comfy feeling.

What I Am Reading

I cannot put down The Warmth of Other Suns:The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. It is about the black exodus from the South to the North between 1915 and 1975 told mainly thorough the stories of three people. The fact that these stories are true makes them even more painful, compelling and remarkable.

A View Of Other Mountains

The Never Summer Mountains at eight-forty in the morning.
Over on the other side of that range is North Park, the town of Walden, Colorado and my friends ex-cabin. It passed on to new people so we are never going back there. Looking at those mountains bring back memories of great times up there at the cabin in both summer and winter. Life goes on.

View From The Road 4

Longs Peak at eight-fifteen in the morning. Looks like the storm left a little snow.

The View From The Road 3

Longs Peak eleven-fifteen in the morning. Storm brewing.

The View From The Road 2

Longs Peak at three o'clock in the afternoon.

View From The Main Road Near My House

Longs Peak on a cloudy day.