Farewell Winter… Hello Spring

Ski days aren't like other holidays or sports. Once you've tried it, its hard to stop. Who would've thought that strapping planks of laminated wood, metal & fiberglass to your feet & diving downhill, could become an addiction? Ha! I love skiing. The Rocky Mountains are among the most awe-inspiring places you'll probably ever visit. When you are on the mountain skiing, you don't just stand & gawk at them, (or the amazing view), you engage with them; learning their many moods, testing your strength, & you develop a respect for the sheer power the mountains have…

A wonderful snow-filled winter has just ended. And an equally snowy spring has begun. Since January, 148" inches have fallen on Red Lodge Mountain. 38" of those inches fell since March 20th - the first day of spring. 15" of the 38" fell this past Sunday!

Bright & early, 5:58am Monday morning, my alarm started screaming at me. Most people dislike the startling "bbeeep! bbeeep!" noise the alarm clock makes. But I was glad to hear it. There was one thought on my mind: skiing! I was wide awake,  rolled out of bed, eager to start the day & excited to be skiing (& not working)! I got dressed, searched the pantry & raided fridge for food, grabbed my gear, hit the road, & got to the mountain around 8:45am… Skied all day long.

15" inches fresh pow followed by a bluebirdish day & 19 degrees is perfect.  

First tracks. 

Above the Palisades & clouds. 

Good 'ole E-4, back in Headwaters. 

This is me, from a different ski day. Photo taken by my friend Hannah. Thanks girl!

Dropping down into some pow.

By the end of the day, half my face & neck was sunburnt, my lips were chapped, my legs were generally tired, my bad knee was a little sore. Ha! 15" of powder is hard on the knees. I had skied hard all day Friday & Saturday. By Monday I was worn out. But it was totally worth it. ;)

All photos taken w/ 5th gen iPod. Edited on Snapseed. 

Sleepy mind. Cold feet.

Its Saturday morning. Normally I sleep in on Saturdays, (I love sleeping in, I could sleep all day. Honestly I'm not a morning person..But when I do get up early I greatly enjoy it…) I rose early today for something, but last minute literally everything fell through.… I contemplated returning to bed, but I knew that sleep would evade me if I did.

I went to bed at 2am (because I stayed up late eating brownies and playing cards with friends). I got up at 6:45 this morning, and woke up before the alarm starting screaming at me…  I should've been tired, but I wasn't. I was beyond tired, and when you feel like a sleep-deprived-running-on-sugar-wide-eyed insomniac, a 2nd wind kicks in and you feel like you are running on cruise control. But when late nights and early mornings are normal, the feeling is normal. heh…

As the realization of everything was sinking in, I methodically grabbed my camera, put on my favorite oversized hoodie, mounded my messy hair on top of my head and put the hood up. In doing so it created a pointy-headed-gnome look - I went out wearing my pajamas, un-matching colored socks and crocks. Yes, those brightly colored ugly rubber shoes with holes…Don't ask.  Wonder who invented them, anyways?

As I was taking pictures, squatting in the yard, scurrying around the bushes and dead flowers,  leaving a trail of melted frost footprints - standing with my camera and looking ridiculous - I thought to myself "wonder if the neighbors are looking"… hopefully they weren't. Have you ever watched your neighbors do strange things? I have. haha

But with all the above said, in the paragraph directly below is what I really want to say. If you read through my discombobulated ramblings, I applaud you!

It was about 28 degrees; the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. There was a sparkling white layer of frost on everything… So cold and pristine! I love early mornings when it feels like the rest of the world is still asleep… It's just me and the sunrise.  There's no sound. No wind. Everything seems clear. All my problems seem distant. There's that beautiful feeling of life starting over again in the crispness of the fall… When everything is cold, bright and beautiful. I love this season. The smell of dead leaves, the beautiful "wintery" skies, the golds, grays, yellows & browns in the landscape… the heavy morning frosts that rest on the earth's floor in glittering perfection.

Here's a couple pics I snapped- my favorites from the morning excursion.

Paper Christmas Ornaments

What you need:  

1. With the paper of your choice, cut out 12 circles, using something round to trace. 

Here are some tips for getting a symmetric-looking color distribution on the final tchotchke: If using 3 colors A B C, stack them in the order: ABBCCAABBCCA. If using 2 colors A B, then stack them in the order: ABBAABBAABBA. If using a single type of card, but double sided, then alternate "heads up" & "tails up".

2. Fold all paper circles in half, stack them inside each other. 

3. Wrap a lenth of thin wire all the way around the stack, so that it runs along the fold. Twist the ends together to secure. If you want to add a jingle bell, add it on the wire at the bottom. You can just see the wire - it's the thin line down the middle.

4. Stick a glue dot onto a circle, about 1/4 of the way from the bottom.  Fold the facing flaps together and press to secure the bond. My glue wouldn't hold, the card-stock was too strong. So I whipped out the ole' hot glue gun. It worked great! 

 

5. On the next circle, stick a glue dot about 1/4 of the way from the top. Continue like this all the way around, alternating high & low glue dots. (In one of the photos, you can see that I didn't use glue. I actually sewed the paper together. The paper was heavy duty card-stock, so it held together nicely, & gave it even more of a 'handmade' feel.)

6. Almost finished! Just attach a ribbon, & hang on your tree, or these make great gifts. I used silk floss/hemp string with a needle to feed it under the wire that holds everything together. 

 

Finished! (forgot to remove the little 'cobwebs' from the hot glue!) 

Hiking in the Mountains

  Line Lake is on top of the Beartooth Rocky Mountain range,
perched on the edge of a big precipice. (elevation 10,000 ft.)

Brightening up the earth's carpet— 
Were small & hardy flowers blooming on the spongy tundra.  

  The air was cool, views were breathtaking.

The guys built a fire. It felt wonderful. All 10 of us ended up
huddling around it. We ate lunch & fellowshipped.

It snowed & rained on us for the entire hike out. Very cold.  

*To compare size, that's a fishing rod & reel.

It was a fun memorable adventure. Even if the weather was crummy for part of the trip, I greatly enjoyed it. It's all about the people you are with anyways. There was still a good bit of snow up there. While hiking, we had to cross over a couple snowmelt creeks & trek across a huge snow-packed bank on the side of a very steep hill. I'm so thankful that the Lord kept us safe while we were out there. On the hike out, a few of us got ahead of the main group. Through the wind & sleet, I saw two grey wolves! One slipped over the hilltop quickly, & the other lingered a moment, watching us. The wolf was really big, & about 200 yards away.  

But unfortunately, my hands were so cold & numb, that I couldn't get to my camera in time. (It was actually quite alarming, by the time we reached the vehicles, I couldn't even open the car door with the key, my hands were so unresponsive. If you ever go out hiking, even in the middle of June, dress for {completely unpredictable} weather!!) We found lots of large wolf paw prints following our trail, in the snow. (That was kinda eerie, thinking the wolves had just been where we were.) *My cousin took the pic above with his phone—

-GB

Busy Bees

What 
wondrous 

miracles 

abound 

in ordinary 

things! 

Go outside, 
& look around—
What do you see? The order & wonder of it all. A universe so great, a world so small! 

Reflections

I took this colorful pic down in Oklahoma last fall…..