With Love, From A Storm Drain: A Story of Gratitude

Mr. Two and I drove about 7 hours from Cleveland to DC tonight.  We got home about an hour and a half ago.  It was rainy and cold the whole way, but we made it.  When we did, the parking spaces were full, so we pulled up at the end of the block.  As Mr. Two remembers it, he was about to open the door of the car and noticed the sewage drain was right behind him.

"Hmmm..." he thought to himself, "I hope nothing falls out of the car door."  With that, he opened the door.  Why, I still don't know.

Sure enough, a $500 piece of medical equipment tumbled out of the car and down the sewage drain.  No joke.  I had no idea what happened, but when he gave me an extremely cute and sheepish look, I knew it couldn't be good.

But Mr. Two was undeterred.  He stuck his two fingers inside of the very heavy covering to the the man hole, opened it up, found a pole, attached a hanger to it and though it took close to an hour, fished the little suitcase filled with my medical machine out.  With some bleach, it should be good as new.

  

A Not-at-all Exhaustive Catalogue of Things for Which I Am Deeply, Wildly, Profoundly Grateful*

*This week

Friends with whom I can be myself without editing or apology

Glorious afternoon walks

Brothers, in general

Z, in particular 

Inspirational strangers

Perspective

Sisters
(but that goes without saying...)

A good vet

That extra seat on the plane from Philly to Denver

Jet lag that makes me feel like a morning person

Every awesome bit of my children 

Colorado tap water (oh, delicious bliss!)

24-hour Christmas music playing inappropriately early, coinciding with and dramatically mitigating a Bad Mood Day

My handsome, hardworking, hilarious husband

The Denver Children's Museum

Neglected loved ones who love me anyway

Seeing Princess H sing (sort of) in church two consecutive Sundays with kids of dear friends from three decades

Happy memories in my parents' big white house

Momo

Good advice

Unimaginable abundance

Speaking of abundance -- check out this edible art created by one of my favorite people. It's seriously as big as Tiny... and nearly as delicious!

A Colorado Adventure, Part II

By popular demand...

I LOVE my home state, and there are so many things people don't know about. If I wanted to cram as many of them into a week-long stay as I could, here's how I'd do it:

Spend a day or two eating and looking around Denver-- visit the Denver Art Museum, catch a show at DPAC, get dinner in Larimer Square, visit the 16th Street Mall, the Highlands, and some of the eateries from my earlier post.

By Randy Jessen

Next, drive down to Colorado Springs through the Garden of the Gods and visit our boys in blue at the US Air Force Academy. For a grande finale to your day, treat yourself to a night at the Flying W Ranch-- with singing cowboys, dirt roads, spurs and horses, the West doesn't get much more Western than this; the show is funny, the food is good, and the place -- well -- it's just a bit of magic.  It doesn't have the best vegetarian options, but it never disappoints.

Stay at the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort (not to be confused with infamous the mental institute). Circa 1891, it was built by the extremely wealthy brother of Senator Penrose after he amassed a mining fortune in Cripple Creek Colorado. With skiing, skating, (it's where the U.S. Hockey team and figure skating teams train), Olympic sized pools, a spa, golf, shows, etc., you're sure to be entertained. When we were kids, they had a family deal around the holidays and all of us would cram into one or two rooms. We got high tea every day and a visit with Santa Clause. Considering there were 11 kids, it was an extraordinarily reasonable though squished mini vacation. Try to sucker them into letting you stay in the old hotel. But where ever you stay, it is a wonderful treat.

Within Colorado's Rocky Mountains are over a dozen different mountain ranges.  Situated in the Wet Mountain Range is Bishop's Castle, monumental deathtrap if one ever existed but one worth seeing. Next to Crazy Horse in South Dakota, it is the largest monument or structure made by a single man in the United States.  Jim Bishop is known to be quite the character, so be forewarned

For lunch, take a picnic with you to Le Veta Pass. You can pack one before or pick up fixings at the market on main street in down town Le Veta. A few days a week, there is a fantastic bakery open too, but the days change, so ask around. While you're in town, check out some of the galleries. The art is beautiful. The people are friendly. It's like Aspen, 50 years ago.

I would continue down Highway 160. It is a little treacherous, but one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Stay in Pagosa Springs that night. Oprah loves it and you will too.  They have everything from super decked out spas to low end hotels, all with access to their hot springs.  The next morning, continue to Mesa Verde State Park. You will find elaborate cliff dwellings. Very rightfully a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most amazing things you will ever see.

From http://www.wayfaring.info

Next, go skiing! Telluride, Silverton and Durango Mountain will be some of your closer options. It will take a whole day to drive to Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte, Winter Park/Mary Jane, Steamboat (the BEST snow), Arapaho Basin, Copper Mountain (one of my family's go-to spots) or some of the hills further North. But we will save skiing and other mountain adventures for Part III. For now, you have something to chew on. 

The Art of Subtle Communication

Full tutorial here.

Murmuration

Wait for it.

Murmuration

from

Sophie Windsor Clive

on

Vimeo

.

Murmuration is a rare event that takes place when certain kinds of starlings nest.  Hundreds and thousands of birds descend on the same place and put on a show that looks like something straight out of Harry Potter. My grandmother sent this along for Z's birthday and I thought you might enjoy it.  

Five of my favorite things.

Autumn. Little brothers. Nieces. Nephews. Barracks Row.

How to host a totally stress-free birthday party!

Seriously! It was amazing!

My number one tip is this: decide you're throwing the thing less than 24 hours in advance. If you don't plan anything, there's no pressure! Whatever works out is great! I seriously checked the weather report and dashed off a note to friends while the kids played at the park, inviting folks to meet us there the following afternoon. Doing it at the park means there is no preparation for the venue beforehand, and only very minimal clean-up afterwards. Plus the kids are totally entertained with virtually no effort on your part. On party day, all I did was pull together some snacks from the pantry and grab the quilt we keep in the back of the car for impromptu picnics. Basically a playdate with benefit :-)

Here are a few tips for packing a party:

-There are so many amazing places to buy cupcakes, you really don't need to bake or prepare anything!

-That said, on this occasion, Princess H was keen to spend a morning baking, so bake we did. (Sort of -- I know some of my sisters would call what we did blasphemy: mix 1 box cake mix according to package directions, subbing a can of pumpkin for the water, and Greek yogurt for the oil. The work/festive-yumminess ratio is amazing! AND we made awesome cinnamon cream cheese frosting from scratch, so that counts for something, right? Right...?) Anyway, if you DO bake your own treats, toss the naked little buggers in a Tupperware and put your frosting in a Ziploc bag. Snip a little corner off the bag, and then put that entire thing inside another baggie. When you get to the park or wherever, pull out your custom pastry bag and frost in situ. So much easier than transporting already-assembled cakelets!

-For years I've kept a "party box" full of fun paper products, decorations, hats, etc. Most of that stuff is in storage, but my mini version had an ample supply of cute little plates and napkins, cupcake toppers and a package of party poppers which I brought and forgot to pull out -- apparently it doesn't take much more than good company and a few snacks to make things feel festive!

-We brought a big cooler full of cold juice boxes, still and sparkling waters and soda. I might not have done quite as robust a collection if Z hadn't been around to lug the thing, but I'm glad I did.

-We grabbed a basket of apples and pears from the kitchen, and snipped up lots of little bunches of grapes. A small knife and cutting board made it really easy to slice fruit for little people who didn't want an entire pear.

-Other snacks included a big bowl of popcorn, some mixed nuts, and cookies Princess H picked out at the store and bought with $5 a cute little granny gave her completely out of the blue (How sweet is that? I love our neighborhood...).

That's it! Our impromptu gathering couldn't have been simpler or more fun. The weather was so glorious and the company so grand that we stayed at the park for nearly three hours! The real reason I loved this little party is that lots of dear friends indulged us and stopped by. The kids ran wild, and the moms sat around the picnic table munching and catching up. I had such a lovely time, and I honestly don't think Princess H could have been happier if I'd stressed for weeks, planned meticulously and spent a fortune on a petting zoo and moonbounce.

But I might try that next year, so I'll let you know....