Category Archives: Mountains

Faith and Spirituality, Jefferson County, Mountains, Politics, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Shadow Mountain

Elevation

August 30, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Sitting up here on Shadow Mountain, as I’ve said before, the world can seem far away, down the hill: lodgepole pine, aspen, mountain streams, rocky hillsides, mountain peaks, wandering elk and mule deer, bobcats and mountain lions and moose show up on Pinecam.com postings. There’s also a lot of talk about our mountain lifestyle, though I’m not sure just what that is.

In a presidential election year the world can be too much with us. Trump seems to be gaining back some purchase in the polls, but not enough to win, not even close. His candidacy has shaken and stirred Republican politics like no other in recent memory. So much so that more than one article has wondered about the death of the GOP. The constant heavy breathing from the punditocracy can make any election year seem portentous. This one actually seems to be. I’m glad to start gaining altitude when driving out of Denver.

Gaining altitude is my new equivalent to turning north. When I traveled from Minnesota by car, whenever the return journey changed direction toward Canada, toward the north woods, I would feel a certain relief, a sense of imminent homecoming. When we cross into the foothills from the end of the great plains, our Rav4’s four cylinder engine begins to work harder, as if it too is eager to get back, clawing its slightly underpowered way back to its stall.

Wordsworth and the poem above, especially these lines: “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away…” convinced me long ago that I’m a latter day Romantic, one inclined to shrug off getting and spending for finding in nature what is ours. That’s the point of reimagining faith and I suppose you could call it a regression, a move backwards. To me it feels like a peeling away of the getting and spending layer of our third millennium lives, so we can see clearly what’s beneath, not a regression to a past framework, but a revealing of what is always.

As Wordsworth says further on:

“I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn…”

And so I am.

Commentary on Religion, Faith and Spirituality, Jefferson County, Mountains, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant.

Beau Thai. Bear Creek. Beth Evergreen.

August 26, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

Bear Creek Designs has finalized our bathroom remodel plans. They start next week and estimate 4-5 weeks total. A zero entry shower may not be strictly necessary right now, but when it is necessary, I don’t want to have figure out if we have the money to make the change. We do now.

We went over to Bear Creek in Evergreen yesterday and discussed possible shower door options, an unexpectedly complicated chore due to the small size of the bathroom. The solution, move the shower valve to the opposite wall from the shower head, seemed counter intuitive until we explored all the other options. It allows us to maintain the zero entry which was the point of the remodel. So, we chose to do it.

Afterward we ate at Beau Thai. Get it? The food is better than the pun. It’s sister restaurant is a Himalayan spot only four doors away. Tom yum and green papaya salad. Since we still had a little time, we went to our favorite small shop in Evergreen, the Village Gourmet. Among many kitchen and home related items, the Village Gourmet also has a very nice truffle shop. We got four truffles plus some dishtowels and a plate to replace one broken over the weekend.

Then to Beth Evergreen for Midday Mussar. This was the fourth of four weeks in which we looked at classic texts in this long established Jewish spiritual tradition. Once we choose a text, next week, I’ll probably write more about mussar. It’s a very pragmatic discipline and worth knowing.

A woman we met recently was at the end of a four year saga waiting for a new kidney. She had diabetic neuropathy and finally found a kidney for transplant a few weeks ago. Her explanation of the transplant’s effect on her was eloquent. “I thought I knew about gratitude, but now I know I didn’t. This gift to me from a man who checked his organ donor box is beyond explaining. I now have to consider what I will do with the rest of my life. Which I will have. I’m going to live it to be worthy of the gift I’ve received.”

Colorado, Family, Mountains, Park County

A Colorado Tuesday

August 24, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

Went to the Shaggy Sheep yesterday, about 10 miles west of Bailey in Grant. One of the real joys of living up here is the chance to choose a place like this for our weekly business meeting. The drive through the Platte Canyon, starting in Bailey and continuing to the Kenosha pass about 20 miles west of the Shaggy Sheep is beautiful. Mountain meadows with horses and cattle. Old resorts like the Glen Isle. Rocky mountain sides covered with pines. The North Fork of the South Platte a constant running presence near Hwy 285. An Orvis recommended dude ranch. Santa Maria YMCA camp. Gravel roads snaking up into the mountains.

Also stopped by the Happy Camper on the way back to pick up some THC edibles. We now have to ring a doorbell to get inside. “To regulate the flow,” said a guy, maybe the owner sitting in the shop. He and a guy playing a guitar were lounging. Mine was the only car in the parking lot, so at that moment I represented the entire flow.

The young woman who helped me asked me if I had anything fun going on this Tuesday, “Buying dope,” I said. She smiled. “It’s a lot easier this way than when I was young,” I went on. She got a cute smile on her face, “Yeah, you don’t have to be so sneaky!”

A Colorado Monday.

Jefferson County, Mountains, Shadow Mountain

Cars Should Kill U

August 15, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

There was a bicycle race on Black Mountain Drive Saturday. Race organizers had spray painted encouraging words on the road: Shut up, Legs! You can do it. Not much further now. That sort of thing. This was all in white spray paint.

Another group or individual came out with blue spray paint and added these messages, two of four. I took the photographs this morning on the way home from Evergreen. Obviously, they’re disturbing. But more to the current point, they immediately reminded me of the spirit of Trump rallies where minorities, women, the disabled, immigrants are summarily belittled and mocked. Sometimes, violence ensues.

The cruel and awful thing about the Trump national campaign for the presidency is this; it gives the color of political legitimacy to sentiments like these, encouraging them to go beyond disdain and into violent territory. I don’t know the politics of the blue spray painter(s), but I do know that the sanctioning of hateful rhetoric and physical confrontations makes such attitudes much more dangerous.

Family, Jefferson County, Mountains

Lake Evergreen

August 14, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

Jon, Gabe, Ruth on Lake Evergreen. By Minnesota standards Lake Evergreen would barely qualify as a decent city lake, but it’s one of the few closeby. Lots of folks come out for various ways to be on the water.

Dogs, Family, Mountains, Shadow Mountain

Love Is Enough

August 12, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

The morning sun throws reddish highlights on Black Mountain to our west while our home remains in the early dawn. It’s cool here this morning at 41 degrees and a week of cool temperatures is in the forecast. The northern European residents of this home on Black Mountain Drive are pleased.

Jon’s getting ready for his one hour commute to Montview Elementary in Aurora. He has to be there by 7:15, his third day with students. This Labor Day to Memorial Day school year guy still shudders at the thought of hitting the desk in early August. Seems to violate some unwritten compact between students and schools.

Feeling much more engaged this morning. Writing about a problem often sneaks a mood change through as I consider what I’ve written. Took Kate out last night to the Twin Forks Restaurant on North Turkey Creek Canyon Road. This was to honor her steady work on the needlepoint project, Love is Enough. Three years, but now it’s done, ready to be cleaned, blocked and framed. She’s going to add a small metal plaque, Vega: 2008-2016. We clinked glasses for Vega, one of a kind.

Commentary on the news, Jefferson County, Mountains, Politics, US History

American Authoritarianism

August 5, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Lugnasa Superior Wolf Moon

This morning Black Mountain has a shroud of gray white fog slumping down its eastern slope. Rain water puddles on the driveway and the overall feel is early fall. As we prefer it here on Shadow Mountain.

Could this election get weirder? I’d have said no, but the Donald keeps surprising me, all of us. As his polls slump like the fog on Black Mountain, certain Republicans have begun raising money for Hillary, admitting openly that they will vote for her, too. This group includes members of congress and a former primary candidate for President, Meg Whitman. That’s very strange.

But, wait! There’s more. Now the Dump Trump folks have begin wondering in interviews if he can be forced to drop out. Or, perhaps he’ll just choose to drop out, some hope. So, members of his own party are campaigning against him while others are trying for an unprecedented, geez I think I’ll just quit you. This all very new stuff in American politics, like seeing a rare bird and getting to add it to your life list.

He will not drop out. His self-image is of a fighter and a winner. Fighters don’t quit and winners don’t lose. From a political hobbyists point of view this is a most excellent campaign. Not the same old boring cereal we get every morning for breakfast.

Over the next decade plus the significance of this race will become clear. The most interesting analysis I’ve found so far links Trump to the rise of voters seeking an authoritarian leader. Read this Vox.com article: The Rise of American Authoritarianism. Research into the phenomenon of authoritarian leaders has its origins in the puzzling question of how Germany pivoted to Nazism in such a short period of time. There are now several well-regarded academic works that focus on answering that question. Some of them look at American culture, probing for similarities to post-Weimar Germany.

In this understanding, with which I agree, Trump is not the cause, but the effect. Another good article on the political roots of this new American authoritarianism comes from NYT columnist, Charles Blow: Trump Reflects White Male Fragility.

Aging, Family, Great Wheel, Jefferson County, Memories, Minnesota, Mountains, Shadow Mountain, Weather +Climate

Sinking Behind Black Mountain

July 29, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Summer Park County Fair Moon

The sun is on its way down, sinking behind Black Mountain. I don’t often write in the evenings anymore because I’m usually downstairs in the house. Tonight I came up after a sweatshirt. It gets cool reliably around 7 pm or so.

It also gets quieter here in the evening. The motorcyclists have made it to wherever they were headed. The cars loaded with camping gear have found a spot for the night. The Denver tourists headed to Upper Maxwell Falls trailhead have returned to the city. No bicyclists. No one walking their dog. A few people are still arriving home from work, probably having driven from downtown Denver.

This has been a hard week. Jon’s most recent encounter with the courts got at least part of the divorce mess sorted out. Kate drove home from Jackson Hole. The last of the painting project is almost wrapped up. Kate and I went to the grocery store today, a task that proves physically difficult with our mutual arthritic thises and thatses. The days have been warmer than I prefer, though definitely more tolerable than Denver proper.

A possible arc upward does seem hidden in the detritus. Jon has more predictability now in his life. The long work of staining and painting has all but ended which means no more extra cars and people around during the day. BJ’s injury is healing, headed toward what her surgeon believes will be a good recovery. He says she should be playing again in a couple of months.

Lugnasa lies just ahead, two days. That means the peak heat of the summer has begun to wane. The nights will get cooler, the days shorter. Welcome changes. Summer is my least favorite season and was so even during our intensive gardening days in Andover. I don’t like the heat, even the more modest heat that we get here. The vegetables and fruits and bees needed it, we welcomed its results, but not its presence. I’ll be glad to move into August, even more so September.

Family, Jefferson County, Mountains, Our Land and Home, Shadow Mountain, Weather +Climate

A Collective Sigh

July 19, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Summer Park County Fair Moon

Staining the wood is an involved process. First, there’s power washing, cleaning and laying bare the wood, followed by extensive masking. These tasks took a week. The application of the stain is, itself, labor intensive. Though it can be applied with a power spray, it has to be back brushed to force the stain into the wood. Since the process requires two coats, that means each inch of the garage, shed and two decks will get stained and brushed twice. Longer lasting siding and much increased aesthetics will result. Nathan, Chris, Dean and Matthew have been working steadily.

While they were finishing up yesterday, we had a thunderstorm. As in Minnesota, a thunderstorm breaks the heat, but here it comes with a collective sigh. The rain has a salvific effect, much like the rain in movies after a long drought or the coming of the monsoons in India.

We’ve had several red flag warnings over the last week plus and the forest service signs, common along roads here in the mountains, have all had Smokey’s finger pointed at High. Jefferson County, our county, instituted a level 2 fire ban. No fires at all. The rains give us some respite from the risk of wildfire and that’s most welcome.

Jon is in Denver for the next five days working on finishing a deck railing, remodeling a bathroom and moving his stuff out of the house. Jen and the grandkids are in Orlando for a hemophilia conference. Today is a phone conference between Jon and Jen’s lawyers trying to hammer out some differences without the principles involved. May it be fruitful.

Cinema and Television, Family, Great Work, Jefferson County, Mountains, Our Land and Home, Plants, Shadow Mountain

Weekend Stuff

July 17, 2016 Charles Leave a comment

Summer Park County Fair Moon

Went to a delightful children’s movie, BFG, with the grandkids. A Spielberg film, it uses CGI as seamlessly as anything I’ve seen. This is a big-hearted movie with childish wonder spilling out all over the place. A Roald Dahl book. The story of an orphan who inadvertently sees a giant deploying dreams. He kidnaps her because she’s seen him. They develop a relationship, one threatened by other giants. Sweet and sad.

Ruth and Gabe were here overnight. Ruth and Jon worked on printmaking in the garage. He’s developing a body of work focused on found objects, metal objects crushed by traffic. He inks them up, then uses a press to transfer the ink to paper. Gabe and I talk because he likes to come up here in the loft and play.

The staining of the garage is underway. It will look good and last longer when this whole project finishes. The shed and decks, too.

Wandering the back yard now, looking at flowers that grow here with no help. I’m going to gather seeds, then reseed with them in the fall. We have two varieties of penstemon, wild flax, columbine, sulfur flower, indian paintbrush, daisies, shrub roses and a few I haven’t identified. Work with what already likes this soil and this microclimate. Encourage them.

Later in the fall we’ll plant lilacs and more shrub roses in the far back, perhaps some aspen. I want to plant some aspen out front, too.