Fall Falling Leaves Moon
My identity crisis resolved itself. My computer knows me! It really knows me!
Jon and I drove up to Black Mountain Drive this morning. We wandered the property for a bit. At the back, just beyond a powerline easement, was a six foot chain link fence. Just beyond I thought I saw an elk statue. Then, the statue got up and walked away. An 8 0r 10 point buck.
A good omen in my elk augury handbook. This was a welcoming animal spirit, a cohabitant of Black Mountain. (I’m told this was, in fact, a mule deer.) There are, too, deer, mule deer, and bear. Jude, the next door neighbor, says the bears come and go, too. “Not a nuisance, but you know they’re there.”
Jude has two yappy dogs. That made me feel good. Looked like border collies.
Kate has found a good third phase home for us. Enough land for dogs and some garden, yet no yard to maintain. Enough space for our mutual passions and plenty of room for grandkids and guests. And in the mountains, the mountain West, where there will be many new things to investigate and new places to visit.
The property here in Conifer has, mostly, conifers. Some moss, some rock, some duff. Looks like national forest land in the mountains, only with houses. The drive up Shadow Mountain Road from Aspen Park is easier to navigate in the daylight. There are homes scattered here and there all the way up. Where Shadow Mountain Road meets 73, there is a trailhead for mountain rambles.
Last night as I descended the mountains on highway 285 Denver sparkled in the distance like a fairyland. Adventure comes in many forms. We’ve lived on the flatlands among the crops and the lakes and the boreal forest. Now we’ll live in the mountains with a fairyland, still higher than the flatlands, below us. Let it be.
