July 21, 2017 - Part 3

Hugging the left side of the road as we head back down the mountain.

We stopped at a really interesting area and found out these are beehive coke ovens,
used to carbonize coal mined in these mountains in the late 1800s.

Click on the picture above to read the plaque with further information.

A beaver lodge in a pond at the bottom of the mountain. 

July 21, 2017 - Part 2

 It was a pleasant drive...

 ...until I got to the dirt road that leads up to the camp.  

I don't know if these pictures accurately represent how sheer the drop-off is,

but I was hugging the right side of the road like my life depended on it.  :)

The Crystal River runs through the camp...the bridge that spans it is made of wooden planks.

July 21, 2017 - Part 1

Four days later I was making my way back to Marble to pick up Jed.

July 17, 2017

Jed went to camp for the first time this summer - not once, but twice!

The second week was spent in Marble, a little town about 60 miles west of Aspen 

and home of the Yule marble quarry, 

which provided marble for the Washington Monument, 

the Lincoln Memorial, 

and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.
You can read some of the interesting history of the town here.

 

The camp has a western theme, and the kids slept in teepees (albeit wooden ones).

We got there a little early; it was a four hour drive from home and I had another four hour drive home.  

Jed was hoping some kids would show up at some point.  :)

On the way home, it started raining around Vail, about two hours from home.  

I don't like driving in rain (or snow) in any case, but I especially don't like driving in rain in the mountains.

I was a little terrified and was praying for protection and peace when a rainbow appeared,

making a perfect arch over I-70, beginning and ending behind mountains on either side of the road.

Then a really amazing thing started to happen - the rainbow stayed.

You know how fleeting rainbows usually are?

This one wasn't - as I traveled, it kept moving with me.

In fact, it stayed with me for the rest of the 2 hour drive home.

I spent the rest of the drive rejoicing in God's tender care.

The photo above was taken on the outskirts of Golden, 

when I got off of I-70 and it was safe to pull over on the side of the road.

By this time the rain was tapering off and the rainbow was not nearly as vibrant as it had been,.

but I'm still thankful for this reminder of a most incredible experience.

July 10, 2017

Tracy's sister and her family visited us this week.  

The first thing we did was take a walk in downtown Golden.

It is a charming little town, and Clear Creek flowing through the middle of it only adds to the charm.

That's Lookout Mountain in the background, with the M for Colorado School of Mines.

Our yard was in full bloom during their visit.

South Table Mountain as seen from the front of our house.

June 21, 2017

The Foothills Art Center is at the end of our block, housed in a beautiful old church building.

This morning I accompanied my next door neighbor on a visit to the gallery.

The main exhibit included work by a wood sculptor who created this stunning piece.

The photo does not do it justice - it was really stunning in person.

It was made of hundreds (thousands?) of layered wood pieces.

It reminded me of the stalactites we saw in the caves we explored in Missouri when we lived there.

I love the variegation of color.

This mobile of waxed leaves was pretty awesome too.

June 19, 2017

Jed participated in an advancement ceremony with his Trail Life troop tonight.

He was pretty excited.  :)

June 12, 2017

I've never been a fan of pork chops, either fried or baked - they're too dry and chewy to me. 

I ran across a recipe for slow cooker pork chops and decided to try it,

though I wasn't expecting anything different.

Boy, was I in for a surprise!

These pork chops are the most tender, juicy meat I've ever had from a crock pot,

with an apple cider and brown sugar glaze that is perfect.

Recipe can be found here.

June 2, 2017

Jed and I finished up our study of Poland today with a Polish food field trip.

The first stop was Pierogies Factory in Wheat Ridge.

The owner, Cezary Grosfeld, moved to Denver from Poland 10 years ago and uses his Grandma's recipes.  

We bought 6 pierogies, 3 pork and 3 potato and onion, with a caramelized onion topping.  

Pork pierogie.

Potato and onion pierogie.

Yum!

We also bought bogis, but I had forgotten it was made of sauerkraut.  

At least it came with more pierogies!  :)

Jed got a chocolate croissant for dessert.  

He was a lot happier about it than he looks in this picture.  :)

Next we drove to downtown Denver to Rosenberg's Deli - 

the first Jewish deli I've ever been in!

We took this order home and had it for dinner this evening.  

First up was matzoh ball soup.  

I liked the matzoh, but I wish I had bought two balls - 

they priced the soup by the ball and I was being cheap.  :)

I was excited to try their kugel, but I was surprised to see that it was a muffin!  

I was pretty happy to find that it tasted very similar to the one I made, 

but it had apples in it, which really helped the texture. 

We got a potato knish and the last spinach knish!

What's not to love about mashed potatoes and pastry??

I was also excited to try hammantaschen for the first time...

I've been wanting to try making it for years, 

ever since I learned about it while studying the book of Esther, 

which talks about Haman, the man for whom the cookie is named.  

We only bought one cookie, a raspberry, 

and I was sorely tempted to drive back to Denver to pick up a few more.

I see another field trip in our future.  :)

Jed was pretty fascinated with the whole cooked fish.  :)

I am deeply grateful that last spinach knish was still there when we arrived

These were both so good.

Smacznego – Bon appetite!

May 30, 2017

We've been studying Poland in school. 

I am in love with that country...

it has tons of lakes like Maine, 

one of the oldest and largest market squares in Europe, 

some of the smartest people in history (Nicolaus Copernicus, Madame Curie, Chopin), 

and one of the most oppressed histories in the world - 

invaded or fighting for freedom 43 times from 1600 to 1945. 

We studied Polish immigration to the United States, and the Borscht Belt, which was fascinating...

even after the war, in the US,

Jews were not welcome at most resorts,

so the Jews in New York City flocked to the Catskills resorts for summer vacations.

Many of them were Eastern European immigrants,

and borscht was a staple in their homes.

It was served in all the resorts and became synonymous with Jewish.

It's a cold beet soup with a sour cream base, green onions and cucumbers, and it is yummy.

I wish I had a white bowl to show off that gorgeous color!

Our Polish food experiments included kugel, a custard dessert made with noodles or potatoes.

I made it with noodles, a touch of cinnamon, and raisins.

It has a lightly sweet taste and is pleasant,

but I think I would prefer just the custard, without the noodles.

I like the texture of custard and the noodles mask it a bit.

I shared it with two neighbors, both of whom have lived and traveled throughout Europe, 

and they thought it was good, so what do I know?  :)

May 29, 2017

After talking with Jed about Memorial Day this morning, 

we spent the afternoon visiting with this lovely couple from our church.

The area was new to us, so we did a little exploring after our visit and found this dude ranch -

wouldn't that be fun??

...and this dam on the Big Thompson River...

...and this bucolic scene on the other side of the river.

So much beauty!