After almost two years living in the foothills a few miles west of Walsenberg Colorado, I still struggle to find a way to help you understand how living here is so amazingly different from the suburbs of Fort Collins. Possibly you can imagine, this has been culture shock after culture shock for a couple of city people.
In fact, I wake up every morning and wonder for just a moment or so, where am I? Then I look out my glass doors at this:
Adventures of the NEW Old Farts 
I love that picture of you reveling in your new world. I am so glad to have found your blog, because in some ways I get to walk in your shoes. So beautiful! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for following me DJan. I appreciate your interest.
LikeLike
I live in Los Angeles but spent a few months in Hotchkiss, Colorado helping my sister take care of my parents. It’s a whole other life and the air is so fresh.
LikeLike
It seems that you are in the right place at the right time. I admire the way that you are embracing the land and its history. Very thought-provoking post.
LikeLike
Your honesty about the transition and how you felt always comes through. It seems like this is the right place for you at the very right time, too.
LikeLike
Thank you all for reading and commenting! This has been a gigantic transition for me, so I try to express that in my writing. No sugar-coating, just my take on life with so much beauty and silence. I will continue to insist, life here has changed me and continues to make me more aware of my surroundings. Life here, with so few distractions, creates a new kind of inwardness. That in combination with two brain injuries is my reason for being a new and different person every day.
LikeLike
Oh yes. I know what you mean. Sometimes I think those creatures with bigger brains than ours (dolphins) are laughing at us. “Take off your clothes and swim in the ocean,” I imagine them thinking. “Slow down and enjoy life.”
LikeLike
Yes, it seems most animals have a better sense of how to truly enjoy their lives. However, I am seriously working on that every day!
LikeLike
I envy you! I know how much stree we live with every day just based on location. I’ve been hounding my husband for years to retire, but he just keeps plugging away.
LikeLike
It gives me such a sense of peace just reading this and looking at the pictures. I can’t imagine what its like to actually do it in person. Awesome!
LikeLike
Great Hellion! That’s why I write, to tell others about this alternative lifestyle. It surprises me everyday!
LikeLike
Hi Laura Lee! Good for you for breaking out of that stifling life you had from before. I don’t personally think we all need to go that far away to find the peace that you’ve found, but I do think that “rightsizing” has been very, very good for you! It reminds me of the recent trip Thom and I took down to Tucson, AZ to visit three types of cohousing communities that I wrote about on my blog. Everyone in all three communities was also looking at a new “alternative lifestyle.” Half of them wanted an urban experience of community, and the others wanted to be out in the country and experience wide open spaces. Obviously, neither was better or worse, just differences in what people find the most freeing and important to them. It’s wonderful that you found your place and that it fits you so well. May we all be as fortunate! ~Kathy
LikeLike