from suburbia to solar in southern Colorado
April Arrives: Welcome to Spring, Boomers!
We had our own private April Fools Joke yesterday morning around here, no power again for 13 hours! Absolutely not funny, but at least we know the drill now…
We also woke up to half a foot of snow…again! Oh well, all’s well that ends well!
We have some beautiful snow-capped peaks to look at this morning with a high of around 55 degrees! This is the view from our front door today…
But enough about us, this is the day I share with you some wonderful Boomer blogs written by my virtual friends everywhere!
First off we have Meryl of Six Decades and Counting. Though not a fashion maven who normally ignores fashion fads, this week two news articles caught her attention and triggered some fashion deliberations. Here she ruminates on the topics of jeans and leggings, and the dilemma of whether or not people of a certain age should ever wear this attire. Go read her comments on Fashion Sense and Nonsense: Leggings and Jeans.
Her final words at left, express her feelings perfectly, from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Franz Kafka. This is also a perfect expression of my general feelings about our present century and watching the news! LOL!
Writer Carol Cassara discusses a different topic this week: Can you really sit back and manifest your heart’s desires? Over at Heart Mind Soul, wise woman Carol gives us some useful instruction in what else is necessary to make dreams come true?
March is Taste Washington Wine Month. To celebrate, Rita R. Robison, blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, decided to go to Taste Washington, a huge gala in Seattle with 235 wineries pouring wines and 65 restaurants offering food this year, the 20th Anniversary of the event.
Robison decided to taste wines from the wineries that she’s personally visited. Among her favorite wineries whose wines she tasted at the event are Airfield Estates, Woodinville; Silver Lake Winery, Zillah; and Tsillan Cellars, Chelan.
And finally, Tom asks: Did you play an April Fool’s prank on someone this past weekend, or have one pulled on you? In Are You Ready? Tom Sightings admits to a good one he fell for a few years ago. But then, you too might have gotten a little nervous in his situation.
Wishing you the best of Aprils! I know I am going to enjoy it because my birthday is always right around Easter, and I have every intention of celebrating surviving the worst winter of my entire life health-wise!
A Drive Northwest of La Veta Colorado…
Since we finally had a sunny day yesterday, we decided to take a drive out west of La Veta. We took off west on Francisco street on the county roads and soon started seeing wild turkey everywhere…
and amazing rock formations too!
There were also abandoned cabins.
As we made our way back up to Highway 160, we saw a different side to Mount Mestas than we’re used to from our home.
And on our way back to Navajo,
I took a few more photos of the old adobe school house on County Road 510,
as it continues to tumble down…
Romantic Expectations & Reality
So I’m watching some show on HGTV, and the woman who’s looking for a new home says, “I’m looking for a home that feels magical when you walk in!” From this brief comment I launch into my own version of a song from this 1965 Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella television special. Sure, you remember it, don’t you? With Leslie Ann Warren?
I LOVED THIS SHOW AT AGE TEN! I memorized the songs.
“Magical, mystical, miracle, can it be, is it true? Things are incredibly lyrical, is it me? No it’s you. I do hear a waltz. I see you and I hear a waltz. It’s what I’ve been waiting for all my life, to hear a waltz.”
What a lovely thought, and how unrealistic can you get? I know Rodgers and Hammerstein were probably just trying to think of words that went together well, but instead they helped to create the most unrealistic expectations in a generation of young girls!
Besides the story, which promotes the idea of waiting for a prince to rescue you from your grim surroundings, the words of the songs, which have stayed in my mind for over 50 years now (!) suggest we will most certainly “hear a waltz” when Mr. Right arrives in our lives. And they say we don’t have brainwashing in the USA… No, we have commercialism instead! Just as powerful and encouraged by our culture.
To be fair, by the time I was more interested in looking for a partner, around 1975, this song by Jefferson Starship was popular, and it also promised miracles.
No, I’m not saying that falling in love isn’t magical, I’m just saying the first time I met my “prince” in 2005, I didn’t hear a waltz OR believe in miracles. I had finally gotten past all of that garbage at age 49. I was now ready to meet a real person who had the self-awareness and emotional capability to love and give to others in their life. As it turned out, nothing about his outward appearance or natural talents were what I expected. No, I had no expectations of falling in love with a motorcycle man who knew how to fix things. But I went with my gut and inner wisdom. Good thinking Laura!
Now that we live almost off the grid in rural southern Colorado, I have so many more reasons to appreciate his abilities to wire up the generator when the power goes off for days at a time. No magical, mystical miracles. I don’t remember hearing a waltz when he appeared, but I knew instinctively that he would help me make it through the rest of my life, with love and affection every single day!
Trump, Marriage and the Blame Game
As we gear up for another “Winter Storm Warning” here in southern Colorado, I thought I might discuss one of my favorite topics when it comes to marriage or cohabitation of any kind.
The biggest problem with marriage is that it makes blaming others far too easy. And I suppose that goes for the presidency at present too. Is anyone taking responsibility for their actions these days?
Have you ever noticed how automatic it feels to see a problem and say, “Who did this? It wasn’t me!” I have observed over my 62 years on this planet, that marriage just makes this worse. As kids it definitely is automatic, even if it isn’t true. But in marriage you have one other person who is far too handy to blame!
Having lived alone for most my adult life, I have learned to laugh at this tendency. When you have no one else to blame, you tend to take responsibility.
Now I say find the solution, not the blame.
Would somebody please tell President Trump to stop acting like a child and take responsibility for his own choices? Is that too much to ask from a 70-year-old man? His childish behavior is annoying.
Southern Colorado is Closed Today and Tomorrow – Slipping off the Grid!
You would not believe how we spent the past three days…
We got a BAD lightning and ice storm on Thursday night around midnight. I know because it woke me up. The combination of rain, hail, and then ice took out our electricity since Friday morning at 6AM… 3 days ago! No heat, no cooking, no nothing except Mike did set up a generator to keep the food in the frig cold.
We used our camp stove in the garage to heat a few things and eventually got the TV and coffeemaker working…priorities you know.
All in all this was a thought-provoking experience. We drove into town today at lunch for a hot meal and some heat. Low and behold, the power came back! Hallelujah!!!
In an interesting twist, the TV stations who say that they cover southern Colorado, never noticed when the thousands of Coloradoans who live in the poorest counties in the state, went without power for days! Money still talks….
Anyway, I did write while we were cut off from power. Here are my impressions from Friday morning, the last time we had power:
The view out our door on Friday morning…10 inches or so!
Why get up?
Nothing like waking up to a foot of thick, wet, snow and all the power is out. This is the best example I can think of that old ZZ Top song: “Why get up?”
The first thing I want is coffee and maybe a little news, but I cannot make that happen. Furthermore, when I contact our electric company, they tell me every town within 50 miles is without power, so even if I could go somewhere, they wouldn’t be open…
Which brings me to the next line of that before mentioned song:
“This whole world’s gone crazy think I’ve seen enough. Gonna sleep forever, why get up?” …What better description of the Trump presidency?
After the storm… If you want the rainbow you must have the rain!
I’m a newcomer to rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar retirement home: Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado Please share this information with your friends if they are considering similar life changes. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss any of these challenges, and to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 