Our Sunrise This Morning!

December 4, 2015December 4, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 8 Comments

One picture is worth a thousand words….

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After the fog clears in southern Colorado!

December 1, 2015January 4, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 4 Comments

“The sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses. Won’t you stay, we’ll put on a day, and we’ll talk in present tenses…” — Joni Mitchell

Yes, I know I’ve been talking about snow and fog quite a lot here, but the best part is after the storm lifts. The views are incredible from every room in our house!

This was the view from my bed this morning when I opened my eyes. Not a bad scene to wake up to, eh?

And the full view looked like this!

Even better than that is the wonderful sun pouring in to warm our home into the 70s within an hour or two. Natural solar heating is the best, and you can’t beat the price!

I have become the total sun worshipper living here. Where would we all be without it? I love to lay on my bed and simply soak it all in!

Living in this place is a great help to focus my mind on the present moment. To hell with all that stuff from the past or worries about my unknowable future. I challenge myself moment to moment to be present with where I am right now. What a blessing that can be!

Snowed in for days and loving it!

November 29, 2015November 30, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 3 Comments

“There is only one success, to spend your life in your own way.” — Christopher Morley

This is our first glimpse of the sun in a few days…

Since our foot of snow on Thanksgiving night, we have been entertaining ourselves quite well. In fact we have been totally fogged in for a few days.

But how can we be bored with fun photos to take, a good book to read, Netflix and lots of snow to shovel?

Not to mention one of my favorite new pastimes, coloring! I am presently coloring mandalas, which represent a microcosm of the universe.

Did you know Carl Jung used to have his patients color mandalas to help them access their subconscious? It works! When I’m coloring I completely stop worry shopping, and focus on my bright future:
Love what interacting with so many colors is doing for me. It sets my underdeveloped artist free! Everyone go try this! It’s wonderfully relaxing.

We have also been slowly getting out our Christmas decorations. This is exciting because last year everything was packed away.

Yes, we are finally home for good!

Our pets are very slowly getting used to each other, kind of…

Rasta’s still mad about that evil intruder Charlie. We joke about Rasta’s favorite present being the disappearance of said CAT!

The marvelous SUN came out this morning. It is glorious! I am a total sun worshipper! So now we are ready for some quiet holidays, watching our pets growl and chase each other around the Christmas tree…

Did I mention? The views are incredible up here, especially after a great big snow storm! We get a 180 degree view of the Sangres!

And BTW, I will be writing soon about that wonderful new book I’m reading…please stay tuned!

My Life in a Snow Globe!

November 27, 2015October 18, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 9 Comments

I’ve only been in a few blizzards, but last night was fantastic! Snow was blowing every which way, circling around the house… When I looked outside I found my precipitation gauge was almost buried in snow!

Here’s what it looked like this morning! Do you see that little bump in the snow out there? That’s it! We got around a foot of snow!

It’s never easy to measure precipitation under these conditions, so I measured all around my gauge and came up with close to a foot.

And the best part? The sun came out this morning to let us know we have not been totally abandoned out here.

This is my idea of a GREAT holiday gift! We’re doing WHITE FRIDAY at our house today, with nothing to do but decorate for the holidays!

Our passions choose us. We do not choose our passions.

How did I end up here, feeling so fortunate?

It’s a long story, one I can now share with you in my new memoir!

Passive Solar Heat & the First SNOW!

November 18, 2015November 20, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 2 Comments

Monday night was exciting up here! We saw first sleet and then snow falling, and it snowed all night.

As some of you may know, I’ve been recording precipitation data for the CoCoRAHS project since 1998, at the seven addresses I have lived at in that time. Yesterday’s reading was particularly difficult because of high winds and drifted snow, although I did record almost an inch of precip!

Let me put it this way, it was difficult getting out of the house on Tuesday morning. Some places there was almost no snow and it was a foot deep elsewhere. We live on a county road so they took care of the road plowing.

And our solar heating has been working great! For example, outside we got down to around 20 degrees last night and inside we were around 60 this morning, but as soon as the sun started coming in, we jumped up to 66 quickly. We do have supplemental electric heat, which we use sparingly, and I also have hot flashes, which help a lot!

The sunset was beautiful here last night, a constant reminder of why we choose to live up here!

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Boomers Share Their Lives & Thoughts

November 15, 2015November 16, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / 4 Comments

The devastating murders in Paris this week are an important reminder to all of us exactly how fragile our lives can be. Anything can happen to any of us at any time.

In my forties, my midlife crisis manifested as regrets for the lack of one crucial life experience. I fully acknowledged my mortality, and found that I would be quite disappointed with my life if I never found true love. I chose to focus all of my energy on believing in love again. I believed what you focus on grows, and in my case it did!

Finding the love of my life in 2005 led to me finally finding right livelihood. All of my dreams started coming true with the endless love and support of Mike.

Mike is a Vietnam era veteran. He was not honored when he came home. He was shamed. But today I care for him and honor him everyday for the sacrifices he made in service to our country.

Another blogger in our group, Linda Myers loves and cares for a Vietnam vet. This week she accompanied her husband to the monthly meeting of a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. He was their speaker.

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about tips for veterans to avoid signing up for “for-profit” schools that charge veterans high tuition for courses that are worthless in getting them jobs. Many of these colleges aggressively target veterans.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting had a new birth to announce this week in her family! She and her hub welcomed a new addition to their family, grand baby number 5 entered the world. Of course she is the cutest baby ever. See for yourself over at Welcome New Baby Baer.

Tom over at Sightings Over Sixty has a simple little problem for you to solve today. Is it as easy as it looks, or is there a trick to it? Teleport your way over to Think About It and see if you know the answer.

We boomers are surviving and thriving by living life with no regrets!