Our Guests

It seems most unusual to people that we have such a prestigious Chamber Music Series during the summer in this small town, but we do.Some twenty years ago the idea was conceived and brought to fruition, and continues today with the generous donations of about fifty or so underwriters. We have three concerts each summer.

Our first concert was last night. We were entertained by the talented MacLaren String Quartet from Colorado Springs.They were

accompanied for this concert by a very talented international pianist who hails from Brazil and has a doctorate in music from the University of Colorado.

Diego and his partner Nate happened to be our house guests while they were in town. Hopefully they got a much needed rest .. The  last couple of weeks had them preforming in Japan, Portugal, Spain, London and Colorado Springs, CO. Diego is not only a talented pianist, he graduated from high school at 14 years old, and college at 18 . He was also at one time a French teacher and speaks eight languages.

Nate gave me a copy of the picture of Diego preforming at the elaborate Joanina Library in Coimbra, Portugal.

We have a reception following the concert for the musicians and the underwriters. It gives us a chance to visit with the musicians and welcome them to our town. I was intrigued by the way the hors d' oeuvres were presented. Each person was invited to pick up a plate already filled with a tasty assortment of delicacies.

I hope that you too are having a good week.

A Sunset

Good morning. Just thought I would show you last nights sunset

I hope you are going to have a great Monday. I am off to play golf with the Women's Golf League...Janey

Poppies

I almost forgot to show you the Poppies in our town. Every June, they are a delight to the eyes. Enjoy

So there you have it. They bloom every June...so come see them!

To The Grocery Store

Well, I should have titled this "To the Supermarket" because we do have two small grocery stores here in this little mountain town. Although, once a week or so, my husband and I head north about 60 miles where there is a larger town, and a supermarket. So why don't you ride along?

We like to head out at the first sign of daylight. Between 6:30 and 7:00 am.

For about half the way, the Lake Fork of the Gunnison river runs alongside,

and here comes the sun.

This is one of my favorite shots along the way and Tom agreed to pull over so I could get a better shot.

There are some pretty ranches along the way. The two cliffs you see are called the Gates. The road will curve around and go through them.

The sun is now hitting the one facing east.

The landscape changes north of the gates. As you notice the trees are thinning out. Stay with me. I told you it was a long way.

There in the distance you can see mountains still covered in snow, which is near the ski town of Crested Butte.

Well, we are almost there when we arrive at the Blue Lake Reservoir.

 The lake is quite blue when the sun is out. I by the way did nothing to this picture.

Our little highway ends at the lake. So we turn east on US50, passing lush pastures along the Gunnison River.

Look, there is an R.V. park where you can sleep in a tepee!

This is the first clue that you have arrived. Our whole county to the south has not even one traffic light.

See there still aren't many folks up.

So, what do we do in Gunnison. First stop is usually the hardware store

followed by Walmart. It is not a superstore. This is probably the smallest Walmart in the world.

Next door is City Market grocery store, where we carefully cross items off of our list.

Last stop is usually McDonald's for and ice cream cone to enjoy on the way home. Look, they are on sale.
So, even though I am spending the summer up in the hills in the most remote county in the lower forty eight. We do go to civilization once a week. Thanks for coming along!

Cooking

Some of you may remember that one of the activities I do up here is cook. You need to come armed with recipes for hors d' oeuvres to be exact. I probably have three cookbooks on just that subject. Of course now you can find most anything you want to prepare online.

I made three items for a party on Sunday night. You see it was a membership party of a Repertory Theater (an excellent one) that is about 50 miles over two mountain passes from here. Tom and I have been in charge of this party for the last ten years.....and it is quite large. Sometimes over one hundred people.So believe it or not we found a couple to take it over for us (finally). Naturally I felt obligated to at least help out. These are little ham stacks with horseradish cream cheese layers. I thought they were pretty...and I was so busy that I forgot to taste one...They must have been okay because they were all gone at the end of the party.

I also made these tiny pizzas. They are easy...but time consuming. Small circles are cut out of a large flour tortillas and you stuff them into a mini muffin pan. Put a dollop of pizza sauce, a bit of mozzarella cheese and three little mini pepperonis on top. . Ten to twelve mins. in  375 degree oven and top with fresh chopped basil when the come out. They are always a hit.

Then I made chocolate fudge. They are covered up to keep my husband out of them. So with these three and some lemon squares I picked up from the bakery...I was a welcome sight.

Excuse the bad photography. I was hurry so I barely had time to snap the lens!

Do you like to cook? If so what is your specialty?

Let's Play Ball!

I am not sure if you call it bocce, bocci, or bowls as the British do? Then of course the French have a version called petanque. Whatever it is.. it is fun, and we now have a court in out little town!

Meet the red team (color of their balls) our friends Betty and Tony

 Then we have the green team. That is moi...and hubby Tom.

Our court in not packed down hard enough so we have to toss the ball instead of rolling it. Which I guess what we are playing is closer to pentaque.

The object is to get your ball as close as you can to this little yellow ball. At times we had to measure.

The Parks Department even installed a state of the art scoreboard.
The first game was very close...but the green team does not want to even discuss the second game :(

The Annual Art Show

One of the first parties of the summer here in this little mountain town is the local art show.

It is not a juried show, anyone who does any kind of art is welcome to show their work. Most of them are also for sale. It is an added bonus  that the local restaurants provide the hors d' oeuvres (does anyone else have trouble spelling that word)?Here are just a few of the examples.

This was probably my favorite. It is a photograph. Can you spot the owl?

I't Monday. Have a great week!

Quiet

It has been quiet around here this week.

Not a lot of traffic going up and down our road.

I have been down pulling weeds in our little garden plot. I need to work in some new soil before I plant today.

This Magpie has been guarding the gate of the community garden.

It really fussed at me, when I tried to open it. I am thinking it's nest must be in the nearby tree. We have a lot of Magpies around here. They are in the Crow family, and are affectionately referred to as Camp Robbers in this neck of the woods, because they are always robbing food from campsites!We are attending the annual local art show tonight...and I am taking my camera.. I hope that you are having a good weekend.