Thanks...

 Got an email from LinkedIn asking folks to post something about what they are most thankful for this Thanksgiving 2021. My list is way too long to list here, but thankful I am nonetheless. 

Of course there's a lot to not be thankful about as well and that list in this still-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic is perhaps equally as long so this year I guess the scales of what to be thankful for and what to not be so thrilled about are about equal. I'm a Charles Dickens fan(atic) and this year reminds me of his opening paragraph to one of my favorite novels (if you don't recognize these remarkable, and timeless words I'll tell you which novel at the end of this post...):

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Ultimately we are all lucky to  j u s t  be  a l i v e. The Oxford Dictionary defines 'alive' as "living; not dead". "Not dead"... I think that is the worst definition of ALIVE one could possibly come up with. Being alive is so much more than simply being "not dead". Look up synonyms for the word though and you start to get the real sense of what being alive means: 

synonyms of alive...

I look at those around me - friends, families, acquaintances - and its these synonyms that start to flesh out the character of those I have come to know and love in all my years on this tiny blue dot. And it is these characteristics that I find myself still seeking out in those I interact with. Yes, sometimes I'm disappointed but perhaps what I remain most thankful for is that more often than not I find people that are "not dead", but truly "alive" in every sense of the word. As you gather with those most dear this holiday season I hope that is also true for you. 

...On a far less serious topic, my better half gets a bee in her bonnet this time of year to partake in the time-honored tradition of craft making and I find myself pulled into the endeavor. This year she/I/we along with my mother-in-law made plaques representing the changing of the seasons and here's a quick snapshot of our efforts:

Oh, and those words from Mr. Dickens? They're from his novel A Tale of Two Cities. I'm not sure if its still a must read in High School/College English classes but if you're looking for a great classic to curl up with by the fire when the snow (eventually) flies I'd give this one a big thumbs up. 

From me and mine to you and yours, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

I’m a Maxanista!

I’m good at a few things, average at most, and downright lousy at some. Shopping prowess would definitely be included in the ‘lousy’ category and I’ve been quite happy with that utter lack of skill for the last, oh, sixty-four years. Recently however I’ve been receiving one on one instruction on the finer points of spending money on things I absolutely don’t need and didn’t even know I wanted by a young lady in her late seventies. I’d challenge anyone to match the consummate skill of this lady when it comes to cruising through stores and snatching up bargains. Santa needs to hire this shopping phenomenon especially this year when most of his deliveries seem to be sitting idly in the middle of the ocean waiting for ports to clear up enough of a backlog to get them unloaded. 

Watch out TJ Maxx... here they come!

This lady happens to be my mother in law which means she is the mother of my dear wife who is no slouch when it comes to shopping herself. I guess she learned from the best. Sunday morning I got another Master class from the two of them (heaven help the retailer when this tandem duo steps through the door) as we attended the Grand Opening of the new TJ Maxx in Silverthorne. Perhaps you too were there - it did seem that not only all of Summit County was there but much of the front range as well. The parking lot was stuffed beyond capacity which in my book is the perfect reason to head in completely the opposite direction but if I contributed anything at all to this outing it was being lucky enough to score a parking space where we didn’t have to hike in from, like, Utah. 

We knew about the Grand Opening  after seeing signs announcing the coming event when we stopped into the  shopping center a couple of weeks ago to have lunch at one of our favorite mountain eateries - the Sunshine Cafe - and noticed a lot of work going on at what had been an empty store front after the Office Max shut down months ago. Hopefully the extra ‘X’ in the newest Maxx will bring better luck than the prior purveyor of office supplies had. And if the crowds on Sunday are any indication they’re off to a good start. Just getting into the store was no mean feat but we surfed the wave of humanity and made it through safely. Once inside there was no hesitation as my wife and mother in law were off like greased lightning. I had no hope of keeping up but gave it my best shot until I saw my nemesis out of the corner of my eye. 

Shopping Nirvana (at least in my book)

Like I said at the beginning of this blog I’m good at some things and one of the things I’m best at is spotting a cozy bench or chair in a store. And this one, miracle of miracles, was unoccupied! Heck, I thought, what better vantage point to watch two Masters  and thousands of their fellow aficionados do their thing than perched on a comfy nice new red bench that looked like it was placed there just for me. Well, tell you what, it wasn’t unoccupied for long and before you could say “I’m a  Maxanista” I had made myself at home as the hordes around me surged back and forth, to and fro, all around me. I was an island in a storm of shopping craziness and I could only watch with eyes wide open  at least until my eyelids grew heavy, my eyes glazed over, and I was caught, I admit it, napping. Now napping and shopping don’t go together in my mother in law’s vocabulary and I’m sure she would have given me the evil eye of all evil eyes if she had seen me but she was nowhere to be seen having disappeared into the shoe section ("Aren't those white boots topped with the white fur just adorable?"). 

Hard at work, bags only half full

Now I have to admit, the new TJ Maxx in Silverthorne really does have a comfy bench and I thoroughly enjoyed my shopping-inspired siesta but way too soon ("Really? We've been here for two hours?") I was being rudely awakened and told to get with the program. Kudos to my wife and mother in law though - they made good use of their time while I was busy catching ZZZ's. By the time I awoke they had filled their TJ Maxx shopping bags to the brim and were ready to get in line to check out. The lines for the registers stretched all the way to the back of the store at times, which kinda upset me. What with a 30 minute wait to give TJ Maxx all of our money was there any good reason to wake me up so soon? OK, I do tend to be a little grumpy right after nap time. So I made the same Executive Decision any four year old would make and stayed planted right where I was but eventually the line did actually move and it was time to bid our Grand Opening TJ Maxx Adventure adieu. But wait, right next store the Sierra (formerly Sierra Trading Post) store was also having their Grand Opening so guess where I was headed? Yup, to look for a new bench... 

Just in time...

Even though the calendar says November I'm not quite sure I'm ready for the cool (cold?) and cloudy weather that has descended upon us in the last couple of days. How about you? It did give me the perfect excuse to huddle with my laptop and put together the last of my Fall trip videos to round out those on Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks as well as Earthquake Lake. The video below captures some of the Fall colors and gorgeous views we were able to see during our mid October travels through Grand Teton National Park.  Thankfully we had wonderful weather, a far cry from the gloomy skies outside my window as I write this. I've seen this part of the country in the middle of summer a couple of times but always count myself lucky to be able to visit later in the year when the days still get warm but the nights are cold and make you glad to have a warm sleeping bag or lots of blankets. Oh, and the summer crowds are just a distant memory which makes spending time with the local moose population a more intimate treat. 

We had seen a mother moose and calf back in July and think we saw them again this trip as they were contentedly munching away on the trees behind a cabin in the little town of Kelly. And one morning as I was exiting the campground men's room I stumbled into another moose rubbing its massive antlers up and down on a tree not more than ten feet away. Fortunately he was preoccupied and I was able to back up to a safe distance from which to just stand and watch. Just me and a moose sharing the quiet of a Wyoming morning. We could both see our breath in the cold air but with the sun on the rise it was the start of another perfect Fall day in Northwest Wyoming.

Our next trip was set for January when we would head below the equator to hop a cruise to Antarctica from Argentina. Unfortunately the good folks in Argentina where the cruise would start don't have any more of a handle on COVID than we do here in Colorado right now so travel to Buenos Aires is off limits and alas we've canceled that trip until some future non-COVID date. Who knows when that will be, if ever, but one hopes for the best while planning for the worst. 

Instead of visiting penguins we're now planning on heading to Florida and the Keys for a bicycle trip with the fun folks at Senior Cycling who go by the moniker of "Fun Folks On Spokes". Its not exactly Ride the Rockies or the Triple ByPass, or my favorite Leadville 100, but who's to argue with cycling flat terrain at sea level while being coddled in a swanky hotel every night as you slowly (very slowly) meander across 44 islands and over 42 bridges between Key Largo and Key West in shirt sleeves and shorts (Key West averages daytime January temps of about 75 degrees - yup, no penguins). Instead of moose we'll have our sights on Manatees and dolphins.  

Well that's enough for now. It's Election Day and I hear tell some folks in Denver still haven't voted. I'm casting my ballot in favor of Flipper, Bullwinkle, and Gentle Ben this year. Anyway, grab a mug of hot chocolate, grab a blanket and curl up on the couch and spend a couple of moments visiting one of the prettiest places on the planet on a day that was warm and the sun was still shining...