Tag Archives: colorado

Favorite Fall Is in the Air!

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In my last post I wrote about spring and summer (“Summer is icumen in”).  Perhaps it is appropriate that I focus on fall and winter for this blog!  I should call this post “Winter is icumen in.”  Today is the … Continue reading →

Summer is icumen in

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You may be wondering about this title. It is the opening line from one of my favorite medieval English poems from the 13th century. Many of you already know that I am a bit strange, but perhaps you didn’t also know that in years past I was also a medieval scholar. One of my great joys in life was seeing an early manuscript of this poem in the British Museum. Looking at that old manuscript, written around 800 years ago, reminds us of our common human heritage and bond.

This little poem is about the annual renewal of life and hope. It seems to be an apt thought for this blog. For too long now. I have neglected my writings, so it is also time for me to experience a bit of a renewal. My Muse is once again calling me to devote more time to writing. It is far too easy to allow ourselves to be diverted from our chosen paths by the superficial things in life. We get lost in the I’ll get to it tomorrow syndrome.

After the long, hard winter, spring has finally blossomed, and the poet is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the warm days of summer.  The words below look a bit strange, but if you read them aloud, you will quickly get the gist of the meaning.                   

                  Summer is icumen in
                  Lhude sing! Cuccu.
                  Groweth sed and bloweth med
                  And springth the wude nu--
                  Sing!  Cuccu
                                                                  
                        Medieval English Lyrics, ed. by RT Davis

As you can readily observe, spelling and punctuation were a bit optional in the 13th century.  Of course, I fear spelling and punctuation are still a bit optional for too many people today!      

Life was tough in those days for the average person.  The late Middle Ages was that difficult time before the birth of the Renaissance.  Wealthy nobility and landlords owned all the lands.  The Church held sway over virtually every aspect of life.  The fear of demons, hellfire, and damnation ran rampant throughout society.  The various trade guilds marked the slight emergence of a middle class within the old feudal system.  Imagine a life with no cell phones, selfies, Starbucks, or McDonalds!  A good meal probably consisted of some boiled onions and turnips.  I’m not a big fan of fast food, but I think I’ll take a Big Mac and a latte!

So, did you figure out the little verse?  Summer is coming, so it must be spring.  Sing loud, Cuckoo!  The seed is growing and the meadows are in bloom.  The trees are leafing out.  Sing, Cuckoo!  Cuckoos spend the winters in Africa, and arrive back in the UK in early spring.  Our unknown poet is regaling in the many signs of spring. 

I gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Medieval Woodcuts Clipart Collection (www.godecookery.com) for allowing non-commercial use of their amazing collection of medieval woodcuts.  Visit their website to see more pictures of life in medieval England.

Wishing you a happy springtime every day of your life.  No matter the season, let your life be filled with the joys of spring!

                Sing, Cuckoo, sing!                   

Close Encounters of the Moose Kind

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After dinner last Friday evening,  Stella was pestering so I thought I would take her for a quick little after dinner walk. It was dusky, but still light out.  I  took her for a short stroll up the driveway.  We went up the drive and down the road a short way and were cutting through the woods right behind our bedroom to go home, a really brief little evening walk.

 Suddenly Stella froze and started to growl and bark.  My first thought was that it was a squirrel or even a coyote.  Then I looked, and there they were!  A moose cow and calf, about 40’ feet away. Now to put this in perspective, the baby, the calf, was about the size of a quarter horse, and Mom was about the the size of a Clydesdale but with skinnier legs.

We live in a heavily wooded area, primarily the tall, lanky Lodgepole Pines. With snow on the ground, it is very difficult to distinguish between dark tree trunks and those black moose legs! Your eyes and your imagination can play tricks on you. Is that a moose or just a tree swaying in the wind?

Now there are a few basics about moose that you need to know:

1.  They are really big!
2.  They  (thankfully) have bad eyesight.
3.  They hate dogs!  They are pretty stupid, and their only natural predator is the wolf.  They wouldn’t know the difference between a wolf and a Corgi, let alone an Irish Setter!
4.  Momma moose are very protective of their young and VERY aggressive, even for babies who are almost as big as they are!  In fact, they are just plain mean to everyone and everything.
5.  Did I mention that they are VERY big?

So, to continue, Stella started barking, and both moose headed toward us.  Time to retreat!  Pardon my French, but I about you-know-what in my pants!  I grabbed Stella and started a retreat!  She managed to wrap her leash around a little tree!  Oh shit!  I get the leash unwrapped from around the tree.  I  didn’t even bother with the retractor on the leash, just wrapped it around my hand and headed down the slope behind the house.  The moose kept coming!  Heart rate increasing — 100, 120, 150!   I yelled for Bill, but inside the house, he couldn’t hear me!

Stella,  in a rare stroke of doggie wisdom, stopped barking and stayed as close to me as possible as we quickly headed down the slope behind the bedroom, around the garage, and to the front door.  I think she realized this was no laughing matter!  The moose finally decided that checking out things to munch on was more interesting than following us further!  Thank God!

Have to admit, I was feeling pretty trembly when we got into the house.  I saw my life  flashing before my eyes!  A few years ago a couple of women about five miles from us who were walking their dogs in the morning were attacked.  They ended up in ICU, and one died, so I have a very healthy respect for these vile creatures! 

I must have been as white as a ghost because Bill quickly asked me what was wrong.  We all three rushed into the bedroom and looked out the window.  There they were!   These photos were taken from the relative security of the bedroom window.  Guess I need to start carrying my pistol!  

Since this little episode, Stella and I both peer into the woods around us when we walk just in case our little visitors might be lurking there in the trees. As I think back on this rather frightening episode, I think that Stella’s barking definitely caused the moose to head toward us, but at the same time if she hadn’t alerted me, I could have just unwittingly triggered their wrath without warning. Oh well, such is life in the Colorado mountains. It’s pretty bad when a bear or a mountain lion seems like a less scary option!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2019

What Happened to Spring?

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This is definitely the year of the winter that wasn’t and the spring that isn’t!  Today is May 3, and it snowed all day.  Now the fog in the backyard looks like a scene out of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”  The snow is starting to come down again.  Last night the weatherman said we could get 5 to 10 inches overnight and even more today.  Now wait a minute; what happened to spring?  We’re probably due for a couple more good snows this month.  I think for my next career I’ll be a weatherman, or weatherwoman as the case may be.  Of course, if I want to be totally PC, I would have to be a weather person.  What other job can you have where you can be wrong half the time and still keep your job?

Last week, I returned from a business trip on Wednesday night and told my husband that it was time to make some hummingbird nectar.  He told me that it was too early, but I said no, I have a feeling they’ll be here soon.  Sure enough, I made the hummingbird solution and put it in the refrigerator to cool.  The very next morning, I heard the distinctive whirring sound of hummingbird wings.  Hurriedly, I filled the feeder and hung it out on the deck.  There she was, happily sipping on her morning meal!

By the way, do you know how to make up the yummy solution for them?  Use a three to one ratio of water to sugar; in other words, one cup of sugar to three cups of water.  Heat to a simmer, just enough to totally dissolve the sugar.  There is no need for a full boil.  Once they figure out where the feeders are, you can actually move to a four to one ratio, but I confess that I indulge them and stick with the 3:1 all season!  Please, no red food coloring!  It is bad for them (and for us as well).  They’ll find the feeders!

On one memorable occasion, my sweet hubby mixed up some hummingbird solution while I was out of town.  I said to use a 3:1 ratio.  Unfortunately I did not specify that the 3 was water, and the 1 was the sugar.  He told me on the phone that it looked a little “thick.”  After a little further discussion, we determined what the problem was.  A little more hot water for a little more dilution soon corrected the problem!

People generally refer to the hummingbirds that we see in the summer months here in Colorado as ruby-throated hummingbirds, but in reality, the ruby-throats are rarely found in Colorado.  The ones we have are broad-tailed hummingbirds.  Like the ruby-throats, they have a red patch on the throat.  Now, I’m not quite enough of an ornithologist to details all the differences; I’ll  leave that to the experts!

A few years ago, on a trip to Curaçao in the Caribbean, we saw numerous brilliant royal blue and green hummingbirds whirling around everywhere.  I enjoy birdwatching in an amateur sort of way.  As best I can tell, what we saw were blue-tail emerald hummingbirds, but I certainly would not swear to that!

OK, back to the Rockies!  It snowed all day today, resulting in our biggest snow of the year, almost 20 inches.  This is that heavy wet, sticky spring snow, the kind that grabs your skis if you’re on the slopes and that your car doesn’t like to turn in.  The refrain you hear repeatedly around here, both from the newscasters and your friends and neighbors is that we need the moisture.  I can certainly accept that, but at the same time, I am ready to see my aspen trees show a few leaves and to see those first green shoots of the columbine and various other wild flowers.  At the same time, I really don’t mind these late spring snows.  They quickly melt away, and before long we’ll be enjoying those long, warm summer days!

©Eclectic Grandma, 2018

Thoughts on Meditation

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Do you meditate?  I have meditated off and on for about forty years.  I always envision meditation as a total calmness of the mind like the still surface of a Maine lake at dawn.  The dark glassy surface of the water is broken only by an occasional ripple, and the very air is suffused with a golden glow.  My meditation, on the other hand is more like a rainstorm hitting a giant mud puddle!  Splat! Splat! Splat!  My mind just cannot seem to be still.  “I need to buy dog food.”  “Did I mail the insurance payment?”  “Where did I put that new tee shirt,” and on and on.

I read somewhere that prayer is when we talk to God, and meditation is when we sit quietly and listen to the reply.  “Be still and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46: 10).  Deepak Chopra and the late Wayne Dyer, two of my favorite writers, often spoke of being the observer or the watcher of your thoughts and just gently nudging the stray thoughts aside. On those rare moments when you succeed in transcending your own chattering mind, it is indeed a feeling of total peace and oneness with the Universe or the Divine, whatever term you prefer.  I can only liken it to the sensation of peacefully floating in an endless, dark space.

Over the years I have tried any number of meditation methods and techniques, some effective and some not so great.  There was the candle meditation where you sit in the lotus position and stare at a flickering candle.  While it is somewhat hypnotic, I figured I was probably going to singe my hair or burn the house down.  I’ve tried repeating a mantra over and over, but always got bogged down in the words!  I always lost track of the complicated Indian mantras, and the ones I made up myself never quite worked.

Then there was the sound meditation using the ahhhh’s and ohmm’s.  Now that is somewhat satisfying as the sounds echo internally through your head; however, it is hard to do nice resounding ahhhh’s and ohmm’s at home.  Your family thinks you are crazy, and even the dogs are concerned!  “Mom, are you OK?  Here, let me lick your face to make the owie go away.  Maybe I should crawl into your lap?  There, isn’t that better?”  Some people have great success with a rhythmic motion sort of meditation, so I tried the walking meditation.  This is very relaxing with a one-two-three rhythm somewhat like a waltz.  While walking you can do a short mantra.  I liked Peace-Light-Love, nice cadence and movement.  Alas, when you are walking in the woods being tugged along by a 100-pound dog, it can be hazardous, not to mention fallen trees and rocks just waiting to trip you!  I guess the walking meditation is best for people who live next to a golf course or a city park, not for those of us who live in the Colorado mountains.

I’ve tried the breathing sort of practices where you breath in through one nostril (while closing off the other nostril) to a count of four, hold it for a count of four, and then exhale through the other nostril for a count of four and so on.  I always felt as if I were going to suffocate and was never quite coordinated enough to master the opening and closing of each side.  Unfortunately, this method is also not overly effective if you happen to have a stuffy nose either.

So, what do I like and practice today?  I really like the chakra meditations where you focus on the seven chakras.  I may have to do a blog on this sometime in the future; it is too long and complicated to go into in today’s blog!  I also like what is called EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, better known as Tapping.  I find that Tapping works really well if I am not feeling well or am in some sort of intense emotional state, but it is not something I practice on a daily basis.  If you find this intriguing, check out Nick Ortner’s great book, The Tapping Solution   This technique has also been adopted by many psychologists and psychotherapists.  (www.thetappingsolution.com)

My favorite these days is what is called binaural sound meditation, also referred to as brain entrainment.  This involves listening to two different sounds in each ear using stereo headphones.  Although you are not consciously aware of hearing two different beats, your brain recognizes the two levels and moves to deeper brain waves.  While you consciously hear only gentle rain or ocean waves, your brain moves to deeper levels, from alpha waves to theta waves, and ultimately to delta waves.  The nice thing here is that the changes in brain waves can actually be shown and documented via EEG readings.  As you may know, our normal wide awake brain state is beta.  Alpha is that half awake-half asleep dream state,  Theta is associated with REM sleep, and delta is deep sleep.

Unfortunately, I don’t have my own EEG machine at home to measure my own waves, but no matter, the feeling of relaxation and serenity is amazing!  And the changes in the neuro pathways in your brain are permanent, so the benefits continue.  Since I always like to share what works for me, I would encourage you to take a look at Holosync (www.centerpointe.com) for more info.   In almost two years of using Holosync, I have only missed a handful of days doing the meditation, which for me is very unusual, so something must be working!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2017

 

Why I Hate Shag Carpet

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Today’s blog is a bit scatological.  If that offends you or if you don’t know what that means, you can feel free to bypass today’s read!  As I’ve noted on prior occasions, we have been blessed with a string of … Continue reading →

Things That Go bump in the Night!

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“From ghoulies and ghosties, Four leggedy beasties, And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!” Old Scottish Poem From the earliest days of the human race, mankind has sought warmth, comfort, and safety in the light. … Continue reading →

Back to School!

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I feel sorry for today’s kids;  everyone goes back to school in mid August!  When I was a kid, oh so long ago, we didn’t go back to school until after Labor Day.  Of course, in those days none of … Continue reading →

Spring at Last!

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Word of the Day:  Vernal (vur’ nəl)  “pertaining to, appearing in, or occurring in the spring.”

Last week I chatted about our big April snowstorm.  Since then we’ve only had a couple more inches a few days ago.  Patches of earth are starting to peek out from beneath the snow.  The dogs are roaming the yard more extensively now and getting out of the poop loop which sufficed them for a few days.  This afternoon I finally received the official message that spring is here; a hummingbird dive-bombed me while I was standing on the deck.  Demanding little creature!  Hastily, I ran back into the house to cook up the first sugar syrup of the year.  We go through very little sugar at our house; that is until hummingbird season starts.  Then we go through pounds and pounds of sugar until cold weather returns in the fall, and they hitch a ride south with the Canadian geese.

I am reminded of one summer day several years ago.  Chris, Sonja, and the grandsons were at our family cabin about nine miles from our house.  They called to ask about  the proportions of water and sugar for the solution for the hummingbird feeders.  I told them I usually did a 3:1 or a 4:1 water to sugar ratio. Later that day I got another call from them stating that the hummingbirds weren’t eating from the feeders.  I asked them, “You did let it cool enough after you boiled it, didn’t you?”  There was a moment of silence, followed by “Boiled it?” Ah yes, it has to be boiled into a simple syrup!

The first hummingbirds to arrive are the Western Broad Tailed Hummingbirds.  People often refer to them as Ruby Throats, but we don’t actually get the true Ruby Throats here in Colorado.  They are only found on the east coast.  To be such tiny little creatures, they are surprisingly feisty.  In late July the Rufous hummers arrive for a few weeks on their annual journey from their breeding grounds in Alaska back to their winter habitat in Mexico. They are a bright orange color with a dark throat band and are even more feisty than the others.  This commences what we call the Hummingbird Wars, which is somewhat reminiscent of the Wars of the Roses in English history.  The males of the two species spend  entire days driving one another off from the feeders.  The two types of females can’t be worried with this show of male dominance and will share the feeders with one another.  I wonder if this has applications for the human species as well?

Those of you who know me know that I am an amateur bird-watcher.  I have counted well over twenty different species of birds hanging about on our deck at various times.  We feed and water them year round, and they reciprocate by serenading us morning and night and sometime pooping on the deck railing.  Having  a heated  birdbath gives them much needed water during the winter.  Yesterday a red-tailed hawk stopped by for a visit on the railing.  All of the little birds and squirrels quickly vanished.  Somehow I think the hawk was looking for a live snack and not my sunflower seed!

It is sort of ironic that we now live so close to the cabin and property my parents purchased over fifty years ago.  For many years it was our go-to place.  Now that we live so close, we don’t go as often, especially since I can sit on my own deck and gaze at the Indian Peaks and the Continental Divide.  Some days we ask ourselves how much longer we can cope with the snow and the inconvenience, but then I look at the white-capped peaks, the bright blue sky, and the vivid green pines and know this is home!

©, 2015, The Eclectic Grandma

Be sure to check in on Friday for my visit to the Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, New York!

 

SprIngtime in the Rockies

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Word of the day:  Blizzard (bliz’ ərd) “a severe snowstorm characterized by cold temperatures and heavy drifting of snow; an overwhelming amount.”

I think we’ve been in the mountains too long!  In the past four days we’ve had almost four feet of snow.  Yes, I said four feet, not inches.  Thursday we had about ten inches, not too bad for a spring snowstorm.  We kept up with that by shoveling a couple of times during the day.  The next morning the girls woke me up at 4:30 AM to go out.  Sleepily, I took them to the back door, which opens on to the upper deck.  One look assured me that the little blind girl and the other girl with some arthritis would never make it across two decks and down the stairs.  There must have been twenty inches of white stuff on the deck that had been totally clear when we went to bed, so the girls and I went downstairs so they could walk out on to the patio and head under the decks to do their business.

Normally Colorado snow is light and fluffy, but this snow was leaden.  This was the kind of snow the Eskimos use to build igloos. It broke up into heavy white chunks somewhat like white cinderblocks and about the same weight. I decided I would try the electric snow blower on the decks while Bill tried to plow out front.  Wrong on both counts!  My little snow blower  just said, “No way I’m even trying to move that stuff!”   Our plow truck had the same idea; it couldn’t budge the snow. After a consultation with our neighbor, we all agreed that a front end loader was called for.

This snow was so wet and heavy, I could barely lift my snow shovel.  We actually have multiple styles of snow shovels, one for large areas, one for steps, one for the decks, and so on.  I think that may say we have way too much snow.   Bill likes a big heavy shovel because it is faster, but I prefer my lighter weight little plastic one.  It takes me longer as I plod along with it, but don’t forget, the tortoise won the race!

To top it all off, we had more snow on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning; we even had a bit of thunder snow which is always somewhat intriguing.  I  shoveled a “poop loop” for the girls in the back yard.  When two hundred-pound dogs can’t make it through the snow, you know it is deep and heavy.  While I was doing the poop loop, I worked from both sides; somehow that made the task seem a bit less onerous.  When I finally joined the two excavations in the middle, I knew how the builders of the first transcontinental railroad must have felt when east finally met west.  The yard is beautiful with all the white everywhere, but more suited for January and February.  Finally on Saturday, the guy with the front end loader arrived to clear the driveway, and a good thing it was too as my supply of Kendall Jackson was running dangerously low.

At least snow shoveling is satisfying in that you can clearly see where you’ve been, unlike cleaning house or other repetitive tasks like that.  One of my previous bosses told me that when you got tired of shoveling snow, you should tie a snow shovel to the roof of your car and head south.  When someone asks you, “What is that,” you know you are far enough south.  He may have had a point!

©2015, The Eclectic Grandma

Check in on Friday for another trip to Texas in “Let Them Eat Pheasant.”