Naples, art, reconnecting with friends, beach, and recovery

And now I'm in Naples with a slight delay in posting. I was in a 3 day art workshop taught by my previous teacher and good friend Patty which kinda put everything else to the side. Great workshop and saw many old faces and met some new ones. Patty and I got to catch up after the workshop as it's been over a year since she moved to the other side of Florida. We stepped right in as if it had been 5 minutes ago. Nice when time and distance don't mean a thing.

As predicted by Mark there's been enough time since the hurricane before I got down that a lot of clean up has happened. So much damage as of course Naples took a direct hit. We were extremely lucky and our place is whole but many were not as lucky. Very impressed with how much hard work in clearing has gone on. Everywhere you look though, homes with roof damage, pool screens ripped off, and gaping holes where immense trees once stood. That's minor of course compared to those people who remain homeless and there are many. There is still FEMA presence here for some time to come. Below are the 25 year old banyan trees on my morning walk that were mostly flattened and upended. The crews have tried to right a number of them to see if they might survive. Sure hope so.

Our "new" ugly duck. She, at least I think it's a she, showed up in the first 10 minutes I was at the condo looking for a bread handout. She squeaks which is different than all the others. They've been completely mute.

Patty and I made it to the beach her last morning. We both love this particular one (Delnor-Wiggins) for the same reasons - its been kept fairly wild, nature in glory. Hardly any people but those that were there were busy: fishing, painting or just enjoying. So happy the beach was not destroyed by Irma.

The weather has cooled off to lovely 70's. Don't know if that's it for summer heat but enjoying the heck out of it now. When you can open up your lanai and enjoy the outside you do understand why people flock to Florida. I am off on another trip out of town this week, this time to Charleston to see Tiffany and family in their new home. Can't wait!

In Miami, no snow here!

And in Florida we are - Miami to be exact. It is astounding how little damage the buildings in downtown actually had in the hurricane. These are all recently built (in the last few decades)and are supposed to be hurricane proof but I'll bet some people were biting their nails over the "supposed" during the storm. The construction cranes that came crashing down were also supposed to withstand hurricane winds and did not.

One lone cruise ship

The landscaping took a bigger hit, but crews whizzed away the fallen trees and piles of debris before I got down here. The palm trees were mostly all standing, with brown fronds, but upright. Mother nature did a wonderful job engineering them.

Fishing boats on the way out

Still very warm in Florida - high 80's and humidity. A big gulp from me to try and adjust. It will start cooling down in the next couple of weeks, so I can surely manage.

Sunrise from the highrise. Some pretty spectacular skies here. And weirdness too, fireworks were going off in the middle of downtown around noon today. What was that about?

We've had a little fun for the few days we've been here. Out to dinner, walking there actually, to Trulucks, a small semi national chain of high end seafood restaurants, and stopped at the Mandarin for breakfast on our exercise walk. Nice to be a hop, skip, and jump away from good food. And now I'm off to Naples tomorrow with Mark following in a couple days. Back to you from there.

First snowstorm and goodbyes

This is the last post from Star Mt. for a very long time. We are Florida bound. It looks a bit different than last post right? Clearly the weather wanted us to have the whole experience before we left. 6 inches of snow at the house. It's still melting as I write two days later.

And as expected, the cowboys showed up to take our cattle away, good timing as it was right before the storm. It's like a ballet really, they move slowly, making invisible movements with their horses that cause those cattle to just stay in line and wander down the road. No cattle until next June. Our gates are now open, we still have two even after replacing one with a cattle guard last summer.

Hunting week was unsuccessful for Mark and Paul. They saw a lot of elk on the hunting ground just didn't have a clear shot. The elk above were right around our house one morning where of course there is no hunting. Clearly saying hahaha to Mark and Paul. This big bull came after a few minutes delay behind his harem. Next year....

During the snowstorm we had a ton of deer appear, looking just a little bit confused, but kept right on eating anyway. This was the cutest little boy fawn who was right outside our window.

Twas a bit crazy to have the snow but so so gorgeous, especially with the last bits of color. Yes I walked just not during the storm.

Post storm there were naps- in the snow in front of our house. No sign of Flap in this group. Have to wait until next spring apparently. Our deer spa continues on, if only for a little longer before they leave for the winter.

Bye house for now. There'll be a lot more snow than this when we get back.

And leaves are blowin' in the wind

Carbon Peak

This has been a week of contrasts. Rain, snow, sleet, leaves turning, leaves flying off in the wind, brilliant sunshine. We don't know how to dress here currently.

Ahhh, the annual fall roundups. This was on my way home, the one way in, one way out road. These are not "ours" but I'm keeping an eye out for our rancher. Ours will go any day now. The cowboys are spending a lot of time bringing herds down from the high mountains where the cattle have been roaming free all summer. Ours are contained within the community fence. Much easier job to move them.

A random lady in a car rolled down her window and volunteered to take a group photo- thank you!

This past weekend on Ohio Pass - gorgeous, snow spitting, and those of you familiar with the photo spot on the pass - can you believe the amount of people? It was crazy and the most we've ever seen up there. Paul and Sherry had just gotten here and we went trekking to CB for breakfast. Yes, Paradise for those wondering. Yum.

Elk hunting week, which is why Paul and Sherry are here. Sherry to observe and of course Mark has been up there hunting on off work time. Lots of hunting but no shots taken with still a few days to go. We always love having Paul and Sherry visit no matter what the reason!

Baldwin mining cabin

Another Baldwin mining cabin

Fall is now on the waning end. I ran around and took as many photos as I could before the falling off started. There's always a new view, a new perspective. It never gets old. And people actually lived in those cabins in the late 1800's. In this severe winter of -25 and hundreds of inches of snow. How??

Strange combo but its peaceful coexistence

Creatures are out and about and there's a big shift about to happen here. Deer and elk move to less snowy areas, bear find their homes for the big winter sleep, small creatures such as weasels and snowshoe rabbits turn white to match the snow coming, and the smallest ( chipmunks and mice) will hunker down in deep burrows for a torpid semi dormant winter sleep.

Mark and I leave for Florida in 10 days. We'll be back for our winter fix but that won't be for quite awhile. Trying to fit in everything we can in the meantime. This place feeds my soul, and with all the current tragedies and trauma it serves as a place of solace. Peace to all...