Crisp air, rustling leaves, and a baby arrives

38 degrees this morning. Chillier nights, aspen leaves turning by the day, and deer turning from brown to gray can only mean one thing: fall is arriving. I know it's still monstrously hot in many parts of the country but here the change of seasons goes so fast. Too fast for me. Our leaves will have turned and fallen off before other areas even think about the changing colors.

Cashmere goats

sweet

Hello little boy

red tail hawk

The sights and sounds of the season. Lots of animals moving around. We've seen red fox, coyote, weasels (well one, who loves to race up and down the deck and roll around on the barbecue mat),  and a ton of deer that surround the house in the mornings eating the last green grass. A great horned owl regularly perches on our roof peak at dusk and whoo whoos in the night. No more bear sightings though. There is still time though.

And most importantly, the breathlessly awaited event has happened. Meet Aubrey Lee Trimm. Born one day before her due date - how efficient. I'm drooling all over my screen in anticipation of holding her. I leave in a few days to help out for a couple of weeks. Yippee!

Santa Fe family visit and fall is coming

Hard to believe but we've had a whole other family visit come and go. This time was most of our family in Santa Fe - Lisa, Charles, Chase, Heli, and little Layla. Missing you Nancy and Rodney!
It was very short but everyone seemed to have a great time. And of course they all made it to the Stash and Third Bowl with an added toy store visit. So great to see them all. It's been too long!
Mark made it in after horrendous plane travel where everything that could go wrong did, leaving him with only a couple of hours to visit before everyone had to take off for back home in Santa Fe. Better than nothing at all.

Heli, Layla, and Lisa -Layla is my great niece and Penny and Jules 2nd cousin

Sweet sweet family. And a hard working bunch too - running a food truck and catering for TV and movie production companies. Check out Palate food truck Santa Fe. Terrific food if you're in the area!

The 4 amigos. They showed up under our deck right before everyone got here. Stayed resting for 2 hours. The photos under the deck aren't great but I had to sneak up by the window and take stealth pics. They probably would have hopped in the hammock to continue the relaxation if they could have. Just gorgeous bucks in velvet.

Layla enjoying some of Penny and Jules stash of toys 

Layla, a girl of many faces and outfits...

It started off fairly warm but breezy, then got to the downright chilly. As you can tell some people do not feel the cold - at all.

This little girl never stops moving. Layla jumped on the girls' scooter for her first time and took off like a shot. Even developed a couple of tricks before she was done. She brought her bike in case there wasn't enough to do. Buzzed around for a bit also talking a mile a minute at the same time. Multi talented - I expect to hear about star athlete Layla one day...

Fall is definitely in the air, most of the hummingbirds have left, haying is almost complete, and temps are starting to drop in tiny increments. An explosion of yellow, orange, and red color is next. I'll likely miss most of it - Heather and Brian's baby is soon to arrive and I'll be jumping on a plane to go back east where fall will not have started. Our seasons are short except for winter and that one is lonnnngggg.

Summer company fun continues

Another activity packed week with a family visit. This time Cliff and Tish came over from Houston and escaped the heat. It went by in a flash and much fun was had.

Crested Butte Art Festival! We actually ran into it by accident thinking it was a regular farmer's market day. Stupendous art was everywhere. Artists from many states and was a great event.

Took a jeeping trip up Carbon Creek and Red Mountain. Gorgeous views and ancient volcano lava fields.

Flap

Flap again

Just as if I ordered it up Flap appeared one morning. It had been a few weeks since she had visited. She is usually quite the loner but came with a group this time. Could be some of her many children, hard to say.

Of course Secret Stash and Third Bowl were on the agenda. The town is still crazy crowded as you can see. Last few weeks and then it will go quiet. Tiny signs of fall are starting to show with fields turning golden and the first few aspen leaves starting to turn yellow.

Made it up Mill Creek to show Cliff and Tish the sights. Perfect day and we had more horses than humans on the trail.

And this is the crime wave in Crested Butte

Back to dinner in CB. Cliff and Tish were definitely making the most of their week here, and I got to join along.

Aaand the magic spring water

Had to post this pic to show the immensity -That's Cliff & Tish as microscopic figures on the bottom road.

Mark will be back for a week starting Saturday and more company to come, from Santa Fe this time. It's all so much fun - love the company! In the meantime, I'm on baby watch. We'll see when that baby girl decides to come into the world.