Happy New Year!

I love New Year's Day with its endless potential all stretched out before us like a fresh blanket of snow, just waiting for our footsteps to fill it in. We can plod through it, one step at a time, as though it were a drudgery, our heads down, never seeing the horizon beyond, or we can go forth lightly and easily, stopping along the way to make snow angels or snowmen or ice castles or anything else our imaginations can dream up, all the while with our eyes on the distant sky, the final destination, the goal, the prize; whatever that may be for each of us.

May your journey through 2012 be as light and easy as possible.

 

Mountain Top Christmas Tree

A Christmas tree burns brightly on a moonlit
mountain top, bringing cheer to all below.

The people who live on the other side of the mountain from us always have a beautiful Christmas tree lit up for the season. It stands as a bright beacon all across the valley and we are lucky enough to be able to see it from our bedroom window. 

Conifer Christmas Parade 2011

The annual Conifer Christmas Parade is one of the highlights of the year and last Saturday's event was no exception. Despite the 10-degree temperature and light snow, it seemed as though the entire town turned out to witness the spectacle. Below is a slideshow of this year's highlights. Until I redesign this site and widen the template, you'll have to view a larger version here. 

Click on the music player below the slideshow for some holiday spirit!

view a larger version here

Horses are always a big part of the parade.

Light the Lights

Denver's City and County
Building Springs to Light

The holiday season in the city is always special and tonight marks one of the highlights of the season in Denver: The lighting of the City and County Building. 

In 2009, the city replaced the old incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs, which last more than six times longer.

Denver's City and County building, all lit up for the holidays.

For those of you in the area, the lights can be viewed through January 22nd from 5:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. at the city and county building on Bannock Street between 13th and 14th streets.

According to Yahoo Travel, Denver ranks 4th in top cities for Holiday lights.

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Most Haunted Hotel in America

A Scary Treat for You on Halloween:

Adventures at the Stanley Hotel

According to a recent Travelocity article, the #1 most haunted hotel in America is the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

We've been guests of the Stanley several times over the years. This 100 year-old hotel is reported to be haunted and was the inspiration for Stephen King's book "The Shining," which was made into a film by Stanley Kubrick and a mini-series, which aired on ABC in 1997. 

The following video, made on the 100th anniversary of the hotel in 2009, contains some photos of the hotel as well as stills from the movies and recounts some of our experiences there. Be patient. This is a large file and may take some time to load.

 

If the video doesn't load, or you want to see
a larger version, you can also view it here.

Many strange occurrences take  place at this hotel. You'll have to spend a night at the Stanley to judge for yourself whether the hauntings there are fact. . . or fiction.

Fall: A Time for New Beginnings

Regrettably, I've been on quite an extended leave of absence from this blog. Life has been very busy--and full of change--for this family. My daughter graduated from high school last May and just recently got her driver's license, a car of her own, and started classes at a nearby community college (30 miles away but nearby for us), where she's studying photography and journalism. Armed with my old camera and a new MacBook, she is now officially launched into adulthood and I am (mostly) free of parenting and chauffeur duties and school volunteer work so perhaps I'll be able to update this blog more often and devote more time to EcoPrints.


I'd like to get back into the swing by posting a photo to mark this first day of fall, as fall is my absolute favorite season.

Skyward Aspens

Autumn on Conifer Mountain

There is a harmony

In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,

Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been!

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

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 Click on the image below to view more nature photos.

Turn Out the Lights

Take Action for Earth Hour 2011


I love the spirit of this Global event. If we are going to
make a difference for this planet, it will take us all.

What will you do for Earth Hour 2011?

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A Rose for You on Valentine's Day

“We cannot all do great things,
but we can do small things with great love.”

-- Mother Teresa

May the small things of life bring you great love.

This photo was taken with a rather large camera--a scanner!

I learned about this unique photographic technique from "Photography by Jules." See her extraordinary images here.

Leonid Meteor Showers at Peak

We are lucky to live where we do, for a number of reasons, but one big one is for the awe inspiring views of the night sky and the meteor showers we are blessed with from time to time. Being on the top of a mountain, mostly away from city lights, gives us the perfect perch from which to study the stars.

There isn't a night that goes by that we don't see a shooting star or two (and several satellites) if we happen to be outside but a few times a year we are treated to some spectacular displays. One of those displays is happening right now. The Leonids. The Leonid meteor showers get their name because they appear to come from the constellation Leo and they streak across the sky every year around this time. "The shower is caused by material left behind the comet Tempel-Tuttle when it passes near Earth's orbit during its regular trip through the solar system."

In years past we have seen some amazing fireballs race across the sky, leaving long,  shimmering tails in their wake. They are a sight to see.

"The annual Leonids should be at their best through Nov. 18, according to skywatching experts. Avid meteor gazers graced with clear skies may see between 15 and 20 meteors per hour.

"Skywatchers should look toward the constellation Leo in the eastern sky to see "shooting stars" from the Leonids, which appear to radiate out of the constellation. The best time to try to see the Leonids are in the last two or three hours before sunrise, when the moon has set."


One of these days I'll get the gear I need to do my own astrophotography but for now I'll have to settle for the above photos from Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Read more on the Leonids here.

Nuts? I Don't Think So.

Who Needs Nuts When You Can Eat Mushrooms?

As I was fetching more wood from our wood pile I came across several rather large stashes of dried mushrooms, carefully gathered from the forest and hidden there by one of our resident squirrels. I hated to disturb his winter food stores so I tried to carefully put them back where I found them, all the while being loudly scolded by said squirrel as he watched me from a nearby tree. I know we will continue to disturb his precious mushrooms as we deplete the wood pile over the winter but I hope he will be able to find them again when the snow gets deep and food is scarce.

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I told this story a couple of weeks ago on "Do You See What I See,"  my friend Dianne's photo blog, when she posted this photo. Her photo reminded me of the above photo I took several years ago in a Denver park.

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To see more nature photos click on the link below.