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.

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.

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.

Caroling, Caroling

Holiday Magic #1

Don we now our gay apparel,

Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

Troll the ancient Yuletide carol,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

(Click on Photo for Larger View)

Joyful souls donned in gay apparel troll the ancient
Yuletide carol in Denver's festive Larimer Square. 

I've been busily preparing for the Holidays here at home but thought I should bring a little Holiday Spirit to my little corner of cyberspace as well. This was taken several years ago when my daughter was little. She was enthralled with the carolers but too shy to join them in song. Ah, those were the days. . .

We Give Thanks

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. " ~ Melody Beattie

May you be blessed with many reasons
to be thankful, this Thanksgiving and always.