fire fire

 

Colorado is burning and I don't imagine that you need me to fill you in on that tidbit of news. More fires seem to pop up daily, here in Durango, and it is scary and daunting. Mother Nature is doing a bit of house keeping. My in-laws have been in the thick of it in the Mancos fires and Durango is virtually surrounded. 

This is just down the road from us. We hear the helicopters all day. They suck up water in this mega cool helicopter or scoop it up into huge hanging bags and then fly over the ridge and dump it on the fires.

Monsoon season starts today, officially. 

Pray for rain, you guys. 

In the meantime we will be swimming in the wake and waves of these monster copters. We wait till they clear the water and cheer for them and wave and dive in. 

The bizarre disturbance to the water brings out all sorts of crazy creatures. Lewis came eyeball to eyeball with a muskrat otter thingy. He screamed like bloody hell and almost drowned. 

Oh we laughed!

Come on rain!

the wandering dinner

What is summer without a block party? My beautiful neighbor, Kristin, made these darling invites and we distributed them to everyone in our valley plus some (75 mailboxes), and told them to bring their friends and family. I have my head in the sand as to how many people this could be, and I think that's a good approach. It beats heart attack mode, right?

For dinner, we are making a simple mint and pea pasta and serving it with a red and white Italian wine. I'm thinking that a large vat of minty pink lemonade would be fun for the kids. If I had a recipe, I'd share it, and I will let you know how it goes. I have gathered the mint and am now gathering my wits. I will clean a little, but after having a bevy of kids here all day, I'm not expecting any miracles. 

Just fun. 

Bikes, meeting lots of new folks, yummy Italian foods and wines, and just plain old fun. I am always a little disconcerted that we can live so close to so many people and hardly know who they are. This should remedy that! My kids are beside themselves...ready to ride and meet and greet!

How does your neighborhood bond? 

I'd love to know!

art in nature

This week we took a closer look at the amazing things that reside right in in front of us, but that we often fail to notice. A closer look at a branch, or a weed, or a seed pod, or a patch of dirt can reveal some awesome stuff. With a little help from one my favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy, we made our art out of nature, and the results were just beautiful. 

My hope was that some quiet time in the woods with nothing but a friend and some natural gathered materials would lead to a bit of inspiration and it happened. The bigger boys found logs and large branches and made a fort in between some boulders. The younger kids found berries, feathers, and leaves and made beautiful designs. 

We walked around the dappled woods and talked about our creations and our thoughts when making them, and the comments were so sweet and well thought out. I am always amazed by children and their bright minds.

The backyard can be an infinite place when our eyes are wide open. 

Get yourself to a library and get any books you can by Andy. Look at them with your children. Let them try to guess how he made his creations. 

Go outside. Make art.

Here are some fun Andy Goldsworthy creations for inspiration.

I told Matt that I want our woodpile to look like this.
He's on it.

take a walk in the woods

Max did this back country camping trip last summer and loved it! Loved it! He caught his own trout for dinner out of a high mountain lake and made new friends while stretching his wings. This is an amazing deal and if you live in the area you might want to jump on it. It's an amazing camp run by amazing people!

****

Sonlight Christian Camp is experiencing a low registration for NEXT WEEK’S Wilderness Week for Boys camp. So, we would like to offer a “LAST MINUTE SPECIAL” for boys who would like to join this short week of camp.  The tuition for this 4 day camp is lowered to only $ 99.00. (All registered boys will receive a refund to the new tuition amount of $ 99.00.)

The wilderness focus camp is for boys entering 5^th, 6^th, 7^th or 8^th grades. It is June 24-27 which is next Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning .  The boys will hike one mile into the Weminunche Wilderness where a base camp will be set for them. They will sleep in tents and eat at the base camp. Two of Sonlight’s experienced guide will be with them. Hikes to Four Mile Falls, Quien Sabe mountain and evening campfire discussions will all be a part of this great adventure. Sonlight supplies all the gear, equipment, food. We even provide the fun. Go to http://www.sonlightcamp.org/backpacking/wwb.php for more information or call the camp.

Please join us for this introduction camp “ into the wild”. Please let us know by Thursday morning, June 21, if you would like to be a part of this great fun.

Thanks and Vaya Con Dios,

Winston Marugg, Executive Director

Sonlight Christian Camp

970-264-4379 or registrat@sonlightcamp.org

this week

Will you teach us graffiti? Hhhhmmm.

Melting crayons.

Swimming the gauntlet. Very chilly. And awesome.

Spotting trout. (and nests, and butterflies galore)

Catching salamanders and mud dogs. Thrilling!

Concocting sidewalk paint. 

Making and gobbling raspberry cobbler and cream!

Max taught everyone how to make survival bracelets.

 

Della and I are off on a girls river trip for the rest of the week!

See you soon!

a word from my sponsors

 From Sparkle!

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Go here to order your copy right away for Dad or the man in your life! It’s only nine dollars! Throw in a Mancos T-shirt and you are the very epitome of cool.

Lew and Cyrus, our next door neighbor, will lounge on the porch at the end of a long day and play checkers. Too tired to run wild anymore, but not quite 'done'. 

They are like old men. Cantankerous and moody, a little touchy with fatigue but still pushing.

They lean way back in their chairs and struggle to summon up the energy to make a move.

They're snippy.

"GO! Do you want to be here all night?!" says Lew.

"It's your turn." says Cryus.

"Oh."

Another friend will not play checkers on my stump because the men don't slide. It's too hard, he says.

I find that fascinating. How stuck we can get in the very smallest of ways that are actually not so small. 

Don't get stuck, OK? Big or small, stay nimble.

Word. 

peace, love and rainbows

 

The theme for the first week of summer vacation was peace, love and rainbows. I'm not really a theme-y type, but it does lend a little structure to our days.

Firewood seems to be a theme for me, too. If you hang out here much, you know that we are always dealing with firewood. Personally, I prefer the blank canvas aspect of our summer woodpile to the endless mountain of fuel, winter woodpile. Watch out for more firewood projects, I'm a little obsessed!

An old branch from the yard and some salt dough make fun and easy mobiles. Limit the colors you dispense and have them experiment with different shades of the same colors.  

Craft Project of the Week!

If you don't have a hair dryer, today is the day to get one. Hot glue crayons to a piece of cardboard and blow dry on hot till you have a fabulous melty rainbow. Hours o' fun! They will whine for more.

Rainbow sherbet and ginger ale floats were a necessity. 

 

Peace Y'all!

the friday five

Five things we will do this weekend.........

Pick some greens from the backyard and make arugala and onion pakoras with pineapple mint lassis.

Sign up for summer reading at the library. I love summer reading programs, always have. Make sure that the library is a place that your kids have warm fuzzies for...sign them up and help them shine!

Sit around and do nothing...but listen to my chatterbox children, read magazines, and brainstorm craft projects. I have a personal purring zen management device that aids in lounging around and accomplishing nothing productive. He's an idiot but I love him.

 Make more lemon lickers. When life hands you lemons make lemonade. And then make lemon lickers. These were a hit this week. Pour a little of the lemonade back into lemon halves and freeze in an egg carton. Pop a berry or mint leaf in there if you're feeling frisky. Serve the next day, when lemonade is a distant memory.

And spend an enormous amount of time rubbing on this new summer do. He loves it! Says he feels stronger. Kids are so awesome. This is such a tangible sign of summer and our first 'buzz' cut ever...it might just become a tradition.

Hope your weekend is lovely!

hello summer