lausanne

he needed a headshot
for an upcoming trip.

sohappytooblige
my very favorite human being.

outtake 1.

outtake 16.

still shooting.
i like to be thorough.

au revoir, mon amour.

DIA to LGA

amber waves of grain

i carry a heart full of
colorado beauty
back with me
as i prepare to (reluctantly-ish) head back to
the urban beauty
i love so.

[and esp one 6'4" dark head of beauty
that i'm desperate for a cool drink of...]

early evening, hwy 34

twilight clouds, en route to denver

dawn, snow mountain ranch

continental divide

dawn, greeley

overcast afternoon, rocky mtn national park

sunset, winter park, co

afternoon, granby, co

cheesy

last night on holiday
calls for some serious
ticket-winning
fun.

aka. our annual
chuck e cheese
affair.

hen hits the racing games,
nathan hunts,
bets rides the car w mr. cheese himself,
caroline plays for fun and
gives her tickets away
(gasp)
dad tries (in vain) to keep up
w/ me at skee ball,
and I keep egging him on
for round after round,
and mom doles out the tokens
so she can hear all of the fun stories
(with her leg cast
oh-so-gently propped up
beside her,
what a trooper).

5 tokens at a time,
dropped in your hand,
and then they race breathlessly back
to regale her w tales of
whac-a-mole prowess
while receiving their next
jingly-handful of cheesy game currency.

yesssss.

until next year…

i *dig* the
photo booth
and
have been known to give
free tokens to children who
will sit for a photo with
their beloved mother.

well, this last one
wasn’t exactly taken tonight,
but i love this photo
of my (late) grandpa freiheit.

photo-booth-ish, indeed.

embrace the fountain

shall we?

why, yes sister,
we shall!

to be sure,
i took my shoes off, too,
and sat in the grass
to complete the
family
lolligagging.

unlike them,
i politely declined
the fountain’s call,
however.

byo banjo

yes, love,
he’s playing a string + a tub.

i believe the precise title
of their musical selection was,
‘git-along, honey, git-along home’

nannies + billies

and the occasional tortoise or mule.

estes park, co

sorry, buddy,
she was quite adamant
that no one have seconds
until all had been served.

high flying

elev. 10,500-ish heavenly feet

grassy siestas

what are we going to do
when we have to go back to the
Real World?

playing footsie

as in,
she won’t be playing footsie
anytime soon
as she had some major
oot-fay urgery-say
the other day.

and let me tell you,
my stomach was in
flippy knots
the 3+ hrs she was under,
i do not like anesthesia
on my loved ones.

all is well +
the healing is off to
a running start +
she is a model patient +
caroline is the best nurse around.

henry has a captive audience
to teach his guitar skills to.

the girls knew *just*
what she needed
to have waiting when
she came home from the hospital:
princess
balloons.

of course.

they might say
‘happy birthday’

but we’re pretending they say,
‘happy recovery’

lazy summer lunches

‘the true confessions of charlotte doyle’

mountain reunion

one of the best parts of
our mountain holiday
is always:

the smith’s
and
the kurtz’s

we had to tear ourselves away
at the end of tonight,
we could’ve danced all night, friends.

thank you…

gretchen + charis,
my denver girls.

though they’ll always be
new york girls.

before we know it,
they’ll be packing for college.

ahna, caroline c, caroline k, andrew, henry, katie + betsy;
weloveyou,turkeys.

ps -
henry to cory
(on the phone)
on our drive home from
denver to greeley
after such the sweetest evening,
raving about gretchen’s
mad culinary abilities:

‘with great cooking skills
comes great responsibility.’

and I esp relished him
saying this line:

‘we had a great time
chatting.’

fresh mountain air

nathan, last man standing

tabernash, co

a veryspecial flashback

we loved every minute with
my grandma + aunt kathleen,
as well as aunt letha
and lowell + robin.

thanks, guys.

we love you.

it was the first time the kids
came to clay center to see
grandma’s house
(usually we meet at aunt kat’s in salina).

it’s such a special home
as grandma + grandpa lived there
for as long as i can remember.

and her brother + sisters and
their children +
grandchildren +
great grandchildren
live(d) nearby.

so bringing the kids to clay center +
letting them explore the house
(fabulous closets full of superinteresting things,
grandpa’s boxing bag down in the basement,
the dart board, the dolls heather + i spent hours with,
and,
best of all,
showing the girls the little
air vent from the upstairs bathroom
that if you lay on the floor + put your ear to it,
you can hear into the kitchen
and listen in on the ‘adult’ conversation
of the ladies who are washing dishes.

scandalous, i know.)

my grandma is incredibly special;
her radiant faith in the Lord Jesus
and in his grace + mercy
is melting.

seeing her was wonderful,
and leaving her was very hard.

very hard.

she’s beautiful.
and i love her.
and she turns 96 in october.

and she still lives in her own home,
which she reminded me
is a generous gift from God
to let her do so.

i love you, grandma.

the boys said their bible verses for grandma
and the girls sang a vbs song.

i remember saying bible verses +
singing songs for grandma + grandpa.

and h+j did that cool
books of the o.t. rap.

remember that?

ps -
i wish i had
a clock like this one of
grandma’s.

could be especially helpful
in those foggy mother-of-a-newborn months, no?

horses in the mountains

ps -
when daddy was young,
his older sister(s) would
ride their horse to school
(think: one room schoolhouse)
in the mornings.

upon arriving,
they would hook the reins over the
saddle horn,

the horse would trot home
(think: 2+ miles)

where my grandma harris would gently collect
said horse and put him into the barn/corral,

and just before school was out,
she’d reverse the process +
send him on his way
to retrieve the tired schoolchildren.

wow.