Rocky Mountain Cabin Redux: Special Days

Everyday is special at the cabin, but some are more special than others.

Father’s Day

Oldest and youngest living generations, playing Angry Chicken on an iPhone

My husband’s son brought the grandsons back for a couple of days including Father’s Day. It was great to see the three generations of the family so tied to this place together, the two older generations with a combined history here of over 80 years. The boys have been coming since we put a trailer on the property, post-Hayman fire, six years ago. That’s a lot of history, but there’s much more to come. It was one of the primary reasons we built the cabin -- to let the family tradition and legacy carry on.

Into the woods...

There’s something special about the male gender, especially when they gather in numbers. From playing Angry ~~Chicken~~ Birds [oh, did I take some ribbing on this error -- it's okay, I'm proud of not being up on all the latest video games] on an iPhone to target practice, it’s better if it’s loud and involves explosions. I was happy to have some hammock reading time and to let the boys be boys.

Not that there wasn’t a softer side -- forest wanders to look for bugs and the nine year old’s serious discussion with his “hammocked” grandpa regarding the theory of relativity (believe it). My husband’s son brought up the fixin’s for a truly fabulous dinner. A very accomplished cook, including extensive cooking classes and internships at high-end restaurants (his day job is a prosecuting attorney), it is always such a treat to have him cook for you. He made us Colorado lamb chops, thick and succulent and the best-by-far lamb I’ve ever had. He deglazed the pan with veal stock (he makes his own), wine, shallots, butter, and a sprig of fresh rosemary. There were incredible scalloped potatoes and a wonderful arugula salad as well, and the most astonishing bottle of wine. His meals are always “the best I’ve ever had,” and he certainly deserves the chef’s hat he got for Father’s Day -- along with a copy of The French Laundry.

A son's dinner for his dad on Father's Day

Father's Day presents included a well deserved chef's hat

A grandson initiated discussion about the Theory of Relativity (would I kid you?)

Casey, my second favorite dog (don't come to the cabin without him!)

Laundry Day

Okay, this is a chore even here, but the novelty of hanging the fragrant clean linens out in the middle of a forest (no poopy HOA rules here) to air dry in the dry crisp air of the Rockies brings a great deal of satisfaction.

Tide getting overlaid by the scent of pine

First Day of Summer

We’ve been here just over three weeks and I am already fretting about the time going to quickly. My first thought was that by the time the season changes again in late September, we’d be getting ready to head south, back to Tucson. And despite how much we love our lives there, it’s too new and too wonderful here to not want to slow our time at the cabin down. True, we’ve been very busy since we arrived getting set up and provisioned, much of which will not have to be repeated every time we arrive for the summer. That’s beginning to be less pressing, and hopefully soon we’ll experience more of what we can expect to experience in all our summer’s to come...more rambling.

Colorado columbines along our driveway

We took a long, slow wildflower walk on the first full day of summer. The last full day of spring brought almost an inch of much needed rain, and with the warming temperatures -- meaning into the 70s most days -- the wildflowers are really coming into their own. Here are some highlights: