virginia city, nv

melody joy

It's amazing how one can spend days chattering about the weather, recent trips, this trail or that climb, all the while avoiding the one thing that weighs the heaviest. The one thing that takes up every thought and makes any other prayer seem trivial. Sadly, not talking about that bad stuff doesn't make it any less real.

My brother and his wife's world was rocked last week when their daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday it was rocked once again when more cancer was found upgrading Melody from a stage II to a higher risk stage IV. 

 I can't help but remember my brother's closing statement to an email that he had written just a few weeks before Melody was diagnosed:

thankful God has given me Karen and Melody to walk the road with... May He return soon.

 

  

Praying that the three of them will be able to continue to walk together.

  

mt bachelor ski trip

The annual Little family ski trip happened last weekend. This year's excursion was low-key compared to other years but low-key is sometime the best. We are continually blessed by my parents generosity. We forgot our nice camera at home but I happily documented the holiday with some iphone photos.

a taste of spring

Happy Valentines from my folks!

Ski touring and gun shooting

Beef

The freezer is full of beef once again. Somehow this happens on an annual basis. The grass-fed, home-raised, goodness piles high. So thankful for parents who so generously share the fruit of their labor.

My brother-in-law cued us in to an amazing blog and cookbook over the weekend.  Hank Shaw seems to have a simple approach to the pursuit of food; hes not a hipster agonizing about the carbon footprint of broccoli, he's just a guy who loves the idea that there are hundreds of delicious edible options in nature if you know where to look and how to harvest it. We are pretty impressed and inspired, you'll have to check it out and let us know what you think.

A Gift

Perfect from top to bottom

  

From the knobby recycled glass vase to the understated snowy-white blossoms. I've so enjoyed watching these grow!

Castle Peak

Castle Peak is becoming our favorite choice for an icy but sunny backcountry ski day. The south facing slopes and gullies warm up just perfectly in the mid afternoon sun. Softening the ice and making for a fantastic ski descent.

 

In other news, these three and some of my favorite cousins came to visit over the weekend. It was good. As in, we woke up to our houseguests making us breakfast kind of good.

Dear Oregon

We will forever love your vistas and your wide open spaces. We will forever love the people who consider you home.

--------
We will forever wonder why your snow must always turn to rain and why it usually feels like we're skiing on a pile of glumpy, gooey, mashed potatoes.

--------

Much love, Denver & Chelsea

These three

 
I can't tell you how good it's been having Travis, Karen & Melody back in the country and here to celebrate the holidays! It has been far too long!

Solar powered

Rain doesn't happen very often here in the desert. It's almost as if we can't remember what to do with all the moisture in the sky.

How does one behave?
Is it safe to go outside?
What should we wear?

And so we waited a while, debating our approach to this new weather situation and considering our options. Fortunately, while we debated, the sun came out for a bit in true desert fashion. Moving quickly, before our motivation disappeared behind a cloud, we trooped outside with longboards in hand and cruised the neighborhood streets.

Oregon

Arcata & The Redwoods

My family all convened in Arcata, CA for the weekend (save Travis, Karen & Melody, far away in another land). We hiked through Fern Canyon and around Trinidad. We tide-pooled, built sand castles, ate yummy crepes, drank local brews & squeezed in a few brisk surf sessions. We admired the magical forests, towering trees and an impressively cold ocean.

Our lifestyle improves 10 fold when my parents are around, comfy warm beds, hot showers and delicious food. Dad & Mom are seriously some of the most generous people I know. Frugal with themselves and quick to share with others. While generosity doesn't come easily to my natural self, I'm trying to pick up a few tricks of the trade.











 

Fall is in the air. The cooler nights and less intense heat testify to apple pie and brightly colored leaves to come. All these things remind me of my Mom. She is big on all seasons, changing seasons. Big on seasonal food and seasonal activities, but particularly big on Fall. We don't live too far away and sure there's always the telephone or email but it's just not the same. Today I'd like to be out in the garden together, maybe lamenting on the fact that the potatoes really didn't do that well this year but take a look at all that corn. We'd maybe talk about how the magpies are really doing a number on the cherries and how Dad was going to have to shoot a few.

Makes me wish we were headed out on one of our bi-annual girl's shopping trips, because you do know that every changing season calls for a few wardrobe updates.  Or maybe flipping through that newest Sundance catalog that arrived in the mail, full of cozy sweaters and cute boots. Mom would always dog-ear the pages with items that caught her eye but then wait a few months to order, until every reasonable size was out of stock (this shopping method is good for the budget, I suppose, but always makes me crazy). 

This morning I had some free time, so I gathered some produce from my not quite-so-stellar garden and made some chocolate chip cookies. Excited that it's finally cool enough to risk turning on the oven and because maybe that is what's happening back home. I also thought about washing the windows, because that is more likely what's happening back home, but really? I'm not feeling that sentimental. I wanted to call and say hello but the lump in my throat was just a little too big.

skunked

Sometimes things don't go quite as planned
Sometimes you get skunked
Sometimes even the best laid plans are impervious to the reign of a flu bug

Despite my bad attitude, I am thankful for a beautiful morning in Mammoth Lakes, thankful for Dani & Adam sharing their treasured, and carefully doled, Hawaiian coffee and thankful for an evening spent around the campfire.

We're waiting around, hoping that tomorrow will bring renewed health and we'll be able to do the climb that just didn't work out this morning.  I'm thinking that maybe next weekend is a better bet.

Memories

Dani posted a beautiful blog over at The Corner Booth. Her words fit so appropriately with the photos we took last week while we were staying at the house on Flower Street and camping on that nice hard carpeting. The week was so filled with remembrances for those I love. Each and every old photograph, numerous nic-nacs, familiar smells and the foggy morning air brought back a flood of memories. Denver and I went for a quick run one morning, up the big hill and back to his childhood home. His old neighbor was taking out the trash, just as he did fifteen years ago, as we stopped to catch our breath and relive the rollerblading and little-red-wagon-careening-down-the-street days.

Evening

Time stands still