Makeover!

Now that the kids have been properly surprised, I can let the rest of you know about the radical makeover we've been giving our place in Colorado. (There was a hint of it in this November post, you might remember.) Although we kept it a secret, we were quite busy on that previous visit, ordering flooring and arranging for a good bit of other work.

So long, oh-so-stylish (in 1971) red shag carpet! So long, dark paneling! (although some of both items still remain). Hello, light, bright openness!

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

As you can see, in addition to new flooring and sheetrocking/painting, we also went a little nuts and bought some new furniture for the living room. And for our bedroom, too...

Before...

After...

As well as a handsome new light fixture, most welcome in what used to be a pretty dark room after sunset...

Probably the most striking changes show up in the dining area, with its fabulous windows looking out on the eponymous deck. 

Before...

After...

And we have more improvements in store for this area. We ordered solar shades which will be delivered and installed soon, to replace the old, fringy vinyl ones. And I found some lovely fabric that my mother-in-law had packed away. I wonder if she had the same idea for it that I do: colorful valances to decorate the now brightened-up window frames?

On our next visit (April? May? at least by July!) I'll bring the curtains to hang and we will enjoy the rest of the trim and doors being painted and some more of the paneling being removed that our hard-working handy-man is busy with as I write. In other words, by summer it will look even better.

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One task I'm glad we took the time for was to spruce up the family pictures on display, as a way of thanking Henry's wonderful parents. After all, they introduced us to this beautiful little valley and made it such an extra special place for us. We like to think that they would approve of our improvements!

Thank you, Tootsie and Colonel!

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Happy New Year!

We've been having a fun, but very relaxing, and therefore boring, holiday. So in an attempt to blog something, I am shamelessly ripping off my son's idea (which, apparently, was shamelessly ripped off from someone else's) and blogging a review of some of the year's high points:

an example of winter-clear river water, taken on last year's New Year's Day Paddle...
we hope to be able to join our friends in this tradition again on Sunday

we actually had SNOW last winter! Once...and just a smidgen...but SNOW!

in May I had my second annual float down the Rio Chama in New Mexico...

best scenery from a river anywhere?

our second annual 2-sport weekend in Houston featured immersion in Forever Orange...
the Dynamo made it to the championship finals eventually...the other sport? let's just not talk about that 

BTW, Dynamo will be in a great new stadium in 2012!

a summer trip to New England provided some wonderful R-n-R
(as in "rest and relief—from Texas heat")

but we braved the heat to take in the new San Antonio River improvements...
and there will probably be more of these to showcase in 2012

a trip to Colorado in August brought more heat relief...
and we made one more in November, which made 2011 a Colorado-trip record year for me...
a record I hope soon to break

a highlight of my business trip to Washington in October was getting to see
the new MLK monument on an absolutely gorgeous day

a shorter October trip to Austin was highlighted by having
a front-row seat for the Congress Avenue bat-show

two trips this year to the old alma mater made us promise to visit more regularly in the future

We'll be heading north at the end of next week for some skiing, if they can get a little more snow before then. If not, maybe we'll snowshoe. But in any event, I should have some exciting (but hopefully not too exciting) photos and stories from Colorado for you soon. 

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But in the meantime, happy new year to all!

Water to ice

I thought I'd gotten all the mileage I could out of the photos I took in Colorado in November. Then as I was looking through the folder for something else, I remembered this little collection.

I wanted to show you how amazingly beautiful it looks when a little stream (specifically, the south fork of the South Arkansas River) starts to ice over.

Now, our little fork normally doesn't ever completely freeze up. But it definitely starts to. And I don't remember ever noticing what a visually stunning process this is. Then, I've never been up here in November, either, when there's not heaps of snow hiding the stream and when there haven't been that many frigid nights yet.

Isn't the delicate-looking little proto-ice-shelf lovely over the rushing water? I was so taken by this phenomenon I took a short video. Especially look at the water, when I zoom in on some rocks, seeping under the ice.

 

What a reminder to look closely at what's around you! Words of wisdom from a very nifty little book* I just bought:

The real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new landscapes, 

but in having new eyes. 

—Marcel Proust

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No Foreign Lands: 100 of the Most Inspiring Travel Quotes of All Time. Matador's made a book!

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