Happy New Year

2021 has been a challenging year. 

But we survived the Superior/Louisville fire here in Colorado.

And Kathleen's health is on the mend.

So here is hoping that 2022 will be better than 2021

 Wishing all of you the best for 2022. 

Happy Veterans Day

 For Veteran's Day, a tribute to one of my true heroes. Colin Powell.

General Powell and I share that we are both descendants of West Indians and have a connection to New York. It also turns out that he had an interest in film photography in his youth. 

While searching for images of Powell, I discovered this image of him from 1954. An old school film selfie using a mirror. 

 

The answer is purple

 This is my brand new prayer shawl given to me by members of the United Methodist Women from my church. After seeing the color of my walker, they correctly guessed I'd like purple. It is very soft and comfy. 

Here is a image of my leg that is safe for the squeamish. It is an X-ray of my new knee taken at my two week checkup. Everything is looking good! 

I also had the outer dressing removed at my two week checkup. The white bands are the steri-strips used to close the wound. I was told to leave them on until they fall off naturally. After a week of being uncovered, they are still hanging on.

 More updates to follow after my next doctor's visit in a couple of weeks. Cheers 

And the legs have it .... Well at least the right one.

Adventures in modern medicine during Covid

Here I am at 5:30 AM, waiting for them to take me in for surgery. I'm having the surgery done at the Good Samaritan Medical Center here in Lafayette. We choose this hospital because it is rated in the top 50 nationally for surgical outcomes. Except for the other patients of the day, the Hospital was very empty that early in the morning. 

Here is a before photo of the leg. It will never look like this again!

Out of bed after surgery. The actual surgery took around an hour and the surgeon said he was very pleased with the results. The white stockings are compression stockings to reduce post surgery swelling. I will be wearing these on my right leg for many weeks.  

Needless to say, with everything happening to me, I was at risk for falls. 

Day 2.  Hooked up to the ice machine. This device continuously circulates ice cold water over my knee to help control pain and swelling. This now belongs to me and I'll be taking it home for daily icing. 

First real walk around the ward on day 2. Everything is working as expected. 

Out of the hospital. Rather than going immediately home, I spent ten days (9 nights) at my Mother-in-laws guest room. She lives in a single story ranch house. The guest room was only a few steps to an accessible shower and bath, and entry only required navigating a handful of stairs.   

Here's my knee post surgery. The bandage is waterproof and stays on for two weeks. So far, 11 days in, no leaks! Except when I bathe I'm wearing the white compression stocking from the earlier photo. 

See you in about a week with an update after they remove the bandage! 

 

Alicia Sanchez International School Open Space/Medical Update

 These images are from another visit to the Nature Kids Discovery Zone at the Alicia Sanchez International School here in Lafayette. 

When you see this posting on Tuesday I will be under the knife getting my knee replaced. About two months ago I was told that the damage to my knee necessitated having a full knee replacement. I'll post further news when I return from the hospital towards the end of the week. 

My husband discovered this park early in the summer. When the black eyed Susans erupted into full bloom mid-summer, he had to share it with me.  So one weekend we visited the park and took these photographs.

This park is located adjacent to the Alicia Sanchez International School and is used by the students for learning about the environment.

That's all for now. I you want to wish me well, leave it in a comment below. 

Success! SolarCan revisited

 Back in 2020 we got our second box of SolarCans. The first set were part of a Kickstarter but many were defective. This can was set up across our street on a neighbor's balcony, facing south. It has been recording for just shy of a year. In the lower part of the image you can make out the recent construction and the open space path. This is what a successful solar gram looks like. 

First Harvest of the Summer

Sorry about the late post. Today we got the first harvest from our garden. Not bad actually. This year has proved difficult. The first plants we put out succumbed to pests and died. So this bounty is from our second attempt. We've got one healthy tomato plant, three peppers, an egg plant, and some kind of pickling cucumber.

More from the Nature Kids Discovery Zone

Near the Alicia Sanchez International School is an open space park that we recently discovered. A month ago the whole area exploded with black-eyed Susans. Here are some images I took of that.

 

Chapel on the Rock

 In 2013 Boulder country, as well as most of the "front range", experienced a stalled weather system that dropped over a foot and a half of rain in just three days. Everywhere that water flowed experienced severe flooding that scoured the landscape. A lessor known casualty of that flooding was the reflective pond in front of the Chapel on the Rock.  Last year the flood control measures on the Chapel property were completed and the reflection pond had returned. Here is what it looks like now.

Nature Kids Discovery Zone

We recently discovered a new park in our small town. It has the rather unimaginative name of Nature Kids Discovery Zone. It is located adjacent to the Alicia Sanchez International School. Getting there requires navigating a maze of residential streets. 

Some time in early July the wild flowers in the park just exploded and I knew we needed to visit it with our cameras. 

I love thistles, so I gravitated toward this one immediately.  

 Next to it were these tiny flowers that grow in clusters. What immediately grabbed my attention is the lady bug traversing the stem. 

Broken Things

 

Community Art to Celebrate our Little Town

At the end of our street is a small park. Four of the trees in that park died a number of years ago. They stood as grey sentinels for a number of years. Recently we noticed that they had been reduced to tall stumps. At the time we thought it strange that the stumps were so large. Then one day we saw someone carving one of those stumps with a chain saw. Within a week, the stump had be transformed into a rooster running a race in sneakers.  

Talking to the artist we learned that he would construct four sculptures out of the dead tree trunks, each representing something iconic about our town. We have a fun run every winter. The rooster was created to celebrate that. 

 

The goat was to celebrate the many public concerts held in our little community. 

 

The pig sits on top of a box of peaches. He's to celebrate our annual peach festival and the many restaurants along the town's traditional main street.  You may remember him from a previous post from May.

 The last is the Canada Goose, dressed as a painter. It's to celebrate the strong community arts programs in our little town.

 

Petrified Forest Butte

 The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert National Parks are separated from one another by interstate 40, near the town of Holbrook Arizona.  Painted Desert is on the North side of the interstate and Petrified Forest is on the south side. Despite the parks being geographically side by side they present vastly different landscapes.  The Petrified Forest has many photogenic buttes such as this one.   

Happy 245 birthday USA

 

Flags decorating the entrance of Miramar National Cemeter, San Diego. 

Clouds at Tucson Mountain Park

 The route to Saguaro National Monument from Tucson takes you up a windy mountain road. Along this road are a number of pullouts that make up the Tucson Mountain Parks. This is the view to the north west at one of those pull outs.  

Butte & Cloud from the Painted Desert

We are still catching up on posts from our spring journey through the south west. Here is a butte and a companion cloud from somewhere along the road through the Painted Desert National Park. We hadn't planned to stop here on our journey, but the spectacular view from the interstate changed our minds. 
 

Pueblo Doors: A New View

On a previous trip to Pueblo Colorado, I had tried photographing these doors with my pre-1940's camera. It wasn't very successful. On a return trip I tried again. I used my Mamiya 7 and Ilford SFX 200 film with a 695 filter. I am considerably happier with these results.  

 These doors were the entrance to the Pueblo Steel Mill. They connected to a tunnel that went under a busy rail line servicing the Mill. Today the rail line has been replaced by the busy interstate 25. I was told at the museum that the tunnel is still connects to the other side, but was unable to confirm it.

 

Returning to the Organ Mountains

 Heading back from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix we stopped at an out of the way spot just outside of Las Cruses New Mexico, called the Organ Mountains. It was a special place for one of my friends, who first took me there in the early 1990's.  

My friend Linda is no longer with us, but visiting this place brought back memories of her. 

Remember Memorial Day

 

Greetings all. We are moving into our first Holiday weekend. On Memorial Day, founded by President Lincoln for the Civil War, we remember those who have given their lives for this country.

And we post the Organ Mountains of New Mexico to honor them.

Thank You!

 Thanks to all of you for comments and suggestions about mt future.  I'm still undergoing treatment for my Vision, and I am still hopeful of having some sight.  And Regardless I'm going to keep Blogging until there very end.  So I'll share with you some work by our local sculptor.  This features a  Pig celebrating our Lafayette Peach Festival, hopefullu coming again the August 2021.

 

What to DO?

 So I face a blogging problem:  I am facing a disability that makes it difficult for me to Blog.    I had been running two Blogs, this one for fdaily lie and times; and a seerate one for Fine Art Photography.  

So do you want to see more of my 'walker adventeres", only fine Art, or a reasonable combination?  Please Like this posting or better, leave a comment to help my decision.  will tell you that BlogSpot is much easier for my hnadicap than WordPress.

Ready for a Walk

 I tried my mother-in-law's walker the other day and decided that I would make better progress if I bought one.  But I needed the more vertical type:

Colorado: More Than Goats!

Just Heard today that Colorado has more to offer than Mountain and wildlife: 

Colorado is #2 nationwide for Voter Participation.  Glad I live here......

Happpy Easter

 

Easter Vigil

 We Are Waiting.......

Good Friday

 

The Choice of Cross is Yours..