We live up in the mountains

LIVING in a little mountain village

 Susie, “It sounds very romantic writing up in the mountains.”

Me smiling, “It is. Especially in the cold months with all the noisy visitors gone and a warm fire softly crackling as I drink hot coffee and write for long stretches uninterrupted. Seasonal visitors just don’t understand that they are on vacation when they come up. We are not.”

 When visitors find out I live up here the reaction is that of finding a ‘celebrity’ and the first question is always the same: “What do you do up here?” I write – I write books – I write a blog about living life in the mountains – I write for our newspaper – I garden – serve on 2 boards – I walk the mountains all the time, all seasons getting in 10,000 – 20,000 steps daily – I get together with friends – my husband and I watch movies from the library and TV shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime (no cable, no public television, no satellite for us) before COVID we occasionally went to our little movie theater or concerts – we walk and hike and snowshoe together regularly with our dogs – we are both avid readers –  I’ll be working a friend’s gift shop for the next 3 weekends so he can visit his 93-year-old dad in California – my husband is the engineer at the electric company –  I’m a photographer – mostly nature pictures – I live here and am so in love with this place – so in awe…I always have a camera nearby if not  in hand…

 DSCN1012

 Hummingbird in my birthday garden – it’s my birthday garden because it was a birthday gift from my sweet husband

DSCN0939

  Hummingbird moth in my birthday garden

 DSCF9515

  Poppies from my garden

 IMG_7412

  This Friday evening’s movie borrowed from our library for my husband and me

 Sometimes I want to say, “Like you, we live life.” But I know what they mean. My husband and I happily live with our dogs at 9,000 feet in a tiny Colorado mountain village.  Our home is in one of the most remote and road-less counties in the entire United States and one of Colorado’s least populated counties. So very many people love to visit our picturesque mountains with lakes and waterfalls and our charming chocolate box, historic town but most people do not want to live here. In fact the population swells from about 300 hundred to 3,000 in the summer (and the mountain does not get bigger) and then of course they usually want to know ‘in the winter too’ – ‘in the winter too as that’s what living up here means’.

 The question was asked again yesterday and so I responded to what I did that day:

“Well right now I’m meeting friends for drinks and hors d’ oeuvres at our favorite restaurant.

 

  

IMG_7410

 Friends gather for catching up over refreshments – one friend was remembering a party at my home a few years ago where we were out on the deck when I told everyone to look over the railing and down below in the river there was a mama moose with her baby

 DSCF3457 (Small)

 Right before this gathering with friends I took my little charge to her home. I’ve been a nanny / tutor to this special needs child for 6 years now. We have each other’s heart…

 IMG_7304

 My little charge with our border collie Hope, playing in the river right out our garden gate – I LOVE where my husband and I live!

 From 10-11:30 I taught a writing class for the 4th – 5th graders at our summer library program. Today I taught my students how to write Haiku poetry using some of my photographs as inspiration.

  IMG_7358

  Students playing an educational board game at the library summer reading program – we have library cats – love how the kids can just go right on playing as the cats ‘do their own thing’

 The dogs and I walked our nature trail several time before I left the house this morning at 8:50 and I was baking my spinach quiche at 6 AM – it’s dinner for my husband and me.”

 Life is good….

 DSCF8566

 

Crystal Peak is seen from my writing nook and our living area and our front deck

 Any questions?

“May you live all the days of your life.”  J. Swift
julie@handsbestrong.com

Living in the Mountains

Facebook  Twitter

2 thoughts on “We live up in the mountains”

  1. Love the cats observing Allowance game!
    😃 so fun to ‘see’ the library space, having been there.

    You’re killing the STEPS! 🏃🏼‍♀️🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 👍🏻

    Susie

    1. Right – too fun! So love the convenience of the camera on my phone!

      I HAVE to walk, especially in nature, daily to feel good. I have to. And then even more with Elsa to help her get more and more confident with her walking (& to tire her out!)

Leave a Reply to Julie Stephens Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content protected.