Spring Skiing

Even though it is not really Spring yet, we have Spring conditions in the mountains. Yesterday Mark and I got onto the mountain late in the morning. The temperature was in the single digits so we lounged around the cabin until it warmed up a bit. When the days and warm and the nights are cold the snow gets very packed and hard. It makes the skiing a little less enjoyable. So we wait for the sun to soften the snow and then the skiing is great. With day light savings time it is light late into the day. This makes for great afternoon skiing. We did a lot of bump runs and by the end of the day we were ready for the hot tub. For some reason we were starving when we got back to the cabin so cooked right away. Our friend Anne had brought us a can of duck meat which we devoured on rosemary crackers. Then on to our dinner of herbed chicken, potatoes and a salad with pomegranate seeds. It was great. We finished watching the 5th season of Nip Tuck. That show pushes the edge. Matt the son wound up having sex with his sister. Neither knew they were related when they hopped into bed. They liked the sex a lot and giving this up because of being sibs did not come easily for them. The characters in this show are perfectly dreadful and so fun to watch. Today Mark and I went skiing at Vail. It is a great mountain. The conditions are still Spring like. The snow has been melting and it looks more like mid April than Mid March. A red fox was scavenging around the cabin this morning. He was not very shy when we went out on the deck to get a better look at him. He actually approached us from below the deck, I think to see if we had something for him to eat. I love seeing the wildlife here in the mountains. Tonight we will have a simple meal of cheese tortellini, fennel with oranges and a salad. We like to take Mondays off from time to time so we can have a three day weekend. So we will ski again in the morning and then head home in the late afternoon. The ski traffic is heavy on Sunday afternoons and at times it will take three to four hours to get home instead of the usual hour and a half. Well it is time to build a fire as the sun has set over the mountains to the west. The temperature drops quickly when the sun goes down.

Ski Weekend

Mark and I are heading to the mountains for a three day weekend of skiing. Breckenridge got snow last night and hopefully will get more this weekend. March is the month that we generally get the most snow. It has been dry this winter in Denver. I watered our fruit trees last weekend. Last year I planted two types of cherry trees, two types of apricot trees, two types of plum trees, two peach trees and two apple trees. The apple trees are grafts with three types of apples on one tree and four types on the others. All of these trees are in a row along the north side of our property. I suspect the blooms will be nice this Spring. Palino's is my favorite gardening center and I consulted with them on the types of trees to plant. Our Spring on the Front Range of the Rockies varies a lot every year. We can get snows up to May so the trees need to bloom late and the fruit needs to mature quickly. We have daffodils and dutch irises blooming in the yard. This is really early for them to bloom here. The tulips are coming up. I planted about 300 new ones last fall. They should be nice. My niece Melissa was supposed to come up skiing next week but I have not heard back from her. It is her Spring break from teaching.

Run the Republic

On Sunday Mark and I participated in a fund raiser for the American Lung Association. Mark was 7th in fundraising for the event. So the event was running up the Republic Building which is 56 floors. Simply put we were breathing hard when we reached the top. We had leftovers for lunch and then went to a wine tasting by one of our favorite wine shops, the Vineyard. Our handsome and tall friends Kris and Tony joined us. Mark and I took the bus so we could taste to our heart's content.

Celebrating our Kitchen

On Saturday evening Mark and I cooked dinner for our construction crew that remodeled our kitchen. Tarl the general contractor is married to Diana who is from Mexico. Her mother and his mother came. Mary his mother actually designed the kitchen with our input. It is a great design. Mario and his wife Maria are also from Mexico. John and his wife Rachael who is completing her surgery residency came too. John did a lot of the carpentry work. Cameron the painter/artist wound up being someone who used to wait on Dwight and me when we would eat at the Mercury Cafe. So now for the meal. We made Duck, papaya, artichoke tacos with a pepper corn vinaigrette. Then a tomatillo soup served over tortillas, cheddar cheese and fried quail eggs. The main course was turkey with mole and rice. Desert was tres leches cake. We served a different wine with each course. Tarl mentioned that when he told Diana that we were making mole from scratch she was sceptical. I suppose the best compliment of the evening was when she said that we far exceeded her expectations. She said she did not think we would be able to make mole and this was one of the best that she has eaten. Her mother Sylvia devoured the tres leches cake. When I mentioned that I guessed she did not really care for the cake she laughed with glee. All in all it was a terrific meal enjoyed by all.

Valentine's Day Weekend Skiing

Well Mark and I have skied for the past two days in Breckenridge. The snow has been good. We had Valentine's Day dinner at our favorite restaurant Cafe Alpine. We both had the froi gras salad with honey truffle vinaigrette, then I had the Crab meat Wellington, Mark had the Pork loin with bacon served with sweet potatoes and a sauce with pomegranate seeds. For desert I had a Cognac filled Frangepane and Mark had a Kafir lime and lemon grass scented Pot De Creme. A great meal. Steve and Ginny were at the cabin with their friends when we got home. We are all planning on eating pizza tonight. Back to Denver in the morning.

Back in Denver

Zac my nephew left for Tulsa this morning around 9 am. Mark and I cleaned the cabin and heading back to Denver around 9:45 am. It was snowing around the cabin when we left however it was only cloudy by the time we got to Breckenridge. The trip home was uneventful. In Colorado we keep our Holiday decorations up until after the stock show. This ended before we went skiing yet we did not have time to take things down before we left for the week of skiing. We started taking things down as soon as we got home. Mark's nephew Nathanial is 14 years old and growing very quickly now. He is 5' 11" although he looks as tall as Mark at 6 foot. He is now the concert master for the Denver Area Youth Orchestra. We went to their performance this afternoon. They were playing music from several operas that highlighted the woodwinds and brass. I thought the conductor did the young performers a disservice by trying to keep the woodwinds and brass too quiet. Nathanial is quite talented. His tux barely fits him since his last performance and certainly will not by their next performance in April. Mark's sister Barb, her husband Jeff, his nephew Andrew, Mother and Father were there also. Afterwards was a shopping trip to Costco and King Soopers for groceries for the week. My men's group is coming over tomorrow night for a pot luck and I am entering a Chili contest at work on Wednesday. So I had to get the right ingredients for our meals. I am making a Roasted Chipotle Turkey Chili for the contest. All our decorations are in the carriage house now. What a relief! Back to work in the morning.

Our ski week ends

Well our week in the mountains is coming to a close. It was supposed to snow today however that did not happen. We stayed in the cabin reading, eating leftovers, chicken with lemon and olive and scafata. Later a short trip to Breckenridge to return Zac's skis to to take a walk through town. He wanted to stop by the french bakery and let them know how much he enjoyed the cake they made. We went to my favorite gallery and then found a new wine, cheese and chocolate shop. I had to buy a chocolatier mixer for hot chocolate. This device has a spinner in a carafe the mixes the chocolate well and makes it foam a bit. Zac head's back to Tulsa tomorrow and we head back to Denver. I repaired our clothes dryer vent today. It had become unconnected from the hose to the outside and it was taking a long time for things to dry. I love feeding the birds here. Today we had the mountain chickadees, magpies, ravens, Stellar's Jays and of course the chickeree a type of mountain squirrel who thinks it is his job to run the birds off as a way to protect his bird food. Tonight's leftovers are beef Burgundy and ratatouille. It has been a great week.