Our Bold Adventure Continues

Or, "Don't worry about me, I'll just be here in the back." I've joined a women's hiking group. By "joined" I mean I have been twice, and by "hiking" I mean walking up a very steep natural stair stepping machine. They meet every Monday evening from April until September and hike a different hike around Boulder. (For those of you not in Boulder, I'll let that sink in -- yes, there are that many different hikes in and around Boulder.) They hike throughout the season and then as fall approaches they hike a "14er," or a 14,000 foot mountain. Then, they hike "the three mountain challenge," which is hiking the three major mountains in Boulder in a single day. So, you can imagine my wonderful timing in joining this group when everyone else is in peak shape, all prepared for their two big events of the year. They're hiking their 14er on September 6th, so this was the last regular Monday hike. I'm sad to see it go eve...

I canned peaches today, my inaugural canning experience. Loads of fun and not at all difficult, it's just that there are a few rules to pay attention to. The first thing to know is that Colorado peaches are divine. I'm not sure why people in Georgia are all ga ga over their peaches, because there is no way on god's green earth they're better than these mountain beauties. The line for them at the farmer's market is always 15 or 20 people deep, and every week I'm in it buying my fix. A neighbor told me she cans a bunch each season and they make winter more bearable. I'd been wanting to learn to can; I asked if she'd show me how, and of course she said yes. So, a couple of neighbors, a couple of boxes of peaches, and a couple of hours later, I'm practically an expert. Well, close enough that I'll try it on my own next time. First we sterilized the jars. Then we washed, halved, and peeled the peaches (that order worked best). Then we put them in jars...

One year ago today I was on an airplane moving to Boulder. Funnydad and daughters had come ahead, leaving me an un-populated house to prepare for sale. And leaving me plenty of time to brood about Change, the nature of Home, and just how the hell we were going to sell our house in a declining real estate market. The house sold lickity split for our full asking price, which I took as a good omen. A year sounds like a lot when you say it out loud, but it's really short when you live it. Here I am a year later trying to make some sort of sense of it all, realizing I'm not sure there is sense to be made. Boulder is a great place to live, no doubt. About its only major drawback is that it's so far from family. Everything else agrees with us: the weather, the community, the culture, the politics, the geography, our quality of life, even the availability of ethnic food. So then why don't I feel all nestled in and not new anymore? And what does that even mean? We've done a...