Food, Fun, Friends, Family

Holiday season begins!
Thanksgiving in Michigan.
We return to the fox prints on the lake.
Scrumptious soup dinner at the cabin with a yoga demonstration…
All the better to be limber to try out those new skis.
Lots of sunshine and great views.
Finally enough snow to shoe on the lake.
Many fabulous winter sunsets to enjoy with a glass of wine.
Cabin Fever Celebration with friends…
The bonfire is lit but it is still cold out here…
Now there is a little heat!
Even better is the heat in Phoenix – combining both friends and family!
Lots of great meals: a little biking, a little walking, some tennis and some shopping might have worn off a calorie or two.
Back to the Arizona Biltmore for our third year in a row – a new brunch tradition. Delicious!
Enjoying the beautiful gardens with flowers in January.
Another wonderful evening with Thai soup and German chocolate cake. And a big bottle of wine to celebrate a big birthday!
Our little Florida cutie is also celebrating.
We had more great food and fun family time.

Fall Visitors 2019

Great Blue Herons enjoying early sunshine on the rock wall.
And gave us a view of their magnificent wing span.
Our guest room had some activity with friends from Santa Fe!
J & J came back for 2 weeks of R & R – we would not let them work this year!
Supporting the arch in the Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado’s largest wilderness! For more of J & J’s adventures
We gathered with fellow Chimney Rock Volunteers at the Springs Resort.
Family comes from Florida to visit!
We hiked at a 2 year old pace – but got to look at lots of leaves, flowers, sticks and bugs!
Precious!
Got everyone out kayaking.
And all appreciated the water!
Another excuse for a dinner party!
Largest yet with 14 of us gathered!

Williams Creek Reservoir

We headed the Travato up the road to Teal Campground for a stay-cation!
We took the new kayaks – how beautiful is this!
We spent several days exploring the coast and the solitude.
Taking turns with the camera. Going out in the morning and the evening.
This is our favorite photo!
We went for several hikes into the nearby Weminuch Wilderness.
This is the life!
We saw lots of wildflowers…
And these black and white butterflys.
Lets take the fork to the right…
Fun! A river crossing!
Heading home with the wilderness behind us.
How many miles of fun we have had?!!
The heron is waiting for us to make sure we appreciate our home lake.
Life feels like a vacation here at home but it was great to explore some near by water as well.

Summer Visitors 2019

Canada Geese have offsprings. Luckily not too many eggs hatched on “Bird Island” but it is still fun to watch the goslings.
These offsprings came to celebrate Memorial Day weekend with us.
We all enjoyed hanging around the lake shore and enjoying the first Summer like day.
Lots of excitement with first fish caught.
We wrapped up the day with a round of Mini Golf and Pizza.
We headed South in early June to hike with college friends.
What a crew! We camped along the Rio Chama in New Mexico – 5 dispersed sites together.
And drank too much Monks Ale, made at this monastery at the end of the road.
We did enjoy the scenery and hiking as well as the friendship.
We picked up this visitor near the Irish Embassy in Durango, CO. Highly recommend the batter fried fish and chips!
And had a great week together!
We enjoyed many opening night performances with our summer season tickets.
We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
And appreciated many beautiful sunsets from our deck.

Spring Visitors 2019

Lake is starting to thaw. Common Mergansers are returning
Snowbirding friends from Tucson are passing through on their way north.
We had friends over for an evening celebration.
We were enjoying the sunset and this lovely solitary swan.
And even family snowbirded through on their way north.
An excuse for another dinner party!
We are so happy to have local friends meet visiting friends and family.
To celebrate Earth Day, we bought some nice Hurricane kayaks to enjoy the lakes and a different kind of exercising.

Winter Events 2019

Good morning Winter 2019!
Gorgeous day to walk along the San Juan river downtown.
And appreciate the ice crystals on the plants, the shadows, and how the snow piles on the rocks.
Snowshoeing around the block with neighbors.
Winter Fest brought hot air balloons and cold temperatures.
So colorful and fun to watch them inflate.
A good crowd of spectators.
Beautiful mountain scenery.
And they like to do “touch and Go” on the lake leaving a skid mark in the snow.
Maybe that is what our frequent visitor is waiting for.
Or maybe he is just enjoying the view like us.

Alta Vista 2018

The architect and the first wall.

We will wake up to this view in master suite. WOW!

Hot air balloon checks out the new construction.

We spend our evenings and weekends building the interior stair.

We created a landing with a north window – a view of the mountains.

Lower stairs are set at 15% angle as this is transition from main house to garage/second floor on a curved site.  Second step extended for a seat towards coat closet.

We also installed the balcony railing and Trex decking. We ate many of our lunches here during construction!

Friends came for the weekend and helped us paint. Incredible! We were so tired from the priming coat on everything, 2 coats on ceiling and walls.

Another weekend, friends came and helped us assemble and install the IKEA kitchen.

Atlas Shrugged! Power Girl! We sooo appreciated their enthusiasm and experience.

This was all the kitchen packaging – yikes! A few trips to the Transfer Station to recycle it.

Friends helped us move in and it was over in less than 2 hours! There are still doors to be hung but for now, we have a cup of java and enjoy this milestone moment.

IKEA Kallarp gray turquoise kitchen with Kashmir Granite. Front of island has door panels of IKEA Besta Laxviken – also used on built in in dining room.

J & J (link to their photos) came for 2 weeks and stayed for 4. They helped install the garage doors, finish kitchen cabinets, build the stair railings and installed bamboo floor. Much more fun to do together – and so much appreciated their dedication to helping us finish.

The railing is black powdercoated “hog fence”, set in an aluminum channel and supported top and bottom with an oak rail. Our metal fabricator made the posts, then welded top plates in place – very sturdy railings.

We made cardboard templates before cutting the hog fence. Took all four of us to get these made and installed!

We found a very artistic landscaper who created this rock wall for us at the lake shore. Property had receding shore line so we wanted to not lose any more land.

This is south facing for solar and maximum lake views. Brackets are for future photovoltaic panels. We love how rock wall undulates. Native Blue Grama Grass “Alma” is planted between patio and lake with future landscape beds on either side.

Metal roof,trim, and wainscot, stucco walls, Milgard windows: North view from street with Xeriscaping in progress- lots of rock! We thank our contractor, all his subcontractors, and suppliers who made this house a reality!

Our cozy sun filled main room with fabulous view of lake and mountains. Main floor is a polished natural concrete – slab on grade to maximize winter solar heat gain.

The Alta Vista from the sunset balcony!

Family Memories

Happy faces – good to enjoy the family.

What is more fun than taking a three year old to the zoo!

Maybe driving your own sports car in the yard – with your favorite play mate to push you?

Or a walk to the store with undivided attention?

Another beautiful family face in a selfie with his aunt.

Brothers enjoying having additional play mates to make a foursome for Monopoly.

The little sister is a bit camera shy – or maybe just busy with her other cousins.

It is make your own pizza night. We have coordinated our visit to be with my parents from Michigan.

We enjoyed some time in Evergreen – You never know when your last time to be with someone might be. This will be my memory.

Very fun taking pictures of Evergreen Lake, the shore and the reflections.

And lots of elk to get some close up photos. My Dad, the photographer, was especially thrilled. Pictures from enjoying time with them in Summit County earlier this year http://tealsky.com/2017/06/17/more-adventures-in-summit-county-colorado/

We went to Miami to visit another Mom and her care giver – a celebration lunch.

Three generations of beautiful women! The little one is getting strong and preparing those legs to walk! She has grown a lot! http://tealsky.com/2017/04/04/back-to-miami/

An unexpected trip to Michigan. Dad fell off a ladder while working on his beautiful home. He was having a regular day, doing his chores, on the property he loved.

A family reunion – the day after the memorial service.

Thank you Dad for all the wonderful memories, for providing the family with your love and guidance, and for being with us for so many years. I will miss you.