Meyer Ranch Hike

My good friend Kathy and I connected this weekend to take a short hike at Meyer Ranch Park in the mountains of Colorado.

Kathy was kind enough to take a photo of me standing in the aspens along the trail.

And finally! My first ever Columbine in the "wild". The Columbine is Colorado's state flower. I was thrilled!

Alone

"Look into watery old eyes and see refelected there a past that is impossible to reproduce in this fast and broken-up modern age, an age in which the younger members of the family have struck out on their own to make their fortunes, and ended up living like kings and queens on small, lonely, perfectly landscaped suburban islands" -Roland Merullo, "In Revere, In Those Days"

I live in a fast and broken-up modern age. I methodically go to work in the morning, yearing for the evening. At work I do my best to keep up an enthusiastic facade. Managers love people who look like they are enthusiastic. They love people who look like they'd rather be at work, and tolerate the task of going home. That is not me.

My profession is not a complete fit for me. It is a logical maze of problems, once solved, that only reveal more mazes of problems. It is taxing.

I live far, far away from my family. I live like a queen in that I can pay my bills easily when I am working, and even reward myself with some luxuries. But I live in a condo; my own small, lonely, perfectly landscaped suburban island. I do not have a large circle of friends. I have a large circle of acquaintances. I am beginning to resolve myself to the reality that this may be all I can achieve. At night, after work, I am spent. I have nothing left to give. Maybe if I lived closer to family, maybe life wouldn't seem so lonely.

Broad-tailed Humming Bird?

In camp, I was dive-bombed by a broad-tailed hummingbird. I'm not sure why it's called this instead of "ruby-throated" but there must be some sort of difference. I think this should be the government's new un-manned vehicle destroyer. I imagine that beak stings like a needle.

WildFlower

"Quiet hour

You have always been my wildflower

Showing up wherever beauty's lost its way

Your heart must break"

"I was free

Until I heard the song you sang me to me

Pulling me away from everything I knew

To be with you"

"And everything I know just fades away

And every time you go it hurts me so

I don't know why when I know we're free

Free to fly"

"Here we are

Burning faster than the closest star

Falling back down to the Earth

I love you so it sometimes hurts"

"Closer still

You will find me standing on the hill

Waiting for you with my arms stretched open wide

Now, come inside"

"And everything I know just fades away

And every time you go it hurts me so

I don't know why when I know we're free

Free to fly"

"And everything I know just fades away

And when a wildflower grows it picks its space

And that's the way it is when nature plays its lovely hand

We'll understand everything

Everything, everything" -- Sheryl Crow