Happy July!
Flower Trio by Jasmine
Not so much happening here in Denver the last week except for gardening and my plants class. In that vein, I decided to share a painting my daughter created in early June at the Art Student’s League of Denver. We finally started renovating the exterior of our house – photos to come later. Nothing crazy or anything since we’ve decided to move next year after we’ve completed our 2 year residency stay. I would have like to go crazy and implemented a more water thrifty garden design, but alas I’m working with what I have and have a tight budget. 
Meanwhile, I need to finish my take home Plants midterm right now…only three weeks left till I can enjoy a real summer vacation before the fall semester begins. Hope everyone’s summer is splendid!
Bring on the Heat!
Garagio is now wired for my kiln, but there's only one problem…
A whole lotta stuff has to be moved inside the house before I can even plug it in!
But it’s one step closer to making pottery. In my last post, or even one before that, I mentioned that I wanted to get my hands muddy again. Needless to say, clay is the last thing on my mind right now because I’m feeling a bit swamped with school obligations, being a mom and also remodel/cleaning/painting activities around the new house. I keep telling myself that there’s no rush but I seriously think that it could be Christmas before the house and I start looking and feeling normal!
The kitchen is getting there
As you can see from the photos, however, there is still a little bit of work to be accomplished such as finishing vent hood above the range and painting (lots of painting). It is functional though which makes me so happy because it’s tiring to eat restaurant meals and/or like we’re camping every single day of the week – not to mention being hell on one’s waistline.
The backyard is another story…
The electrical lines were buried and in the progress of excavation and filling, the backyard has gone to pot. The good news is that I’ll have till next spring to really worry about doing anything out here since fall & winter are approaching. Hopefully by then, I’ll have added to my landscape knowledge base and can design a welcoming space with a small veggie garden. By now, the people who moved into our old home are enjoying vine ripened tomatoes and all the fresh basil they can possibly consume. It’s all good though, right?
School is going well and I am sufficiently challenged – unfortunately, my new issues of Pottery Making Illustrated & Ceramics Monthly are taking a back seat while I wade through Site Engineering for Landscape Architects. I know I’m in the right place right now, but man oh man, my brain cells are aching from exercising them again. Thank goodness it’s a holiday weekend and I get an extra day to rest my brain. No physical respite for me though – we picked up a 5 gallon bucket of paint. 
Have a good week everyone – I’m getting better at managing my time and will try to make the blog rounds in the next few days to see all the fabulous things everyone has been doing while I’ve been in the weeds.
~Cynthia
Week 2 in New House & School
Sub Alpine Pine – Echo Lake, CO
It’s been almost a full 2 weeks now since we moved into the new house which is still undergoing renovation construction. Needless to say, it’s a challenge to live without kitchen facilities – but we are oh so close. We now have counter tops, a sink with faucet, lights and our appliances will be delivered this Thursday which hopefully means that we will have a functional kitchen by next weekend. Yesterday, we also moved our daughter out of our bedroom into her own – whew – I no longer have to circumvent her mattress and myriad of stuffed animals and blankies to get to my side of the bed. (Yes – 11, almost 12 year olds still have lovies…Jasmine would be mortified if she knew I told anyone! ;D)
Meanwhile, Jasmine and I have both started school and are in full swing. She loves Japanese – though I can’t make heads or tails of the language myself. As long as she gets it, that’s all that is important. I have already been on 1 field trip into nature and am heading out this morning to Mt. Evans with my Landscape Ecology class. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Colorado, Mt. Evans is one of Colorado State’s ’14 rs’ – meaning that elevation at the summit is over 14,000′ above sea level. We have to leave early because weather normally sets in after 12pm making the visit very uncomfortable and also potentially dangerous. I personally have no desire to be up close and personal with lightening at 14,000′. We also have to visit this alpine/montane region now because the road to the summit closes next weekend due to snow. Yikes, did I say snow? I sure hope that I have enough clothing along today!
Hope everyone has a terrific week,
Cynthia
Oh so tired…
House Update:
We have survived the move & the first week (technically it will be 1 week on Monday) in the new house and I am whipped – hence the lack of posts or visits from me. Construction inside the house is still ongoing which is challenging to live through to say the least, but it’s a concession we made in order to rent the home we moved out of to the first qualified candidates. We do have a working bathroom now, though it still has a few things that need to be finished and we won’t have a functional kitchen until the first week September. We have a make-shift area in the dining room with microwave, coffee maker and cold food – but have been eating dinner at restaurants. Bonus – good way to get to know the new neighborhood. We had Greek food last night – maybe Thai tonight??
My clay studio is still a mess and not yet set up. The electrician still has to wire the garagio for my kiln and I’m also having him add lighting and extra outlets. I don’t anticipate having the studio set up until sometime in September.
Meanwhile, my daughter and I both started school this past week. Jasmine started middle school on Wednesday and I started grad school on Monday. We shared something in common – we were both nervous as hell and had first week jitters. I am happy to report that she is adjusting quickly and has even made some new friends. I am also adjusting and as I sat through the first week of classes am realizing that I made a good decision to return to school. I am taking 3 classes – landscape ecology, plants in design and site planning which all complement each other very well and align with my interests. Always good when that happens! So, with that, I’ll leave you with a Ted video that I recently watched that I found fascinating. Anyone remember “Biosphere 2“? This little video features Jane Poynter, a former inhabitant of Biosphere 2, talking specifically about her 2 year hermetic human experiment and how she applied some of her new knowledge to her own back yard. Pretty cool watch if you have a few minutes to spare.
Later,
Cynthia
