A Spring Morning in Buena Vista, Colorado

On our way to Creede CO for the summer, we stopped in Buena Vista CO for a few days, thinking it was too cold and wintry in Creede.  Ha.  This is what we woke up to the next morning.

Taken from inside our bedroom window.

Many broken branches in the park.  The snow was very wet and heavy.
















These are the Collegiate Peaks, looking west from Snowy Peaks RV Park.  It certainly lived up to its name on that day.




It continued to be chilly and rainy for the next few days but on Memorial Day Weekend the annual PaddleFest took place anyway.  Although for years we thought of Buena Vista as a jumping off place for tent or popup camping, it has developed into quite a destination for river sports and biking.  It was drizzling, but we decided to check it out anyway.

Participants in the dog walk and swim met outside "Gone to the Dogs," the pet store.  I hope none of the dogs went swimming since it was so cold.

Off they go!  We had planned to walk with them, but I kept finding fun things to take pictures of in the shop windows.

Alan spotted this kitty sleeping on a chair in a window.

In the bike shop, the owner says this rider is named "Slim."

This car has been having waaaaay too much fun in the mud.  On the van behind, check out the letters SUP.  We have learned that means Stand Up Paddling.  We clearly are not their target market.

This is Friday, a very sweet Great Dane.

Such a fun bike rack.

These next 2 pictures are in the windows of a flower shop.  The skirt above is made out of paper sheets they use for wrapping bouquets of flowers.

This decorated bike was really pretty, especially without the window glare.

Karen and Dorothy, I loved the name of this shop.  (Karen and Dorothy are my sisters.)

The whole town is full of kayaks and the people that go with them.

Just about this time it started to rain horizontally, so we came home and turned the fireplace on!  Pretty wimpy, I guess.

A Horse of a Different Color

In March, we attended the Woodcarver's Week in Congress AZ as we have for the past 12 years. This year, several of the carvers, including Alan, worked on an unusual project.

Recently, the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association relocated its headquarters to Wickenberg AZ. They brought their "mascot," a woodcarved eleven-foot high bucking horse and rider, weighing about 1400 pounds.  It was located on the street corner of the shopping center, and two unfortunate things happened.  First, it was vandalized and the head was cut off.  Shortly thereafter, a microburst knocked it over and it was damaged further.

This group of woodcarvers undertook the work to restore the statue.  Many hours later, after lots of Bondo, sawdust mixed with glue, sanding, layers of paint and varnish it looked really good.  It has been relocated to a safer location under the eave of the building.  Here are some pictures of the process as well as the finished project.  Alan is only in the group picture because he was the photographer, but he put in lots of hours and was in charge of using the Bondo and sawdust/glue mix to fill in cracks and holes.  Messy, messy.

No hand and a badly damaged hat on the cowboy and no head on the horse.

A 4 foot log for the head was donated.

Alan in the back in the blue plaid shirt with the straw hat.

It was a pretty amazing transformation.

2015 Fiesta Grande Quilt Show - WOW!

If you are a fan of quilts, like I am, enjoy these distance and close-up pictures of the beautiful quilts in our park's quilt show on February 28.

In the lower right-hand corner of the quilt, notice the quilted flower attached to a closepin so you could see the quilt backs.  What a good idea.

This is a vintage quilt loaned to the show.

Notice the yo-yos in the center of each body.

Our park quilt club made nearly 100 of these "Quilts for Kids" for the pediatric ward of our local hospital.

This entire piece was hand quilted.  Amazing when you see the closeup below.