Crazy Hat Thanksgiving

Crazy paper bag party game.  Difficult to do after gorging on Thanksgiving food

 Enjoying free cider while waiting for the parade in Estes Park

 Wild Victorian hat a la beanie

 Joe's dangerous bear hat

 Bobby felt hat

 Brian, the warmest of the bunch

 The Clan and their Hats

 Postal workers twirling around mail boxes

 The man himself

Avoiding the Gym

I hate to exercise without having fun or exercising just for the sake of exercising...except if I'm simply trying to boost my self-discipline.  Here is my twist on the typical workout.

Stretching (flexibility)=Yoga

Lifting weights (strength training)=climbing gym or climbing outside

Endurance/aerobic work (instead of one's typical running, swimming, etc.)=capoeira, hiking, mountain biking

Perhaps these activities aren't as effective as normal weights, running, and typical stretching positions IF I were consistent with all of those things.  But I am not...so I am sticking to my ginga.

Trust and Obey

 C                G7   C
When we walk with the Lord
        G7       F   C
In the light of His Word
         F       C            G7
What a glory He sheds on our way!
         C       G7   C
While we do His good will,
     G7        F    C
He abides with us still,
          F             C       G7  C
And with all who will trust and obey.

       G7       C                A         Dm
     Trust and obey, for there's no other way
            G        C
     To be happy in Jesus,
              G        G7  C
     But to trust and obey.

For we never can prove the delights of his love
Until all on the altar we lay.
For the favor he shows and the joy he bestow
Are for those who will trust and obey.  So we'll...

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at his feet,
Or we'll walk by his side in the way.
What he says we will do; where he sends we will go.
Never fear: only trust and obey.  So we'll ...

"Your Love Oh Lord"

G            C
Your love O Lord
               G       D/F#
Reaches to the Heavens
     Em          C                 G    D/F#
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
     Em           C                   G        D/F#
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountain
     Em            C                G    D/F#
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
                D           C              G     
And I will lift my voice to worship you my King
                D                  C              Am  D   D/F#
And I will find my strength in the shadow of Your wings

The Distant College Past

Sometimes I am envious of university students.  Never in my life have I ever found such an environment where I clicked just right with so many people, and in which we could all hang out and make plans so easily as when I was in college.

But, that time is over.  In fact I know very few people where I currently live.  Thankfully friends are spread around our state, but definitely it is not so easy as it was back then to see them (merely going to a friend's apartment across the street).

I have accepted that that time in my life is over, but it does give me another reason to be excited about heaven.  To me, the togetherness and friendship is the main thing it will be all about.  And I think the deluge and dearth of both those situations I've experienced will make me appreciate it even more.

Hippie Roots

A friend recently introduced me to Pomplamoose.  I loved the group's cover of "Nature Boy" and became curious about its author eden ahbez (That's right...there are no capital letters in his name.  How very e.e.cummings-esque!).


In my searching, I found this article online about "nature boys" and hippies. I love history and thought it was quite interesting, especially because we live in a "hippie town," so I'm going to share it.  Please excuse all the nudity...or maybe just let it inspire you?

Lost

Saturday started off pleasant with a climb up the first flat iron with Brian

 Brian leading the next to last pitch

 Then on Sunday Darren and I got hopelessly lost on our way down from the Rewritten route in Eldorado Canyon.  I had been furiously praying half way up the route because lightning was blowing up the sky.  I climbed those last three fabulous pitches in super speed mode, and thankfully the rain stopped as we made our way down.  But perhaps we were so focused on getting off the summit that we missed the main descent.  We probably took more time picking our way down the cactus and talus laden mountain then climbing the route.  Finally we made it to the backside of town and strolled our way back into the park.

 Amazingly we still had two hours to explore the King Tut exhibit in Denver and then grab a bite before heading home

 This past weekend we, along with my friend Tara from Denver, visited our other pal Joy in Fort Collins. Joy preached at church (and did a wonderful job), we had a big potluck at her house, and then we explored a local park.  We also were able to pack in an International Unity Fair at her university (the Saudi dancers were the best.) and the three of us gals supported Joy's language club at a local pub by paying money to enter a raffle and/or attempting to hit a golfball into a cup.  We also played a few games of pool.  I couldn't remember the rules for cutthroat so we made up our own game of three person pool:  Whoever hits in the most balls wins.  If you scratch after hitting in a ball it doesn't count.  If you hit in the eight ball before another ball you have to subtract one from your score.

Pretty simple right?  Well, Joy's classmates couldn't seem to understand it.  Or they just thought it wasn't a very good game.  Sure it was super easy, but we were entertained.  And like good women that enjoy peace and fairness, each of us happened to win a game of the three we played.

Sunday we left Tara and Joy to their studies and traveled to Golden for some climbing.  It was freezing cold, but we attempted some routes anyways.  For the second weekend in a row, we got terribly lost and I ended up free soloing a sketchy wall in my Uggs to a high plateau.  We then were able to find the climbs we wanted.  However, when it was my turn to climb, every move my hands would go numb, so I just belayed Darren up three routes.  Somehow we managed once again to get lost on the way down, but thankfully a local saved and pointed us the way.

The biggest excitement for Darren of the entire two weeks was my initial usage of the backpack he bought me.  My padre should be proud because it's made in the good 'ole U. S. of A by hard working 'mericans (New Hampshirians to be exact).  Very fitting that I first used my Cold Cold World pack on a very cold, cold day.

And a Capoeira Song

Since I'm writing about songs, let me add another that I learned in Guam from Mestre Paulo, but haven't heard since being on the mainland.  I am not sure of the spelling, but it's a guess.  I so wish I was fluent in that beautiful language.

Sin dende nao vao jogar
Sin dende eu nao joga con voce
porque...

(and repeat)

Simple, but I love it--it's such teasing type song.  There are verses, but sadly I just know the chorus.

And here is my translation:
Without dende I'm not going to play
Without dende I'm not going to play with you
because...

From what I understand, having dende means you've got skills

The Spanish Animal Song

I learned this song in the Dominican Republic some years ago.  It's so cute that I don't want to ever forget it.  Too bad I don't have the hand motions on here.

Hay viene el cocodrilo
Y el orangutan
La picara serpiente
El aguila real
El topo y conejo
Tambien el elefante
Pa rum pum pum
Son todos del Senior
Pa rum pum pum
Son de la creacion

There comes the crocodile
And the orangutan
The mischievous snake
The royal eagle
The mole and hare
Also the elephant
Pa room poom poom
They are all from God
Pa room poom poom
They are from creation

The Other 'Rentals Visit

The Cog Railway took us to the top of Pikes Peak

 My father, the pinball wizard, at the penny arcade

Having fun in the very bouncy stage coach in front of the Stage Coach Inn restaurant

For the second train ride of the trip, we went through the Royal Gorge

 I believe this is the second highest suspension bridge in the world

 We spent most of our time on the open air cart.  It was fun to see a lot of peeps dressed in their halloween costumes

Cheese under the bridge

 We drove back home via Shelf Road (a famous climbing area) and saw six or so big horn sheep

 After my dad freaked out on the dirt and windy shelf road, we helped ease his tension at Adam's Mountain Cafe.  The food was indescribably fantastic.

 "crackers," pears, spinach, figs, goat cheese, caramelized onions...soooo yummy

 Senegalese vegetables

 Manitou does Halloween right.  Unfortunately we missed the coffin races.

The Haunted History Tour.  We didn't go on it, but it looked fun.

Evening entertainment

Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder.  The peppermint room made my eyes water like crazy.

 Exploring Pearl Street Mall.  It was the deadest I've ever seen it.

Darren was so stoked his favorite team finally won the World Series