For those of you that follow or know me, you know that I love Colorado. My family has been going to Creede and Lake City for over 50 years. A few weeks ago, I had a chance to throw my tent in the Jeep and run out there for 4 days. I delivered some of my photos to a great new shop in Lake city called Cabin Fever Mercantile. Tracy, the owner of the shop is great! She really loves Lake City and the mountains of CO! I just heard that she's already sold a few of my prints too!


I finally got to meet one of my peers, photographer extraordinaire, Michael Underwood. I LOVE his work. He got an awesome opportunity to open a new gallery in Lake City and it is full of some incredible images and all priced to take home!

There were fires north of Durango, CO and around Cimarron, NM that made the trip a bit smoky and hazy. It didn't really effect my trip but it did make for some great sunset pics one evening. It also rained most of my Sunday there so I didn't get out with the camera as much as I had hoped for but it was still a great trip to one of my favorite places.

My annual trip to Creede comes 3 and half weeks from now. It will be a very different trip for we are going to spread my mother's ashes in the area that she loved so much. A large part of the family will be going this time. It's bittersweet for me as the area has always been such an incredible part of my life. I was a one year old the first time Mom and Dad took me. This year will be my 41st year. We went almost every summer, although there were a few that got missed but not many. My Mom and her siblings started going with my grandparents several years before I was born and My grandpa, whom we lost last year too, started going with his uncle (without the kids) sometime in the early 60's. Last year Mom and dad didn't get to go because Mom was in the hospital fighting for her life. This will be Dad's first trip back. It will be a lot of the family's first trip back. There will be a lot of emotions and memories on this trip. I really needed to be there before the weight of this upcoming trip. It is after all, my grounding space. For most of the rest of the family, I think it's just a place they used to go on vacation occasionally.

For this quick trip, I camped one night and stayed at our usual spot, The San Juan Ranch. It's located 22 miles west of Creede off of Hwy 149. Peggy and Kaye have always been such gracious hosts. I was so happy to see them. Peggy ran out and gave me a giant hug. She loved my Mom and our entire family. I gave them a canvas print of my "Curious Cows" photo and Kaye was just absolutely in love with it. The photo was shot on their ranch last summer.

Here are some pics I shot while I was there. The lake is Lake San Cristobal. The cabin with the Jeep is at San Juan Ranch. The old cabin is Uncle Charlies original cabin where it all began. The river is the mighty Rio Grande. And the pointy mountain is Uncompahgre Peak.

I saw a meme this week that said if 2017 had a name, it was Felicia. 2017 was the hardest year of my life. I am glad it's over. 

Today is Jan 2, 2018. Yesterday I watched my OU Sooners football team squander away their national title hopes, again. So I consider today to be the start of a new year. It begins a new year for the Sooners and for me too.

Today's beer: Founders Breakfast Stout. So good once it warms up a bit. You don't want to drink this brew or really any dark brews cold right out of the fridge. Cup the glass in your hand and warm it up a bit. The coffee and chocolate flavors will really start to come out.

Everyone makes new year resolutions although I assume there is no possibility in keeping them. This I also assume is not deliberate but merely a product of lack of a plan for the days that get in the way of these pseudo promises to ourselves. So how do we keep these resolutions in check? Here are a few tips.

1. Get a plan
2. Get a buddy for accountability
3. Have a specific goal/outcome that is truly achievable. Vague goals give poor results.
4. Make sure it has easy parts for those "in the way" days.
5. Preplan one day off a week/month to help with burn out
6. Write it in lipstick right smack in the middle your bathroom mirror for one month.
Clean it off and re-write it in a different color for another month. Do this every month.
7. Have an awesome reward at the end. Something you really want.

My resolutions this year are:
1. Write once a week or more. There should be at least 52 more posts on here this time next year.
2. Reach my weight goal by March and keep it through the summer.
3. Increase my photography sales by 10% by sharing and showing more

For the past few weeks, I have been working on Project: One Week in Colorado. So far I have a slide show of over 1800 images cut down from over 8000. This project will span at least 12 years of images I have taken on my family's annual summer trip to Creede, Colorado, a tradition that started well before I was born. It's massive and it's meant to be. My computer doesn't like it one bit. Here are 15 images, with at least one from each year as a teaser. This project is not 1800 photos that would be hung in a gallery. They are images of my hikes and Jeep trips, family pics, images of a place that changes year to year. Some years were green and some were black after the fires. Some years the creeks are full and others just a trickle. I love Colorado and this last summer was my 40th year to go. It was also the first year that my parents didn't get to go. There will be a lot of pictures that no one has ever seen.

   Hello again. I finally sat down for a minute last night. This was my first time to just sit with my own thoughts since early June. It seems I have been so deep in a hole of thoughts and emotions that were out of control and not even my own, that I had forgotten about this blog and a lot of other things. In this post, we walk through death and beauty.

Listening to "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd.
Please "Read More" under the photos to get the full story.