Apologies for our absence, but we took a rare free moment to scramble up to the Vail Valley for a few days of R&R.

This is Arrowhead, where we stay while in town.

As you can see, there is quite a lot of snow in the Valley this winter. An  aspect much different from Denver this year!

A couple of iPhone snapshots of my hike with the dogs up Arrowhead mountain the first evening. During the day in winter, these slopes are filled with skiers, but in the evening one can hike or snowshoe or skate-ski directly up the slopes, and many people (and their dogs) do, especially when the moon is bright.

 The snowdrifts in Minturn (where we go to visit our favorite fabulous retail store, Holy Toledo) were several feet above Q's head...quite impressive considering she is very tall!

I lived in the Vail Valley for upwards of 16 years, and during those years I lived a very fortunate life. I love hiking, and while in the mountains I hiked, on an average, three or four hours a day every day of the week. 

I loved these mountains and trails deeply, and counted on my hiking time for sanity in both body and mind.  So when my husband and I finally decided to move Denver (with the intention of starting a family) my greatest misgivings lay in the idea of leaving behind my backyard hiking trails, my instant and easy access to so many miles of wilderness backcountry.

So I am very, very lucky that my husband understands, and is generous with my hiking time when we (more and more rarely) escape to the mountains where we first met. He always lets me take off for a couple of hours during Q's naptime to revisit the wilderness that I loved so deeply.

It does my heart good to set foot to these trails, and spend a couple of hours burning my muscles and sweating into my parka on these high-altitude climbs.

These days, I spend so much time in my studio, fighting the urge to go out and absorb the sun and test my legs on a mountain trail, and at times I feel that my peace of mind suffers for the lack of this daily ritual that I enjoyed for almost two decades.

 These are stunning mountains, some of the most amazing terrain in all of our varied and spectacular country. I feel lucky that we still live close enough to enjoy this splendor, if only just occasionally.

But these views are still what I miss most, having moved down from the mountains. It's always a tradeoff, we make our decisions in life as we need to. But it is sometimes difficult to know that you can't always have it all.

 The stunning road home, from the Vail Valley up the passes, through Summit County and up the big pass toward the Continental Divide, and down the great slide of highway toward the high plains of the Front Range that we now call home. 

But as much as our little Q loves her "other home" in the mountains, all the deep snow and the hot tubs, she always breaths a sigh of comfort when we return to our "QQ home", with her room and her bed and all her books and toys, all the comforts of home.

 So, for those of you who have been wondering if we were celebrating the Chinese New Year...Yes. 

Our local Asian community traditionally throws a big party on the weekend following the actual new year. Last year, it fell immediately after a deep-freeze (which happens most years in Colorado during the month of January). This year, we've had a particularly mild winter, and it just so happens that our first real snows took place this week. 

Unfortunately for Q, the CNY dances take place between 1:00 and 3:00 pm...her usual naptime. So of course, she fell asleep in the car on the way over. 

My husband felt the need to document that moment.

 Shortly afterward, he took this extremely dorky picture of the two of us in the car, just before stepping out for the ceremony.

 Oranges, sesame buns, and used fireworks (yeah, we arrived a bit late!)

 Inside the Asia center.

 Lion dances.

Q and I, enjoying the show.

Dumplings and house specials after the Lion dances.

What I did on "Superbowl Sunday".

Obviously, we don't watch football.

 It finally looks like winter here on the front range of the Rocky Mountains!

 All these photos were taken with my iPhone while out walking the dogs yesterday.

 This morning we woke to three times this much snow...

 

And I'm eating homemade cake with pink walnut icing for breakfast and looking forward to a snow-filled day!

 This is what I'm doing today...

 ...on a snowy Colorado afternoon...

...but I promise to get back to Q's special brand of creativity in my next post ;)

 Q stuffing red envelopes and setting up dioramas in my studio yesterday.

Happy Chinese New Year!

 Sorry that I'm dragging on new posts today, but I have been working very hard on some new OOAK dolls for the shop!

You can read more about them here.

While in Woodstock, as you can imagine, what with all the creative influences and museum forays, Q had some creative urges herself. What with the cold weather, we decided to head out and stock up on some supplies at the art store.

Of course, being what it is, Woodstock has a terrific art supply store  worthy of much browsing.

After that, we hit Tinker Toys, because we always do, and because...well, personally, I'm addicted. I'm not sure which one of us gets more excited for Tinker Toys, me or Q.

The owner finds the most amazing and unique things. Do you love that acrobat set in the window?

And the pigs...the pigs! I wanted all of them.

These are created by furniture designer Harry Allen for his Reality line, and I'm crazy about them.

I can spend hours poring over the new toys every time we visit, but the real draw is the amazing collections behind the counter.

Gorgeous mushrooms at the natural food store on the way home.

As you can see, one of the Reality pigs came home with me - a gift for a friend who was coming to dinner that night. No, I still don't have one of my own ;)

Q made much use of the art supplies that we found for her, including these soy "rock" crayons, which I love.

I never get tired of watching her creative process. She's so focused, and knows exactly how she wants things done.

One of her collages.

Perusing LaoLao's piano music.

More collages drying in the sun.

Of course no evening is complete without being soundly tickled by daddy.

 Watching the Big Air demos in downtown Denver last week.

 Silly girl.

And eating sawgrass at a Pho shop in Capitol Hill afterward.

ps - we have gone from 65 and sunny to a high of 1 degree farenheit today (!!) with a layer of snow and ice that is keeping us indoors today. Sigh! Cabin fever will set in quickly...but then, one can hardly complain, having had such a lovely winter so far!