on snow, Sanderson Gulch and shoes (!)

Winter arrives unofficially and early in Denver, Colorado.

The stormy gray lifts — the bite of chill too — to reveal a landscape begging for a stroll!

And I need only cross the street to pick up the Sanderson Gulch trail, a narrow winding offshoot of its nearby parent South Platte River, that threads westward through neighborhoods ritzy and dumpy toward the Rocky Mountains.

So pull on your parka, yank on them gloves, grip a bottle of chilled beer and let’s go!

The starting point:

Uh, I’ll leave crossing the frozen creek to the lightweight four-footed creatures:

Just how deep is the snow anyhow? This deep:

Naturally it’s gotta be Coors, birthed amid these cold clear sparkling Rocky Mountain waters!

Where ye flow water?

Scratch flow! Where ye freeze? Here, there ‘n’ everywhere:

I pause to drink in the scenery, the raw sun, the bright white snow, the naked azure skies, the bold healthy trees on a stroll made possible by:

My boots!!! On their initiation walk and purchased on the {ahem} heels of the post on my limited footwear woefully inadequate in and unsuited for snow. Painless shoe-shopping it was too! Found at Costco (looooove Costco!) were these tall leather boots lined with Australian shearling sheepskin. Ohmigawd, I fell in love the MOMENT I tried ’em on! And the price, ohmigawd, you’ll find nothing of this quality and warmth at big discount chains or shoestores!

Love love love ’em! They’ve got grip on snow and ice that none of my footwear has and warmth. I cannot rave about these enough!… which means they’ll resurface in posts down the road.

Speaking of which, let’s continue.
…
When I saw this in the stream:

I saw this in my mind:

Kuan Yin, goddess of compassion and mercy

Onward into a dodgy part of town. Carried no money and the camera I concealed beneath a wide flowy scarf while passing through with vigilant awareness of my surroundings. One can never have enough streets smarts yet one can also have too much and if you decipher that koan then you win a poster of Kuan Yin!

This is my climate … and for my love of the snow, the dry air, the crispy cold, the spacious bright blue skies …

it is this revealed from behind the tree:
it is this that I most love and need … the single star and force that guided and directed my long passage out of the gray gloomy damp cold Pacific Northwest.

Compare this 300 days a year:

May skies in Tacoma, Washington

to that 300+ days a year and you tell me where you’d rather be!

Hey, I know there are folks who dig that cold drizzly wet gray damp.

There’s something seriously wrong with those people! {teasing}

BTW, if you reckon that the climate of Aberdeen and Seattle, WA played no role in Kurt Cobain’s severe depression, think again. Well, there’s a post unlikely to see the light of day; just sayin’ that I know his constitution as I know my own and why in part he suffered as he did and yes, absolutely I believe he’d have been better served leaving the area, again, another post …)

Speaking of light of day, back to the sun-drenched snowy Sanderson Gulch and one big green frog. Huh? Playground.

Two or three miles down and the gulch peters out so time to head back as the high afternoon sun recedes into the horizon to beckon the shadows and soothe the brightness.

And a cotton-pickin’ fine stroll it’s been!

Over the stream and through the hills to waterbaby’s house we go! … the one with red trim:

I return sated and with sharp bittersweet pangs of anger and sadness for the residence, the one with the red trim, to be relinquished at Christmas. Who wouldn’t relish the likes of Sanderson Gulch 20 steps across the street (‘specially those of us accustomed to shady, and shaded, city neighborhoods!)?

Thanks for traipsing along and now the adults in the crowd are invited to the parlor for evening cocktails around the fireplace.

In my imaginary home, that is.

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