Poco Mountain Girl

Our friend Cindy’s birthday is July 13th, the day after mine.  We went hiking in Golden Gate Canyon State Park to celebrate.

She turned 60!  She is so fun to be around she seems ageless.

We don’t see each other very often, but when we do, we spend most of our time talking and laughing like crazy.  We used to try to lift weights together when I lived near her, but it was hopeless.  We’d end up on the floor in contortions when our muscles refused to work right.

Will is another friend from Kansas City.  He’s originally from New Mexico, so he and David are brothahs from anothah mothah.  They really get into the whole vato and ese thing.

Vato loco mato moco. I’m not sure what it means, but it’s way cool to say and accompanies a man-to-man nod of the head.

Chase is Darci’s husband, and he’s a wild man from Arkansas.  He and David did a special birthday dance for Cindy just before we ate the cake.  It was quite gangsta and appeared to be straight from the hood.  Hmm. Makes you wonder whether or not they are really cowboys.

Darci and Chase are a lot like David and me.  They also have four kids who get along really great with our kids.

Kaleb is 10 and a daredevil.  You can’t really tell, but he is standing on a precipice that drops straight down behind him.

I tried the same thing on that rock, but after I looked over the edge, I was too wobbly-kneed to stand up.  I put on a brave, carefree face, but I was shaking even sitting down on one knee.

So I lay down on this precipice tanning bed instead.  Don’t roll over!

Jezy is 5 1/2. She and Zia are buddies.  They used to hang out as toddlers and are still two peas in a pod.

Nyah is 3, and she and Cash became pals.

Lily is 7 months–Darci and Chase’s youngest.  She mostly sat and smiled.

Darci is one of my greatest friends.  I so wish we lived closer to each other.

After hiking, we went to eat at a place called the Last Shot, and then stopped in Nederland before going home.  The Rustic Moose is a cool little shop in Ned that has lots of fun mountain gifts.  Will got me a pair of bear claw salad tongs for my birthday, and a moose-head pair for Cindy.  They made us laugh.  I decided I could serve salad, comb Zia’s hair and scratch David’s back all at one meal.  Hehee.

Cindy knows my favorite metal is copper, so she gathered all the copper things she could find in the store and asked me to pick out one for my birthday (although it was really her birthday).  I chose a hammered necklace with a tree design, which I think is so beautiful.

Cindy doesn’t have much, and I know it was a sacrifice for her to buy the necklace, but she was thrilled to find something I liked.

Copper, swirls, and an earthy design–three things I love!

We went back home and spent our last night together relaxing, eating birthday dessert, and–of course–watching the hip hop cowboy dance.  It was fun, but nobody was looking forward to parting in the morning.

I made a hummingbird cake for Cindy, and decorated it with a columbine blossom.   Hummingbird cake is a southern kind of cake filled with bananas, pineapple, and pecans, and frosted with cream cheese icing.  Rocky Mountain columbines are edible (and are also a favorite of hummingbirds!)

Cindy ate the flower. The blooms are light and soft and feel like baby lettuce in your mouth.  Cindy thought it was like eating a honeysuckle blossom–sweet and delicate.

I like coconut milk ice cream, Moose Tracks is Cindy’s favorite, and Zia asked for Neapolitan for her birthday.  She had never tasted it and thought it was the most exotic thing ever (I guess we don’t have ice cream very often!)

David stoked up the chiminea and we sat around while the sun went down and the stars came out.  Will pitched his tent on the deck and the cowboys exchanged mindless banter for a while over the smoke of David’s cigar.  Darci and I laughed and talked and wished they didn’t have to leave so soon.  The kids ran around with glow-in-the-dark bracelets and then Zia read some books to Grandma Cindy.

Before everyone came, Zia and I wanted to make something for the kids.  We found a new book at the library, Simple Sewing with Lola Nova, and decided to make four bunnies from the Wee Bunny pattern.  Zia, Jezy, Nyah, and Lily each got a bunny.

We also made a covered journal for Kaleb from the same book.

Will carved some aspen branches into all sorts of great things while he was here.  He made bark bracelets for the girls, walking sticks for hiking, and slingshots to shoot the unruly children with.

Well, not really.  The children were the ones shooting, but thankfully no one hit anything–though Kaleb badly wanted to get a fat chipmunk.

Will even made a tiny walking stick for Cash with his initials engraved on it.  Cash loves it and has kept it with him ever since.  He walks up and down the steps with it and asks for it when he can’t find it. He beats us with it when he needs something, beats the door when he wants it opened, and beats Zia when he’s teasing her.  It is truly indispensable.

We had such a good visit and did so many fun things in those four short days.  Hiking, building fires, playing by the river, making breakfast together, eating cake and ice cream, pinata whacking, treasure hunting, singing birthday songs (and dancing birthday dances), taking the kids to Zia’s swim lesson to play in the water, catching hummingbirds that flew into the house, locking keys in the car and sending kids through the window to get them.

Our house is a little quiet and empty now, but still full of happy memories of all the things we did together.

Happy trails to our awesome friends–until we meet again!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2014 at 8:25 am and is filed under Amigos y Familia, Celebrating, Colorado, Nature, The Great Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.