All posts by Sunny Bridge

I love travel, seeing and photographing new places, meeting new people, learning languages (focusing on French, although I've recently started also learning Spanish). In the past few years, I've been discovering the joys of poetry, both reading it and writing it. You can reach me at sunnybridge@msn.com.

Discovering Home

French Connections

6 September 2015 Sunny Bridge Leave a comment

I’ve been feeling nostalgic for France lately, so have been trying to find bits of la belle France wherever I can. Our stone fireplace surround is now installed and looking fabulous and very French . . .

. . . and I had another appointment recently with my Longmont doctor (who helps me keep the skin cancer at bay). This allowed me to revisit one of my favorite shops, the very excellent Cheese Importers, where there are so many French things–books, linens, jams, shopping baskets, knives, butter and cheese (of course)–it’s all I can do to keep speaking English while I’m in there. Bonus, I found a wide selection of French butter, not Beurre aux Cristaux de Sel de Noirmoutiers, I’m sorry to report, but a couple of brands of butter with semi-noticeable sea salt crystals, so that’s a plus. Definitely taking a larger cooler next time so I can stock up!

Closer to home, here in downtown Fort Collins, there is a wonderful shop called EsScentuals with all kinds of fabulous products for body, bath and home. The whole place is a treat for the senses, even the entrance . . . ↓

EsScentuals--142 South College — EsScentuals–142 South College — Note the French watering can.

The owner, Meg DeWeese, has lived in France and is married to a Frenchman, so the French flavor of the shop is no accident. The main floor is full of oils and lotions and soaps and other temptations, but my favorite part of the shop is downstairs, called 142 Bis, where you can browse and discover all kinds of arty, beautiful French things. Love it.

Also here in Fort Collins, this weekend saw another running of the annual Tour de Fat, which has almost NO connection to France except the obvious play on words with Tour de France and the fact that bicycles are involved.

And yet, it did remind me of a few of the crazier Saturdays in La Rochelle, which you can revisit here and here and here and here. It was clearly an opportunity to celebrate the joy of friendship.

So today, I’m very grateful for our many stateside friends and family, but I’m also missing Pascale and Jacky (La Rochelle), who took us on so many adventures and opened their home (and la cave) to us for so much delectable wining and dining; Dany and Francis (Tours), who actually interrupted their vacation, returning home for a few days to take us wine-tasting in the Loire Valley; and Natacha (La Rochelle), my patient and encouraging tutor, without whom my ability to have ANY French friends would have been severely limited. Merci mille fois à tous! S’il vous plait, venez nous voir bientôt!

Let us be grateful to those who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ∼Marcel Proust

Wishing you warm connections, French or not!

Motorcycle Mama, New Adventures

Stone Soup

11 August 2015 Sunny Bridge 1 Comment

I love the children’s book Stone Soup–how it starts with nothing but stone and water and ends with everyone joining together to share what they have, resulting in a delicious soup for everyone. I’ve been thinking about stone a lot lately. We’ve received the parts of our cast stone mantel, one of our final settling-in projects. I was assured that anyone could put this together, but it is HEAVY, and both David and I would strongly prefer that it not fall off the wall onto anyone. Therefore, I’m delighted to report that it will be assembled tomorrow by Actual Professionals. So far, it looks great. Here’s a detail shot of one of the legs . . .↓

It’s just what I was hoping for as a reminder of the beauty of La Rochelle . . .

If you look closely, you can see almost the exact same detail on the two vertical pieces on either side of the center crest. I didn’t even notice until I put this photo in the post. How cool is that?

We’ve seen a lot of other stone as well this past weekend, on another Harley trip with our friends . . . . . . okay, obviously NOT the official posed photo we all lined up for. Sorry. The rain was threatening, urging us to get back on the road, and I didn’t want to annoy everyone after they’d already posed for Janet.

Aside from that pause, there was not a lot of stopping for photos. We had a lot of ground to cover. Mostly we went over . . .↓

. . . between . . .↓

. . . around . . .↓

. . . and even through various portions of the Rockies . . . ↓

. . . At the top of a mountain in Glenwood Springs, a few of us even went inside . . .↓

King's Row Cave, Glenwood Springs — King’s Row Cave, Glenwood Springs. Gondola ride required to get up there.

It turns out that huge swathes of southwestern Colorado are absolutely gorgeous. I had no idea. Definitely want to go back.

David and I started and ended the trip on our own, to have time for business responsibilities, which had the added bonus of allowing us to ride those days at our own preferred pace. We love easy cruising, savoring the full sensory experience, the warmth of the air, the smell of the evergreens, the beauty of the wildflowers, the majesty of the mountains, the unexpected thrill of a wildlife sighting. And since we were on our own the last day, I even got to stop to get a decent photo of the Nokhu Crags . . . ↓

Of course, our pace is not everyone’s preference. Others love the adrenaline rush of quick curves and speeding straightaways. We can’t keep up and don’t want to. But here’s the Stone Soup part. At the end of the day, we’re together, eating and/or drinking something fabulous, and usually laughing. We all have something to contribute to help each other enjoy the experience.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. ∼Khalil Gibran

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you! ∼Dr. Suess

Whether you prefer the speed or the savor or a bit of both, may your friendships be strong as stone and broad and beautiful as the Rockies.

New Adventures, New England Summer

Where the Wild Things Are

18 July 2015 Sunny Bridge 1 Comment

We’re back in the land of loons . . .

. . . and mergansers . . .

. . . and new this year, a white-tailed deer . . .

Back for another visit, adorable, only slightly wild, granddaughters. ↓

Bailey

Felicity

All this amidst the beauty of the wild ferns . . .

The irony is I can best appreciate and photograph these wild things when I’m not at all wild, but rather when I’m completely still and quiet. If I’m frantic for a shot, the wild things startle and scatter, the children get cranky or goofy, and the photos get blurry.

Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance. ∼Morgan Freeman

With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things. ∼William Wordsworth

Wishing you peace and stillness like a New England stone wall.

There is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question. ∼Thomas Merton

Be still and know that I am God. ∼Psalm 46:10

Discovering Home, Motorcycle Mama

High Points

29 June 2015 Sunny Bridge 3 Comments

Fort Collins, at just under 5000 feet altitude, is a bit lower than Denver, the “Mile-High City,” so we don’t actually live in the mountains, rather next to them. Nevertheless, David and I have spent a great deal of time lately REALLY high up. Like here . . .

Shot from the Visitor's Center of Rocky Mountain National Park--Altitude 11,834 feet — High on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

and here . . .

Rocky Mtn. National Park, 11,986 feet — From Visitor’s Center near the top of Rocky Mountain National Park — 11,986 feet

and here . . .

These were all from Wednesday, June 17th, when we took some house-guests up to see the top of Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in North America, reaching up to 12,183 feet. I never get tired of these views. It’s even pretty gorgeous all the way, like here (shot out the window of the moving car) . . . .

I did get out of the car for this guy, who started ambling over to give me a close-up . . .

. . . but David insisted I get back in the car before we got really up close and personal. Probably wise!

Then Saturday, the 20th, we headed out on the Harley with some neighborhood friends up to Saratoga, Wyoming, via Highway 287 . . .

. . . and the Snowy Range Scenic Byway (summit 10,847 ft.) . . .

Our usual picnic spot on top was still snowed in–brrrrrrr–so we found a slightly more hospitable spot a little way down the other side. Then on to Saratoga, Wyoming.

Even at an elevation of 6791 ft., the afternoon was too hot to go anywhere near these . . .

Extra-hot Hot Springs Mini-Pools, Saratoga, Wyoming

In fact it was too hot to do much more than stand in the hot springs very-slightly-cooler main pool with a cold beer. Still, a fun time with good friends.

The next morning we hit a bit of a low point when Terry’s bike would not start . . .

Hmmmmmm

Bob

Isabel

Doug

Chris

Terry

Lynn

Double-Hmmmmmm

. . . but eventually we were on our way, this time via Walden and Poudre Canyon, past one of my favorite views, the Nokhu Crags at the top of Cameron Pass . . .

. . . which are stunning, especially traveling east to west, when they suddenly appear before you at a curve in the road. It feels like the edge of the world. Eastbound, they tease you a bit longer, slowly emerging out from behind other peaks, so the view is not as startlingly awe-inspiring. And unfortunately, they’re not easy to photograph from the back of a moving motorcycle on an away-turning curve. Sorry about that. I forgot to request a photo stop.

Further down Poudre Canyon, the lingering damage from the 2012 High Park fire was sobering to see . . .

. . . but under a brilliant blue sky, it’s impossible to miss that some green is returning.

So . . . highs and lows, hot and cold, burning and greening, engine trouble and successful repairs, incomprehensible evil in the news and adorable baby announcements in the mailbox, and so much in between. What a crazy quilt this life can be.

I have been in Sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands. ∼Zora Neale Hurston

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. ∼Theodore Roethke

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. ∼John Muir

Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord . . . . ∼Psalm 98:8

Wishing you comfort in the hard times, ears to hear the mountains singing, and abundant opportunities to wash your spirit clean.

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