Friday, November 25, 2011

skiing! (with olive)

the girls got to go spend the night with patty tonight, so glenn and i went and had a wonderful date. we went for a beautiful sunset ski at the fabulous trout lake trail and then had dinner in telluride.


see olive there? that's where she goes when she gets tired.

and if it's especially cold and windy...

so beautiful

it turns out, olive loves skiing! i read that pomeranians have been bred down from icelandic sled dogs. olive is mostly pomeranian.

this trail was groomed at the start of november, the earliest on record.


this was actually olive's fourth time skiing.

she's been twice with the girls


where she had more options if she got tired.





i am delighted that ski season has begun. i am desperately in love with olive. i am looking forward to many more skis with her, and with glenn, and with the girls.

oh, and did i mention how glad i am to be back?

4 comments:

JudyB said...

The pictures of your adventures always blow me away! And now Olive does too, what a cutie!

Echoes of Norway said...

Olive looks adorable! Makes me want to have a dog as well! Lovely family pictures!

barefoot mama said...

oh my...look at all of that gorgeous snow!! SO beautiful! You family and sweet dog are precious!! ~ Barefoot Mama

6512 and growing said...

Oh Kristi, I love you and Glenn so much. And Olive. And H and J. And your new, gorgeous house. And the idea of turkey in a dutch oven. And your flapper bracelet.

xoxoxoxoxoxxo

the equipment fairy

my horoscope for the year, in my we'moon, said wonderful things about possibilities and generosity this year. one part of it was, "other people's resources will be generously available, from inheritances to bank loans; seriously consider using this support to establish a fresh and enduring base of operations during '08-'09." i had forgotten all about it until all these amazing things started happening for me, making everything possible for me to live my dream as a silversmith staying at home with my children.

shortly after our huge remodeling project was finished, another wonderful thing happened. i was "in the right place at the right time" (another lovely coincidence) and met sharon king. she just happened to have every tool i could ever need for my silversmithing, all top of the line, very high quality equipment, sitting in her garage gathering dust and needing a new home. after talking for a while, we agreed that she would VERY generously not only sell her equipment to me for a screamin' deal, but finance it as well. i now pay her a small monthly payment and my shop is 100% set up! (please see photos.) THANK YOU SHARON!!!

the amazing sharon king. if only there were more folks like her in the world...

the amazing sharon king.  if only there were more folks like her in the world...
this is sharon, who made it possible for me to have all of this incredible new equipment.

the bench

the bench
here is my incredible new bench, with drawers full of fantastic new files and mandrels, and SILVER, and pliers, and hammers...

my magnificent new torch!

my magnificent new torch!
here is the lovely new smith torch. i am still getting used to using it; it is quite different from my old acetylene torch.

my insanely powerful buffing wheel

my insanely powerful buffing wheel
this machine, too, will take some getting used to. it almost threw me across the room the first time i used it!

the foredom

the foredom
and this is my wonderful new foredom, an amazing tool!

the BIG remodel!

my studio/shop is set up in the 100 year old barn behind our house here in dolores. i knew it would be a cold winter out there if we didn't make some changes soon. to make a long story short, some very generous people, including the mayor of our great little town, my husband, and my visiting father, pulled togehter for me and really made it happen. we built a small room in the barn that is very well insulated and has a woodstove.

before

before
here's what we started out with...

dad and glenn, working hard

dad and glenn, working hard
my fabulous husband, glenn, and my wonderful father, jim, hard at work

little helpers

little helpers
simon (canine) and maybe (feline) were a big help throughout the project!

jim rules!

jim rules!
here's the lovely mayor of dolores, jim, who really made the barn remodel possible by supplying the materials up front.

insulation queen

insulation queen
here is katie, one of my apprentices, helping out

moral support

moral support
sarah, my other lovely apprentice, stopped by to offer moral support (and beer) to the workers...

(almost) completed shop

(almost) completed shop
we still need to do all the finish work (tape, mud, trim, paint, add a door...) but here is the "finished" shop!