Living in the Rockies

For someone like me, it's an incredible gift to live in an area like this.

In a stance reminiscent of American Gothic by Grant Wood, Garima is standing in front of our home holding a snow shovel with the scoop up and the handle resting on the ground, and I'm standing just behind her looking at her. There's lots of snow everywhere.

The most special person in my life

is Garima, my longtime partner. We're two very different creatures, but somehow have discovered a joyful way to share this journey together. We first met in a lush tropical garden at a meditation retreat in India, then found each other again a couple decades ago in Seattle, bought an old, rattletrap station wagon, set out on a cross-country drive, and ended up discovering our new home here in the Colorado foothills, nestled in the pines on the hillside across the valley from where Garima is sitting in this photo.

Garima, dressed in a blue t-shirt, blue jeans and hiking boots, is sitting on a rock outcropping. Behind her is a deep valley. On the pine tree-covered hillside on the other side of the valley is a gravel road and a scattering of homes. Peaks of the Rocky Mountains can be seen in the distance.

Our small home here in the Rockies is surrounded by ponderosa pines, wild grasses and wildflowers, and our neighborhood is home to deer, red foxes, wild turkeys, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, a variety of song birds, and the very occasional bear and mountain lion. We feel honored to be guests here among these longtime residents.

In the foreground is a lush garden surrounded by a high deer fence. Behind it is a small home surrounded by Ponderosa pine trees. Beyond it all is a steep hillside of the foothills.

A bumper sticker Garima used to have

on her old car said, "Tree hugging dirt worshipper!" Nothing could be more true. When we moved to our home here, the first thing we did was to put up a deer fence for her garden. Since then, we have enjoyed a bounty of fresh food and herbs each summer. Her garden is alive with fragrant flowers, butterflies, song birds, some of the most beautiful dirt you've ever run your fingers through, and an occasional fox.

Garima in her garden surrounded by a lush variety of flowering plants incluidng a huge, lush sunflower with a large beautiful yellow flower above Garima's head.

A fox in the garden?

Well, yes, we first became aware of the neighborhood foxes when one glided into Garima's garden to take a drink from the pond at the center, about eight feet from where Garima was picking flowers. After that, we put a small pond outside the garden fence, which gets visited by a continuous stream of local wildlife. Since we've been aware of the foxes, we notice them quite a lot. Often they are alone, but sometimes we'll see a mother with two or three kits, and on one amazing occasion, we saw seven foxes prancing around the yard.

Pumpkinseed, a red fox, sitting in the wild glasses, looking off to the side. Pumpkinseed, a red fox, looking at the camera

A major gift of living in this area

is the abundant natural beauty provided by the Rocky Mountains. Our main form of entertainment is hiking up in the mountains as well as in the nearby foothills. We are always amazed by the beauty we discover on each hike. Here's a photo from a hike we took to Bierstadt Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. More⩘

A dark brown mama moose and a light tan juvenile moose walking side by side through the shallow water near the shore of Bierstadt Lake

More photos: Living - Places⩘

I'm also incurably curious

about the world around me. When we're hiking, this curiosity helps me to see and experience more, and it also extends in many directions in my life. At times I come across something that invites me to stop and contemplate. Some of these things fill me with wonder, others make me happy, quiet and reflective, or even sad, but they all seem worth contemplating, so I jot them down, like this note about NASA's video, Cassini's Grand Finale⩘ .

More notes: Living - Contemplations⩘

"No obsession, no fear, no inhibition …
what more enlightenment do you want?"
— Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche,
the main incarnation of Dzongsar Khyentse
and filmmaker (The Cup and Travellers and Magicians)