Rambling through Colorado with several stops to see 12 family members in three cities, two friends in two cities and just back in time to ramble in Santa Fe's mountains where the aspens are just starting to turn here. In Colorado I had ample time to hike in the aspens, rambling along a familiar trail, and amble through four cities and various mountains for photographing opportunities and admiring architecture and development. I was in the clouds, literally and figuratively. Doing the corporate hustle through stints in Atlanta and NYC while raising teens never allowed for this sort of "me" time.
Economic jitters continue, even though things are at the brink, they've been tempered graphically, except for Palin threatening we could be facing a Depression. It had to get political, didn't it? But I played with the Depression graphic last week. Durable goods orders are down, the worst holiday shopping in over 20 years is projected and...
Houston friends are reporting thousands of trees down and property damage in the area where we used to live and electricity coming back on slowly (but a million in Harris County still without power) and every hotel booked in the process. One Houston friend had coffee with me in Salida, Co.; she had escaped Houston when the cool spell ended. Another friend lost a home on Bolivar Penninsuala. Nothing is there. Nada.
Living with Extended Families & Closer Inter-Generational Relationships: The number of parents, siblings and other relatives who live with adult heads of households grew 42% from 2000 to 2007, according new stats from the U.S. Census Bureau. Biggest change: parents, up 67%, to 3.6 million (the trend is stronger in immigrant communities). Important shift: parent-child relationships are closer now (think: helicopter parents) with stronger ties between grown children and their parents. I have two relatives living multi-generationally with parents.
Cheers from the mountain trails where the aspens are starting to turn. The talk of the town is when they will beek peak here.
What a breathtaking photo! Reminds me how the seasons change and the world keeps turning in spite of whatever else is going on. A nice respite.
Posted by: allison | September 25, 2008 at 09:11 AM
You remind me I need new hiking boots.
I was in Costco yesterday and saw one of those HD tvs with a beautiful high resolution aerial shot of the Bolivar lighthouse. I presume it's no longer there. That whole Ike situation gives me the creeps. Why is no one talking about such a huge disaster? You'd think it happened ages ago instead of last month! Amazing.
So I'm glad you can enjoy your sojurns in your beautiful part of the world. I'm looking out on Seattle gloom right now and feeling homesick for Hawaii. But since my kids live here, we endure the Northwest for a couple of months a year. Other times they visit us, which we all like better.
It is true about families being closer. We lived thousands of miles away from our parents and saw them seldom. We did not get along that well with them in any case.
However, my mother in law ended up next door to us in her last years, simply by default, because there was no one else to look after her.
We are much closer to our kids and grandkids than our parents were.
Posted by: Hattie | September 25, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Where are the rock stars and concerts to raise money for those on the coast after Ike hit? Where are the telethons? Where are all the people screaming to the press that they need more free stuff from FEMA? Actually where is the press? Take a look at Galveston and Bolivar? It's not flooded, it isn't there any more. Galveston was a classic, historic, beautiful old city.
Posted by: anthony | September 25, 2008 at 08:34 PM