Breast cancer

Early stage, slow growing, but cancer nonetheless. Stopping me in my tracks, preventing my return to France - at least for the time being. I'll be staying in Colorado for as long as it takes to heal. I'll be exploring a new world for a while, having joined a club populated by many sisters around the globe. 

I will be forced to slow down, to take time to reflect, and to spend some time alone. Sadly for him, Patrice had to return to France without me.

I'm not frightened. The cancer was caught very early and should be very treatable. But it will alter my plans for the next several days, weeks, and months.

Garden of the Gods

We're spending our last few days in Colorado taking advantage of the warm weather to explore the state. Today's ride took us south towards Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods. We took the long way - over a dirt road with scenery like this.

Garden of the Gods offers spectacular photo opportunities. See for yourself.

The rock formations are also much appreciated by climbers such as these two

Becoming Van Gogh

We took a break from hiking to go the Denver Art Museum last week. We visited the excellent exhibit "Becoming Van Gogh" at the Denver Art Museum. The exhibit traces the origins and development of van Gogh's talents. It offers a fresh look at van Gogh's early work - much of which is unknown to the average museum-goer.

This one-of-a-kind exhibit will be in Denver only until January20, 2013. Go and see it if you can.

Royal Arch

"Let's take a hike tomorrow" said Patrice.

"Great!" I responded. "One of my favorite hiking trails in the Boulder area is Royal Arch. It's not too long, only 3.2 miles round trip. Oh, and there are a few steps to climb . . . "

We read trail descriptions, and although the trail was marked "moderate to strenuous," we decided that the trail would be just the right length and level of difficulty for an afternoon outing. We packed a couple of sandwiches for a picnic lunch and set off up the trail which is located at the base of Boulder's famous Flatirons (the flat red rocks that rise up west of town).

About an hour and a half later, Patrice was sweating hard and cursing me for not being more explicit about the difficulty of the trail.

Yes, there is 1,400 feet of elevation gain -- and a few rocks to climb
 

But the arch and the view of Boulder down below is well worth the trip.

Snow melt in Boulder

One of the best things about winter in Colorado is the sunshine. It can get grey and snowy and then one day later - voilà! The sun comes out and melts the snow.

This is Wonderland Lake before

And after

Snow in Boulder

As promised, the snow started falling Wednesday evening and we went for a ride Thursday morning to capture the colors of winter.

 The playgrounds were empty

 And the sun played hide-and-seek through the fog

Brainard Lake

Winter is just around the corner. There's a cold front approaching that will bring temperatures below freezing in the next few days. Yesterday, we took advantage of the calm before the storm to take a hike near Brainard Lake, west of Boulder.

The lake is already starting to freeze
 

And the local bird population is looking for any scraps that fall from picnic tables.