Coffee Talk – November

If we were having coffee, I would tell you about our recent whirlwind trip to Colorado to visit our grandson (and our son and daughter-in-law too, of course). I mentioned last month that my hubby is retiring at the end of the year. When he calculated his remaining vacation days, he determined that he had two days that were unspoken for. I immediately began researching flights to Denver.

Three-year-old Atti

To get to Steamboat Springs from our house requires a four-hour flight and a four-hour drive after the flight. We left on Wednesday after work, stayed in Denver for the night, then got up early on Thursday and drove to Steamboat Springs to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday with this guy before flying home late Sunday night.

Friday was a vacation day at his pre-school, so we visited the candy store,

went to the local airport to watch airplanes land,

played at the park,

and (his favorite) watched videos on Mimi’s phone of Atti and his two cousins Brycen and Henry.

After I got my “grandma bragging” out of the way, I would tell you that I am surprisingly un-nervous (is that a word?) about my upcoming marathon on Sunday. Usually, I am fretting about my time, thinking about nutrition, worrying about whether I have properly trained.

I know that this marathon will be my slowest to date. There will be a lot of walking going on. The only time I have to worry about is the cutoff time of 6 hours 55 minutes. I think I can complete the marathon in under that amount of time, but we will have to see.

It’s actually freeing to run a marathon under these conditions. If I could keep this attitude, but lose the injury that engendered it, that would be the perfect combination.

I would tell you that our visit to Colorado coincided with the peak of the Orionid meteor shower. On Saturday night, before bed, we all trooped out to the deck to try to see some shooting stars.

The Orionid meteor shower is caused by the earth passing through the tail of Halley’s Comet. Debris from the tail falling to earth is the shooting stars we see. They are called the Orionids because the meteors originate close to the constellation Orion.

We couldn’t even find Orion, much less a shooting star, so we trooped back in, disappointed. Because this trip was so short, I was still on East Coast time, which meant I got up early every morning. At 5:00 Sunday morning, I got up, quietly let myself outside, and found Orion easily. I watched for about five minutes, saw one shooting star, waited for 10 minutes longer to see another one, and decided that this show was just one per customer. The one meteor I saw was well worth shivering in the pre-dawn cold of the high altitude autumn morning.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?– Psalm 8:3-4

The last thing I would tell you about over coffee is my newfound love for taking nature pictures in my own backyard. I was inspired by this fabulous blogger (if you are not reading the blog Quaint Revival, you should).

I am not nearly as talented in any facet of photography as Shelley, but I am learning. I captured this Common Buckeye butterfly flitting among my late-October marigolds and snapped a quick picture with my phone.

Butterflies, flowers, and spiders have been my favorite subjects so far, which makes me wonder what I will take pictures of when they are gone for the winter. I guess I will just have to wait to see what turns up. Who knows what pennies heaven will throw my way? I may just have to slow down, pay attention, and look more closely to find the beauty in the austere browns and grays of November. I will keep you posted!

I am linking up with Coco from Running With Perseverance and Deborah from Confessions of a Mother Runner for their Ultimate Coffee Date, Jessica and Amy at Live Life Well, Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5, My Little Tablespoon and Laughing My Abs Off for their Fab Finds Friday, Susan B Mead for Dancing With Jesus, Spiritual Sundays for Welcome, Embracing the Unexpected for Grace and Truth, The Blended Blog for Friday Loves, and Counting My Blessings for Faith ‘n Friends.

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