Here's a photo of the Hot Springs pool in Glenwood Springs. It was great to be sitting in warm water while it was snowing. The hard part was getting out of the pool and venturing into the cold.

Here are the final products of the first time highlighting. Don't know if the light was right to catch the glints. Hope so.

Red Highlights

Ana has beautiful, dark brown Chinese hair. She's noted that it's not black, like a lot of people assume, because she's Chinese. She's also noticed that it has slightly red highlights. She asked if she could add highlights, so we found a currant color that goes well with dark brown or black hair, and it's in her hair right now, we're waiting for the timer to go off and then we can rinse, tone, and condition. I hope it works out and looks great. Emma decided to go along too, so she's about 5-10 minutes later in the process.

I've switched to satellite for my internet travelling, so I'm going to try and post this post and if the hair looks great, we'll also upload a photo.

I tried to post a message to another site and it didn't take, so we'll see if this works.

Last week we went to Red Feather Lakes to see a house Dave designed. On the way is this house that is for sale. It's so unique we had to take a picture. After that trip we went to Glenwood Springs for the kids' fall break. We love the hotsprings there. Even though we were surrounded by snow we could stay in the water as long as we wanted. It was wonderful.

DOESN'T VANESSA HAVE A NICE VIEW FROM HER HOME?

Oh, by the way, Huy, Van said that your name sounds like it is Viet Namese, so is she. She's a great friend.

WHERE DO ALL THE RUNAWAY BALLOONS GO?

I've been way back in the boonies hiking and in areas where there isn't much sign of human involvement, then all of a sudden a bright, shiny piece of mylar or rubbery plastic shows up. An escaped and usually deflated balloon. I know how my children sigh and cry when they lose a balloon they've been holding. I find birthday balloons, today I found a a scrunged up dark purple balloon with a long white string, and then a shiny St. Patrick's Day balloon that at first looked like a fertilizer bag. It seems like they like to rise high follow the mountains and then drop down in the trees.

One time I found a balloon with a little boy's name in it and his address at school that was purposefully released to see where it would go. This was found in the woods too, so I sent him a card with a picture of an elf sitting on a mushroom in the woods to tell him where his balloon was found.

Maybe I should start a website for lost balloons. I can take pictures of all that I discover, maybe note the GPS readings so the balloon can be recovered and post them so sad children can look to find their small lost treasures.

When my children seem inconsolable about their loss I tell them that maybe the balloon flew to a child who had no money to buy a balloon or no opportunity to be given one from a Red Robin restaurant. That helps a little, but they still suffer the loss. But if a child could go recover that lost balloon, that might be a wonderful thing.

I looked through my pictures to find one that would pay proper tribute to the young girls who were accosted and to Emily who was killed at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey last week. Right after seeing the Virgin Suicides, with the heartbreaking statement about how difficult it is to be a 13 year old girl, the news broke about Morrison's murder/suicide at the highschool. Knowing how intense our feelings are at 13 years of age, I can hardly imagine what it was like for those girls and along with many others here in Colorado I wanted to provide compassion and solace.

This photo is one taken after a snow storm. The jar hanging from our porch was filled with snow and then as the snow melted the uncanny similarity to the Virgin Mary or Kwan Yin, the female buddha counterpart with her jar of compassion to pour on the world, was formed by the melting snow and then illuminated by the morning sun.

So this is the photo I chose to help compassion and love shower on those who suffered so tragically. Our hearts and minds are with those girls, their families and all the students of the town, all of those who live in the Bailey area, all those families who suffered through Columbine, and all of those who have suffered from sexual molestation. May all be healed with the random acts of kindness that Emily's family have requested, may we all give forth kindly to one another and support each other.