Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Yesterday we got up before sunrise and hit the road with our cameras to catch the golden rays of dawn as they hit all the fresh snow we received in the two days before.

It was gorgeous!

Everything had a heavy frosting of peppermint icing. It was bright, clear ... and cold! Generally, the temperatures were in the single digits, with subzero pockets. And everywhere that blue, blue sky!

As we got up around Summit Lake ("up" in the sense of being both north and higher), the community church was never more beautiful in its setting among the pines. Views of the Sleeping Ute to the west and Point Lookout on Mesa Verde to the south were awesome.

(The old ruminant seems to be incapable of loading pictures into this blog in the manner desired, so I'll describe them as they decided to appear on the screen.)

The lowest image is the earliest, while the light was still golden. It's a roadside scene of oak brush and pinon/juniper trees ... and snow. The church is at the upper right, taken a bit later.

The first picture is of the starting point and first few hundred yards of the Mancos Mush course. The picture was taken at 8:45 a.m. (10 degrees F!) and we hope that this is similar to the scene that mushers will experience when Mancos Mush IV races start at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 9 and 10!

It was SO beautiful up there! And it was such a joy for both of us, pointing out this scene and then that to each other as we drove along and as the sun rose, striking the world from a different angle. I found myself wondering why I'm doing board work for several nonprofits when it is such a joy to be out with Sandy, enjoying and taking pictures of this beautiful world around us. Maybe it's time to retire again! ;-}

Back to the drawing boards ... we had so much fun playing in the snow that it was a rush to get our stuff together to take pictures to Durango for two exhibits, interrupted by someone who wanted to rent the apartment ... a good interruption. 

People at Open Shutter Gallery and the Durango Art Center were SO helpful to these two babes in the woods ... first time we've ever exhibited anything for FeVa Fotos. Sandy has a wonderful shot of two donkeys and I've got a lone musher with her dogs on the Mancos Mush course for "The Art of Animals," a show Open Shutter is running Jan. 11 through Jan. 30 in support of the Mancos Mush.

At the Art Center, the Four Corners Commission is doing a juried art show on "the uniqueness of life, the land, and the diverse heritage of the Four Corners region." We'll know Thursday if either of our entries was accepted. Sandy entered a color-burst of a thistle bud (Thandy's thithles are thomething to behold ... who'd a thunk there could be such beauty, symmetry, variety and intrigue in thistles!) I've entered an evening picture of Shiprock, shrouded in mists and rays of sunlight, viewed down the long slope of Mesa Verde. It's one I took during the Mesa Verde Alumnae reunion in October 2006.