Inward Bound

Here's the view I woke up to last Thursday. It's not East Central Illinois.

It's Beaver Creek, CO, a ski resort near Vail. This was the late afternoon sun shining on the village. The last day of 2009. That evening you could see fireworks over the peaks, about where that cloud is.

I spent New Year's Eve with my oldest brother's family at his in-laws'.

Ben, Rick, Me, Jonathan. We welcomed in the New Year like good Midwesterners-- playing Euchre.

Susie and I won a close and exciting game at 10:02 MST, right after we watched the ball fall in Time Square.

Jonathan welcomed the new year in the new shirt that his Uncle Dan got him.

On New Year's Day the family went skiing in Vail. Since I was a ski wuss who had hurt my ribs on the "bunny" slopes the day before, I walked around Vail Village and took some pictures.




Vail village, where ski boots are heavy and awkward and everyone walks like zombies.

I was carrying Rick's laptop, and he gave me a walkie-talkie to stay in touch. It helped to accent my terrorist look.

Portrait of a skiing family.

Watching all that skiing was exhausting-- time for the hot tub.

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The second half of my trip was spent in Denver. More specifically, the tiny town of Bow Mar (ca. 300 houses.) I got to see all the extremes of the neighborhood-- from the upper middle class "poor" part to the opulent mansions on the top of the hill.

Rick and Susie had just made the transition from one to the other. Through a perfect storm of financial circumstances, they were able to buy one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood, which made them the subject of much gossip among the neighbors. How did THEY get THAT house?!? Their new house felt more like a lodge than a house. I called it the Schreibero Inn.

Kitchen.

Dining room. The brown rectangle on the wall is an intricate carving of The Last Supper built into the wall. This is not Susie's favorite feature of the house.




Front door. Notice alcoves built into wall for art.

View from back porch.

Amenities included a built-in trampoline...

...a full half-court basketball net...

...and a shuffle board table in the basement.

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But the Schreibero Inn is not free. Rick and Susie had to fix up their old house to sell it. I spent three days helping with little things, like putting in new light switches and outlets.

This was a fitting job, because when I first bought my house last August, the first thing I wanted to do was install new light switches. But I'd just broken my clavicle and couldn't lift my arm to operate a screwdriver, so I had to have my other brother, Dan, come over and help me. So by installing Rick & Susie's switches, I was paying it forward.

Once I got the toolbelt on me, I was hooked. Yeah, I'm a real guy. I install outlets & stuff.

I also helped install a new porch lamp while Rick changed the latch on the front door.

The old, filthy lamp

The new lamp. It works!

My work is done here.