SUNDAY, 8/12

SUNDAY, 8/12:

     First day in 2 ½ weeks that I’ve cleaned up – no jeans or shorts & T-shirt!  Walked to what we thought was the little Presbyterian church here.  We’d gone when we were here 5 years ago, and remembered where it was right in town.  However, it’s no longer Presbyterian (PCUSA); it’s part of the Evangelical Free organization.  Apparently they were without a pastor for about 2 years, and got pretty discouraged and the E-free by-laws or rules made it easier for them as a very small congregation in a very small community.  Their new pastor is a very young man, only 25 when he came, but the couple of people we talked with sounded very pleased with him.  His sermon was good, and solid, and the service was fine. 

     After we left, we poked around town for a while, in the different shops while waiting for a civilized time to eat lunch.  We decided to eat out for lunch today.  First time we’ve really eaten out at anything other than quick food or breakfast.  For the most part, we really haven’t felt tempted or deprived, mostly because we haven’t been in a tempting environment, probably, but also because we were just having such wondrous, beautiful experiences, and our “home” was in such lovely settings . . . we were perfectly content to eat at home, outdoors on the picnic table, usually.  But we knew that we’d have to succumb to some dining out when in Ouray, within walking distance of so many wonderful restaurants.  Anyway, we chose Buen Tiempo, a really good Mexican restaurant we remembered from 5 years ago.  We ate on the patio (Caryn got yummy fish tacos; Bill ordered a trout dish with fruit salsa) and were so luxuriating in the perfect warm sunshine & blue sky that we both ordered a second of our drinks after we’d finished eating (Bill a brown beer that’s brewed in Telluride and won some award in San Francisco last year; Caryn a strawberry margarita (one of the best she’s ever had!)   

     After we finally drug ourselves away, walked around town some more.  We looked for Bob Willis’s gallery.  He’s an artist who works with wood, mostly Manzanita or redwood, and turns the burls into exquisite bowls & other vessels.  We almost bought a piece 5 years ago, but wanted to be sure it would fit on a shelf in our house, which was being built then, so we took some pictures & measurements, but never did follow up.  So we were thinking maybe we’d splurge this time.  But we’d learned that he & his wife had moved to Mississippi a couple of years ago when she lost her school job here.  However, we did see a few of his pieces in one of the other galleries.  One is absolutely gorgeous – he’s now adding some color to the burnished wood.  We’d love to buy it, but is terribly expensive – the price of a small trip.  We’re pondering it . . . but I think have mostly talked ourselves out of it.  As Bill put it, “Do we want to have something beautiful to look at every day, or have another great experience down the road?”  I think we’re answering the latter. 

     Came home & napped.   Did some stuff on the computer, and watched  “60 Minutes” – the only station we can get.  The lead story was on Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s announcement of his choice for VP – Paul Ryan.  So if anyone is reading this 20 years from now, and Paul Ryan is an ex-President, this is where it started!    

     Were still full from lunch, so didn’t even eat dinner.