Inspired by Jen's newest Collage papers.

For the end of December, there was still a lot of fall color in the park. It was snowing in the valley, and we could see it was much more of a storm at higher elevations. I always thought winter a pretty dull season, color-wise. I was amazed at how different things were after a warm fall.

These photos are part of the story on the previous page, mentioning a video of the wind, and that it was snowing. I didn't have more to say, and these are my last photos from our January trip.

On Monday it was snowing and wind gusts were over 40 mph. We took our favorite route but didn't hop out for photos. My favorite images were videos of big pine boughs moving in the wind above the flow of the river and its beautiful fractal ice formations. We didn't see any elk.

It was much colder on Tuesday, just 6º F. But the elk were out in the sunshine after a blustery snow day on Monday. Wind is harder on us (and them) than cold. It was a beautiful crisp morning. Intermittent fasting is their way of life, and it's not a burden for them to wait to eat.

We saw more cars than usual, because a lot of people were off for the holidays. And they were coming early. We saw a long line a the entrance booth on the webcam, but later in the morning. A growing collection of picnic table snowmen at the turnaround gave us smiles so we stopped.

It was fun to watch all of our critters and learn their habits. The squirrel held a very odd pose for quite a while, as he drank from the water bowl. I thought maybe he enjoyed doing his yoga while he got a drink, and there were times I wondered if he might be mugging for the camera.

I had a house bunny who loved oats. One day I decided to just toss oats on the sidewalk. Bunnies ate them, and birds came too. We very gradually with weather changes added some plates, and when I learned to see the towhee and the junco, I found a bird see that's perfect and the bunnies love it...

I showed you the steampunk valentine I made with the AI engine, and you wanted me to put it in my book. So I made a valentine for you. Yes, love is all there is and there isn't a lot more to say. Sometimes we have to put up with each other, yes, and I'm thankful that it works very well.

It was snowing lightly. We would remember getting out to go to the Notchtop, and how I trekked in the snow and fought a fierce wind to get a closer look at that cottonwood tree with fairy lights. I was glad I had a hooded parka. And at ten minutes until sunrise it was still fairly dark.

Thanks for the challenge, Cindy! I hope you can tell the grunge from my original paper, because Jen's papers are famous for the grunge. Then I didn't want to overdo it. :giggle4: I used glitter, stitches, a paper overlay, and some of Rachel's paint. The wordart is all about the epic uncertainty...

We finally decided that we'd miss too much, if we took the easy way out and stayed in Estes Park instead of going to the refuges in March. It was our first big decision of the new year, and we knew we were taking a big risk that we'd have to drive through the passes in treacherous weather.

I didn't love raccoons, they had parties on our roof. I trapped out 13 of them. Years passed & they came back. After I saw them in my videos, I changed my mind as I watched them work. We left scraps for them when we saw how a house cat owned the place if they didn't stop by.

Thank you so much Evelyn! What a wonderful way to start my week. ;)

Thanks for the challenge, Susanne. I picked a view of Rocky Mountain National Park that I've seen hundreds of times but it was the first time I tried to take a photo of it. It's before you actually enther the park. A teaser of things to come but we always fly right by. :giggle4:

One of the peaks was Sundance, and to the right of it, Chapin. There's no pullout, and we were always in a hurry at that point to see what was ahead in RMNP. On New Year's Day I finally had us stop on the road for a few seconds just before the entrance, to take in the view.

Thanks for the challenge, Ona! I learned so much! I wanted to avoid using the same exact elements, and it took a lot of trial and error to get the delicate feel of her work. And atypical for me, I spent days on it. :giggle4: From Veer:

On our last day, there were snow flurries and about an inch of new snow. The main thing was how gray it was, and that we were tired. In the afternoon we took a walk down to the Evergreen Bridge, and they had shoveled the steep path down the hill and the bridge itself.

Got it! ;)