Greetings, Friends!
We're back after a hiatus last week to spend some time with family. The most important of all things. To me, family is the home. The structures we live in are just houses - the people who dwell inside them are the spirit and the comfort and the safety we experience when we think of the word "home." The people are the ones who fill it with interesting and practical and precious things that make the house come alive and provide for the home - the family.
Recently my sister Gwen came for a visit that was, in my opinion, much too short. Gwen is currently attending the University of Kansas and working year-round to finish out a nursing degree, so her schedule is that of a normal 20-something - school, work, and a robust social calendar. :) But we made the most of our time and went to see two of Colorado's most fantastic geological formations - Seven Falls and Garden of the Gods!
The first time I ever visited Seven Falls, I was eight years old and utterly entranced with what I was seeing. American Indian dancers and drummers thrumming and praying and singing, hoops swinging in rhythm and folding into intricate shapes, turquoise and braids and leather fringe and feathers were everywhere. All in front of this massive, seven-tiered waterfall that glowed and undulated - its powerful falls running constant while smoothing and shaping the land beneath it. I was in a different world, and I was in love.
Seven Falls has only changed hands a few times. Currently the Anschutz family owns it as part of their Broadmoor estate, which is stunning and is known for offering guests quite a list of amenities. They have extended the park a bit in the front with some updates, which are lovely. But the real attraction are still those falls - still flowing. For those who want a spectacular view, the best is up the elevator and to the railing on the left, facing the massive waterfall system: Bridal Veil, Feather, Hill, Hull, Ramona, Shorty, and Weimer.
Home Design Tip: Use your amazing iPhone camera (or whatever) to capture the Falls from this vantage. They're just as powerful as most professional cameras now. Blow up the photo, onto a canvas or a type of paper you really love, and place it in a conversation area such as the dining or living room. The dimension and activity within the photograph will inspire active and lively discussion. Landscape photography, in general, is great for large-scale prints.
Ramona Falls was named after Helen Hunt Jackson's book, which stirred a historically significant wave of activism for the better treatment of American Indians and Native Americans. Helen was so revered in this community that she was laid to rest atop the Seven Falls in honor of her wishes, and surely the feeling among the people was that it honored her dedication and service to community.
So here's the coolest thing about Helen Hunt Jackson, a woman living in the 1870s and trying to make a living out of writing: according to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, Helen demanded that she be paid well for her work. We know that she achieved her goal, as CSPM also says she became financially independent in doing so. Helen Hunt Jackson helped pave the way for women to earn fairly - as my Dad Scott would say, "that's Rock n' Roll."
The Colorado Springs and Manitou area is extremely interesting, geologically. The roads certainly show it! They are so windy that it can sometimes take 20 minutes just to go a few miles. You would think, particularly for Garden of the Gods, that tectonic plates formed the geologic delights that await there. However, it was erosion starting in the Pleistocene Ice Age 2.5 million years ago that actually carved these structures into the magnificence we see today.
As you walk along the generous and peaceful walkways throughout Garden of the Gods Park, you start to notice how smooth those stunning red rocks are. That is because millions of years of melted ice sheet, ocean, and eventually river washed over those rocks additional millions of years ago.
Home Design Tip: When I'm photographing the formations in the Garden of the Gods, I try to catch a formation at the edge with the rest of the formation at an angle. This not only creates a nicely-composed image, but also elongates and displays all of the beautiful detail carved into the sides of the formations. This'd be another one I'd blow up and perhaps put in my office, because this striking image and contrast provokes thinking and contemplation.
By photographing the rocks on an angle, you can also capture the striking thinness of the stones, stacked against one another.
The enormity of the sites and their history is so impressive - the time it took to make these beautiful landscapes, the immense density of the iron in Garden of the Gods that creates such a beautiful and soothing terra cotta hue, the everlasting blue contrast of the immense sky above, and the fact that you are standing on the bottom of an ancient ocean! Wow, what a place to see and be.
We'll be back next week with another installment of the June Moon Blog. Until next time, feel free to Like and Subscribe. We'll make sure you get a fresh new Blog each week focusing on the intersection of nature and design!
