Thanksgiving

Here are a couple of pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend celebration this year...well...at least the second half (we didn't have a camara for the Alexander portion of the holiday). We had great food, wine, conversation, rounds of 5 Crowns, and tons of relaxation. Finn seemed to take up most of the space and attention in the room, as usual. Brent showed off his yoga arm balance skills, and Frank and Brent walked around acting the part of the dorks they are! Much love and gratitude to all our friends and family who check in on us from time to time through this blog!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Hello everyone!
This is Cara writing today. So-- I know that we have been terrible about updating our blog. No pics, no writing, no political statement artwork from Brent. I am really sorry about that! Today I have no pics to share, but thought I would try to write a little about the goings-on in our lives.

*** STAY TUNED FOR PICS OF OUR NEW NIECE, TO ARRIVE NOV. 26th!! ***

After an amazing month of yoga teacher training (www.forrestyoga.com) in Seattle, I have begun to settle back into life in Aspen.
My time is divided between generating business, counseling patients, and teaching yoga classes (www.aspenintegratedcounseling.com). Oh ya, and also there is Finn. One of the two main men in my life. Finn requires much of my attention, and we have grown accustomed to hiking almost every day together. It seems that Finn suffers from some minor doggy anxiety (for which we give him homeopathic anxiety drops-seriously) and a relentless amount of energy (for which two walks a day seem to manage). I am waiting patiently for snow, along with every other Aspenite. It seems we may not even open for skiing on time this year (we'll see what the next three days bring in). As much as I have enjoyed the temperate weather of late, I am ready for a white Christmas and weekend snowboarding.

Brent has been busy with work, and it seems that he has really found his place as a teacher in Aspen High. He is helping to grow and improve their experiential education program, and is even writing grants for his outdoor educational trip. He has begun to research graduate schools, and is interested in pursuing a Masters in Environmental Management with an emphasis in Fresh Water Chemistry. Hopefully more on that soon to come.

I wanted also to give you all the blog addresses of friends of ours, who are updating regularly and are traveling the world!
http://www.sheilainseattle.blogspot.com/ SHEILA ON THE WESTCOAST
http://mindyexplorations.blogspot.com/ MINDY IN CAMBODIA
http://meandj.blogspot.com/ MEGAN AND JERAD IN ECUADOR
http://www.thelittlestbirdsing.blogspot.com/ KELLI IN SEATTLE

More soon to come, as we will be in Virginia Beach next week for the arrival of our new niece!

The Absence of Time

(A stencil I did this evening)


There has been a reoccuring theme in my life the past couple days. The book I have been reading, a movie I just watched, to the NPR show this morning. All of them discuss the concept of time, reality, and presence. In the book I'm reading this girl named Athena dances every morning, a type of prayer if you will, dances for an hour. Until her concsiousness is static, no movement, no time. It is her way to feel God in is infinite eternity.

In the movie I watched, a documentary on Quantum Physics, they also discuss what is real time. If you take a cat-scan of the brain while someone is looking at a picture, then compare that cat-scan to the person imagining the picture, the scan shows the exact same areas of the brain in use. The brain does not distinguish betweek what is "real" versus what is imagined. Thus allowing we as people to create and live many realities, because to the brain there is no difference.

Then this morning on the radio the show, they discussed how music, prayer, or exercise, leads many people into a state of being where time is nonexistant. The body is caught up in the moment, the mind focused to a point where nothing else exists but the reality at hand. Time, love, temperature, sounds, etc...all vanish. The mind and spirit are on a different plane seperated from the body and surroundings.

All these themes came to a climax this afternoon. I was climbing on Independence Pass with Andre, Jamie, and Teresa at the Ice Caves. There was a very steep 11b that looked so inviting, challenging, it had to be climbed. The first go at the climb I fell 1ft from the anchors. My arms throbbing, feeling like a vice was tightening around them, my arms in a pitbulls mouth. I came down, rested, slowed the breathing, and reclimbed the moves in my head. Stopping to clip, rest, and move through the dificult sections. The second ascent went very quickly. It wasn't until the 4th bolt that my head came back to reality. It was as if the previous 30ft hadn't even existed, a memory gap, only the feeling of silence and still waters in my brain. Once my head clicked in I could feel my chest heave, arms holding the weight of my body, skin burning on the fingers. Then a second or two later and its all gone again, 2 bolts to the anchors, I vanish, then I am at the top. The climb clicks in, the trees blow to the south, its drizzling, I'm back to reality.

"Pity those who seek for shepherds, instead of longing for freedom" P. Coelho

Freedom of thought, religon, travel, speach, and life. Go out and get dirty in it....

Waiting for the First Frost

36 degrees is what the thermometer read the other morning at 5:45am when I went to walk Finn. I wonder when the first frost will come? Knowing Colorado the first frost will be skipped and the first foot of snow will be laid out like a Christmas table cloth.

To fill my solitary time I have been creating, climbing, and reading. Last weekend I built Finn a dog house which he does not use. Hopefully the first snow storm will usher him into the new abode. Yesterday I put in a flagstone walk way which cuts through the front lawn. This should eliminate the pounds of mud we track into the house during the winter.

The book I am almost finished with is called "In Search of Snow" by Louis Alberto Urrea. It is a quick read but the story is lacking some depth and connection. I am almost finished so the full critique is yet to come.

The climbing season is upon us. The air is cooling, creating that crisp friction all climbers love. The pictures below show a new project I started last weekend. Its an 11a mixed sport and gear route, thin, slightly overhanging, and difficult. I fell about 10ft at the crux of the climb...hopefully its a low gravity day the next time I am up there.

Cara is gone another 3 weeks leaving me time to build who knows what? Maybe we'll have a new house, closet organizer, or spice rack? Our lives are quite the opposite right now. She is in a giant costal port town, riding buses, a single face in the splash of urbanites and city goers. I walk early mornings in complete silence. 5:45am with Finn, it is dark, sometimes spooky when there is Bear poop in the road. I work amongst a glacier carved valley, climb stone pillars after school, and return to home among my cow and horse neighbors.

The latest happenings for the Maiolo's

Here are some pics of some recent trips and/or occurences.
Mt. Massive 14er backapacking trip
First Day of school 2007
Cara's new hair cut
Gee's Bachelor Party

Summer 07 CO to CA to WA to CA to Mexico and Back

The choke cherries are in full swing as the Robins gorge themselves on the late summer harvest. Hard to believe the summer has blown by leaving only a few weeks until school starts and Cara flys off to Seattle. This summer was jammed packed with travel and adventure. There is just too much to write about and I will let the pictures do the talking. I will list some of the highlights...

*Driving almost 6000 miles in 2 months
*Jumping off the Seattle bound hell train
*Kellys wedding
*Surfing from couch to couch in CA
*Baja by truck
*Tamales in Jesus Maria
*Surfing the 5 minute wave of Abreojos
*Driving 200 miles and only seeing cactus and dust
*Deserted beaches
*The leapord shark
*2 nights at Loretto Bay Inn
*Dirty Cops
*Rescuing Damsels in distress
*Mechanics and new vocabulary
*Snorkeling for clams
*Military checkpoints expedited with Playboys
*Leaving Mexico
*San Francisco and the celebration of 2 years married

Enjoy the photos, dream big, dont work too hard...Hope to see you all visiting in Asoen this winter, we have several blow up mattreses to choose from...Love Brent and Cara