David E. Steiner

Retired USAF, Teacher, Dad, Grandfather, Curmudgeon

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A July Reunion

 

This is a beautiful time of year, with glorious mornings and afternoon showers. It’s a time to picnic and hike the tundra trail to see the abundance of alpine flowers at their height.

There are family reunions, too, as family units scattered over the country in the winter return to the summer place.

My good neighbors to the south, Bernice and Bob Bullock, combined a celebration of their golden wedding anniversary with a reunion of Bernice’s brothers and sisters the other day. Bernice is one of the Dakan children, and all five were there. Most readers know the pictures of Lew Dakan and he was there, doing what he does best. The other Dakans include Alan, Mary and Frank, and they range in age from 71 to 81. All are as talented in their own way as Lew, and all seemed to be enjoying their get-together, which they try to have at least once a year.

The anniversary is really in May, but this seemed like a better time to have the party, and a group of friends and neighbors came to eat hamburgers and watch Bob and Bernice try to break two of the sturdiest piñatas ever made.

These days, when getting to the crystal anniversary seems like a minor miracle, a golden anniversary is a genuine achievement. Such a moment requires a heroic setting, like a July afternoon in the shadow of Mount Meeker. It’s no wonder that families come from thousands of miles away to celebrate anniversaries and weddings in our mountains.

One young couple at the Bullocks’ had been married just the day before, at the St. Malo Chapel.

As the presents were opened one by one, the youngest celebrant, charming, red-headed, three-year-old Annie, yawned in the summer sun and went off to take a nap. Her uncle, the Bullocks’ son, gave a loving toast to his parents. Chris is a physician in Boston, and will soon be a psychiatrist.  He spoke about the importance of the marriage process and the warm and loving relationship between husbands and wives, and children, brothers and sisters, and friends and neighbors. Then the Bullocks opened a present from the group a beautifully carved ironwood owl.

Soon after, everyone went home we had a nice rain shower.

 

 

Columns

© 1985 – 2003, David E. Steiner

Allenspark Wind Columns:

Introduction

Why Allenspark?

Going Riding [August, 1985]

Electricity

Used Cars

Peace and Quiet [1986]

Liberals & Conservatives

Going to the Movies

The Screened Porch

The Beginning of The Season

The Weather

The Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The End of The Season

The Gift of Time

The Beavers

Addresses [1987]

Hiking

Watching the Trees Grow

Postal Rates

Changes in Estes Park

Square Dancing at the Pow Wow

Back to the Hilltop Guild Bazaar

The Solstices

Bird Feeders

Elevators

The Estes Park Hardware Store [1988]

Visitors

Limousine Service

A Memorial Service

A Hummingbird

Garbage

A Hiking Trip

The Estes Park Public Library

Wild Life

Riparian Rights [1989]

Weather

Fences

Commuting

Mountain Friendliness

A Motorcycle Trip

Satellite Television

“Weaving Mountain Memories”

Hotel Rates in the Old Days

The Price of Propane [1990]

The Front Range Almanac

June

Modes of Transportation

Miller Moths

My 50th Column

Modern Conveniences

Rock Climbing

On the Death of Otto Walter, Postmaster

Otto’s Memorial Service

A Big Owl Pot-Luck Dinner

A Whine About Telephone Service [1991]

After the Persian Gulf War

Some Changes in the WIND

The Trip to the Mountains

The Mountains in the Summer

Visitors

Of Dogs, Music, and Children

Muhlenburg County

To My Grandson

The Sale of Longs Peak Inn

World War II  [1992]

Murphy’s Law and the Computer

The South St. Vrain Canyon

“Whiteout”

The Hazards of Volunteering

Crime in Our Valley

Infestations

On the Death of Charles Eagle Plume

Can We All Get Along?

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Lost Horizon [1993]

Walking

Rumors About a Visit by the Pope

Progress?

More About Fences

Woodpeckers

The Visit of Pope John Paul II

Forest Fires

The New Sewage System

The Snow Pool

The Good Old Days [1994]

The WIND’s 20th Anniversary

The Bunce School

The Shooting Gallery

The Estes Park Museum

Our Government

U.S. West Takes a Hit

The Year of the Hummingbirds

A New “Yield” Sign

Growth in Allenspark

Private Telephones?

The Salvation Army

Creation Science [1995]

Devolutionizing Big Government

Risks

Airports

Fort D.A. Russell

Domestic Terrorism

Old and New

Barney Graves

Life in the Wilderness

What’s In a Name?

Arthur C. Clarke

 

The Estes Park Trail-Gazette Columns:

July 1983

Carpentry

Estes Cone

Johnny Grant

Observations in Estes Park

The Bath House

Waving

The Sutherland’s Ice House

How Old is Charles Eagle Plume?

Dogs

Christmas Trees

Tree Murder

Mountain Driving

Garbage

Mail Boxes

More About Mail Boxes

“Are you related to ....?”

Spring

An Accident

The Wild Cat

A July Reunion

A Visit to Baldpate Inn

Opening Cabins

Summer

The Times, They Have Changed

Death and Transfiguration

The Population Explosion

The March of Time

Faith-Based Social Services

Looking for Pitch

Recent Writings I

Recent Writings II

Recent Writings III

Recent Writings IV

Recent Writings V

Recent Writings VI

 

 

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