Overnight, or so it seems, that beautiful green forest of aspens next door suddenly transformed into bright gold. It was a complete surprise to this Texan as I pulled into the Granby neighborhood for the first time this fall. In fact, even driving past the Linke Ranch before arriving was a breathtaking surprise. I had to stop the car on the highway, braving near misses by the 18-wheelers, to capture a rainbow of green pines and golden aspens covering the mountains in the background as the cattle seemed to take it all in stride.

As I stood on the balcony breathing it all in, along came Dora (the deer:) with her yearling in tow. Such a precious sight, as I watched them nibbling on the greenest grass. She did look up once right into my eyes. I assured her she and her baby were safe, so she went back to munching. On the balcony, next door stood Snow Queen (my pet name for the neighbor’s snow white husky). She normally greets me with a cacophony of barking and tail wagging. Not so today. She was quiet as a church mouse as she watched Dora and baby. She looked across at me, staring hard into my eyes as if to say “don’t you make a sound”. So we both gazed adoringly at our local pets. I started worrying about how Dora will find tender grass when it’s all covered in snow. Never fear, I know where corn (aka deer candy:) can be found.

The children followed the next day, hoping the glimpse the golden rainbow I told them about. Unfortunately by then, the fall monsoon had set in. Never fear, there was a cozy fire to warm us up as we watched the thunderstorms come and go. Grandpuppies and grandbabies alike seemed to nestle around the fireplace while the adults discussed all the changes we wanted to make before the spring break crowd comes calling. It was a golden weekend memory.