Landscape: Dusk, Summit County

I’ve been in the process of settling down. For about five years. Or forever. But for at least five years. During the last few weeks, as I’ve been transitioning to a more permanent residence, only a few things have seemed to calm me: shoveling snow (a repetitive, almost meditative motion), mountains, and the night. Recently, I got a good dose of all three while staying at an earthship in Silverthorne, Colorado. The adobe-style/enviro-friendly house is nestled into the side of the mountain, accessible only by trucks or plows. So I had to park my wimpy car at a trailhead and hike in to the place each evening, carrying food and water and clothes. Then, I’d eat dinner and shovel snowdrifts in the dark so that I wouldn’t have to shovel out so much in the morning. The wonders of living on the side of a mountain in Summit County, Colorado are many, but I didn’t quite see how I could sustain that living arrangement and also hold down another (paying) job. I didn’t stay for too long, but I stayed long enough to hear coyotes singing at night. To get my snow-shoveling biceps back. To watch the sky turn light purple, then inky blue, then black.