Category: Family

INTRODUCING TEA BREAK CONNECTION  by Laura Coble

My mom honored me with the request that I write a column to be included in her newsletter.  I feel a bit unworthy in this endeavor as many of you have been married a long time (like more than two months), and many of you are hard at work in raising the next generation (probably some of you have kids my age).  However, it is my hope that this column can be a friendly chat, rather than an instructional how-to on love, life, and happiness.

I grew up “Urban Homemakerized,” indoctrinated in the mantra of  “return oh ye woman to the arts of thine former ways.”  So I should be well versed in the art of raising chickens, gardening, and knitting sweaters.  At least you would think.  I am familiar enough with chickens to know that I like to eat them, my gardening skill level has produced three dead African Violet plants in the last month, and I gave up knitting in despair of too many dropped stitches and converted to crocheting.  I salute any woman who can juggle four knitting needles to create a mitten or slipper.

This is not to imply that because I am not a master gardener I have somehow failed in my womanliness or in my ability to cultivate the arts in her life.  For each of us have our strengths and talents.  Perhaps that talent may be to kill African Violets, but let me ask you, if there were not women like me, then what would the African Violet company do?

Of course I don’t truly see my lack of green thumb as a special asset to my life.  But I think that sometimes we elevate various skills or abilities above the rest and those of us who cannot cross stitch the 10 commandments have somehow failed.

I can make a mean batch of cinnamon rolls, but I can’t seem to figure out how to make gravy.  I am a woman just like every other woman, and have perhaps succeeded in refining a few talents, but am overwhelmed by the immense amount of skills I have yet to acquire. I am a woman like you in that I fear abandonment, I desire to be able to nurture, and I find joy in an “I love you”.

I have had 24 years of practice at being a woman, two months practice at being married, and high school babysitting experience at being a mom.  I see this column as an opportunity to discuss the complexities of making our womanly way in a harsh world, to laugh over things such as husband and wife communication, and perhaps share a tear or two along the way.  I hope that each of you can find some encouragement and refreshment in this column knowing that I have yet to “arrive”, that I am a woman like you, trying to make my way through the journey of life.

Ed note:   If you would like to correspond with or encourage Laura, she maybe contacted at
daybyday366@gmail.com.

You can read her blog TEABREAKCONNECTION by Clicking Here

I hope to have some  more wedding pictures up early next week.  Sadly, my father-in-law, who walked Laura down the aisle in place of her recently deceased father Duane, passed away as soon as he got home from the wedding.  It has been a whirlwind of activities these last two weeks, and I hope to get caught up and feeling better soon..

Here we go…Laura Christine Moll on her wedding day.

 Bride, daughter Laura Christine, with Mother of the Bride, me, Marilyn, aka The Urban Homemaker.

This is my immediate family now, my son Stephen, myself, Laura the bride, Brandon, son-in-law, and daughter Mary.

Bride and Groom, with Mom, my mother Natalie Mitton (grandma), and the late Edward C Moll, Grandpop, Duane’s Dad who walked Laura down the aisle.

Laura with Bridesmaids Natalie, Hannah, Mary and Maid of Honor Teresa Patterson.

Marilyn, mother of the bride, and Karen Coble, mother of the groom.

Although we live out in the country, so-to-speak, we don’t usually see wildlife such as a moose. In fact, 60 moose were introduced onto the Grand Mesa area (about 50 miles away) in the last two years. Apparently, the moose like it here as there is talk that their population has more than doubled in the last two years.

My daughter Mary received these pictures from her friend Jesse who lives around the corner. The pictures were taken by Jesse’s younger brother and emailed to Mary. I thought it might be fun for you to see how brown in gets in Colorado in the late Fall along with the “wildlife” shot of the bull moose.

Off he goes over the fence and up a nearby hillside.

Crystal, Colorado is  nearly a ghost town except for a few remaining cabins, occupied by dedicated seasonal residents. These cabins are leftover from its’ colorful mining heyday of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Most residents moved out by 1920.

Crystal is probably most famous for the frequently photographed Crystal Mill above. It is also about five miles from Marble, Colorado, where the gorgeous pure white marble was quarried for the Lincoln Memorial, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Denver Post Office, and other commercial buildings in New York and San Francisco built in the earlier part of the twentieth century.

We found numerous, lush, green, roaring, waterfalls all around. I only hiked to a few of them, but Laura, an avid hiker, probably didn’t miss one.

We hiked from the Crystal Valley one day to Lead King Basin. This scenic valley, on the back side of the Maroon Bells near Aspen and Snowmass wilderness, was just coming into the peak of colorful wildflowers. We didn’t meet one hiker along the old, rugged jeep road, just a few jeeps passed us.

The old jeep roads are badly deteriorated, really more suitable for hikers, so the next day we hiked up to the “snow bridge”.  The snow bridge is normally melted out by mid-July and this horribly deteriorated jeep road would otherwise go over Schofield Pass on into Crested Butte. As you can see the heavy snow year meant the road was still impassible even in the later part of July. My children are in the upper left corner of the picture below.  So this snow bridge is actually quite large and the “end of the road” for now.

One jeep drove up to the snowbridge while we were there to see if it was truely the end of the road.  I cringed to think about how he would turn around or back up on this narrow rocky road.  But he adeptly navigated the turn and returned back down the road.  Amazing!