Birdhouse Funnery

Since I'm still recovering from a cold 

and it's 0 degrees outside this morning, 

my camera is stowed away

and I'm forced to pull from my archives for a photograph.

I thought about posting something from a warmer season, then decided

to go with this photo I took last winter outside our favorite

breakfast spot, the Meadow Mountain Cafe in

Allenspark, Co.

In keeping with my 2013 theme of "Discovery", 

I researched the history of birdhouses. 

According to eHow.com:

"In America, Native Americans built simple birdhouses out of birch bark and hollowed out gourds. They were designed to not only shelter the birds from storms, but also to help the birds breed and multiply. The Native Americans passed this tradition on to the English and German immigrants."

(Read more: The History of the Birdhouse | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7526986_history-birdhouse.html#ixzz2HsB3SVaY)

Linking today with Simple Things Sunday, Weekly Top Shot

Sunday Best - Three Posers

Outside the Meadow Mountain Cafe, Allenspark, Colorado

I found this vignette outside 

our favorite Sunday eatery this morning.

It's the simple, ordinary things in life

 I most enjoy photographing.

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary 
is that little extra."  
~Jimmy Johnson

Blessings,

Nancy


Linking up with Your Sunday Best

Rural Thursday - Where Homestead Foodies Go to Eat

"I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting."
-- Andy Rooney 

Welcome to the Thursday edition of Eating Out. No, no. That's not right. I'm joining Rural Thursday today and that means I need to post something about our rural homestead. Only there's nothing much happening that I haven't already blogged about. But wait! I re-read the Rural Thursday rules and they say I can blog about "anything and everything that embraces living the simple life." So, I figure I can post about the simple pleasure of eating at the Meadow Mountain Cafe in Allenspark, Colorado. 

I've written here several times about Meadow Mountain, but I've never showed interior photos because. . .well. . .I never had any to show. But now I do. Recently Dennis and I drove the 16 miles from our home to have lunch there and the owner graciously allowed me to photograph the interior during an unusually slow time. I'm excited to take you on a tour of this wonderful rustic cafe that serves up some of the best fresh everything-made-from-scratch-including-the-bread cooking in the area. Delicious omelettes, fabulous pancackes (my favorite is the blueberry), incredible hamburgers, scrumptious soups and desserts to die for (just to name a few tempting items.).

Walk through the front door of this vintage cabin and the first thing you see is pine paneling and the work of local artists. That's my husband's painting of Jim Creek in the center. He gave the print to Roxie, the owner, several years ago. 

"Jim Creek" by Dennis Reinke

Indoor seating accommodates about 22 people: a table for six, 3 tables for four and  4 stools at the counter. In the summertime there's additional seating on the front porch, but there's usually a line waiting to get in. 
The food is just that good!

But here's the thing that makes Meadow Mountain Cafe unique -- at least in my book. Customers who have unoccupied seats at their table invite new arrivals to join them. Dennis and I do it all the time and others have welcomed us to their table, too. It's the friendliest, most hospitable restaurant atmosphere I've ever encountered, and we have met some very special people this way. 

A splendid pot-bellied stove warms the cafe and adds a homey touch. 

Carousel horses and other figurines offer whimsy. As does the salt & pepper collection.

And the restroom door.

The daily specials are hand-written on a chalkboard. (Love the artwork.)

I am in love with the spotless Meadow Mountain Cafe kitchen. 

That's Roxie's son Joe doing the cooking. 

The inside of the front door acts as a community bulletin board.

So there you have it: the marvelous Meadow Mountain Cafe. I have some fun exterior shots of the cafe, but they're for another day. If you get out this way, be sure to put Meadow Mountain on your must visit list. Just for the record, I received no compensation for this write up. We just love the food, the service, the patrons and the great family that works so hard to make eating here such a treat.


What's going on in your rural world?


Nancy
Rural Thursday links up some of the best rural and simple living blogs on the net. Check it out.

Homestead Vision

Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. -- Jonathan Swift

We moved out of our apartment April 30th and are now staying in our friends' condo until our house is habitable. We're very appreciative of their hospitality and the view from their deck. . .

Finally, warm weather has arrived. Dennis took me to one of my favorite breakfast places for Mother's Day, the Meadow Mt Cafe in Allenspark. . .

Meadow Mt Cafe, the inspiration for the cafe in my novel, is a true neighborhood gathering place, where the patrons help serve coffee when the place gets busy. The food is great and the atmosphere is pure mountain rustic. 


My son called me in the afternoon for a nice, long chat, which made my Mother's Day perfect.


Work on our homestead continues. Although two weeks have passed since I last blogged about our home remodeling project, with all that's been going on in the world I doubt that anyone has really noticed. 


When last I posted, we had just demolished the bathroom walls. After that, Dennis took out the floor and began reframing. . . 

You can see the water heater in the back of the crawl space. More about that later.

We're holding off on the inspection and subsequent drywalling until we have more work done.


We've hired our friend Will to help us with the project. He climbed up on the roof and took down the useless chimney. . .

and helped Dennis frame and put down a new floor in the bathroom. . .

remove the north mudroom wall. . .

and put a new floor over the stairwell. . .

The stairwell leads to a very tiny basement that houses the water heater. We decided we needed storage space on the ground floor more than we needed a teeny basement, so we're eliminating the stairwell. Our new washer and dryer will be stacked on the left side in the photo, with a closet on the right. A small aisle will separate the two spaces. 


Today the plumbers are cutting the concrete wall between the crawl space and the basement to provide access to the water heater.


I cleaned the ceiling and painted the accent wall in the living room. . .

The color, Benjamin Moore Sedona Clay, reminds me of some of the red rocks I see between here and the front range. 


Most days we leave our homestead exhausted, but the vision of our completed home, along with a good night's rest, keeps our spirits up.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. -- Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) 

Nancy