Half of my family lives in Boulder, CO;  my son studying at the University and my parents living coincidently nearby.  My daughter and I flew in for a few days visit between Christmas and New Years, ready with cookies to exchange and life’s stories to trade.  Everyone is doing well: it’s great to share memories and plans, get some advice and encouragement, and to share meals and events.

And some fun together!

The Denver Art Museum is hosting Brilliant, and exhibition of Cartier’s finest bespoke works.  The French jeweler has been around since1847, and the exhibit traces its early establishment by Louis-François and its long association with royalty and celebrities.  The works are intricate and expansive: arrays of matched gemstones set into filigreed silverwork.  Necklaces, tiaras, rings and bracelets glisten in the cases; special portions cover the influences of the Far East and Middle East on related pieces.

I liked the ‘mystery clocks’, the hands suspended without visible connection to the clockworks.

My daughter has a retail background, and aided my engineer’s eye, curious about how the tiniest of gems could be attached to the intricate pieces.  There are impossibly tiny silver baskets and prongs that anchor each individual stone, a later portion of the exhibit illustrates the design and crafting processes.

 

The collection of emeralds, a portion devoted to men’s creations, rounds it out; it’s a lovely exhibit, well worth making time for.

I breezed through a showing of colorful works by Raoul Dufy downstairs and the outside sculptures, then lunch together in the café to compare perspectives.  We topped that with Champagne brunch at the Greenbriar Inn the next morning, highly recommended regardless of the season. 

It was a wonderful visit, a reminder that family holds many of the true gems in life

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I haven’t been in the US as often as I used to be: the shifting nature of work, family, and economics meant resulted in nearly a year’s absence.   It accumulated faster than I realized,and I particularly needed to get down to Colorado to visit my son and my parents.

And we had a good catch-up and reconnection all around. 

And some lovely snow days for early-morning walking; sometimes jet-lag is a good thing

 

My son left the Air Force to start back to college: it was great to see his apartment, play with his big graceful dog, and hear about his future plans.

 

My parents are in the midst of down sizing, moving from the house to an apartment a few blocks away. There was time to sit and talk, to see the new place, and sort through the boxes of things that wouldn’t be able to move.  There were a lot of pictures of generations of family, memorabilia from my grandfather, scrapbooks of family trips taken together growing up. 

 

We scanned all of the oldest photos: my great-granfathers at work in their paper mill and shoe store.  We contacted railroad museums that might have interest in the coffee sets from long-vanished dining cars.

I felt a tug at how closely the carefully typed vacation diaries, illustrated with curling photos, reminded me of the way i capture life as an expat and entrepreneur: the journey’s record. 

We bundled two large boxes of them to keep.

 

There were long discussions of real-estate and politics, the Jan1 arrival of retail marijuana, computers and sports teams.  We all enjoyed dinners together with old stories and familiar laughter, followed by single-malt sipping and Christmas cookie exchanges. 

It was all very traditional, close, and happy, a cap on the old year and a touchstone to measure the new.  ‘And more visits in 2014, seeing if expat and extended family life can be better mixed.