Product Info

"I recall one first real snow that started on a Saturday night. On Sunday morning, our town was nestled inside a cocoon of gray and white...Everyone seemed to have taken a silent oath to preserve the peace for as long as possible. Even the dogs had hidden out somewhere."

Up Here is set in the remote Colorado town of Lake City, but the book chronicles what life is about in any small town in the Rocky Mountains. It reflects an enchanting view of life when time slows down and the really important things come into view. The seasons take on great importance. The details of nature become overwhelmingly visible. Life is lived to its fullest, high in the Rockies and far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

But such a life has it struggles too. How do you manage with small town life? What is it like to live sixty miles from a doctor or a shoe store? What is it like to experience snow for six to eight months of the year? And then there is the constant conflict with change. Everyone wants such an idyllic life to always be the same, but perhaps change is the only constant in small town life.

Robert Stigall's exquisite black and white photographs visually compliment the wonderful story that Mary Stigall shares with us in Up Here. He is a true artist with a camera. Together, Mary and robert present a tale of life that goes far beyond their beautiful, little mountain valley.

After an extensive teaching career and serving as Assistant Dean at Webster Univesity in Missouri, Mary Stigall pulled up roots and moved to Lake City, Colorado, where she began writing a monthly column about small town life called "Up Here" for the local newspaper, from which most of the stories for this book originated.