Barbara Lawlor,  Nederland.

It’s gone.

It’s done for.

It has flown the coop.

As the crystal ball dropped in New York City, the unimaginable crowd in Times Square screamed and waved their 2016 hats, and they kissed each other and made toasts to all kinds of good things that were sure to take place in the upcoming year.

At the same time in Nederland it was 10 p.m. and the streets were quiet. The new year slipped in trying to avoid the single digit temperatures.

Although the first week was cold, the bright sun warmed our souls and mountain people played on the snow. Eldora Mountain Resort was packed, parking lots filled up by midday. Nederland Police Department officers and Boulder County Sheriff’s deputies organized the traffic leaving the resort and the stream of vehicles driving through town into reasonable rivers.

As years go, 2015 wasn’t horrible. It had its moments, good and bad, and then in the slight space between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, it went away.

On Saturday, the Nederland Skating Rink was filled with skaters of all ages and abilities. “Just one more time,” kids would say to their parents, five or six times, until it was time for the hockey players to burst onto the ice with their sticks and pucks.

Mike Walker of Colorado Mountain Ranch watched his granddaughter, Jade, skate for the first time and had a big grin on his face saying, “Everybody’s New Year’s resolution should be to ice skate whenever they can.”

Restaurant parking lots bulged at the seams as people stopped for breakfast before they hit the trails or rink; they stopped for a late lunch and something hot to drink in the late afternoon.

The last lunch of the year at the senior meal site in the Nederland Community Center, the seniors chatted, did a little squabbling, and laughed often. They reminisced a little about 2015, about other years gone by, but they were more eager to look forward, to talk about what was to come.

The elderly citizens of Nederland are a busy bunch, always having something to do, somewhere to go and most of it is part of the Nederland Area Seniors program.

Frank Lutz looked back on 2015 and said, “Well, at least we didn’t start a war. And we had lots of laughs about the presidential candidates’ speeches on TV and the fact that we live in a nation that would even consider some of these people candidates.”

“Actually, last year was a good year, because I still have my lovely wife with me, and I plan to have her many, many years.”

Lutz said that most old year/new year stories are fictitious, that is just a ritualistic thing and we don’t really go from night to day in a few minutes, or a day.

“But it is chance to start anew if one chooses to and it is a good excuse to celebrate.”

Frank’s wife, Susan, being the more pragmatic half of the family said new year’s is a good time to talk about safe driving.

“I am not a prognosticator, but I hope that the new year brings a resolution of the conflicts that bring so much ill into the world.”

To which Frank responds, “Even Jesus was born a refugee.”

Ray Rovey is a regular at the meal site lunches and is often seen walking through town with his service dog, Milo, a yellow lab who has been trained to guide Ray to his favorite spots around town.

All was going well, with Milo, and Sugar, who has been Milo’s friend for the past two years, until she passed away a couple of weeks ago.  Ray says, “I am looking to find a new lab. It doesn’t matter what color, well if it is black or brown, people can see him better in the snow. But I’ll take whatever they’ve got. Milo needs a companion.” Milo was four years old on New Year’s Eve.

Besides that, Ray says he was happy with the Bronco’s game last Monday, which generated a football discussion at the table.

Norman Linke decided that 2015 was “interesting,” in the Chinese sense; in other words, a dubious salutation. “I have been learning about the status of our nation, the character of our country and it’s like we are all responding to a button. It is kind of scary.

“Bernie Sanders would be interesting…he and I went to school together in Brooklyn and then the University of Chicago. We were both some of the radical students of the time, we did sit-ins about housing discrimination against blacks. I would like to see a democratic congress.”

Concerning Nederland, Norm would like to have a swimming pool and hot tub in the town and would like to see Kayla Evans’ housing project become a reality. He also thinks the future should hold a Sushi restaurant and a Chinese restaurant.

As far as decades go, Norman says the 60’s was the greatest release of creativity. The music of the times tells a lot, he says. “It was the last time America was together.”

The topic of best decades expanded around the table. Everyone had quite a few to choose from. Barbara Siebold said the 70s was the best decade for her. “That’s when my children were born. That was also when we had a rodeo in town, and a Chautauqua tent with a fiddle contest. We’re all too civilized now. There are too many people who have Nederland addresses, but they don’t live here, they just sleep here.”

NAS president Jim Elders said 2015 was a good year, except he had more illness than usual, a gastroenteritis siege, a result of travels to Mexico, Florida, Arizona for the Rockies in March, and a Norway cruise ship.  He is sad that the Rotary Club lost the Nederland Satellite Group. Looking forward to 2016, Jim says, “Most wishes are fantasy. Politicians usually manage to screw things up, no matter who it is. This year is going to be a world-changing election.”

Jim says he loved the 50s, when he could leave the house at 5 a.m. and not be back until supper and everybody’s moms fed everybody’s children.

“It was an open and pleasant time and there wasn’t the worry or concern about violence all the time. Maybe that’s just cause the press throws it at us constantly. I like Nederland and I watch what people do and it’s amazing. One month after my wife died I came to Nederland and didn’t feel so lost.”

The seniors finished their lunch, discussed senior business, and then went home, eager to get on with the new year.

On Monday, after the New Year weekend, the Gilpin Prime Timers met for lunch and discussed where they were in the world and what they needed to do. At the top of their list was getting a new van, to be able to continue to get out and enjoy life in and beyond the mountains.

Keith and Gloria Larsen have a home in Nederland and are active with both senior groups. They say they would like to see the Nederland sidewalks completed in the upcoming year so seniors would be safe when they get out of their cars. It would be an incentive to walk more. They also hope that marijuana grows are kept out of residential areas.

Keith says that Nederland needs to continue improving commerce and sustainability. He knows some people don’t want to see changes but he said he wants to see families come into Nederland and have children who also want to live here when they become adults.

He says, “2016 could be a bright year if we continue our momentum. I would like to see people take pride in their businesses and homes and the town look more like a smaller Estes Park.”

Bruce Valender said he had only one wish for 2016.

“I think that the communications tower above Big Springs, with the fake pine tree, should be switched out for a palm tree. We have a sister Pioneer Inn bar in Maui and I think it would be great to have a large palm tree on the hill as a claim to fame, rather than a Frozen Dead Guy.”

One can never say our mountain seniors do not have a sense of humor.