La Espina (The Thorn)

Carol Alford, a Colorado native grew up on the family farm tilling the rich soil, caring for animals and learning teamwork with her parents and three brothers.Carol's many years as a 4-H member brought opportunities for learning new skills, for working with all age groups, for earning recognition and for traveling, which inspired her to become a teacher. She proudly spent most of her thirty years teaching in the high school where she graduated. Her greatest delight, however, was raising a daughter and a son.She continues to teach as a substitute in local schools but her most cherished joys include sharing time and making memories with family members which include both grandchildren and great grandchildren.Prior to his death, she and her husband traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada in their motorhome. They also spent twenty-two winters in Mexico where Carol explored the wonders of the Mexican culture. Inventing poems and songs for family and friends, writing the stories of other's lives, recording the history of her childhood country school, authoring her memoir, entitled Country Roads, and crafting new characters and scenarios as a fiction writer fulfills Carol's desire to create.