2025 in Review

This year, my goal was to ride as many new bike trails as possible (a somewhat short window when you’re trying to avoid winter snow and ice).  I managed to put 1,286 miles on my bike while checking out 21 new trails (that's a round-trip ride to Kansas City and back). Most of the trails were in or around Denver, but a few were out-of-state. 

My favorite ride is always the annual trip our bike club takes to the mountains. We usually start in Frisco and ride to Breckenridge, but this year I stayed an extra day and rode the trail in the opposite direction to Copper Mountain. Both trails are kind of grueling on the way to the top, but easy coasts on the way down. If I were more into mountain biking, I'd just take the chair lift to the top. But mountain bike trails are pretty rugged with loose dirt, tree roots, and rocks; I prefer a nice concrete trail.

I went on a bikepacking trip in September. The group started in Ottawa, Kansas and rode the Flint Hills Trail to Pomona State Park. Most people camped out at the park, but I managed to snag a cabin for the overnight stay (I wanted a real bed and shower). A few weeks later, Bruce and I went to Custer, South Dakota and I rode a piece of the Mickelson Trail. That was really cool, because I rode right past the foot of the Crazy Horse memorial. It was a great summer, but my body keeps telling me it’s probably time to switch to an eBike. 

We went on a few camping trips this summer – some in a cabin and others in a tent. We went to Gunnison to hike in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (this was before they had that horrible fire). It was a beautiful place, but we discovered that most national parks do not allow dogs on the trails (we had Charlie, our goldendoodle, with us). Dogs are allowed in the parking lots of the Visitor Centers, but that’s about it. So instead, we went over to the Curecanti Recreation Area where we’d rented a cabin and hiked their trails. 

We went tent camping in a few Colorado State Parks – the state parks are much more dog-friendly. The first time we went out camping, we literally slept in our 1980’s Walmart sleeping bags on the ground (we didn’t realize how long it had been since we’d been camping, nor how old we’d gotten). We were up by 5am and headed home. On our next camping trip, we got a lot smarter and bought camping cots to go inside the tent with insulated sleeping pads, blowup pillows, and 3-season sleeping bags. It was a significantly more enjoyable experience. 

I joined the local Senior Center this year, which is ironic given that I always used to make fun of those places when I was younger. They offer all kinds of activities like line dancing, painting, jigsaw puzzles, etc, but I mostly joined for the trips. They have their own little bus and each month they offer about 10 different trips to local events – theater shows, museums, restaurants, etc. It’s great, because I don’t have to drive (I didn’t think anywhere could beat St Louis, but Denver traffic is horrendous). Last year, I took trips to the state Capitol building, a cannabis factory, and the Breckenridge ice sculpture festival, among others. Bruce thought I’d be the last person to go on a cannabis tour, but truthfully, the science of how they grow the plants and extract the oils to make medical marijuana was fascinating.

We worked on a couple house projects this year - resurfacing the front porch and replacing the wood mulch with decorative rock. I know it looks like Bruce does all the work around the house, but I usually help out at least a little bit.

The sad part about this year was losing so many great actors, especially the ones I grew up with. Two of my favorites were Diane Keaton and Robert Redford. I remember wearing khaki pants all through my 30's like Diane Keaton wore in Annie Hall (I also had the vest, but not the tie or hat). I actually enjoyed her Book Club and Poms movies better than Annie Hall, even though that's where she got her Academy Award for Best Actress. When I was a freshman in college, I painted a 10' x 10' mural of Robert Redford on the ceiling of my dorm room. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid was the popular movie at the time. Our hall monitor cringed when she saw it, but let it stay through the semester. However, when summer vacation rolled around, I had to paint over it before going home. I think they should have kept it up for future students to enjoy, especially since they ended up tearing the dorm down anyway years later.

I took my annual trips to KC and St Louis to see my sisters and my teacher friends (notice I seem to have an ice cream theme going on here). I also went to Seattle to see Brian and Amber, and Chicago to paint with Courtney at one of their Urban Sketch outings. The sketch outing in May turned out to be really cold, so I think I'll stick with going to Chicago in July - much warmer.

So that's the highlights from 2025. In 2026, Bruce and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, so it will be interesting to see what new adventures we can come up with.

Courtney Visit

Courtney came to visit the week before Christmas. She got off the plane wearing a long, heavy coat, because the temperatures were in the teens in Chicago. Little did she know that Denver was experiencing record highs in the 70s. The skiers weren't happy, because most of the lifts were closed (even in Vail and Aspen). But we took advantage of the warm weather and did a lot of outdoor activities, including going on a bike ride down the Piney Creek Trail.

The next day, we went to the park to sketch. We were sitting in the grass when Santa rode up on a motorcycle. The park was packed with kids, who all ran over to tell Santa one last time what they wanted for Christmas.

We walked over to the library to sketch some of the Christmas trees on display. Each tree had a different theme based on a book. Normally, the trees are really cute, but this year a lot of the trees were somewhat dark and sinister. The tree on the left is based on a book about a flesh-eating virus that is out to destroy the human race - not your usual Hallmark Christmas moment. The one behind it is from Lord of the Flies where a group of schoolboys get stranded on a desert island and then start killing each other... ho, ho, ho. The Addams Family tree was clever, but I'm not sure I'd feel very festive with a black Christmas tree sporting an amputated hand.

We opened our presents on Christmas Eve-Eve, so that Courtney and I could have a little time to use our new art supplies. Charlie got a stuffed bear that I paid a fortune for, because it was supposed to be indestructible. It took him about 30 minutes to bite off the pompom on the end of the bear's hat. I should send him to the toy manufacturer as one of their testers; he could find the weak spots in their toys.

A few days after Courtney left, we finally got a "white" Christmas with a light dusting of snow. The temperature dropped down so far that Bruce was able to just broom it off. That's the weird thing about Colorado - the temperature can swing 50 or 60 degrees in just a few hours. Since the wind chill said it felt like 4°, Charlie had to watch from the window.

When the temperature got back up above 40° I went out for one last trip to sketch the library trees. I managed to find a nice one representing the Joy of Cooking - lots of pots and pans for decoration. I also stopped off at Black Rock Coffee for one of their holiday drinks - a Mexican mocha chilla. Yum!

Check-ups

This was one of those weeks you just want to forget.

Happy Birthday, Janet & Jamie

Two people in the family have back-to-back December birthdays. Janet turned 71 on the 5th and Jamie turned 43 on the 6th (goodness, everybody is getting old!). Janet and Jamie celebrated together at Thanksgiving, because Jamie and family had to go to a wedding in Kentucky on his birthday.

We finally got our first snow, which in Colorado, is a big deal, especially if you are a skier. Since I'm a biker, I'm not as happy as the others. It was so cold after the first snow, that Bruce just used a broom to brush it away. But it was much warmer during the second round of snow, so Bruce got to use his new electric snow shovel. An "electric" shovel sounds weird, but it works really well, especially on skinny parts like the sidewalks, plus you don't have to pick up heavy shovelfuls of snow. The shovel just scoops them away.

I went on a field trip with the Senior Center to old Colorado City (the old part of Colorado Springs). First, we stopped at a German bakery. There were so many delicious things to choose from, but I picked a chocolate croissant and a poppy seed pretzel. The croissant was huge and loaded with chocolate bits inside - much better than the French version.

Then we had lunch at a German restaurant. I ordered the Weissbier and Käsespätzle (spätzle with Swiss cheese sauce). Delicious! We were getting ready to pay the check when the man next to me ordered a slice of Black Forest torte. It looked so good that I had to get one, too. Only I was so stuffed, I got it to-go. You can't go to a German restaurant if you are on a diet.

We had our neighborhood Santa Jamboree this weekend. My job was running the Elf Scavenger Hunt. Kids had to find the elf hidden in the Christmas tree, take a selfie, and then show it to me for a prize. Needless to say, I had one of the popular jobs. We also had tables set up for kids to write letter to Santa, eat cookies, drink cocoa, and take a photo with Santa and Mrs Claus. 

That part only lasted an hour, and then Santa and Mrs Claus headed out in a horse-drawn carriage to ride around the neighborhood. Luckily, my duties were over, because it was cold outside. I need to go back to that German restaurant a few more times so I'll have padding like Santa.

Happy Birthday, Lincoln

Well, another one of Melissa's kids crossed over to preteen-hood. Lincoln turned 10 this month, and goodness, has he grown. Lincoln is usually the one who teaches me how to play iPad games, but I don't think I'm interested in learning to ride his scooter. I can still remember when I was his age spending 4 hours in the emergency room when I tried to ride my cousin's skateboard. I'll stick with my bike.

We've been getting into the holiday spirit (and taking advantage of the warm weather) by putting up the outside Christmas decorations. Charlie and I put up the lights on the back deck; Bruce put out the reindeer in the front. Some of our neighbors hire people to put up lights on their roofs. I figure we're festive enough without needing a ladder.

I took another holiday porch pot class at the Tagawa Garden Center. I brought home some extra greenery, so I could remake the pot I had from last year (that's the photo on the right). The one in the middle is new. Those white sticks (the skinny ones) are supposed to look like branches, but they have twinkling lights running up and down. It looks really good at night.

One day I stopped at the mall, but since I was there before the stores opened, I joined the mall walkers and logged a few steps. There was a HUGE Santa display at one end. Going to see Santa has really changed, since my kids were little. You have to use a strategy along with an app on your phone and a credit card to actually get in to see Santa in a reasonable amount of time. Santa photos also aren't free anymore. Their deluxe package cost $59 and only gave you a 4x6 photo in an autographed frame, but you also got to skip the line and go into the express lane. Luckily Santa wasn't there yet, so I snuck a picture with my phone of me and a reindeer.

The mall had some really bizarre decorations. The photo on the left is supposed to be a reindeer made out of steel cable (it was hanging from the ceiling), but it looked more like an elephant to me. The Dr Pepper football player was my favorite decoration.

The bad thing about buying Christmas presents during the Black Friday sales is that most people are too excited to wait. Bruce wanted a combo leaf vacuum/blower/mulcher for Christmas, which fell under a huge Black Friday discount. But I started worrying that it might not work on Christmas Day and the return window would be closed. So, I let him open it early. As you can see, he was very excited and immediately went outside to test it out. Oh well, at least our yard will be very clean for Christmas.

I also bought myself a little pre-Christmas present. I've been wanting to make egg muffins, but if you make them in a metal pan, it's really hard to get them out. Luckily, the silicon muffin pans fell under the Black Friday sale, so I bought one to test it. The muffins fell right out. You can pretty much put anything into the holes and then pour a beaten egg over the top. I filled these with sausage, peppers, onion, and cheese. They were delicious!

Fashion Show

Every spring and fall, my neighborhood social committee sponsors a fashion show. It's always a fun event usually accompanied by brunch or lunch. This year's theme was Audrey Hepburn movies. Some of the ladies really got into the spirit of the event and wore sleeveless black cocktail dresses with pearl necklaces (an Audrey Hepburn signature look). I wore black and white, but I don't think I even own a dress anymore, let alone a cocktail one.

All the outfits this year came from Chico's. The organizers were looking for models before the event (they always use ladies from the neighborhood), but Chico's just isn't a place I like to shop. It turned out to be a good decision on my part, because almost every outfit on display had some form of sequins, rhinestones, or ostrich feathers (even the jeans!). My friend was lucky to find a pair of un-bedazzled suede pants, but the jacket flung over her shoulder had rhinestones all over the front. I guess that's to highlight the leopard print top. I told them if they ever get LL Bean or REI to be a sponsor, then I will be a model. On the other hand, maybe I can add a little bling to our bike club by putting sequins on my bike shorts. It would probably be more noticeable than the red reflector on the back of my bike.

I went on a couple short bike rides to take advantage of the warm weather we're having, but I skipped the club ride this week so Bruce, Charlie, and I could go hiking. It was a gorgeous day (notice Bruce is down to short sleeves).

It was so clear, that you could really see the mountains in the distance. I tried taking a picture in front of Pike's Peak, but it didn't show up very well in my phone. If you look real closely, you can see it there in the background. Of course, afterwards we stopped off at Adrianna's for tacos and enchiladas. That's one of the biggest reasons I like going on hikes.

YoYo Weather

Last Sunday, Denver broke a record with temperatures in the 80s. This Sunday it was 23° when we woke up. You never know what to expect around here, but luckily it hasn't kept us indoors. Bruce, Charlie, and I went for a short hike at the Harvey Open Space. There aren't a lot of trees, so it's not a good hiking spot in the summer, but there are a lot of sniffing spots for Charlie since it's often frequented by other dog walkers. I got to try out my new hydration vest. The water bottles are up in the front rather than around the back. It makes it so much easier to get a quick drink. 

I also managed to get in a couple bike rides. They usually start off kind of cool, but when we stop for coffee, it's still warm enough to sit outside in the sun.

And speaking of coffee, it's peppermint mocha season at Starbucks... YUM!

Happy Halloween

Sandy, one of the ladies in my lunch group, decided to have a Halloween party at her house. It's been years since I've dressed up for Halloween, but I was surprised how everyone really got into the spirit. Sandy really went all out on her decorations (notice the giant spider on the fireplace).

One of the creepiest costumes was worn by this couple. They were the twins from Stephen King's movie, The Shining. I never watched that movie, but given how terrifying these 2 looked, I'm glad I didn't.

Sandy's kitchen island was overflowing with appetizers. The food was really creative, but hard to reach once all the costumed guests arrived (the guy wearing the pickleball costume kept blocking my way). She had meatballs, lady fingers, rice Krispie brains, guacamole spilling out of that wart-covered pumpkin, and a cheese ball in the shape of a pumpkin. She had a giant 6-layer chocolate cake for dessert (not shown), but when it came time to serve it, it was so big, she couldn't figure out how to slice it. She ended up pulling a big spoon out of the drawer and we all just scooped a chunk onto our plates (the pickleball guy finally moved). It was delicious!

I wore my Steampunk costume that I'd originally made for the library's ComicCon (notice my black combat boots). That tiny little hat is called a fascinator. There are 2 hairclips underneath to hold it on, but my hair is so thin, it kept sliding down. 

The week before Halloween I went to a murder mystery dinner theater with the Parker Senior Center. To get everyone into the spirit, they were encouraging people to come in costume, so I wore my Steampunk costume there, too.

Courtney went to a Halloween party, too, with some of her co-workers. She dressed up as one of the characters from the Handmaid's Tale. She used a giant red sheet to make her costume, but I think the most striking part is the white cap. At her party, they all sat out front and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids and then went into the back yard to watch the movie Halloween while sitting around a firepit.

Jumping into Autumn

Well, the temperatures have been dropping daily, so I thought I'd do a little fall decorating on the outside of the house. Since we have very strict rules about seasonal holiday decorations, I couldn't put out anything Halloween-specific until a couple weeks before Oct 31. Trust me, I'm not exaggerating... several neighbors got nasty notes about their blowup ghosts and goblins they put out before Oct 16. Sheesh. I figured if I would have gotten a note, I would have said that was produce from my garden (maybe they wouldn't notice there are no vines attached).

October is usually when the snowbirders head back to Arizona. My friend, Molly, is leaving this week. When she's here in the summer, she's a big biker, but when she goes back to Phoenix, she plays golf with the golf club. On this particular day, we cheated and drove to the coffee shop rather than bike it, partly because she'd messed up her back and partly because I'd been struggling with allergies (the ragweed is horrific around here this time of year).

But I did get in a couple short bike rides this week. Unfortunately, I think every construction worker in town is focusing on tearing up the ground right next to the bike trails (more Colorado orange-cone syndrome). The left photo is a giant hole for a storm drain they are running under the Cherry Creek Trail. The right photo is actually a picture of the Platte River renovation. I'm not sure where they diverted the river water to, because they put up those big pylons in the background and then drained all the water away so they could get their front loaders down to the riverbed. I just hope it's all completed by spring. We'll see.

One of my teacher friends, Eric, came into town to take his son to the Paul McCartney concert. We met at Wendy's for a soda and a gossip catch-up. We would have gone for a bike ride, but on the drive over to meet him my brake light came on. After our visit, I headed straight to the dealer and had to get new brake pads. Seems like it's always something going wrong.

Courtney and I did some online painting together this weekend. This demo was called Bending Perspective. The presenter was obviously from Chicago, and it was an interesting take on drawing downtown buildings. Of course, if you couldn't draw a straight line, you could always fall back on this technique to draw cityscapes. This weekend was Chicago's Architectural Open House. If I would have remembered, I would have flown there and drawn the real thing.

I've been looking for a project to do at the Craft Club. Every other meeting is devoted to chatting and doing your own projects. Most of the people knit or crochet, so I ordered some yarn from Amazon to make a baby afghan. This color was called peach, which I thought would make a nice gender-neutral blanket, but it looks a bit orange-y to me. Maybe I'll get it finished by next Halloween so it can go to an October baby.

Courtney Visit

Courtney came to town last weekend, and since the weather was so nice, we took her on a hike. We all hiked up to the bluffs at Castlewood Canyon State Park. We really have to keep a short leash on Charlie, because he thinks he's part mountain goat when we get up on top of the cliffs. But then Courtney and I sat down to sketch while Bruce and Charlie hiked on to the dam. On our way home, we stopped off for Mexican at Adrianna's... yum!

The next day we took Courtney to our neighborhood Fall Fest. They had pumpkin decorating, a petting zoo, and a beer and chili cookoff. Courtney and I sampled a few brews and voted for our favorites. But since there were only 2 entries, it was a 50/50 chance on who would be the winner.

Earlier in the week, I volunteered at our neighborhood STEM day. A former chemistry teacher set up all the experiments for the local kids. I ran the tornado station. The kids were supposed to spin the 2-liter bottles to make a vortex would form in the upper bottle and drain down into the lower bottle. I asked the little 7-year old girl who had stopped by my station if she would take a photo, since her grandmother (the lady on the right) couldn't figure out how to use my phone. Unfortunately, she wasn't much better, since she cut off my head. I think she was focusing on the bottles.

Immediately after this event, I went to ComicCon at the library. They were holding their own STEM activities. This one was on electricity with a space component. That's why R2D2 is in the background.

I'd originally planned to wear a costume to ComicCon, but since I had to work the STEM day, I just decided to ride my bike. But even though it was almost 90 degrees outside, lots of other people wore costumes. I think the hottest guy had to have been the one wearing a hairy Chewbacca costume. That looked brutal.

I managed to get in a bike ride to Hudson Gardens last week. I always like going there in the fall right before they open up for their Halloween Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns. They have so many interesting things to sketch, plus a nice coffee shop right next door.