Spring is Finally Here!

According to the calendar, this week was the first day of spring. Someone should tell the weatherman though. It was 68° on Monday, so I went on a bike ride along the Platte River Trail. To celebrate St Patrick's Day, my friend and I ordered Irish cream lattes (yum). Unfortunately, on Tuesday, it was back to snowing. Sheeesh!

Luckily, the snow only lasted a day, but it brought back the cold temperatures. I went to my painting class at the Senior Center where we practiced flowers. My flower doesn't look too bad in this photo, but I need to bring better watercolor paper. Walmart paper is hard to work with and it has a weird texture.

I've been thinking about getting into plein aire painting (landscape painting outdoors). I'm a member of the Denver Plein Aire group, and every month they send me a list of where they are painting each week. But my blood isn't thick enough to paint outdoors when it's under 50°. Now that it's warming back up, I may try to join them. They had little backpacks on sale at the outlet mall this week. I picked one up thinking it would be the perfect size for my palette and paints. Plus, walking to all the stores at the outlet mall means I get to check off another item on my winter bucket list. I need to pick up the pace; it's almost Easter.

We had our monthly Zoom meeting this week for the neighborhood social committee (I should have combed my hair before going online). Our next big event is the Easter egg hunt. They are expecting 150 kids, so plan to order 1,500 eggs. I suggested they put a limit on how many eggs one kid could pick up, because last year some kids walked away with 20 eggs and others were lucky to get 1. But I was outvoted. However, in true Millennial fashion, they are going to have an "emergency" basket of eggs to hand out for those kids who aren't aggressive enough to get in there and fight for some eggs.

In my Something Old, Something New challenge, I keep tweaking my toast recipe. This time, I added arugula microgreens to the ricotta cheese, olive oil, and bagel seasoning. Since I love arugula, I thought it really added some flavor, plus it looks very festive. When I started this month's challenge, I actually thought I'd try totally different toast recipes, not just keep modifying the same one. But like most of these monthly challenges, I'm starting to lose interest.

Daylight Savings

I always hate when daylight savings rolls around in the spring. Since I'm an early-riser, I enjoy seeing the sun come up early in the morning. But when daylight savings hits, it's dark all over again. Charlie and I have been going to Starbucks on Sunday mornings, so we had to wait until almost 8:00am to go this past week. Even though there was frost all over the ground, he likes checking out all the trash in the landscaped areas around the strip mall - good sniffing.

This week we had fairly decent weather - so nice, in fact, that we were able to get outdoors and do some yard work. Charlie and I pulled weeds along the fence line. Or rather, I pulled and Charlie supervised.

Bruce replaced the landscape edging with some new paving blocks. When we first put in this landscape, I thought this section would look like a waterfall of stone between the 2 curved walls. But it just looked unfinished to me, so we decided to just add in another wall. 

I went on my first eBike ride with the Bike Club. We rode to the Aurora Reservoir (about 23 miles roundtrip). Even though I was on my eBike, I was dragging by the time I got home. It's been a long time since I've ridden that far. And contrary to what people think, eBikes only "assist" you by making the pedaling easier, especially when going up hills. You still have to do all the pedaling yourself.

I went on a field trip with the Senior Center to the state Capitol building. Unfortunately, the organizer didn't realize that it was 4th grade government day, because the place was packed with little 9-year-olds. Luckily, we were there a bit before them, so were able to climb the 276 steps up to the dome (at least those of us not using walkers). Those windows behind me are actually Jefferson doors that open onto a narrow catwalk. So even though it was really cold and windy, we got to walk around the outside of the dome. The city views were OK, but you couldn't see the mountains because of all the fog.

It was kind of interesting walking up to the dome, because there were cutouts in the walls every so often so you could see the internal structure of the building. The main areas are very opulent with lots of brass, marble, and painted murals. Our guide told us that all the materials were from Colorado, except for the oak doors and window frames. Since trees have a really hard time growing at high elevations, all the wood came from the Missouri Ozarks - small world. 

After the tour, we all had lunch at Steuben's Diner. It was the start of Colorado Restaurant Week, so they were offering a lobster roll special for $35 (pricey!). I opted for the plain fish & chips, and I think I got the better deal - those chunks of fish were huge.

For my Something Old, Something New challenge this week, I made some ricotta and olive oil toast with Everything Bagel seasoning. It was much tastier than the ricotta toast with apples I made last week.

I dropped off my quilt blocks at the Quilt Club meeting. I was anxious to see the blocks that some of the other people made. I think the blocks are very interesting, but I still don't like the color scheme they picked out. Maybe if they'd stuck with all browns, or just greens, or grays, but not all 3 mixed together. That pinkish fabric doesn't seem to match at all.

My last project of the week was a baby book for Pearl, or rather Pearl's grandmother who will hopefully be keeping it up to date this next year. It's hard to find baby paper anymore, because so many craft stores are going bankrupt. JoAnn's and one of the Dollar Tree stores closed this week, but luckily Hobby Lobby was still open. If Melissa has any more babies, I may have to make their books out of grocery bags.

Happy Fat Tuesday

We just can't win on the weather front. On Monday, the weather was beautiful (and warm), so I jumped on my bike and rode the Piney Creek Trail.

But on Tuesday, it was back to shoveling snow. This time we got a new thing to watch for in the forecast, called graupel. It's a super-cooled water droplet that freezes onto a snowflake turning it into a chunk of ice. The nickname for this phenomenon is called "hominy snow." Even though we didn't get a very thick layer, Bruce had a devil of a time scraping it off the driveway.

I checked off another item on my winter bucket list by making a new smoothie. I'd never heard of maca powder before, but they did indeed have it at the grocery store. It's a "superfood" that's supposed to give the smoothie a caramel flavor without sugar. I'll have to admit, it wasn't too bad. However, I had trouble drinking the smoothie with a straw, because the chopped pecans kept getting stuck. Our grocery store doesn't sell pecan butter, so I'll just use almond butter next time and skip the pecans. I also made one of the toast recipes. This one had ricotta cheese and sliced apples dusted with a little cinnamon. It was OK, but I think goat cheese or peanut butter would have been better. Ricotta cheese is kind of bland. Unfortunately, I have a whole tub of it left.

February Fitness Challenge

Well Janet and I both exceeded our fitness goals for February. Year-to-date, she's walked 687,041 steps, and I've walked 434,775 steps and ridden my bike for 805 minutes. The biking has been a lot more interesting on the few days the snow has melted. Janet's planning to keep on walking in order to meet her 4-million step goal for the year. I'm bowing out of the challenge for March, because I much prefer doing my exercise outdoors, and our weather is still too unpredictable.

However, I was able to go out with the bike club on Friday for a short ride to the Fika coffee shop. I think all of us are suffering from too many Christmas cookies, because it was a struggle pedaling up the last hill. There's still a bit of snow here and there along the trail, but it was really nice to sit out on the patio in the sun for a change. Notice that all the men are wearing shorts. That seems to be a really macho thing in Colorado - if the temperature is above 40, put on shorts even if you're wearing 6 layers on top.

I checked off 2 items on my Winter bucket list this week. When I was in San Diego, I bought myself a souvenir t-shirt from Balboa Park. Then when I got home, I put together a 500-piece puzzle. The Senior Center has a whole library of puzzles you can borrow, so I picked out one with a lot of color in the picture. I didn't think I'd have the patience for one of those monochromatic ones.

For my Something Old, Something New challenge for March, I found a book in the library about toast. That probably seems a bit weird, but they really have some tasty recipes and I've been looking for something simple to have for lunches. I thought I'd give this a try. 

San Diego

We've been getting a lot of snow and cold temperatures this winter, so I decided to trade in our frosty white landscape...

for an oceanside view with a quick trip to San Diego. Sunny and 70's - you can't beat that.

My goal for the week was just to get outside, soak up some sun, and do some sketching. I stayed at the Best Western Bayside Inn in downtown, mostly for its proximity to the waterfront and Balboa Park. My first stop was Spanish Village in Balboa Park - very colorful with lots of sketching opportunities, plus there's a coffee cart right in the plaza serving tasty Mexican mochas.

The last time I was in San Diego, the Botanical Garden was closed for renovation. The renovation is now complete, so I was able to go inside for the first time. The entire "roof" of this structure is made out of redwood lathe (thank goodness the LA fires didn't come down this far). They wouldn't let me sit down and sketch inside, but I found a bench outside the building.

Another day, I headed up to Seal Beach in La Jolla. I sat on a bench away from the seals so I could see them but not smell them (they really stink!), and drew the cliffs these pelicans were sitting on.

What was interesting was that the Watercolor Society was having a paintout at that very same spot, so they invited me to their throwdown when they were finished. These artists must come here all the time, because they were very talented.

No visit to San Diego is complete without some Mexican food. I went up to Old Town one morning and had the huevos rancheros for breakfast. There's real homemade tortillas and 2 eggs underneath all that cheese.

I went to the beach once, but preferred spending my time near the harbors (much safer). The vloggers have taken over the beachfronts by riding their bikes along the boardwalk while taking video selfies of themselves with the ocean as a backdrop.

On my last day, I headed over to the Cabrillo National Monument. It took me 2 buses to get there, but they really did have stunning views of San Diego Bay and the skyline. Most school kids have heard of Christopher Columbus, but not too many schools study the explorers who came to the west coast. Juan Cabrillo was an explorer from Spain.

So after 8 days, I managed to completely fill up my accordion journal. Luckily, by the time I got back home, the temperature had finally risen above freezing.

New Baby

There's a new baby in the family - Pearl Daisy Taylor, born the day after Valentine's Day. She's very tall and skinny (just like her momma) - 19-3/4" and 6.15 lb.

Three generations...

Back to Cold

The bad thing about having a dog in winter is opening the door to freezing weather so he can go to the bathroom. At least I don't have to go out with him. 

I spent a big chunk of the week catching up on some projects. One was the applique wall hanging I started over a year ago. It's supposed to be an aspen tree in a Colorado mountain meadow (which it definitely looks like). It took me forever to figure out how to do that two-toned border. The mountains are supposed to have tiny little pieces of white fabric on them to represent snow; but since I'm sick of snow, I left them off. I'm ready for spring.

Our Quilt Club is making a group quilt to raffle off and make money for the club. Each member was assigned 4 blocks, each one 6-1/2" x 6-1/2" square. I did not participate in the fabric selection, otherwise the quilt would have been a lot more colorful. This color scheme kind of depresses me - it's like looking out the window at all the brown and gray. Number 3 was my own design - I actually just sewed together a bunch of my scraps. I think I like it better than some of the other patterns. I've decided that quilt pattern piecing is going to be my February Something Old, Something New challenge. I've dabbled in quilts before, but it's usually applique, like my Colorado wall hanging or last year's bug quilt. Trying to piece those tiny little rectangles and triangles together while keeping all the lines straight and the corners sharp is tricky. I had to start over many, many times. My seam ripper got a good workout.

On Wednesday, I took a class at the Parker Arts Center called, Painting with Coffee. Literally, we dissolved instant coffee in water to make our "paint." 

We could paint anything we wanted, but of course I had to paint a coffee cup. I was so inspired that the next day I went to Starbucks and ordered something new - a chocolate hazelnut cookie cold foam brew. I guess that means I can check off another item on my Winter Bucket List, since I usually just order some variety of mocha. The cold foam brew was tasty, but an iced drink on a winter day probably wasn't the smartest choice.

Courtney and I finished our online watercolor class. This week's painting was a desert scene. Courtney's picture, like usual, is very good. She really captured the water reflections in the stream.

Bruce has been taking advantage of the cold by getting a head start on taxes. Charlie usually keeps him company by napping in the chair next to Bruce's desk. He likes to keep his stuffed turkey with him when he takes a nap. I usually put his toy in the closet when he goes to bed at night, because when he chews on it, it makes a weird honking sound.

Janet and Teresa went to a Las Vegas casino party last weekend to watch the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chiefs 40-22.  

Bruce and I went to a Super Bowl party at a neighbor's house. I think everyone there (except us) was a diehard Bronco's fan. The host set up one of those football betting squares. I felt horrible for being a winner after the first quarter, like I somehow jinxed the Chiefs. But I guess on the other hand, I won back my original bet. I probably should have gone to Las Vegas, too.

A Week of Warmth

We finally got an entire week of decently warm weather with no snow, so I decided to take full advantage of it.  On Monday, rather than go to the monthly field trip signups at the Senior Center, I put my bike on the car and went down to the Platte River Trail. There weren't too many people on the trail at 9am, but by the time I came back at noon, the trail was like a freeway. I think I was the only person wearing long sleeves; most of them were in shorts. I stopped off at Nixon's Coffee and ordered a raspberry mocha. OMG, it was delicious!

On Tuesday, I decided to do a little maintenance on my bike (cleaning and gear adjustments). I had ordered new tires, but when I compared them to the ones already on my bike, they didn't look that worn. So, I decided to keep the old ones on for a few more miles. I didn't do such a great job on the gears, so I made an appointment for a tune-up at the bike shop. Luckily, they're having a 30% off sale this month.

On Wednesday, the Bike Club rode up to Fika Coffee. We haven't done a group ride since Winter Solstice. It was nice to see the "hardier" members of our club again.

I dropped off Charlie at the groomer before my bike ride. His hair had grown so long, it was getting really difficult to brush out all the tangles. I told the groomer to cut it short, but I didn't realize she'd be quite so ruthless with her shears. He doesn't even look like the same dog in these before & after photos. But at least, he's a lot easier to brush now.

On Thursday, I went on a field trip with the Senior Center. First, we had lunch at Pint's English Pub. I've been reading a lot of British mysteries lately and the characters always have a Ploughman's Platter for lunch. When I saw it on the menu, I decided to try it out for myself. It's basically like a turkey sandwich, but with all the ingredients spread across the plate. I especially liked those big hunks of cheese.

Afterwards, we toured the Colorado Women's History Museum. It's located in one of the few surviving mansions downtown, completely surrounded by modern high-rises. We learned a lot of interesting facts on the tour, like Colorado being the 2nd state to give women the right to vote 27 years before the 19th amendment was officially passed.

I thought the tour was nice, but it tended to focus a bit more on the interior of the house rather than Colorado women. Walking through the mansion reminded me of our old Central West End house, especially this ceiling in the parlor (just like the ceiling I wallpapered in our CWE entry hall, only this ceiling was hand-painted).

On Saturday, Courtney and I did another one of our online painting sessions. This time we painted a winter scene using cerulean blue, carmine red, and yellow ochre. Most of the painting used blue, but there were a few touches of red and yellow. My interpretation is below. That's supposed to be a wood pile in the center covered in snow (not easy to tell). I have no idea what the yellow thing is. Next week, we'll try our hand at a desert scene.