Painting Class

Hudson Gardens started a new Artist in Residency program, and as part of it offered an afternoon painting session. When I signed up for the class, it was 60° out; but the actual day of the class, the temperature had dropped down into the 30's and it was threatening to snow. That wouldn't have been a big deal if the class were being held in a real building, but as you can see from the photo, we were in a tent. It's hard to paint when you're shivering.

Acrylic paint isn't really my expertise. My mom used to love it, because if you make a mistake, all you have to do is let the paint dry and paint over it. We were given 2 canvases and told to paint the entire background in any color we wanted before painting an actual scene (that step was easy). Since I'm taking an online watercolor class painting mountains, I decided to try painting mountains in acrylic. It didn't turn out too bad, except for the fact that I wasn't trying to paint the mountains gray. No matter how I mixed the colors, they all came out the same shade. By the time I got to the second painting, I was getting tired, so I just started using whatever paint was left on my palette (hence the orange rocks; yes, those are supposed to be rocks in a blue canyon).

The previous day, we woke up to a sun-shiny day (note the blue sky). I went for a bike ride, and Bruce pulled out the ladder to clear away a nest the birds were trying to build under the eaves. But both of us got caught in a mini-hail storm before we were finished. See all the mini-ice pellets on Bruce's back? The weather around here...sheeeesh!!!

Happy 73!

Where in the world do the years go???? An Andy's Boot Daddy is not as good as celebrating with a Ted Drewes Cardinal Sin, but close enough.

Golden Anniversary

Well we made it - 50 years together. For our golden anniversary, we drove up to Loveland, Colorado to buy a love lock. Love locks are supposed to symbolize love and commitment (I'd say staying together for 50 years is quite a commitment), and Loveland is supposedly known as the Sweetheart City... at least according to their Chamber of Commerce.

Way back on my 60th birthday, I attached a love lock to the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. But since that time, engineers have decided that adding all that weight to bridges tends to compromise them (those locks are heavy), so in Loveland, you're supposed to attach the love lock to a public art sculpture (there are 3 of them). We picked the LOVE sculpture, mostly because it was right off the interstate as you come into town. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the "O" had the most locks attached to it, probably because it's shaped like a heart. I managed to squeeze our lock in and take these pictures.

But after walking around the grounds for a while, I ended up going back to the sculpture and removing the lock to bring it home. I think I'd rather look at it once in a while than just think about it being up in Loveland.

So, after that little adventure, we drove down the highway and went hiking at Devil's Backbone. The trail isn't as rigorous as the name implies, but the day turned out to be really, really hot. Every time we stopped to take a break, Charlie tried crawling under the benches to get a little cooler. At least we had a nice breeze most of the day.

We planned to spend the night at a little cabin in Estes Park. The cabin was just outside Rocky Mountain National Park, so we took a short drive through there in the late afternoon. It turned out to be perfect timing, because we saw lots of wildlife. Luckily there weren't very many tourists at that time of day, because the ones that were there were stopping in the middle of the road, jumping out of their cars, and running after the sheep to take photos. I was afraid they were going to scare them all away.

50 Year Memories

I had brunch this week with my flower girl, who is now a grandmother of 6. Boy does time fly!

We met at the Oo-de-Lally Cafe - a quirky little coffee shop totally decorated in pink. I had a Milky Way latte and the strawberry/Nutella toast (those are chocolate chips dusted with powdered sugar on top of the toast). This is definitely not a place you go to if you are on a diet.

Fifty years ago, I was Missy's Campfire Girl leader. When she was rummaging through her mother's cedar chest, she found her old Campfire vest. We were both laughing trying to remember what the different symbols meant. When I got home, I tried Googling it and found out that most Campfire vests are considered antiques and have been donated to museums. I guess I should have kept mine rather than throw it out when we moved to Colorado.

In other news, I managed to get in 3 bike rides this week before the snow hit on Friday. Denver doesn't seem to get spring rain like the rest of the country; they get snow. But I guess moisture is moisture, which is good for the garden; but unfortunately, the freezing temps we got on Friday nipped a few of our plants. Hopefully, they are hardy enough to recover, especially the honey locust trees.

I'm always looking for small art supplies that will fit easily into my backpack or bike bag. Courtney gave me this little wooden palette that attaches to a tiny sketchbook and fits in the palm of your hand. I've seen people do tiny little paintings, but I can't imagine painting that small. I think you'd need a brush the width of a hair to do anything with much detail.

Happy birthday, Bruce!

Bruce celebrated his 75th birthday this week. It's really hard to believe that he's lived for three-quarters of a century. For his birthday, I gave him a new backpack since his old one fell apart. I should have taken a picture of him from behind, however, because you can't really see how great this backpack is. 

We decided to spend the day hiking in Garden of the Gods. It's a gorgeous place to hike, but unfortunately, I forgot that most school kids had the day off after Easter (Bruce's birthday), so the place was packed. On top of that, the UV was off the charts that day, so even though I was wearing a hat, I ended up with a raging headache. Even Charlie was looking for shady spots before we got back to the Jeep.

Two days later, Teresa celebrated her birthday. Usually, I'm in KC around then so we go out for ice cream, but this year I sent her flowers instead. They're pretty, but ice cream would have been tastier.

Even though we had a really mild winter, 3 of our plants in the backyard didn't come back. I bought some replacements at Lowe's and Bruce put them in (with Charlie's supervision). We're under massive water restrictions this summer, since we didn't get much snow over the winter. So, Bruce installed individual drip heads on each of the plants. That should be much more efficient than sprayers, especially since the low humidity dries up any airborne water before it hits the ground. 

Our bike club president, Bob, had heart surgery a couple weeks ago. It only took the surgeon an hour to replace an entire heart valve. Bob was home that evening and back riding his bike a week later - amazing how far medicine has come. I bought him an EKG cycling t-shirt for a get-well gift. 

While the bike club has been on hiatus, I've been doing a little maintenance on my new ebike.  Carbon fiber bikes are notorious for being uncomfortable to ride, because they have no shocks. So, I went on Amazon and found a bike seat with a built-in shock in the stem. To test it out, I rode to the Fika coffee shop, did a little sketching, and then rode over to Panera for lunch - about 23 miles total. The new seat was sooooo much more comfortable than the old one, so money well-spent.

Spring Fling

Last Saturday, I volunteered for our neighborhood Spring Fling... aka. Easter Egg Hunt. Supposedly it's not correct to have "Easter" in an event title anymore, because of religious connotations. Though, there was absolutely nothing even remotely religious about hunting down treats and taking selfies with a bunny. My job was manning the stuffed animal adoption station. Kids got to pick out a pet (chicks, lambs, pigs, dogs, or rabbits) and accessorize it with bow ties, hair ribbons, or bandanas. My station was very popular, which made me feel sorry for the Easter bunny (he was being ignored).

We keep having near-record-high temps, so I've been able to get out on my bike a lot. Mostly I've been heading to the coffee shop, which really isn't very far, but today I rode all the way downtown to REI. I was exhausted by the time I got back. I didn't even get to have a mocha, because the Starbucks that used to be next to REI closed down.

The bad thing about the warmer weather is it's bringing out the snakes earlier in the season than usual. This huge bull snake (almost 6 ft long) was coiled across the trail sunning himself. Luckily, he slithered off into the grass so I could ride past. I didn't want squashed snake guts all over my new bike.

Bruce, Charlie, and I went on a short hike on Friday. This part of the trail was very flat with a lot of interesting rock features, like small hoodoos. One of these days, I'll have to go back there with my sketchbook, but it was too windy and a bit cold that day.

This park actually had 2 loops - the flat one we were on was rated "easy," but the second loop was rated "strenuous." We decided to check it out, thinking it might not be that bad, but it was incredibly steep. In several places, we were scrambling over boulders (not easy to do with a dog on a leash). We finally found a fairly shallow spot and bushwacked out way back to the flat trail. I always forget that in Colorado, we're never really very far from some mountains.

Happy First Day of Spring

I decided to take a quickie trip to KC and St Louis thinking March would be a quiet time to go before the summer tourist season. WRONG! I totally forgot about Spring Break.

When I got on the plane in Denver, all the seats were occupied - not unusual for Southwest, but this time the plane was full of families with kids, not business travelers. I don't know where parents get all their money these days. When I was raising kids, Spring Break meant a driving trip to the Ozarks with grandma... if you were lucky. When I got off the plane in KC, there was still snow on the ground with freezing temps - quite a contrast to the 70° weather and shorts the ground crew were wearing back in Denver.

Michael moved into a new apartment on Union Hill right across from Crown Center. So, Janet and I went downtown to have lunch with him. Rather than fight the Spring Breakers at Crown Center, we found a quirky little bar and grill just a couple blocks from Michael's apartment. I had a barbeque burnt ends grilled cheese sandwich - a bit unusual, but good. That evening we were supposed to go to dinner to celebrate Violet's 13th birthday, but half the Taylor family got sick. So, Janet and I met Teresa for dinner and celebrated on our own.

The next day I took the train to St Louis. Janet dropped me off at the Frost Coffee Shop right across from the train station. I've always wanted to try out their drinks and do a sketch from here, since it's in an historic part of Lee's Summit. I had this week's special - an Irish Cream Latte... YUM! When I got to St Louis, the temperature had jumped 30° into the 70's. 

My friend, Sharon, picked me up and we went to Happy Hour at another bar and grill. I totally forgot how incredibly cheap the prices are in St Louis. We had prime rib sliders for $5. I can't even get a latte for $5 in Denver.

The next day I met my referee friend, Fred, and we went to the Lego Minifig Shop. This is technically a resale shop where you can buy individual minifigs or Legos by the pound. Unfortunately, I found out that Lego pulled out of the robotics competitions and will no longer be partnering with FIRST. I'm not sure what's going to happen to the program, since all the competition robots are built from Lego controllers. It seems like a weird thing for Lego to do, given that STEM programs are so popular in schools these days.

At the end of the week, it was time to head back home to celebrate National Puppy Day with Bruce and Charlie. But this celebration involved a nap... at least for me and Bruce.

Finally, some snow

This has been the driest winter. We've had an incredibly long string of sunny 60° days. Not that I'm complaining, but it's kind of a pain to have to drag out the hose and water the yard in the middle of February (nice though when you have to wash the car). But we finally got a few inches a snow on Friday. Bruce actually had to haul the snow blower up from the basement; it's been so warm, he's been riding his ebike up to the clubhouse for Tai Chi. The snow was great for us, but the whiteout conditions and ice were just enough to cause DIA to cancel over 1,000 flights. Yikes! Good thing I wasn't flying anyplace last Friday. 

But believe it or not, just 2 days before (on Wednesday) I went up to Black Hawk with the Senior Center folks. It was a gorgeous day with more 60° temps (really unusual for the mountains). I took my sketchbook with me and sat outside trying to draw the rocks and trees. I accidentally left my hat on the bus, which meant it was almost too bright to see well.

At lunch time I went into the Monarch Casino for their lunch buffet. The prime rib was good, but overall, I thought their buffet was a little overpriced. Even though it was Senior Day, I found out later that you had to actually gamble to get the senior discount.

I finally finished my winter bucket list, though I think Janet officially beat me by a couple days. For my "volunteer" square, I designed a bingo card with activities for the neighborhood kids to do in the summer. All the activities focus on our neighborhood parks. Some of the smaller parks, I didn't even realize existed, but Charlie went with me when I went out to check them out (he loves checking out new places and their smells). For the "theater" square, I went over to the Parker Arts Center and looked at their art display in the lobby of the theater. I figure that counts, especially since there aren't any theater productions going on right now. This month's art installation was on fiber arts, and believe it or not, this knitted frog was over 6 ft tall. I think the artist said she used 9 million miles of yarn to make it. The cost if you wanted to buy it was $28,000; I think I'd rather buy a car for that price.

Chinese New Year

I went on a trip with the Senior Center to celebrate Chinese New Year at the King Buffet. It's the Year of the Horse, and I felt like we'd eaten like a horse after leaving that place. The buffet tables were huge offering everything from sushi to Mongolian barbeque. They even had a couple dessert stations topped off with a chocolate fountain. I think the best part was the whole meal only cost $14. I think that's the cheapest lunch I've had since we moved to Colorado.

I almost got blackout on the library bingo challenge for February. I never did get to a library program or read a book about the weather. I also didn't learn to say "hello" in 5 different languages, because I couldn't get their online translator to work (I guess I could have cheated and just used Google Translate). But it was fun trying out some of the online features at the library. Libraries aren't just about looking up books in a card catalogue anymore.

The March reading challenge is to "read a book by an author you've never read before." So, I chose the Amazon Prime First Reads, Soft Launch by Sarah Vacchiano. Trust me, you don't want to read it. It's classified as an adult coming of age book. That's not really a genre I'm attracted to, because the characters are usually fairly dysfunctional and getting older doesn't improve their situation. In Soft Launch the female protagonist is supposedly a very bright first year law associate who makes one bad decision after another usually while drunk. I can see why most Amazon First Reads books are free.

My microgreen seeds sprouted this week. I think they're at the stage where they are ready to be harvested. I'm just not sure I'm ready to actually eat them. I probably should have planted flower seeds instead; you only have to look at them. I only have a volunteer activity and a trip to the theater left on my winter bingo bucket list. I signed up to chaperone the neighborhood Spring Fling (aka. Easter egg hunt), but that isn't until March 28. I thought about going to the theater to see Zootopia 2, but it's already gone. None of the other movies look appealing.

I'm taking another online art class on ink sketching. The teacher is a hiker in western Washington, so the focus is mainly on mountains, water, and fir trees. It's fun trying a different media, especially since I have a drawerful of pens I've picked up from previous workshops, but I still like pulling out my mini watercolor palette when I'm sitting at a coffee shop.

And the week wouldn't be complete without a group bike ride. This time we checked out the new bridges over the E470 freeway. It's so nice (and safe) not to have to cross streets at major intersections. With the new pedestrian bridges, we just sail right over the traffic. The trail isn't very peaceful since it runs along the freeway, but it's certainly a lot less stressful. One of the things we joked about is that we use our bikes to shop, because the trail runs right past the mall.

More Bingo Squares

A couple years ago I took an applique quilting class to make a Colorado scene. But like a lot of my projects, it's been sitting in my closet half-finished. All I had to do was apply the border - simple, except for those mitered corners. But in honor of our bingo bucket list, I pulled it out, finished it up, and even hung it above the dresser. I think it turned out really nice, plus I finally beat Janet on completing a square before her.

I also planted my indoor seeds today. I bought a microgreens kit off Amazon. I like putting microgreens on avocado toast, but they're really expensive at the grocery store. When I opened the kit, there was a tiny dehydrated soil disk that you had to soak in water before sprinkling on the seeds. I think the whole thing looks like a chocolate cake frosted with sprinkles right now, but we'll see if the seeds actually sprout in a few days. It doesn't really matter, because the bingo card says to "plant" them, not actually "harvest" them.

I've been a little concerned about locking up my bike when I ride into downtown Denver. It's not that I ride in high-crime areas, but with the invention of wireless power tools, thieves can cut through cable locks in seconds. So, I went online to do a little research. Most of the "indestructible" chain locks weigh about 5-8 pounds. I don't think I can carry that much extra weight even with an ebike - my entire bike only weights 30 lb! As a compromise, I found a folding link lock that seems pretty robust. The manufacturers claim it can't be cut with bolt cutters, a hacksaw, or a hammer & chisel. However, it can be cut with an angle grinder, but I doubt very many thieves carry around tools that heavy, especially during the day. The nice thing about it is that it folds up neatly into my bike bag. BTW, it looks like plastic, but it's actually steel.

Courtney and I took another online class painting mountains. The picture on the left was painted with only one color; the one on the right was supposed to be a colorful sunrise. I think the one on the left looks more realistic. The sky portion of the one on the right looks OK, but those dark shapes in front of the mountain look like bad ocean waves. 

Bingo Bucket List - Week 7

I really need to get moving on the Winter Bingo Bucket List. Janet only has a couple more squares to go. Here latest (and hardest) square was to "follow a diet for a week." At first, she tried to get away with just dieting for 7 different days, but I told her they had to be in a row. So, she finally finished and I think she looks great. The hardest part for her was avoiding all the junk food floating around at Violet's volleyball tournaments (which seem to be every week). And BTW, congratulations to Pearl who just celebrated her first birthday.

I did manage to check off "have lunch with friends" this week when I went on a tour of the Molly Brown House with the Senior Center. The food was served in the format of a formal tea, just like Molly Brown would have served when she lived in the house. The first course was scones and fruit, the second was a variety of sandwiches, and the third was an assortment of desserts. Molly Brown is most known for surviving the Titanic and advocating for women's rights, especially the right to vote. We found out from our tour guide that her real name was Margaret (no one ever called her Molly), but when producers made her story into a musical back in the 30's, the Unsinkable Molly Brown sounded more festive than the Unsinkable Margaret Brown.

The house itself was very impressive and extremely ornate, not surprising since Margaret Brown's husband discovered one of the largest gold strikes during the Gold Rush. The house reminded me a lot of our Central West End house sharing many of the same features and antique furnishings. Most of the original houses along Millionaire's Row in Denver have been torn down, but luckily this house was saved. Unfortunately, when I looked out the windows, all you could see was a giant parking garage across the street.

Charlie got a haircut this week. I felt a little bad for him, because it's still chilly outside. But as you can see in the before picture, he was getting really scruffy. I think he's a lot cuter in the before picture, but when his hair is this long, it gets really tangled and picks up every stray bit of grass on his walks.

I started another reading challenge this week. I actually belong to 3 different library systems: Aurora, Arapahoe County, and Douglas County. The new challenge (on the right) is through the Douglas County system. They require reading 12 books in 12 different categories, but you can do it in any order. The nice thing about their website is they give you staff suggestions, which saves you having to hunt something up in the card catalog. Both the Aurora challenge and the Douglas County challenge throw your name into a hat for a prize drawing when you finish, but I like the potential prize in the Aurora challenge better - an iPad versus a restaurant gift certificate. I haven't been all that impressed with the restaurants in Denver.