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.

Bingo Bucket List - Week 6

I actually didn't get a lot accomplished this week on the Winter Bingo Bucket List, but I did find out that Amazon makes automatic playlists for you of songs that you request. The playlist is called, "recent songs" (how original), so I checked that square off my list.

I've actually been spending a lot more time on the library bingo challenge. Many of the activities involve reading usually with some type of winter-related theme. I was going to apply this Dean Koontz book to the square titled, "read about the weather;" but this book had absolutely nothing to do with weather. Instead, I used it for the "read a new type of book." Technically it's classified as "horror, fantasy, thriller, science fiction, and humor." I'd just call it weird. It seems like it really should be a middle school book, because it has a strong comic book superhero feel, but with a narcissistic twist. I never did think it was funny, though many reviewers on Goodreads said they couldn't stop laughing.

Some of the other library bingo squares involve activities. I made this junk journal for the "make something crafty inspired by winter" square. I raided the free greeting card box at the Senior Center to find winter-themed cards to make the base. Putting the junk journal together goes a lot quicker that way.

One of the squares on the bingo card says to "participate in an outdoor activity." When I clicked on the square, it specifically said, "ski, snowshoe, or snowboard." Well, if we don't get any snow soon, I'm going to have to check off biking. I've been able to get out 2 or 3 times a week, because the temps have usually been in the 50's. Crazy for February.

I took Charlie out for a walk one day to Tallman Meadow Park. I had an ulterior motive, because that park is right next to the Fika coffee shop and my favorite raspberry mochas.

I also took my new plein air easel outside and did a little painting of the mountains. It's a lot harder to paint outdoors than it is from inside, especially when the wind kicks up. My paper was anchored pretty well, but the wind kept drying out my paint.

In Chicago, Courtney is the new co-chair of the Urban Sketcher social media committee. She put together a really nice video of their latest meeting at the Art Institute. It's on Facebook and Instagram if you care to look it up.

Bingo Bucket List - Week 5

I decided to get back to our winter bingo bucket list, so Charlie and I went out for a night walk to look at the stars. However, these are not stars. These are the planes coming in for a landing at DIA. Every night the sky is filled with them. The planes don't fly directly over our house, but the sky is usually so clear we can see their lights from quite a distance. And BTW, I can also check off "walk 100 miles in 30 days." I finally got around to adding up my steps and on January 30th, I had walked 107 miles. 

Yesterday I went to 2 different libraries. I've already checked off "visit a library" for the winter bingo list, but my library bingo card said to visit a different library than you normally go to. So first I stopped off at the Smoky Hill Library, because they have a little coffee shop in the lobby (the picture on the right). But then I went over to the Mission Viejo Library, because it's actually one of the branches that's sponsoring the bingo challenge. The Mission Viejo Library is really small and doesn't have a lot of books, but their used books are only $1.50. The used books at the Smoky Hill Library are $5 and up (all those books in the right-hand photo are used books).

We had another 60° day today, so the bike club rode over to Fika. This time I started from the neighborhood (22 miles round trip), rather than drive down to the trailhead. It's a little hairy starting from here, because we have to ride down a rural road. It doesn't have much traffic, but it also doesn't have any kind of shoulder or sidewalk. It was nice to know that my new bike handled the hills well (they are very steep), but I think I'm going to stick with driving down to the trailhead next time. It's too nerve-wracking when a car comes over the hill.

Groundhog Day

The rest of the country relies on Punxsutawney Phil to predict the next 6 weeks of winter, but in Colorado they get their advice from Flatiron Freddy - a stuffed, yellow-bellied marmot from Boulder (first cousin to Phil). Since we've had very little snow and 27 days over 60° so far this year, it's no surprise that Freddy is predicting an early spring even though Phil saw his shadow. It definitely works for me, though I'm sure we'll be paying for it (literally) this summer when water prices skyrocket.

I've been a little remiss on my winter bingo challenges, so this morning Charlie and I went out for a walk to watch the sunrise. I tend to watch the sunrise almost every morning with Bruce while he drinks his coffee, because the sunrises are so colorful around here. But watching it from the comfort of my livingroom chair doesn't allow me to check off a box - hence the walk with Charlie. The only trouble with that is he likes to do his business early in the morning, so I have to cart around a bag of dog poop.

I'm also taking an online watercolor class with Courtney. It's called Peaks and Valleys, but mostly it's about painting mountains, a subject that is probably more relevant to me living in Colorado than Courtney living in Chicago. I've been intrigued for a while now to try plein air painting (painting outside), so I went online and bought an easel and tripod. I've been practicing in the house before I venture out into the cold. It's a lot trickier to paint standing up out in the grass than it is sitting down at a table in a coffee shop. We'll see how that works out.

I started another reading challenge sponsored by the library. It's a bingo board game only you don't have to get blackout. Whenever you get a simple bingo (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), you are automatically enrolled in a drawing for an iPad. I figured 'what the heck.' I read all the time anyway, so I might as well throw my name into the hat. I already checked off the lower left box (create an outdoor winter scene) by submitting one of my mountain paintings. The nice thing about this challenge is that it's got some other activities in addition to reading. One of them is to ask a librarian to make a book recommendation for you. I'll be interested to see what she picks for me.

San Diego

From this...

to this. No, I wasn't on a cruise. I was on my winter snowbird adventure to San Diego. This is a brew pub on San Diego Bay with gorgeous views. On this particular day, a cruise ship pulled into the harbor so all the passengers could disembark for a day of fun before heading on down to Mexico.

I always like to do some sketching in Balboa Park when I go to San Diego. It was a bit chillier than usual this year, so the ducks spent a lot of time sleeping beside the pond instead of swimming in it. I didn't blame them, but at least it was warmer than back home.

Besides the usual Mexican fare, I tried a few new eateries while I was in San Diego. There were about a dozen new coffee shops within a few blocks of my hotel. One of my favorites had a creme Brule latte. The barista literally used a torch on the top to get that burnt sugar effect. There were also several restaurants named Crack Shack. This particular one specialized in chicken; another one near the waterfront had tacos. I don't know if Crack refers to a family or business name, but I sure saw it on a lot of signs. And BTW, the latte and those biscuits were delicious.

When I got back, I headed off to Breckenridge with the Senior Center to see the ice sculptures. Colorado hasn't gotten much snow this year, but it is still cold enough to keep the ice sculptures frozen. My favorite was the corn-on-the-cob man on the left.

Unfortunately, the ice sculpture from Argentina fell down and broke into a million pieces. I'm not sure why it fell, because the original design didn't look top-heavy to me like some of the other sculptures. I would have loved to make a sketch of the debris, but even though it was sunny, it was too cold to stand outside for long (plus, I can't sketch with gloves on).

But today it warmed up enough that I was able to get back on my new eBike and ride around the neighborhood. I think it's pretty impressive to be able to put 100 miles on my bike in January. If this would have been a typical Colorado winter, I would have needed to wait until spring.

Bingo Bucket List - Week 3

Since we're already up to the middle of January, I thought I'd better jump on finishing my vision board. Janet went hi-tech and used Canva to make a digital vision board; I just did it the old-fashioned way with magazine cutouts. The big 50 in the middle represents mine and Bruce's 50th wedding anniversary. The gold medallion in the middle says "learning, adventures, and friendship." Technically, I cut it out of a Road Scholar magazine, which features educational components in their programs. But when Bruce asked me what learning had to do with marriage, I told him it was learning to get along with your wife.

I spent all last week doing the diet square of the bingo card. I didn't follow any published diet; instead, I just gave up sugar and junk food for a week and replaced them with vegetables and other healthy foods. So, it's not surprising that early Monday morning, I was one of the first customers at Fika ordering my favorite drink. It's not very nearly as satisfying to sketch while munching on a celery stick as it is sipping a raspberry mocha.

I've been taking a yoga class at our neighborhood community center. I always think I'm in fairly decent shape until I start some new exercise regime. I felt like I'd been beaten with a ball bat after the first class. 

I'm trying to get Charlie to help me with the walking square. I made up a list of parks and open spaces around my neighborhood (listed in the sidebar), but it's hard to give up biking when we have such nice weather right now. But one day it was cooler, so I took Charlie over to the Harvie Open Space. He loves going over there, because lots of wild animals live in the grass (good smells). It also has really great views of the mountains.

I started a new book challenge this year. Each month you get a prompt on what kind of book to read. For January, you are supposed to read a book with a color in the title. I looked back over my Kindle library (I have lots of books I've downloaded but not read yet) and I found The Chartreuse Clue by William F Love. It turned out to be a really great book - kind of cerebral like a Preston & Child book. It was published in 1990, but except for people always calling each other from pay phones, I didn't really notice much difference from books published more recently. I'd definitely give it 5 stars.