New Challenge

I'm getting a little bored with walking and reading challenges, so I decided to set a goal of doing something new each week. It can be something educational like visiting a new museum or something for entertainment like going to a new movie. I just need some motivation to get outside away from my Kindle and computer. So, I started off with a trip to the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, CO. Mother Cabrini was an Italian nun who was sent to America by Pope Leo XIII (not the current Pope; he's Leo XIV). Her goal was to establish orphanages, schools, and hospitals for Italian-American immigrants. She was the first American to be canonized a saint. Truthfully, Mother Cabrini spent a lot more of her career in New York and Chicago than she ever did in Denver. But in order to become a saint, you have to have 2 miracles credited to you and one of hers was finding water on the top of the mountain where her shrine is located. 

I went on this trip with the Parker Senior Center. I always think their trips are very interesting, but this one turned out to be a little hairy. In order to get to the very top of the monument, you have to climb 350 steps. Since the average age of our group is around 85 and mobility is definitely iffy, we got permission to drive up there. I was totally freaked out when they pointed us to this dirt track that ran along the side of the mountain. Surprisingly, the bus had enough power to make the steep climb, but I opted to walk the 350 steps back down to the gift center when the tour was over.

My next little adventure was a trip to the Argo Mill in Idaho Springs, an historic gold mining and processing plant. It's considered an engineering marvel, because back in 1893 they built a 4-mile long tunnel to drain water from over 150 underground mines. The tunnel also provided a fast way for miners to get to the mill and process their ore (instead of climbing up and over the mountain). We only went about 50 yards into the tunnel, but that was enough for me.

We also toured the mill and learned about the chemistry of extracting the different metals from the surrounding rock. Mostly they used a lot of hazardous chemicals, so it's no wonder the mill workers had a life-expectancy of only 40 years.

At the end of the tour, we got to pan for gold. I personally thought this was really challenging not to lose your gold when you're swirling it around in a pan of sand and water. But I managed to find my 2 microscopic flakes. Surprisingly, they are worth about 50 cents.

On Thursday, Bruce, Charlie, and I went to Sandstone Ranch. Bruce and Charlie went on a hike, while I attended a Plein Air workshop. The teacher was an oil painter, but she focused on different types of setups for painting outdoors. Notice her big umbrella sitting on top of her easel. Surprisingly, she said with the intense UV in Colorado, an umbrella was almost as important as the paints you use. I thought about staying around to do a little painting of my own, but since Bruce and Charlie had finished their hike, we headed off to the Mexican restaurant in Larkspur for lunch instead... yum!

And speaking of Bruce, we got inspired by Janet's photo of her kids sealing her driveway for Mothers' Day, so Bruce took a day to seal ours. We haven't gotten any harsh cracks or spalling yet, but I figured it doesn't hurt to seal the concrete against Denver's harsh winter climate.

And the week wouldn't be complete without a bike ride or two... or three. On Monday, I went out exploring on my own. They paved a new trail in Denver along the Jackass Gulch (I'm sure that was named during the Gold Rush days) that leads down to the light rail station, crosses over a 6-lane road, and ends up at the Platte River Trail. It's so nice to find trails that feel safe, and it's an extra bonus when they are paved. On Wednesday, I led our bike group on a loop ride in this same area. We didn't take the Jackass Trail, because it's pretty steep to ride back up to the parking lot, but we did take another trail along the Platte River - very scenic and flat. On Friday, I rode to the Fika Coffee Shop by myself, because I wanted to do some sketching and I wanted to take a break from doing new things every day. My original goal was once a week; I need to remember that.

Finally, Some Warmth

Well, it's the first day of June, so hopefully the snow is over. I swear we got more snow in May than we did in the first 4 months of the year. I celebrated the odometer on my new bike hitting the 500-mile mark with a loop ride on the Bridge-to-Nowhere. I had to go out on a Saturday, since it rained all last week. It was nice to get out, but the bike trails are like freeways around here on weekends. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate, so I can stick to riding on weekdays the rest of the summer. The trails are much less crowded.

The saga with the birds building nests in our entryway continues. Chicken wire didn't keep them out and neither did the shiny, dangling CDs. So, Bruce took down the chandelier-style porch light and installed a ceiling fan. We've been keeping it on all day, and so far, no new nests have shown up. Hopefully the birds found a new home on one of the neighbor's porches. 

Charlie and I have been walking over to Starbucks once a week from the Prairie Dog Park. The sidewalks are closed right now, because the road to Starbucks is under construction. But we can walk up to Starbucks from the back by driving over to the park. Charlie prefers riding in Bruce's Jeep, but he'll tolerate the back seat of my Mini Cooper if he gets to chase and sniff wildlife.

I finished Pearl's baby book for Janet this week. This one turned out to be easier to make than I expected. It helped finding a scrapbook kit on Amazon focused on baby girls, and a lot of the papers were in sage green (Melissa's chosen color). The pages look a little plain right now, but that's so Janet can embellish them with photos.

I've been doing a lot of reading the past month, since we've had so much rain. May's challenge was to read a book with a season in the title. "Falls" in New Girl in the Falls technically refers to water not autumn, but the only other books I could find with a season in the title referred to winter, and I was sick of anything to do with snow or cold. The book is about a former FBI agent who moves to Sweetwater Falls to be their sheriff when her husband is murdered in New York City. I like books about strong women, but the deputies in this book make some of the dumbest moves that anyone who's watched an episode of Law & Order wouldn't make. I read The Quitters Club to get a "Q" book for the alphabet challenge. It was a contemporary women's fiction, a genre I tend to avoid because of all the drama and whining, but it was free on Amazon and Q books are hard to find. I read Murder on the Oxford Canal for the category of reading a book from an author whose last name is a first name. I enjoy Faith Martin's books so much that I actually read the entire 14-book series. So, next on the list for June I have to find a #booktok rec... but first I have to figure out what in the world is a #booktok.

Happy Memorial Day

We decided to celebrate Memorial Day with a bike ride to the Mexican restaurant. That seems more like something we should have done for Cinco de Mayo, but it was snowing then. This time the husbands rode along, too.

While I was in Seattle I missed the grand opening of the Bridge-to-Nowhere - aptly nicknamed, because 2 years ago, the city installed a pedestrian bridge over a very busy 6-lane road but then gated it off because it didn't go anywhere (it connected 2 empty fields). Well, they finally finished paving a trail on both sides which luckily connects our neighborhood to the Cherry Creek Trail (the one I usually drive to). So, I got up early on Sunday and rode down to check it out myself. It was sort of a miserable day (cold and windy), but I managed to get back home before the rain hit.

And speaking of rain, it's done nothing but for the past week. We finally took Charlie to the dog park so he could work off a little energy. He was so wound up that he literally kept jumping up on this platform rather than run up the ramp. At least he was a little calmer when we got home.

I went to a couple events at the clubhouse this week. The first was a Roadmap to Aging talk titled, Aging with Joy. Mostly, they encouraged eating healthy, exercising, and not sitting around in a recliner for too long. That doesn't necessarily sound joyful to me.

The second was the annual spring fashion show. Like usual, the clothes were nothing I'd ever wear, but the lunch was nice. And it's always fun to catch up with other ladies from the neighborhood.

Spring in Seattle

Usually, I go to see Brian in August, but this year I decided to try visiting in the spring thinking I would avoid all the tourists. Wrong! They had people flocking to town for a Mariners/Padres game, a Roots of Recovery convention, Alaskan cruises, and the opening of Phantom of the Opera. 

Two things I noticed about Seattle the minute I got off the plane - the humidity and the foliage... everything is so lush and green. This little red car was practically encased in leaves. The owner probably has to get out the weed-wacker several times a year so he can get the car in the driveway.

The other thing about Seattle are the hills. Everyone thinks it's really steep in Denver, but they don't have anything like the steep sidewalks in downtown Seattle. When you have to put little ridges in the pavement to keep people from catapulting down the hill, that's really steep.

The first day, I took the early bus out to Redmond so I could stop at River Trail Roasters to do some sketching. The special that day was a Dirty Chai - spiced tea with 2 shots of espresso. That totally cured any residual jet lag! Then I walked along the Sammamish River Trail to Brian's house. All the trees and flowers are blooming in Seattle right now. If it wouldn't have been a little misty out, I would have done my sketch along the trail. 

Seattle is an incredibly bike-friendly town. Even though it rains a lot, bikers just throw on a raincoat and head off. When I was on the bus, I noticed the bike lanes are separated from traffic with double white lines and little poles set into the pavement. The scary thing though is that half the poles were either missing or lying flat on the ground. It sounds like my neighborhood where drivers go down the road with the left wheel in the driving lane and the right wheel in the bike lane. Denver doesn't bother putting up poles. 

Brian and I spent the day playing some new board games he picked up at his Las Vegas gaming convention. I even managed to beat him once. Then we took the new light rail down to Capitol Hill for our annual Mexican dinner at Fogon's. Luckily, Redmond is the first stop on the new line, because by the time we got downtown, the train was packed - both the seats and aisles. We had to wrestle our way to get out the door. I'm glad the train is so popular, especially since it just opened last month; but they need to run it more frequently, at least during rush hour.

The next day, I hit the ground running. I'd heard about a troll statue under a bridge in the Fremont neighborhood. So, after consulting Google Maps, I hopped on a bus to find it. I was kind of shocked at how huge and menacing it looked all made out of concrete and with only one eye - not warm and fuzzy like the wooden troll in Breckenridge. I'm not sure I'd like living next door to this statue even if he is supposed to be good luck. But the sign said you could make a wish. If it was a good wish, you were supposed to turn to the right. If it was a bad wish (in other words, you wanted something bad to stop happening), then you were supposed to turn to the left. I made a good wish.

My next stop on this little adventure was the Gas Works Park. I'd heard about this place from some of my Seattle Urban Sketcher friends. Well it looks exactly as it sounds - an old gas factory that they've turned into a "scenic sculpture" for a local park. 

This park actually has incredible views, probably because the gas factory was originally built on Lake Union so they could use the water for transportation and waste dumping. BTW, that bridge in the background is the one the troll is sitting under.

On the way back to the bus, I stumbled on the Burke-Gilman Trail. I've always wanted to rent a bike in Redmond and bike downtown along this trail (it's very long). It would have to be an eBike though, because I wouldn't be able to keep up with the commuters.

On my last day, I got up early to check out Pike Place Market before it got crowded. I picked up a Mystery Mocha at Ghost Alley Espresso and then walked through the market where vendors were setting up. There are very few fruit and vegetable stalls in the market, but flower sales are very popular (these bouquets were only $20!).

It was so nice to walk through the market without all the crowds. But I discovered that most of the people were down at the original Starbucks getting coffee. I can't believe they were all standing out in the rain in the switchback queues waiting to get into the shop. There are other Starbucks and independent coffee shops on every street corner in Seattle. Maybe Starbucks should start selling Lightening passes like they do at Disneyland, so people can skip to the front of the line.

I took the new pedestrian walkway down to the waterfront. It's very impressive and even a year later is still very clean. 

The designers incorporated a lot of seating and entertainment features into the walkway like this set of slides you can take to cut off the corner. If it wouldn't have been wet from the rain, I might have slid down one myself.

My last goal before I went to the airport was to find a quiet place to sit when the tourist traffic gets too intense and I found this pretty little covered waterfall garden just a couple blocks from my hotel. There were only a couple other people there both peacefully working on their laptops. I pulled out my paints for one last quick sketch. But wouldn't you know it... 4 visitors from Italy wandered in totally lost, but still blocking my view as they pulled out their phones for selfies. Oh well, I guess if I want true peace and quiet, I need to go someplace remote like Antarctica.

Happy Spring...NOT!!!

I updated my Walking Bucket List to include dog-friendly parks within easy driving distance, because I needed a motivator to get out walking and Charlie was a willing participant. So, I took him over to the Prairie Dog Park on a beautiful spring Sunday morning. Two days later, we got a ton of snow. I can't seem to get adjusted to this weather, but at least I got to try out my new raincoat (it wasn't that cold, but the snow coming down was really, really wet). 

They are building a new bike trail near our neighborhood, so I went on a short ride to check it out. Along the way, I rode through a golfing community and saw this yard art. While it looks small in the photo, this rusty golf cart sculpture was actually about 4 ft tall. I'm not sure if the homeowners bought it or constructed it themselves, but I thought it was clever.

On Monday, I was at the mall when I heard a commotion down at the Lego store. They had just launched their Star Wars promo, and there were almost 50 people in line waiting to get in (mostly male Millennials). For a minimum purchase of $160, Lego was giving away a limited edition Darksaber, but only to adults 18 and over. I find that interesting, because when I tried to go to Legoland, adults can't get in without a child. I think Lego should forget selling to kids and just market their products to adults, because those Millennials were carrying multiple shopping bags out of that store. I'm sure they all got a free Darksaber.

I've been itching to go to the movie theater for months, but the offerings have not been to my taste. The Devil Wears Prada 2 was finally released this week, so a few ladies from the neighborhood went to the afternoon show. I couldn't believe how expensive it's gotten. With matinee rates and a senior discount, my ticket was still $14! I miss the days when we had $5 Tuesdays. The movie itself was just OK - a typical sequel with all the original actors, but an underwhelming script. To me, the funniest line in the movie came from Stanley Tucci when commenting on the son of the Runway magazine CEO, "What can you expect from someone dressed head-to-toe in performance synthetics." That sounds like he's describing my wardrobe these days.

I spent most of the past month reading the complete Hillary Greene detective series (22 books). I really enjoy Faith Martin's writing style and the cleverness and intelligence of her protagonist. In contrast, most of the female characters in Amazon's First Read books are dumb as doorknobs. But for the April reading challenge, I was supposed to read a book of poetry. I considered just reading a Dr Seuss book, but then I stumbled on one of John Lithgow's political satires called, A Confederacy of Dumptys: Portraits of American Scoundrels in Verse." The book was extremely easy to read, because Lithgow has an amazing skill for pairing rhyme and sophisticated vocabulary. Plus, the snippets about each scoundrel were very entertaining. I tried reading one of the other books in the series, Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown, but it was too depressing. Thank goodness, this month we're picking a book based on a season in the title.

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.