For this week's new club activity, I decided to try Mah Jongg. The game can be a little daunting at first, since it is played with 144 tiles that can be arranged in 54 different combinations. It took my table almost 3 hours to play our first game. There is a tremendous amount of luck involved (getting dealt the right tiles). I'm not sure it's going to replace strategy board games like Splendor, but maybe I'll learn to like it. For the time being, I think I'll stick with playing virtual opponents in online games - it's a lot quicker.
Courtney came for a weekend visit. We took her to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate her birthday (I can't believe my "baby" is 38!!!). Since we were there in the middle of the afternoon, most of the wait staff were on a lunch break and so couldn't do the Happy Birthday musical serenade. But our waitress brought a huge plate of sopapillas to make up for it.
Bruce let Courtney drive his new Jeep down to Hidden Mesa, while I was meeting my friend, Joyce, for breakfast (she was also in town visiting her son and granddaughter). This is the first time Bruce took the top off his Jeep. It's not quite the same as a convertible - more like an oversized sunroof.
My cousin, Lesley, also came to Denver, so I met her and Shelly for breakfast on Wednesday. We went to a place called Syrup (the name says it all in regards to the menu). I had the Elvis French Toast, which was stuffed with peanut butter, bacon, and a banana. (I think they slipped some Nutella in there as well.) It was certainly tasty, but not the type of restaurant you'd choose if you were on a diet. Luckily, we took a walk around Sloan Lake afterwards.
Since I missed my weekly Bike Club outing, I headed out to the Platte River Trail on Saturday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and you could clearly see the mountains from the trail (first time they haven't been covered in haze, ozone, or smoke since we've been here). There are a ton of coffee shops and cafes along the Platte trail. I stopped at Nixon's for a mocha and a little sketching. I got there just in time before a huge group of bikers showed up. A blue grass band was starting to play and was attracting a crowd of listeners.
Nixon's is right next door to Hudson Gardens - kind of a free botanical garden. I decided to walk over there and do a few more sketches. It looked very festive as they were setting up for a Halloween celebration, Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns. It reminded me of when my mom used to work the Enchanted Forest at George Owens Park in Independence.
Work "continues" on the house next door. This week, they delivered a load of drywall, though no one showed up to actually hang it. The flapping Tyvek has been keeping us up at night, so Bruce installed a ceiling fan in the bedroom to cool it down when the windows are closed. Supposedly the house is scheduled to be finished in November, but I don't see how that's going to happen at the pace they're currently going. It would be nice if they'd at least put down some grass so the mud would quit running all over the neighborhood every time it rains.
