We started off the year with a new baby in the family. Goldie Celine (same middle name as me and my mom) was born to Melissa and Jamie on January 5. She is the happiest baby – very sociable, very active, and VERY curious. She got caught one day crawling into the pantry and eating the Halloween candy.
The outdoor activities have far exceeded our expectations when we moved here. We regularly go hiking and biking. I can bike 25 miles in a single trip though I’m usually crawling on the way back home (especially since we live on top of a hill).
In addition, we tried camping, snowshoeing, paddleboarding (me), and skiing (Bruce). The camping has been a bit of a challenge as it tends to rain every afternoon in the mountains.
The weather in Denver is totally unpredictable (worse than Missouri). The sun shines almost every day, but the temperature can be radically different. One day I’ll be out washing the car, and the next Bruce is shoveling snow off the driveway. It snowed 3 times in May before spring finally arrived, and it started right back up again in October. The neighbor kids froze themselves on Halloween.
There are a ton of club opportunities in our 55+ neighborhood. Bruce isn’t that much of a club guy, but he occasionally goes out with the Pickleball and Hiking clubs. I, on the other hand, love meeting new friends, so I joined the Biking, Hiking, Pickleball, Crafting, Geeks, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun clubs. Plus I went to the free yoga classes over the summer.
And as if that wasn’t enough, I got together with some neighbor ladies and started a Ladies Out to Lunch club. We separate into groups of 6 and go out once a month to a local restaurant. Then after 4 months, we shuffle the names into new groups. It's turned out to be incredibly popular with over 150 members. I was worried about making new friends when we moved here, but this club has turned out to be a great way to meet new people, plus discover some good restaurants.
I'm still doing urban sketching whenever the weather cooperates. I took a Plein Air painting class at the Schweiger Ranch in Lonetree. It was a fun class until it started raining.
I refereed robotics several times this year. We were still doing virtual tournaments the first part of the year, so I refereed “in St Louis” via Zoom. But by the fall, I felt comfortable enough to hop on a plane and referee in person. It held the added bonus of being able to make a trip (or 2) to Ted Drewes for frozen custard. I also ref’d a couple times in Denver. Robots are robots no matter what state you’re in.
I took a few small trips this past year (nothing like the international travel we used to do pre-COVID). I went to Seattle and Portland to see Brian, Amber, and my Vernier friends. I made a couple trips to Chicago and KC to see Courtney and Janet’s family. And Bruce and I went up to the mountains a couple times to Glenwood Springs, Frisco, and Breckenridge. I would like to say that I plan to do more traveling next year, but the travel industry seems to be the only part of the economy that is booming. EVERYONE seems to be going one place or another...
That is as long as you’re not traveling on Southwest. Unfortunately, Courtney fell into the group of 37,000 flights that were cancelled in December, so we spent another Christmas sketching winter scenes via GoogleMeet.
Even though our house is brand new, we spent some time personalizing it to our own taste. We hung shelves, put together furniture, painted the basement floor, and built a few backyard retaining walls. Bruce is such a DIY guy, it’s hard for him not to have a project.
We’ve been in Colorado now for an entire year. I never thought we’d leave Missouri, but I’ll have to say we’re really enjoying it. Can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!
