Tudor Windows & A Good Race

I won the bid, the only bidder, so it was a great buy actually, for 4 Tudor Windows on eBay this summer. Recently I used my frequent flyer miles to fly to Connecticut to bring them back home. At 101 lbs., they were 1 pound over weight, which caused great problems for me at check-in at Hartford International at 5 a.m. But I had packed them well, and they made the flight home just fine. They're fine old windows with 4 different family crests, and were in a mansion on Long Island, New York, facing the Atlantic. I've some sanding to do in order to remove salt water rust on the metal frames, but I'm pleased to have them. I hope to place them in a bay window configuration in a reading bench area in the little cottage I hope to build.

Western Colorado is known as "The Western Slope." They raise sweet, fine corn. But more noted for their sweet, fine peaches. (Of which we bought 2 boxes, ten bucks a box for "ripe", - perfect for canning/freezing/jams. Yum.) Grand Junction, the home of one of our daughters, is the central hub of this region. Nearby is Palisade, a quiet little town of hard working people, the backbone of our country. It was here that I recently ran, with my new son-in-law, a 5 mile race at the Palisade Peach Festival. My daughter and wife cheered me/us on, it was great! 12th place was a pleasant surprise, but my 6:49 per mile pace was an even more pleasant surprise. The area is much hotter than home, and so I was glad to get back to The Land of Cool Sunshine. But we enjoyed being with part of our family, something that means more and more to me the older I get. All 3 of our children no longer live near us. After having been with them on and off during the summer, I'm back to adjusting to the empty nest once again. Mixed feelings. I've come to accept that this point in time is what I refer to now as "Their Time Now". I don't mean to be cynical, but perhaps age and the bumps along the way have had some effect. It's something I want to be on guard about. I would prefer to be optimistic and up beat. I certainly try to take care of my health. I just had my eyes lasiked, and while I love waking up without reaching for glasses, running without eye glasses, etc., I can no longer, however, read without over-the-counter glasses, and they distort things, I've fallen on stairs twice while wearing them. I'm not sure I would do it again had I the choice again. And I'm certainly aware that our society caters to those in their 20's and 30's. As such, I'm not sure at this point where I fit in it.
But, I'm going to keep on running, and I start my 5th season at the cello in our local community/college symphony. I'm last chair, but participation forces me to practice my great little cello I've named "Miriam". It's good to be around young people. Good too to be part of something bigger than self. AND, to be "Papa" along with my sweet and pretty red-haired "Nana" companion...........pretty cool indeed.

Be well. Do good.

Eating at a Mortuary? Josh Groban Concert

I had a return flight into Denver from Connecticut last week where I picked up 4 Tudor Glass windows I had bought on eBay. Wasn't impressed with Hartford, but that's another story. My wife had job-related training the later part of the week, and so when I got into Denver on Wed., I stayed with our son, who had taken 3 days off work, and then we were joined by my wife, and then one of our daughters who drove into the city as well.
We went to a JOSH GROBAN concert at the Pepsi Center. What a fun entertainer. Great music. But what was best was being together as family. What a pleasant and fun time we had together.
OLINGER MORTUARY, a decades-old established business in Denver, was the mortuary that took care of my maternal grandparents. I knew of the name. With several "branch offices", I was most familiar with the one on 26th and Federal, "Crown Hill Cemetary", not far from our son's apartment, I went there in fact to visit my grandparent's grave sites. What I was surprised by, was the Olinger site nearest downtown, had been sold and then converted into a trendy, swanky, eclectic restaurant named LINGER. The old Olinger Mortuary sign above the building still looks the same during the day, but at night, the O is no longer lite, and the word Mortuary reads "Eatuary".
While the food wasn't great, we did enjoy the dessert menu printed on toe tags, the beverage menu was contained in a doctor's/coroner's metal flip chart case, water was served in replicate embalming fluid bottles with "WATER" painted on the brown glass, etc. We even got a kick out of the toilet in the bathrooms: the sink is on top of the toilet tank so that when finished, one washed his/her hands and the water is recycled to the toilet tank for the next flush. We had so much fun laughing at this restaurant. Great memories!
"Little Man Ice Cream" is next door. What a fun place and what great ice cream. This neighborhood is within walking distance of Denver's Elitchs Garden's Amusement Park, the Denver Childrens Museum, The Denver Aquarium, and the water walkway where Cherry Creek and the Platte River meet. Confluence Park and Riverfront Park are the new refurbished downtown areas/communities/lofts that link 16th Street Mall & downtown Denver (to the east) over I-25 and the Platte. A fine pedestrian bridge spans the interstate linking these communities. It's a great place. If one is going to live in a city, I suspect Denver is as good as any, and this area would be my preference simply because it's so pedestrian.
Still, I think I'm happiest in the nest we've created here at home. I've a backyard, patio with hot tub, greenhouse, and Danish potager gardens where I feel very safe, very content.
Be well. Do good.

Summer Race, Run, & Fun

This is the first summer we've both had off. We've usually always taught summer school. But my wife had surgery planned for mid-summer, and I, laservision surgery, and so I'm glad we've done this. More-than-usual trips the Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Denver are the result of previously-made plans. We've taken in some fun things.
29 years ago this summer we became engaged. I was working at a Dude Guest Ranch in Creede, Colorado. I had weekends off so would drive back down here to be with my gal, or she would drive up to Creede where we would enjoy it's art and Repertory Theater. It had been a long time since we've been up there, but we took in a matinee there recently. It was fun to be back there, walking hand-in-hand. Also, we took in a fine new movie, "17 Miracles" in a nice stadium-seating theater in Colorado Springs. It was the touching story of the Willie Handcart Company. We had done a re-enactment of part of that trek a few summers ago now. It featured the dedicated life of Levi Savage. Great movie, great soundtrack. And I've had some amazing summer runs and races as I train for the upcoming Kansas City Marathon. Even brought home a 2nd place trophy, had an amazing race that day. But the best part of that day was not merely my race results and the way I felt while running (as great at that was), nor the parade and beautiful floats. What resonates is time with family. For years I've disliked the entire Pioneer Days experience. I've always felt very isolated. Marginalized. Outsider looking in. This year...my own little family, me and my granddaughter playing in Jack Dempsey park, some of my nieces & their families joining us at a park, visiting, having lunch, listening to live music (who can forget the Cajun piece wherein my son-in-law gets his 6 month pregnant wife up, they dance and he says, "we're goin' to do some 'gator huntin' now, gunna get me a gator." Ha ha ha). And giving our granddaughter wheelbarrel rides, the way I did with out own kids, was especially memorable. She enjoyed the trampoline too.
We had a lot of fun. .... it was very, very nice indeed.
Be Well. Do Good.

Father of two Brides

Two daughters. Both now married. Mixed-feelings. Thankful they are responsible young adults making their way in the world vs. missing the little girls I use to give wheel-barrel rides to. Today was the wedding of our 2nd daughter. A summer wedding, done in orange and hot pink against white, it was a pretty affair. Married by the Bishop of our Ward, accompanied by his good wife, our ever-constant friends, the ceremony was, like them, warm and kind. Our granddaughter was the cutest flower girl I've ever seen. The centerpieces, gold fish swimming in rose bowls of pink seaweed, were fun. The meal after the wedding was, like the wedding itself, small in numbers and intimate, but very, very nice. I enjoyed our eldest daughter's Matron of Honor toast a great deal, it was sweet and from the heart. And I especially enjoy her husband's comments at the end of the meal wherein he suggested that given the fact that we all have the cell phone numbers of the newlyweds, we call and wish them congratulations, say around 10 p.m. to midnight. He was not only fabulous help before, during, and after the ceremony, but he brings to our family a sense of humor and goodness that I cannot imagine being without. Our own son was likewise a big help and we enjoyed having him home albeit for a short time. And so, we're thankful for family and friends whom we can depend upon, whom we lean upon, and whom we love. I hope you enjoy the photographs.
Be well. Do Good.

Monet's Kitchen

Monet's Garden is well known. Those of us that like landscape design and architecture are well aware... But, less familiar is Monet's Kitchen. Google it. Image it. I'm a fan of the delft blue tile and copper. So.... for the longest time I've had plans to build a small weekend-get-away cabin/cottage. For years I've begun collecting things for this place.
Years ago, in the small Danish town of Dragor, just outside of Copenhagen, I stayed in a great old farm Bed and Breakfast. A retired couple from Minnesota was staying there. Daily, at breakfasts, we began talking of their weekend cottage that they had build in their retirement years. That experience, coupled with the great little ochre colored cottages of fishing-village Dragor, overlooking the Baltic Sea toward the west coast of Sweden, gave rise to this dream. Some of my future posts will be devoted to the fruition of this dream.
Be well. Do good.

River Walk

San Antonio, Texas has a wonderful River Walk. Great place. Indianapolis, Indiana has one as well; it's great fun to run along it, even in the winter. I like both places well enough. But I remember reading The Pueblo Chieftain years ago. One elderly lady, a mover-n-shaker kind of gal in Pueblo, was spear-heading this dream project of converting part of down town Pueblo, Colorado into a sort of mini-San Antonio, complete with a River Walk. Pretty ambitious for a city as small as Pueblo. But I watched with interest because I really like anything related to landscape architecture. (Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of Central Park and scores of other civic parks, campuses, etc., has long been a personal hero of mine.) I don't remember her name, but now as I walk or run along this amazing little River Walk area, I always think of her with appreciation. The Pueblo River Walk, an area where the Arkansas River is briefly diverted, is one of my favorite places. I regret that we have to drive 2 hours to be in a city, but, once in Pueblo, I always enjoy going to the River Walk. It's peaceful. Olmstead would have approved.
Be Well. Do Good.

Summer Nights & Summer Reads...

On Independence Day I like to take in a city Symphony Concert followed by a great city fireworks display. But this year we opted to stay home, watch A Capital Fourth on PBS, live from DC; Macy's New York City Fireworks on the Hudson River Parkway, a great place in and of itself, on NBC (and no one, except maybe Disney, does Fireworks like Macy's); and the 1812 Overture by the amazing Boston Pops on the Charles River (a GREAT place to run) in Boston, on CBS. With surround sound, we've enjoyed great music without the crowds and traffic. Our first "empty-nester's" 4th of July Cookout was fun: brats, fruit salad, deviled eggs, etc. We're also really enjoying a surprise find this summer: Fine Irish murder mystery books and British Television's "Midsomer Murders" on dvd. From the library we check out 5 at a time and watch one nightly. Take Agatha Christie, Murder She Wrote, and Diagnosis Murder, tweak 'em together and put it on a bit of steroids, and you've got this really great series, "Midsomer Murder". We began watching them before our Ireland trip, but while there British t.v. channel "TV1" showed episodes, so we felt at home.
For fellow history buffs.... David McCullough's latest book "The Greater Journey: American in Paris" deals with American's in Paris from 1830 thru 1900. Charlie Rose interviewed him tonight on PBS. Great next book to read. If anyone else plans to read it, let me know: let's plan on doing book talk emails, chapter-by-chapter
Be Well. Do Good.