Finished At Last With The Big Freeze!

Finally! Denver and the rest of the Front Range is done with all the snow and sub-zero temperatures - at least for now. It still might be a little nippy up at Horsetooth Reservoir, in the foothills above Fort Collins, as seen in the photograph above, but down here it will be close to 70 degrees for much of the week. Of course, the temperature is predicted to drop, and a little snow show up next weekend, but by then we will be solidly into March, and there is no way the temperature could drop below zero again, right? Right? And by the way, Horsetooth Reservoir has a number of recreational areas around its shores, which are well used by the people of Larimer County. But if you pull into the parking lots to access those areas, there is a seven-dollar fee, even in the winter. Is that a rip-off or what? After all, you can head to a national forest, park, and hike to a damn lake - a natural one - for free. And free, after all, is my, as well as many other's favorite price point. Time to wake up and deal with reality, Larimer County commissioners.

Can We Please Just Go Back To 1997?

I ran across the photograph on the left the other day of my mother Mary and sister Susan, posing in front of the Flagler Mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, back in August of 1997. My sister and I would go down to visit our mother, who lived in Stuart, Florida, at least several times a year, and we would often take day trips to places like Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami while we were there. Both Susan and mother seemed to be in fine spirits in that photo. Back then, it was still the 20th Century, years before 9-11, the Covid pandemic, a Donald Trump presidency, war in Ukraine, and the universal designated hitter, among other horrors of the 21st Century. It is time for scientists to finally devote their energies to perfecting the flux capacitor, so that we can all go back to the years we most cherish. Plus, if that happened, I would be able to put big money into Apple and Amazon stock. Definitely an additional benefit.

The Moose Is Loose, At Least At Spanky's

I got together with my friends Mark and Wally for happy hour at Spanky's - located just to the west of the University of Denver campus - last Saturday, and was surprised to see the "moose" in the photograph above going from table to table with his handler. Evidently, they were promoting a new beer in town called Outlaw Mile Hi Light Beer. Their slogan was "Party with Marty," which I assume is the name of the moose. Everyone in the place got a free round, which must have pleased all those DU students enjoying happy hour. I gave it a try, and it tasted pretty good for a light beer, although I couldn't figure out who brewed it. The can was stamped Elite Brands, which is a distributor, not a brewer. Have they branched out into actual beer making, or are they trying to hide who the actual brewer is? I hope to hell I wasn't drinking Old Style. I gave that up years ago. 

Follett Workplace Culture - Going Going Gone? Let's Hope

Follett Corporation, including subsidiary Follett Higher Education Group - which back in 2012 took over the University of Denver Bookstore, where I had worked for 28 years - has been sold to an investment group led by Jefferson River Capital. When the University of Denver outsourced the store, without offering alternative employment to its employees, Follett agreed to keep all bookstore staff for at least one year. And after that year was up, they got rid of everyone who was making a living wage. During the year I was there, it was just a miserable environment, and those who stayed told me it just got worse as time went on. Now that the company has been sold, and top management replaced, will things turn around for the better? Let's hope so, for the sake of all those poor saps still working there.

The Arctic Blast Has Arrived

Denver and the rest of the Front Range has been in the deep freeze this week, with snow almost every day. Yesterday's low was minus 7 degrees, a new record, with a high of 9, and it will not get above freezing until Saturday. On the bright side, it will be back in the 60s by next week, which almost never happens in Chicago, where I grew up. To avoid going stir-crazy, I went for a walk across the University of Denver campus Tuesday afternoon, where I took the photograph on the left with Driscoll South, the top floor of which houses the DU Bookstore, in the background. Which is where I worked for 28 years.

It was close to zero that day, and so I sneaked into the new DU Commons, which replaced Driscoll North, which opened in 1984, the year I started working at the bookstore. This new building houses cafeterias, a Starbucks, study rooms, and student offices, among other things. The first time I walked through the building, I thought it was a bit too modern, with a very cold atmosphere. However, this time I liked it much better, possibly because it was warm in there. And I did indeed sneak into the place. Due to Covid, the university has a very involved process that must be followed before anyone is given permission to enter it's buildings. Since Covid is on the wane, I thought that those precautions might have been eased, but just in case, followed a student into the building before the door closed. On my way out, I noticed that the doors were still locked to anyone without the access card. And if I had been caught? Plausible deniability. Words to live by.

More About Four Mile House

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I took my sister Susan to visit Denver's Four Mile House, the oldest house in the city, a few Sundays ago. It was built in 1859 by two brothers, who intended to farm the property, but sold it the next year to a businesswoman who turned the place into an inn for travelers. When the Butterfield Stage Company began service in 1862, it became a stagecoach stop, and called Four Mile House because it was exactly four miles from Denver. The site is now an historical park with a living farm, and consists of 12 acres along Cherry Creek, which is just to the right of the pathway in the photograph on the left.

Although the farm also has horses, pigs, and chickens, it is the goats that are the most outgoing, especially the 6 Nigerian goats born last June that are used for goat-yoga. And yes, there is such a thing, and it is very popular here in Denver. I often wonder if I should move back to the South Side of Chicago, where I was born and raised, and introduce goat-yoga to the area, hopefully in conjunction with a traditional South Side tavern? And yes, if you participate in goat-yoga at the Four Mile Historic Park, you might very well have the goat in the photograph on the right standing on your back during the class. I am not sure why anyone would want that, but there you go.

As for the goat in the photograph on the left, I am not sure why it is standing on the windowsill of that barn, and am also not sure if it was able to get down from there without help. Since it was almost closing time, we did not stick around to find out. I guess if it doesn't have a yoga devotee to jump onto, a windowsill is the next best thing. Obviously, there are a lot of eccentric goats around and about - I am not sure if it is just Colorado (and no doubt California) goats who are afflicted, or if it is a nationwide thing. I'll have to research that on the internet one of these days.

A Sunday Afternoon At Four Mile House

I took my sister Susan to visit Denver's Four Mile House a few Sundays ago. This is the oldest house in Denver, built in 1859 along the Cherokee Trail, which was established in 1849 as a route to the gold fields in California. Two brothers who were returning from those gold fields - empty handed of course - built a two-story cabin and started farming the property. The following year they sold the place to a businesswoman named Mary Cawker, who opened an inn for travelers. Two years after that, in 1862, regular stagecoach service began and the inn became the last stop before Denver, which was exactly four miles away - hence the name Four Mile House. That house can be seen on the right in the photo on the left, and the oldest portion, with the bar and fireplace is the wood structure to the left.

Once rail service was established in Denver in 1870, stagecoach service ended, and the house reverted to being a farm. And today, in addition to the house, Four Mile Historic Park is also a living farm, with goats, horses, chickens, and pigs. There are now an additional half-dozen Nigerian goats on the property, born this past June, that are being used for goat-yoga classes through a partnership with Rocky Mountain Goat Yoga. And what is goat-yoga? It is yoga in an enclosed outdoor space with a bunch of baby goats wandering around, who often like to stand on the backs of the participants, who are holding various yoga positions. The photograph on the right shows a couple of those Nigerian goats. And why do they use Nigerian goats? Beats me. I don't even know why those yoga enthusiasts would want to have goats standing on their backs.

As I mentioned before, there are other animals on the farm, too, including the horse in the photograph on the left. There were two horses in the pasture, but neither one seemed very interested in posing for a portrait. In fact, I was lucky to get that photo. As for the pigs, they were busy eating out of their trough, and never even raised their heads the entire time we were there. Four Mile House remained a farm for many years, and several additions were made to the original structure. It, along with 12 acres of land along Cherry Creek, were acquired by the City of Denver back in 1975, and was turned into the historic park it is today. And definitely worth a visit.

Chicago In 1971

Back when I lived in Chicago, I used to enjoy heading downtown and taking photographs of the lakefront and the Loop. Sometimes I would drive down to Grant Park, park the car, and then bike north along Lake Michigan until I reached Sheridan Road, where the park ends. I took the photograph on the left of the skyline and Monroe Harbor from a walkway near the Shedd Aquarium, back during the summer of 1971. I know that there have been quite a few additions to the skyline since then, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the St. Regis Hotel and Residences, and that weird looking building with the diamond shaped roof, but I still have a fondness for the Prudential Building, the John Hancock Center, and Lake Point Tower, two of which can be seen in that photo.

Back in 1971, the Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Company Building - designed by Louis Sullivan and seen in the photograph on the right - was still an upscale department store. Now it is called the Sullivan Center, and houses offices, and if I can believe the internet (always a risky proposition), has a Target store on the ground floor. How the mighty have fallen. At least it isn't a dollar store. And although the Checker Cab Company still exists, they no longer use Checker automobiles such as the two seen in the photo. How disappointing is that?

I'm not really sure what State Street looks like these days. Back in 1971, it was a thriving retail district. In 1979, two years before I moved to Denver, it was converted into a pedestrian only mall. I suspect that did not work out too well, since by the time I went back to visit Chicago in 2010, it was once again open to traffic. And yes, when I took the photograph on the left, Shaft was playing at the Roosevelt Theater. In point of fact, I haven't seen that film yet - I wonder if it is still in the theaters?

Soccer In The Morning, Spanky's In The Evening

I watched the soccer match between Tottenham and Manchester City with my friend Mark yesterday morning. Manchester City is in first place in the English Premier League, while Tottenham has been struggling, and so it was a surprise that Tottenham not only didn't get blown away, but actually won the game 3 - 2. Mark is a big Tottenham fan and was therefore quite happy with the outcome. The photograph on the left is of Mark wearing his Tottenham jersey at the stadium in East Manchester, where we teleported ourselfs for the game. And evidently A1A, the famous highway that runs the entire length of Florida's Atlantic coast, must sponsor the team.

That evening, Mark, Wally - my friend and former University of Denver Bookstore co-worker - and I got together for Happy Hour at Spanky's, just down the road from the University of Denver. We tried to pick a booth as far away from the sound system as possible, with only mixed success. For some reason, virtually every bar and restaurant in Denver plays music so loud that it makes it almost impossible to hear what the person right across the table from you is saying. Spanky's was packed, mainly with DU students, and for that reason I assume they all just text each other when they want to communicate, even though they are all at the same table. I would make a nasty remark about the younger generation, but that would make me sound like an old fogey. Which is not the case - I am a young fogey.

What's With All The Snow?

It seems like it was just yesterday that the local weather forecasters were in a frenzy because Denver had tied the all-time record for the longest streak without snow (232 days). That was back in December, but starting in January, it seems like it has been snowing every other day. In true Denver fashion, we get a day of snow and cold, a few days of sunshine and relatively warm temperatures, and back to snow and cold again. I took the photograph on the left as I walked my sister Susan's dog Blackberry down Evans Avenue past the University of Dener campus.

Since the snow had been shoveled and the temperatures fairly mild, we continued further into the campus, where I took the photograph on the right of the Evans Memorial Chapel, a popular spot for weddings and "student-driven religious activities." This chapel, built in 1878, was originally located in downtown Denver, but was moved "brick by brick" to its current location on the DU campus back in 1960. 

I also took a photograph, as seen on the left, of the Mary Reed Building, which houses the administrative offices for the university, including that of the chancellor. The top floor of the central tower was once the office of the late Dick Lamm, the former governor of Colorado, who later became Co-Director of DU's Institute for Public Policy Studies. Lamm famously (or infamously) stated that the elderly have a duty to die, which did not go over too well with the senior crowd, as I recall. People can be so sensitive.

Lunching With Stuart At Denver West

I had lunch with my friend Stuart at the Qdoba in the Denver West strip mall in Lakewood, Colorado this past Tuesday. Lakewood, a suburb just to the west of Denver, has lots of these strip malls, mainly fronting West Colfax Avenue. Along with the used car lots, 1950s era motels, and pawn shops, they make Lakewood what it is today - damn ugly. A real estate developer did build a pretty nice downtown for Lakewood, called Belmar, on the site of a former shopping mall, but it is currently in bankruptcy. I suspect residents of that suburb actually prefer ugly. Years ago, author Jack Kerouac bought a house in Lakewood, lived there for a few months before realizing just how horrible the place was, and then went "on the road" to San Francisco, where he completed that famous tome. And as for Stuart, he is doing well, trying to get through the pile of books by his chair, and enjoying that unique Lakewood mystique. I took the photograph above of him as we left the Starbucks located in the Barnes and Noble, a few doors down from Qdoba. And yes - Stuart actually likes Lakewood. Go figure.

Running Into Noah On The DU Campus

I was taking my sister Susan (along with her dog Blackberry) on a tour of the University of Denver campus the other day, and ran into none other than Noah, the former Stockroom Manager of the DU Bookstore, seen in the above photograph. Noah was one of just a small number of bookstore employees that Follett Higher Education Group retained after the university outsourced the store to them. However, this past fall, Noah accepted the position of Administrative Assistant for the University of Denver's English Department, and these days couldn't be happier. As far as I can tell, there are only two employees left at the DU Bookstore, where I worked for 28 years, who were there when it was part of the university. I say we should send in a hostage negotiator to try and free them.

The Start Of Spring Training - Canceled!

Today was supposed to be the start of baseball spring training, but since players and owners are deadlocked over a new collective bargaining agreement, spring training, and very possibly the start of the regular season, has been delayed. Talk about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. No other major sports league has this problem - the rest of the sports world negotiates, makes compromises, and then gets on with the game. Not baseball. I myself much prefer minor league baseball. It is cheaper, much more fan friendly, and features different promotions and contests every inning. But since major league baseball foots the bill for the minor league players, you still need the big leagues around. Which is why I hope all involved come to their senses soon. The above photograph, by the way, is of the ticket booth at Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida back in 1996, the spring training home for the Montreal Expos and Atlanta Braves. However, that ball park no longer exists. Major League Baseball now requires much larger, state of the art spring training facilities to generate revenue. Back then it was just about getting in shape for the season. How quaint.

Alleys Are Interesting - Sometimes

I took the photograph above of an alley in Denver's Platte Park neighborhood as I walked past, on the way to pick up my car at the repair shop.  It was not all that exceptional, but it reminded me of the alleys back in the South Side Brainerd of Chicago, where I grew up. We used to raise corn on the alley side of the picket fence in the backyard, and I have been told that all manner of vendors used to drive through those alleys (years ago with horse-drawn wagons) on their way to sell their wares in the neighborhood. Cities all seem to have alleys, but as far as I can tell, most suburbs do not. That is because suburbs are boring. Just my opinion, but I am sure I am right.

Open Season On Valentine's Day

Actually, Open Season is the first Joe Pickett novel ever written by C.J. Box, which I just finished reading. The book was a reissue of the original and featured an introduction by Box explaining how the idea and the book came about. He wanted to write a novel that featured a realistic portrait of people from Wyoming, as well as tell a good story. When he wrote the manuscript, he was a reporter for a newspaper in Saratoga, Wyoming. It took him 5 years to find a publisher, and when he did, they signed him to a three-book contract. Open Season was quite a success, and Box never looked back. The story features newly hired Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett as he investigates the murder of three hunting guides, one of whom rode horseback from the mountains to Joe's backyard with a mysterious, but empty ice chest, before he collapsed and died. I liked the book so much, I immediately picked up the next two books in the series from the library: Savage Run and Winterkill. I recommend Open Season highly. And Happy Valentine's Day, too! Fortunately, there is no "open season" on it.

Remembering A Visit To Colorado By Bill And Millie

My first job in the book business was as the assistant manager of the Walden Bookstore in North Riverside, Illinois, a suburb just to the west of Chicago. I was soon promoted to the manager of the Walden Books at the Yorktown Shopping Center in the suburb of Lombard, a little further to the west. My assistant manager there was Bill Schumacher, a really nice, laid-back kind of guy who just loved everything about the west. He grew up in Sterling, Illinois, a small rural Illinois town, went to college at Creighton, but had to drop out and take care of his parents after they were severely injured in a car accident. After they passed away, he moved to Lombard and began working at Walden Books. A few years after I quit my job and moved to Denver, Bill and his wife Millie came out to Colorado and visited during the summer of 1984, and my then-wife Lisa, sister Susan (who also had worked at the Yorktown bookstore), her husband George and I showed them around Colorado and Wyoming. Not too long after that trip, Millie developed breast cancer, and passed away after a brave struggle. Bill never got over that, and died not too long after Millie. A short, tragic life for both of them, but they enjoyed their time together while they could, which was good. In the photograph above, from left to right, are Bill, my sister Susan, and Millie during a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Lincoln's Birthday

Back when I was growing up in the Brainerd neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, I attended Fort Dearborn Grammar School, and just hated it. I couldn't wait for summer vacation to begin, but in the meantime, cherished each holiday or snow day during the school year. In February, a cold and snowy month in Chicago, we got two days off- both Lincoln and Washington's birthdays. However, thanks to heavy lobbying by the travel industry, new legislation required many holidays to be celebrated on Mondays, and Lincoln and Washington's birthdays were combined into President's Day, taking away a school holiday for generations of students. The law did not take effect until 1971, and since I graduated from Rich Central High School the previous June, I was not affected by this outrage. I don't know if there were protests by students and school walkouts, but if not, there should have been. The photograph above, by the way, is of Fort Dearborn Grammar School, which I took when I went back to Chicago to visit in 2010. In it, I am holding a photo of one of the Kloak kids that I took back in the early 1960s on the way home - very happily, I might add - from Fort Dearborn.

A Visit To The Littleton Museum, Continued

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I visited the Littleton Museum this past Sunday to take a few photographs. This museum, located in Littleton, Colorado, just south of Denver, is free to the public, and features a variety of farm animals on its two living farms. The museum is located in Ketring Park, along the shores of Ketring Lake, a walkway to which can be seen in the photograph on the left.

The donkey in the photograph on the right was busy eating hay when I first arrived, and refused to look up. I told him or her I would be back in a while to take a portrait, and was happy to find that when I did come back, it was ready for that photo op. After taking the photograph, I gave it a little pat on the nose, and its mouth quickly went to my hand to see if it had food in it. As it started to munch on my fingers, I quickly pulled away. I guess those signs warning visitors not to touch the animals, since they often mistake fingers for carrots, must be true after all.

Let's face it - a lot of farm animals can be pretty boring, especially the cows. Exhibit A can be seen in the photograph on the left, staring at me while continuously chewing on its meal of hay. There are two cows in that pen, but the other one was too busy eating to look up. The museum needs to have some docents train these guys to perform a few tricks, like they do at the Denver Zoo with the seals. I definitely need to send the museum an e-mail with this suggestion.

One of the most fun animals to photograph is the weird looking goat in the photograph on the right. It often stands with its two front legs on the fence, desperately wanting to interact with visitors when they approach. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing at about 40 miles per hour that afternoon - a pretty cold breeze, too - and so that goat preferred to take shelter in the lean-to, which of course was a disappointment. It was all shadows in there, and at first, I didn't even see the animal. The photograph on the right had to be manipulated in photoshop before I could post it. In any case, the main question to me is why this goat is sharing a corral with two cows instead of with the goats on the other side of the museum? Did they have a falling out? Does this goat actually think it is a cow? All these questions, but no answers, just like so many aspects of life.

Still Another Visit To The Littleton Museum

I went back to the Littleton Museum this past Sunday to take a few photographs. Not only does it have a museum focusing on the history of Littleton, located just to the south of Denver, but it also features two living farms - one from the 1860s and one from the 1890s. Both farmhouses (the one from the 1860s can be seen in the photo on the left) were staffed by docents in period costumes telling visitors the history of the houses. I was very surprised to learn that the 1860s log cabins were built by one person in about two weeks, in anticipation of coming bad weather, and the size of the cabin was determined by what trees were available in the area.

Each time I visit, I see the "guard cat" seen in the photograph on the right. It runs free throughout the grounds and buildings, and always seems to follow me around. I don't know if it finds me suspicious or just thinks I might feed it. Wrong on both counts, cat.

The farm animals are the best part of the museum, and the sheep and goats are the most numerous, and also the most willing to have their portraits taken. I have taken a photograph of the goat in the photograph on the left before, but when you find a willing subject, it is best not to look a gift horse - so to speak - in the mouth.

I am not sure if I have taken a photograph of the sheep in the photo on the right before or not. Sadly, all sheep look the same to me, but it was willing to look me in the eye and pose for the camera. And just why does the Littleton Museum have so many sheep? Do they use the wool to make clothing, forcing their unpaid docents to spin the wool into yarn, under the guise of historical re-enactments? Next time I am there I will be sure to check out the gift shop and see if there is an overabundance of wool clothing for sale.

Spring Training Begins One Week From Today - But Don't Bet On It...

Baseball spring training is supposed to begin exactly one week from today. However, thanks to the MLB lockout and the stalled contract negotiations between players and owners, I truly doubt that will happen. It breaks my heart to see all those millionaires having such trouble dividing up all their loot. The last time there was a baseball work stoppage, the World Series had to be canceled, and the following season was delayed by a month. It took years for the sport to win back its fans. If they think it will be any different this time, they are crazy. And by the way, the above photograph was taken back in 1996, during spring training at Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida. The game was between the Montreal Expos and the Houston Astros, and Jeff Bagwell, the star of the Astros, was about to come to bat. And how did the game turn out? The result has been lost in the mists of time.

The February Mutt Of The Month

This month's Mutt of the Month is none other than my sister Susan's dog Blackberry. Due to the cold and snow here in Denver lately, I have not had that much of an opportunity to take photographs of other dogs, and so Blackberry wins by default. Blackberry hates to have snow (or for that matter, rain) falling on her, and insists on going inside in those conditions. However, once the snow stops and the sun comes out, she just loves to play in it, and often sticks her whole head inside a drift, which she did just before I took the above photo. An eccentric dog, but loveable.

Colorado - A Winter Wonderland

I took the photograph above on a walk with my sister Susan's dog Blackberry up in Fort Collins this past week. That neighborhood, adjacent to Colorado State University's University Center for the Arts, is quite nice anytime of the year, but especially evocative after a snowfall. In point of fact, there are a lot of beautiful towns, with beautiful neighborhoods, here in Colorado, and tremendous mountain scenery, as well. Originally coming from the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, I thought all of the west was like this, but after going on a road trip from Colorado to California and back this past fall,  I learned that was not true. Except for the mountains in Utah, the drive along I-80 from Laramie, Wyoming to the Sierras in California was ugly as hell. It was just as ugly driving east from San Diego, through Arizona and New Mexico, until finally arriving in Santa Fe, a truly wonderful city, and happily only 6 hours from home. Makes me glad I live here in Denver, and not in the middle of barren wastelands that so much of the west consists of - or, for that matter, the barren wastelands that are the Denver suburbs of Lakewood and Aurora. I'm just sayin'.

A Horseshoe Game Circa 1973

I took the photograph above of my father Nelson playing horseshoes on the lawn of our house in the Southern Chicago suburb of Country Club Hills back in June of 1973. I never did like living in that community, and have hated most suburbs ever since. However, as I have said before, the whole extended family lived close to each other back then, which was a very nice thing indeed. Three years after that photo was taken, my parents would retire to Stuart, Florida, and I would move into my first apartment in Forest Park, Illinois, just a stone's throw from the Lake Street L. What amazes me is that I don't think of this photograph as old, even with that car in the background, and the fact that it was taken almost 50 years ago. But back then, when I was 20 years old, if I had looked at a 50-year-old photograph with a car from that era in it, it would have been from the 1920s, and looked ancient to me. Is that a sign of growing old? Certainly not - especially since I am not old.

The Colorado Women's College Campus Changes Hands - Again!

The former Colorado Women's College campus, most recently home to Johnson and Wales University, has been sold to a group consisting of Denver Public Schools, the Denver Housing Authority, and the Urban Land Institute. Colorado Women's College was incorporated in 1888, and operated continuously at that location until, due to financial struggles, it was sold to the University of Denver. DU guaranteed that it would maintain a women's program there, and also moved their law school to the campus. Eventually, DU sold it all to Johnson and Wales University, which put it up for sale last year. It will now become home to an expanded Denver School of the Arts and to affordable housing. Hopefully, the "private property, keep out" signs when Johnson and Wales owned it will be removed, and neighbors will be allowed to stroll the grounds once again. DU built new buildings on it's main campus to house the law school and the women's program after they sold CWC, and recently changed the name of the women's division back to Colorado Women's College. And by the way, the original gateway to that campus, seen in the photograph above, is now at the entrance to the college's garden.

The Joy Of ARCs. And Just Who Is Jackson Lamb, Anyway?

Back when I worked as the bookkeeper at Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore, the book buyers would receive advanced reading copies (ARCs) of soon to be published books on a regular basis, and every month they would put them in the break room for anyone to take. I would immediately head there as soon as I got the e-mail telling staff they were available, and look for my favorite authors, sometimes finding new releases by Michael Connelly, Daniel Silva, and Bill Bryson. I would also grab ARCs of authors I never heard of before, that looked like they might be interesting. One such author was Mick Herron. Without knowing it, I picked up soon to be published books by him three years in a row, not reading any of them until this past month.

Waiting for books I have on reserve at the library to become available, I picked up Nobody Walks, published in 2014, and gave it a try. It featured a former British spy trying to find out how his estranged son was killed. It held my interest, and was well written, but I was dismayed at the ending, the hero of the story tied up and being driven away to be tortured and killed (too late for a spoiler alert, I suspect). The next book, however, was Spook Street, part of a series by Herron about a group of British spies headquartered at a place called Slough House. These spies are all screw-ups, sent there to get them out of the way. They are given make-work projects to keep them busy, and led by a very eccentric character named Jackson Lamb. Naturally, they always wind up in the middle of the action, despite themselves. I really enjoyed this often very humorous book, and immediately started reading the next one in the series, London Rules, which is really entertaining, too. Happily, in the ensuing years, Herron has written three more books in this series, which I definitely intend to read. And I heartily recommend that you check out this series, too.

Snow And Cold Gets Pretty Old...

It has been a cold and snowy January here in Denver, and February has not started out any better. Yesterday we received almost 8 inches of snow, and the overnight low was 6 below zero. Of course, it is a dry cold, and like a dry heat, you probably aren't supposed to feel it as much. Yeah. Right. In any case, once the snow lightened up in the afternoon, I went out to run a few errands, and took the photograph on the left as I was waiting for the light to change as I approached Washington Park.

As I have mentioned many times before, Washington Park is a beautiful neighborhood, and I envy anyone who is able to have a home around there. At one time, I considered buying a one-bedroom condo in the Park Lane, right across the street from the park, and seen in the background of the photo on the right, but quickly realized it wasn't nearly as nice an apartment as the one I was currently living in, across the street from the University of Denver. I decided to pass on it. Eventually, the building I lived in went condo, and I was able to purchase a two-bedroom unit there. It is a mere 20-minute walk away from Wash Park, and so I have no right to complain, even though that is one of my favorite things to do.

As I drove along the park, I noticed that the snow and cold did not deter some people from walking their dogs or doing a little cross-country skiing, as seen in the photo on the left. I considered parking in the lot near South High School and walking through the park for a while, but as I passed that lot, there were cars driving around at high-speeds and going into skids, and also a car pulling someone behind it on skis. That person promptly fell on his or her face and remained lying there, hopefully not seriously injured. And then I remembered the old saying that "you would have to be crazy to be out in weather like this," and decided to head home before those crazies and I crossed paths.

From The Land Of Sky Blue Waters

I took my sister Susan to the Campus Lounge - located in Denver's Bonnie Brae neighborhood - last week to celebrate her 80th birthday (she actually wanted to go to Paris to celebrate, but happily settled for the Campus Lounge). As we were walking into the place, I noticed a Hamm's Beer truck parked outside. It was a converted milk truck, had beer taps on the side, and images of the Hamm's Beer Bear on the back, as seen in the photograph above. Talk about a great nostalgia item. I researched that truck on the internet, and evidently there are a number of these vehicles still around. Did they use them to deliver Hamm's Beer to households every morning, just like the milkman? Beats the hell out of me. All I know for sure is that I just loved those Hamm's Beer commercials featuring that bear and the "land of sky blue waters" jingle. Be sure to check out the commercial I found on the internet at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZC3NUdjtug.

Mid-Winter At The Zoo - Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I went to the Denver Zoo Sunday afternoon to take a few photos and enjoy the sun and relatively warm 53 degree temperatures before the next round of snow and cold arrives. Of all the animals at the zoo, the lions are the most cooperative. Tobias, seen in the photograph on the left, and head of one of the zoo's two lion prides, always looks me in the eye when I take his photograph. He has fathered three cubs since he arrived at the zoo, for which I am eternally grateful, although I wish he would get busy and produce a few more, since cubs obviously make the best subjects, and the cuteness soon disappears as they get older.

And as Exhibit A, I present a photograph of Tatu, taken not too long after he was born in 2019, no doubt named after that character from Fantasy Island, a television show from the late 1970s. Now that he is older, Tatu looks just like any other lion. Even the twin lion cubs born back in April of 2020 don't look like cubs anymore. To add insult to injury, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions, I was not able to photograph those twins while they were at their cutest, which I feel is why the zoo should make the birth of two new lion cubs a top priority.

As I mentioned above, the Denver Zoo has two African lion prides - the family pride that includes Tobias and Tatu, and four bachelor lions who alternate occupying Predator Ridge, the large lion compound. When one of the prides occupies that main compound, the other winds up in smaller quarters, which is where I took the photograph on the left of one of those four bachelor lions, no doubt wondering how the hell he ever wound up there. If only the zoo would take my advice and start a "Lion Encounter," the animals in this small enclosure would no doubt perk up quite a bit. Nothing like visitors trying to pet them to get those animal juices flowing.