Springtime In January

This past weekend was truly beautiful here in Denver - sunny and temperatures at 60 degrees Fahrenheit - or close to it - both Saturday and Sunday.  I myself spent both days walking around parts of the city.  On Saturday, I walked down 17th Street - a hipster haven of restaurants, bars, and boutiques - from the Tattered Cover Bookstore (my former employer) to Union Station, where I took the light rail train home. And on Sunday, I walked around my neighborhood, from the Pearl Street business district, through Washington Park, up and down the Old South Gaylord area, and then home again.  In the collage above, going clockwise from the upper left, are photographs of the patio of the Vine Street Pub on 17th Street (which does not take credit cards, a vestige from the 19th Century no doubt), a new very pricey apartment building being constructed on 17th, a view of the west side of Washington Park, where peasants once frolicked, but now only hipsters reign, and a view of the mountains from the east side of Washington Park, where back in the 1980s my then wife Lisa and I could have bought a bungalow with that exact same view for $279,000, but didn't have that kind of money back then.. And the weather report says it will remain warm and dry for the foreseeable future.  One of the few benefits of global warming.

Epiphany Is Here! - Time To Take Down That Tree!

Today is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas - the day the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem, bringing gifts to the Christ Child.  It is also a great excuse to leave your Christmas tree and decorations up until after January 6th. This holiday season, by the way,  marks the first time I have put up my Christmas tree in 10 years, and I am not looking forward to taking it down. And since I don't get many visitors, I am wondering if I shouldn't just leave the tree up until next Christmas?  People already think of me as a bit of an eccentric, so what do I have to lose?  And after all, many years ago, back when I lived in an apartment in Wheaton, Illinois,  the fellow in the apartment across the way kept his tree up all year long, only taking it down right before Christmas. Granted, that is crazy behavior, but a precedent is a precedent, right?

The First Friday Of 2019

I drove over to Denver's Santa Fe Arts District last night, where I once again participated in the monthly First Friday Art Walk.  Just like last month, I couldn't help but notice that more and more art galleries are closing.  Is it because the rents are getting too high for these galleries to afford, or is it because the interest in the arts (by which I mean actually buying art) here in Denver is just not that strong?  In any case, the crowds are still coming, which means a much higher percentage of hipsters per square foot of gallery space, which almost always guarantees a very claustrophobic experience.

Regardless, the art on display each month  is almost always "cutting edge," by which I mean damn weird. Take the art piece in the photograph on the right, a female form with the head of a stoplight.  Seriously - is this what you want to put in your living room, to spark conversations about art and what the purpose of art really is? What happens when this current topic of conversation becomes passe? Do you throw this priceless art object out in the trash?  I suggest putting it in a major Denver intersection, such as Colfax (the longest, wickedest street in America) and Broadway. On the other hand, it might actually look good out on my balcony.  The mind reels with possibilities.

New Episodes From Rick Steves!

As regular blog readers know, I am a big Rick Steves fan, and watch his European travel programs on a regular basis, even if I have seen them 10 or 20 times before.  And I am happy to report that Rick Steves (seen in the photograph above on the left) has 10 brand new episodes this year, a great treat for travel fanatics everywhere.  This time, Rick has 4 episodes that explore traveling via cruise ship.  I must say, I did not find these episodes very interesting.  Rick is at his best when promoting traveling on your own, carrying a single backpack and exploring Europe as an individual, getting to know the continent and it's people like a local.  Happily, the other 6 episodes show exactly how to do this, and I recommend them highly.  And if you do not catch these episodes on public television, you can watch them on your computer at https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show.  Enjoy!

Cold Snap!

Just in time for New Year's Eve, the temperatures here on the front range of Colorado dropped below zero, a reminder that we are living at 5,000 feet above sea level out here and cold weather sometimes happens. The temperature dropped to 5 below zero Fahrenheit, and the wind chill hit 20 below zero.  I myself drove up to Fort Collins that afternoon and went with my sister to see Mary Poppins Returns (which we both liked), and I took the photograph above of the plaza in front of the movie theater, showing a properly winter scene. Of course, the front range has wild temperature swings, and today the temperature will be back in the 50s.  What I do not understand, and never will, is why - when there is a 20 degree below zero wind chill - people here still wear shorts?  Does living at such a high altitude all their lives make them go crazy? Obviously it does.

New Year's Day Soccer

I went with my friend Mark (seen in the photograph above) to watch Tottingham (a London soccer club) play Cardiff City yesterday morning with Denver's Tottingham Fan Club. The gathering took place at Esters Neighborhood Pub on South Holly Street, and the food there was pretty damn good. And I must say, I was very impressed with the turnout.  The place was packed with soccer fans at 10:00 in the morning on New Year's Day.  Talk about dedication.  Tottingham won the game 3 nill (as the soccer crowd says), and after the game ended the entire room sang what I assume is the Tottingham official song.  One of the leaders of the group, a British ex-pat, remarked about how American sports fans don't cheer or sing songs after their team wins.  I must beg to differ.  Back when I lived in Chicago and attended Chicago White Sox baseball games at Comiskey Park on the south side, the entire stadium (all 200 of us) would launch into "Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye" whenever the team won a game.  Granted, that was only a couple of times a year, but we still did it.  So there.

Happy New Year!

It is New Year's Day, and I don't know about you, but I am very happy to put 2018 behind and move on to a hopefully much better year.  I took the above photograph of my friend Stuart and I celebrating New Year's Eve "Eve," in beautiful, exotic Lakewood, Colorado.  Unfortunately, we did not get to see Northwestern play Utah in the Holiday Bowl, which took place last night.  I thought that might be a good thing, since Stuart was so crushed by Northern Illinois losing the last time we got together, and I was pretty sure Northwestern was going to lose too, big time.  However, they actually wound up winning 30 to 14. Northwestern is just down the street from where Stuart grew up on the north side of Chicago, and so I am sure he is ecstatic about that victory. I myself am from the south side of Chicago, and the college on that side of town, the University of Chicago, disbanded their team years ago.  I know for sure that they would have lost if the team still existed.  Eggheads just ain't football players.  Happy New Year Everybody!