Turtle Nesting Season Is Here!

I visited Stuart Beach the other day, and as soon as I stepped off the boardwalk into the sand, I saw the triangular barriers seen in the photograph on the left, reminding me it is still turtle nesting season here in Florida (it runs from March 1st through October 31st). Protecting these nests is a big deal around here. The Florida Oceanographic Society, located across the street from Stuart Beach, offers nighttime sea turtle walks, which begin at 9:00 P.M. and last until midnight or later for people who would like to watch a nesting sea turtle in person. The cost for the evening is $35. I have been tempted to take one of these excursions, but there is no guarantee you will actually witness one of those gigantic loggerheads nesting. Beach scouts are sent out to look for nesting turtles, but if none are located by 11:30, everyone goes home and you are out your $35. Plus, the website says to be prepared for rain, humidity, bugs, and soft sand. Fun!

It is much easier simply watching the sea turtle hatchlings head toward the ocean. Back in July of 1984 my then-wife Lisa, sister Susan, mother Mary and I visited Stuart Beach and just by chance witnessed hatchlings making their way to the sea, as seen in the photograph on the right. At that time sea turtles were being rehabilitated in the basement of the nearby House of Refuge Museum and this event might have been sponsored by them. Eventually, a separate rehabilitation and research facility, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, was built in Juno Beach, Florida and allows visitors to see giant loggerhead turtles, some weighing up to 400 pounds, swimming around in their tanks during recovery. And when fully recovered, they offer visitors the chance to see these giant turtles return to the sea. They also host evenings for guests to watch hatchlings be released to the sea that hatched and then were excavated by the organization's research staff that day. These events take place in the month of August and cost $40. Five dollars more than the turtle nesting event, but at least you are guaranteed to see something. Which is a big plus.

The Very Rich Are Different Than You And Me - They Can't Take The Heat

I drove down to Palm Beach, Florida from Stuart yesterday afternoon. As expected, that bastion of wealth was pretty quiet on a hot summer Sunday afternoon. Unlike during the season, there were open parking spaces at both the beach and on Worth Avenue. And not surprisingly, there were few if any Bentley convertible sports cars, Aston Martins, Rolls-Royces or Ferraris parked on that glitzy street. The very rich are no doubt staying at one of their other mansions up north or in Europe until "The Season," when the temperatures are much more moderate, no doubt a precaution to make sure they don't melt. Many of their superyachts are gone from their berths on Lake Worth, and the ones that remain, such as the one in the photograph on the left, are sitting empty. And I couldn't help but notice that back in Stuart, I have neither seen nor heard a single private jet land or take off from Witham Field since I arrived here. During the winter and early spring, one of those jets would be landing every 5 minutes on Friday afternoons and leaving like clockwork on Sunday afternoons or Monday mornings.

And, of course, Mar-a Lago, Donald Trump's private club, was also completely deserted, except for the police cruisers surrounding it. As everyone knows, Donald Trump definitely can't stand the heat, which is why he lashes out at anyone who says or writes something he doesn't like. But he also does not seem to like the hot weather in Florida, either. His club closes down after Mother's Day in May, and does not reopen until Halloween, when one of the many parties held at that club takes place. What did surprise me was that the road that goes past Mar-a-Lago has reopened to traffic, which is how I obtained the photograph on the right. Usually, this road would close when Trump was in town, and reopen after he returned to Washington, but after the Iran War started, it was closed "until further notice" due to "enhanced security measures," to the delight of everyone who had to take a long detour if they needed to drive south on Ocean Boulevard. The road finally reopened to traffic on May 4th, no doubt when town officials finally realized that damn war was probably never going to end.

Back To Florida To Avoid The Heat!

It is once again time to leave Denver and its 100-degree plus temperatures for Stuart, Florida. Granted, it can be a tad humid in Stuart these days, and there are those afternoon showers (i.e. tropical downpours) that occur during the summer, but those cool breezes off the ocean make up for all that, and the crowds of people that are there during "the season" are long gone. We started the day out with the Uber being 15 minutes late, and then when it did arrive, it was nowhere to be seen. The driver called and told me he didn't see anyone out front and drove to the back door, and so I told him my sister Susan and I would meet him there.  And when we got there, the car wasn't there either. He had returned to the front. Where we went next. There was not room enough in the trunk for our two suitcases, two carry-on bags, and Susan's walker, and the driver informed me I should have ordered an SUV. There was construction going on around the intersection by the freeway entrance, which delayed us a bit more, and the driver told me I should have ordered an earlier car, even though the Uber app told me 8:30 A.M. was the recommended time. After that, we made good progress but had to wait in line to check the bags and wait for a wheelchair to arrive. We made it to the gate just as the plane was beginning to board. After arriving in Baltimore to catch our connecting flight, we saw that the plane's departure would be delayed from 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Then 8:30. And then 9:30. And finally, evidently 10:30pm became the magic time, and we arrived at President Donald J. Trump International Airport (don't you just love that? Unbelievable) in West Palm Beach at 1:03 A.M. And the name of this airline that gave no explanation for this 4-hour delay will remain anonymous. Please don't look at the photograph on the left or I could be sued.

Jan, a neighbor at our condo complex, who was originally going to pick us up at 8:50pm., said she would still meet us at 1:00am, bless her heart, and dropped us off at our condo around 2:00. Jan evidently had never been out that late in Stuart before and was amazed at how deserted the town was at that hour. When Susan and I would visit our mother Mary in Stuart, we never once ventured outside the condo after sunset. I just assumed the place must have been plagued by vampires. In any case, the next day, after sleeping a bit longer than usual, we headed around town to see what was happening around the city. Downtown seemed to be hopping, all the restaurants doing a good business, but the rest of the area seemed pretty low key. I drove to Stuart Beach, where there were a few people, but not that many (it was a weekday afternoon after all), and then drove to the House of Refuge, the oldest building in Martin County, now a museum, and seen in the photograph on the right. It was built in 1876, one of 10 havens for shipwrecked sailors along the Atlantic coast of Florida. It has been undergoing a renovation for quite a while and recently reopened. During the renovation, the entire parking lot was closed off, making it impossible to visit without a long hike down the beach. Happily, it is finally back to normal and looking good. And no snowbirds in sight. Perfect!

The 2026 Colorado Dragon Boat Festival Starts Exactly Three Weeks From Today!

The Colorado Dragon Boat Festival on Sloan's Lake here in Denver will be returning for its 26th year on Saturday, August 29th and Sunday, August 30th. In addition to 50 teams of boaters competing in dragon boat competitions, the festival also features an Asian Marketplace, Two Taste of Asia Food Courts, three performing art stages, and live art demos. For a while, it was unclear if the festival would return to Sloan's Lake, due to blue-green algae and sediment buildup, an unhealthy situation. Short term efforts to clear a safe paddling channel have been made, but a long-term solution involving sediment removal and water circulation will be necessary to restore the health of the lake. In the meantime, despite those issues, the festival is a go for the end of August. I took the photograph above a few days ago of two of those dragon boats moored in the lake, waiting for the races to begin. And if you do go to the festival, and partake of the food booths, make sure you avoid eating any fresh fish caught from that lake.

The August Mutts Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the August Mutts of the Month at New Terrain Brewery up in Golden, Colorado, where it seems like almost everyone has a dog. Some are sleeping, like the one on the left, who probably had one too many bowls of beer, and others are up and alert, waiting for their owners to finish their IPAs and then head to the dog park located right next door. New Terrain is the starting point for the North Table Mountain Park Trail and also the entrance to the Golden Bike Park, and so you see a lot of both hikers and bikers passing by the tables on their way to the trails. And most of them will no doubt stop on their way back for a cold one. As they say in the real estate business, it is all about location, location, location.

From The Bonnie Brae Tavern To Akin Bonnie Brae Apartments in Three Easy Steps

The Bonnie Brae Tavern, which was in business in that iconic Denver neighborhood for 88 years and seen in the photograph on the left, was sold to real estate developers back in June of 2022. It opened in 1934 in the middle of the Great Depression. Explaining the reason for selling, Ricky Dire, one of the two owners, both of whom are grandsons of the couple that founded the place, said that the 88-year-old building had 88-year-old plumbing and electrical, and the City of Denver would soon be requiring that it be brought up to code. Plus, Dire added that the restaurant business is "hell." They had to put money into the business to keep it going during Covid, and staffing during that time was a nightmare. And they couldn't afford the $20-per-hour wage it now takes to obtain staff.

And so, last year the building was torn down, as seen in the photograph on the right, to make way for a luxury apartment complex called akin Bonnie Brae. This is actually a pretty large piece of property, which consisted of the Bonnie Brae Tavern, a dry cleaners next door, a free-standing gift store on the corner, and a very large parking lot. 

And now the project is taking shape, as seen in the photograph on the left. Akin Bonnie Brae will bring a new, 3-story, 46-unit luxury apartment building to the Bonnie Brae neighborhood, with 15 different floor plans to choose from. In addition to those luxury apartments, there will be 7,500 square-feet of ground-floor retail. The Bonnie Brae and neighboring Belcaro neighborhoods, in close proximity to Washington Park, have always been upscale, and so this building will fit right in. The Phipps Mansion, a gigantic home with over 70 rooms and once owned by the University of Denver and used as a conference center, is right down the street. Back in the day, the annual University of Denver Christmas Party was held in that mansion's Tennis House, and after dinner people were welcome to walk up to the mansion for a self-guided tour. Dinner, drinks, dancing, and hanging out in a mansion. Those were the good old days for sure. In any case, akin Bonnie Brae is preleasing in Fall 2026 for early 2027 move-ins. Prices to be determined. Be sure to get your application in soon! And bring your retirement savings with you.

The August Issue Of Chicago Magazine

Sadly, the August issue of Chicago Magazine will be my last physical copy of that publication. The magazine has decided to stop subscriptions by mail and only distribute the publication via home delivery in conjunction with their parent company, the Chicago Tribune. An online copy is, of course, available, but it is really just not the same. In any case, this month's issue was pretty interesting. The cover story is titled The Best Seats in Town. At first I thought it would just be about seating in sports arenas, but it actually is about the best places to sit everywhere in Chicago, be it a window seat at Miller's Pub for peoplewatching, taking the 56 Milwaukee bus to get a tour of Chicago then and now, where to seat at Northwestern's Matin Stadium to get "sweeping views" of Lake Michigan and the Chicago Skyline, and many more wonderful spots to plant yourself in Chicago. It was very much like a guidebook to Chicago, and very informative. There was also an article about the 40th anniversary of The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults, a two-hour live broadcast from the basement of Chicago's Lexington Hotel, Al Capone's headquarters, hosted by Geraldo Rivera. The vault turned out to be empty, but the ratings for the show were sky high and it paved the way, for better or worse, for reality television. There is also an article listing Chicago's Top 50 Restaurants, most of them pretty pricey but also some reasonably priced ones, too. Number 36 is Sanders BBQ Supply Co., located in the South Side Beverly neighborhood, just to the west of Brainerd, where I grew up. Another article discusses a new book about Chicago gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson. A very interesting issue indeed. And what the hell, maybe I will still continue to read Chicago Magazine online, although reluctantly so.