On Thin Ice

I stopped at Denver's Washington Park on my way home from work this past weekend, where I took the above photograph.  I thought it was an idyllic scene to put on the blog, but as soon as I got done snapping the shutter a retiree starting talking to me about what happened out on that lake a few years ago.  Evidently a kid from California ran out on the ice, and when he got to the middle of the lake went down like a ton of bricks. Colorado has a lot of temperature extremes during the winter, and it can go from below zero to the 60s in a day or two.  This does not make for a very thick layer of ice, and the poor kid wasn't aware of that. The retired guy told me the kid's body was retrieved by helicopter - not a pretty sight.  And so the moral of the story is that looks can be deceiving.  Those "stay off the ice" signs are there for a reason.

Fools' River

I just finished reading Fools' River, Timothy Hallinan's lasted Poke Rafferty thriller.  The series takes place in Bangkok, Thailand, and features Poke Rafferty, a travel writer who lives with his Thai wife and their adopted daughter, a former street waif, and who is constantly helping people out of dangerous situations.  In the story, he is asked by the son of an American ex-pat to find his father, who is being held captive while his bank accounts and credit cards are being drained.  There have been a dozen other victims, and all but two were found dead in a Bangkok canal.  Another is brain dead.  It is an excellent read, and gives a good look at life in Bangkok, much of it not very pretty.  Buy a copy from your local bookstore today!

Dusk In Fort Collins

I haven't seen any sunsets lately, since it has been pretty cold and snowy the past week, and so instead you are getting a Fort Collins dusk.  As I have said before, Fort Collins, home of Colorado State University, is a very pleasant town, with an attractive downtown called, appropriately enough, "Old Town."  It is filled with restaurants and bars and brew pubs, and is quite lively, as befits a university town.  The neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area are filled with tree lined streets and older, often historic homes.  I took the above photograph in one such neighborhood as I was driving to Los Tarascos' to have dinner with my brother-in-law George.  And yes - if I see a photo-worthy subject as I am driving down the street, I have no qualms about stopping the car and taking the shot.  Of course, it does get a little dicey on freeways, but the important thing is capturing the image, right?  Right?

Eating Mexican At Los Tarascos'

I drove up to Fort Collins to visit my sister Susan, who is still recovering from a combination of the flu and a low sodium problem, and afterwards went to have dinner at Los Tarascos', a kind of upscale Mexican restaurant near the Colorado State University campus, with my brother-in-law George.  The food was pretty good, if a little pricey, but on the other hand, almost every restaurant seems a little pricey to me these days. George is recovering nicely after his surgery back in November, and is seen in the photograph above drinking a margarita the size of the Gulf of California.  You've been through a lot the past 3 months,  George so you deserve it.  Enjoy!

The First Weekend Of Spring Training Games!

Today is the first weekend of spring training baseball, and what better way to mark this special occasion than featuring a photograph of none other than Harry Carey, the late Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs announcer in front of the iconic billboard at old Comiskey Park on the South Side of Chicago.  I took both photographs (and photo-shopped them together) back in 1980, back when the world was, in many ways, a happier place. That, of course, is looking back in time through rose colored glasses.  But back to the topic at hand - let the games begin!

Spring Training Games Begin Today!

At last!  Spring training games begin today in Florida and Arizona.  And down on the Treasure Coast of Florida, there are now five major league teams in residence, including the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals in West Palm Beach, the New York Mets in Port Saint Lucie, and the Saint Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, where I took the above photograph of my mother Mary one August when we attended a Florida State League baseball game.  I like Roger Dean Stadium, but like all the new facilities, it is a mini major league stadium - nothing like the old spring training facilities like Payne Park in Sarasota (where the Chicago White Sox used to train) and Dodgertown in Vero Beach. These older fields had a lot of personality, a much more intimate environment where the players and fans used the same entrances and exits, which made for much better player-fan  interactions.  But even so, spring training is a lot of fun.  If our condo in Stuart, Florida wasn't rented, I would be down there in a flash.  I wonder if my tenants would mind a house guest for a few days, or possibly weeks?

The Degas Exhibit Is Here!

The big Degas exhibit is now open at the Denver Art Museum (the DAM).  It is officially titled Degas: A Passion for Perfection and is organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum of the University of Cambridge. Amazingly, Denver is the only city the exhibit will appear.  And why is that?  Isn't it good enough for any other city?  Does Denver have some sort of an "in," such as a large cash bribe or blackmail photographs? And where is that damn buffet table on Final Fridays these days?  These are all questions I have to have ask when I do go to see the exhibit.  They love me at the DAM, by the way.

The World Back In 1948

When my parents and I use to visit my Uncle Bill and Aunt Elsie in South Euclid, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), and later at their condo in Stuart, Florida, I used to be fascinated by my uncle's world globe, a floor model from 1938.  It was a wedding gift to my uncle from Aunt Elsie, and showed a world long gone. I always wanted a globe like that, and then one day, while visiting a shop called Chuckles' Fine Books and Antiques (really!) in Hobe Sound, Florida with my mother Mary and her friend Marion Bellarosa, I found the above world globe. It is a table model that cost me $12.00, and when I got back to Denver, I bought an iron and glass stand to place it on.  It shows the world as it was back in 1948.  Israel was just a single dot on the map, the Koreas were one country, and Africa (as seen in the above photograph) was still colonized by the Europeans. It was one of my savviest purchases, and a very thought provoking one at that.

The Groundhog Was Right

Yes - it appears that the groundhog was indeed right.  At least here in Denver, it looks like we will be getting 6 more weeks of winter.  Of course, Denver is not Chicago - it doesn't just keep snowing and stay frigid the entire winter. This past Sunday it got up to 69 degrees, and the very next day the high was 18 degrees and the low 4 degrees.  Plus, it snowed all day long.  However, by the weekend it will be back in the 40s.  Not bad at all, which is probably the reason why so many people here wear shorts even on the coldest and snowiest days.  Yes - it may be snowing and 18 degrees out, but it will be 66 tomorrow.  Why change?  No doubt all Californians.  And by the way, the above photograph is of East High School and the Esplanade that runs between Colfax Avenue and City Park, taken from the parking garage next to the local Denver Bookstore where I work.  Who knew parking garages could be such a scenic locale?

President's Day

Back when I was a kid, there was no such thing as President's Day.  There was Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday, and back at Fort Dearborn Grammar School, in the South Side Chicago Brainerd neighborhood, where I went to school, we got both days off.  Then they invented President's Day, which is on a Monday, and merges the two holidays into one, taking away a day off from school.  If that had happened when I was a kid, I would have been outraged.  Today's youth are being ripped off.  It is just not fair.  And by the way, I took the above photograph of one of the Kloak kids on Fort Dearborn's playground back in January of 1963, when we were both looking forward to two days off in February.  Those were the days, my friend.

The Mind Is The First To Go...

Or so I have been told.  Since I recently turned 65, I think that is starting to happen.  I met with our regular group of former University of Denver Bookstore co-workers and their spouses last night at Salsas, a Mexican restaurant near the corner of 44th and Wadsworth, in beautiful Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and forgot to take a blog photograph.  I made a note to take the photo, brought the camera, and then spaced it out.  But what the heck - I have plenty of photos I have taken of them during one of our gatherings.  The one I have chosen was taken at Benny's, also a Mexican restaurant.  In the photograph on the left, from right to left is Valarie, the former DU Bookstore Operations Manager, her husband Jake; Darrel, the bookstore's former Accounts Payable Supervisor;  his wife Linda; Chris, the former DU Bookstore's Accounts Payable Assistant, her husband Jim, and, of course, me!  And by the way, Salsas has great food - everybody there thought their meal was wonderful.

The only person who was in attendance last night at Salsas who is not in the above photograph is Cheyanne, daughter of Valarie, who is currently staying in Valarie and Jake's Airbnb, located in the basement of their Wheat Ridge home, while the home Cheyanne recently purchased is being renovated.  But no problem - I have a photograph of her, too.  On the right is a photo of Cheyanne and Valarie taken at Salsas in December of 2014, on the occasion of Cheyanne's return from two years service with the Peace Corps in Mozambique.  Long time blog readers will remember that I featured her adventures in Mozambique in a weekly blog post.  Cheyanne taught English at a college there to students who were studying to be teachers, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I asked her when she was going to go back, and she said she did want to go back to visit her friends there, but not to stay permanently.  Having to kill your own chickens if you want a chicken dinner must not have the same appeal it once did.  In any case, Cheyanne said she is quite happy living in the Airbnb, and might even sell her new home and live there permanently, since it is such a great space and meals are provided.  Can't blame you there, Cheyanne. Good to see you all again, everybody!

Colfax Update

For the past two years, the City of Denver has been building a new recreation center on the northeast corner of Colfax and York, just down the street from the local bookstore where I work.  I took the above photograph from the parking garage next door to the bookstore.  The thing that surprises me most is that I saw no opening ceremonies or publicity about it finally opening up.  One day it was under construction, and the next time I walked past it, you could see rows of people on exercise bikes through the windows.  Looks damn tiring to me, but that is just my opinion.  And I am worried that they won't have the energy to walk a block to the store and peruse the books.  Another example of how exercise can hurt the mind.  I'm convinced.

Still More Nostalgia

Today I am featuring a photograph of my Great Aunt Babe (sitting on the left) , my Grandmother Louise Spillard (on the right), and their friend Viola Miller, sitting in the middle, taken at our house in Country Club Hills, Illinois, on the occasion of my grandparents wedding anniversary in November of 1968.  Babe and my grandmother had two other sisters, Irene and Allie, as well as a brother - Uncle Charlie.  I knew Irene, but not Allie or Charlie.  My Great Grandfather Charles St. Pierre (their father) was a carpenter, and also owned a farm in Saint-Eustache, Quebec with his brother.  They would work the farm in the summer, and come to Chicago during the winter, where "Pa," as he was known, would work as a carpenter.  He even worked on the construction of Cook County Hospital, where, ironically, he passed away at 99 years old, back in 1952. Eventually Pa sold his interest in the farm to his brother, and the whole family - except for Allie - moved permanently to Chicago.  All of them still spoke French when they didn't want their children to know what they were saying, or when they swore, which is why both my mother Mary and sister Susan took French in school, in order to find out what the hell they were saying.  It is good to be motivated to learn, right?

The Bright Lights Of Fort Collins

I have been driving up to Fort Collins a lot these days to visit with my sister Susan and brother-in-law George, who are both dealing with health issues.  This past Sunday night I had pizza at the Old Chicago restaurant in downtown Fort Collins, and before going into the restaurant took the above photograph of the lights of Fort Collins.  It is a college town - the home of Colorado State University - and is therefore quite a lively place.  Old Town Fort Collins is an area of 19th century buildings with plenty of restaurants, brew pubs, and bars.  I think living close to downtown would be a lot of fun, but like many places in Colorado, pretty damn expensive.  Cheyenne, just 43 miles to the north, would be much cheaper, but then you would be living in Cheyenne, which I assume would not be nearly as much fun.  Nothing personal Cheyenne.

51 Days Until Opening Day

It is a mere 51 days until the Colorado Rockies play their first game of the season at Coors Field, in lower downtown Denver.  And as you can tell from the above photograph, it is even starting to look like baseball weather, if you take into consideration the snowstorms and freezing weather we have had on Opening Days past.  I was not chosen to participate in the lottery for Opening Day tickets, and so have a vested interest in bad weather being predicted for that day.  If the weather forecast is bad, the price of tickets on Stub Hub will drop like a rock.  And since April is one of Denver's snowiest months, the weather gods are on my side. Let's play two!

Spring Training Starts Today!

It's here at last!  Spring training has begun!  Pitchers and catchers report today, and the first workouts start tomorrow.  And in honor of this auspicious occasion, I am featuring a photograph of Opening Day from God knows when, with Todd Helton, a Colorado Rockies legend, photo-shopped into the scene.  Next week the position players report, and the week after that, spring training games begin.  Not that I can attend any, of course, but it is fun just to listen to them on the radio, knowing that Opening Day is not far away.

Time For Another Sunset Photograph

Saturday it snowed all day in Denver, and yesterday, to prove it I featured a photograph taken from my balcony showing that snowy scene.  Sunday, however, was bright and sunny, and so I thought that today I would feature a photograph of the same view, at sunset, without the snow,  looking out at the University of Denver campus and the mountains beyond.  I must admit, the view is pretty nice, although the two high rise dorm buildings in the center of the photo block my view of Mount Evans.  At one time the university was thinking of tearing them down, which would have opened up my view, but financial reality finally sank in, and they renovated them instead.  It is very traumatic, by the way, for everyone at DU when they are forced to deal with reality.  I'm just sayin.'

It Figures...

Denver and the front range of Colorado have not had much snow this year, and so now that I am having to drive up to Fort Collins almost daily lately these days it finally starts coming down like crazy.  Friday night I drove up to Fort Collins and encountered a snowstorm half way there.  After visiting with my sister and brother-in-law, I came outside to find a fair amount of snow on my car.  Halfway back to Denver, and the roads cleared and were actually completely dry in Denver.  Saturday morning I woke up to the scene seen in the photograph above, and drove through a snowstorm on the way up to Fort Collins.  And half way there, the pavement dried out and the sun was actually trying to come out.  And so I was able to experience snowstorms in both cities.  They say we need the moisture.  I say we need high temperatures in the 80s each day.  Wrong state for that, I'm afraid.

Doctor Lovebeads

After reading a pretty heavy novel about ex-pats in Afghanistan titled Into the Sun, I decided something lighter was called for, and decided to read Doctor Lovebeads, a "Murph the cabdriver" adventure by the late Gary Reilly.  This particular story starts when Murph drives two teenagers - for free - up to a concert at Denver's Redrocks Amphitheater, and a few days later is visited by the police, who are investigating their disappearance after the concert.  These books are a fun read, and a good antidote to serious literature. Reilly wrote 11 of these Murph stories, all unpublished, before he passed away, and his friends and family are making sure they wind up in print, which is a good thing.  I recommend them heartily, and suggest you start with the first one, The Asphalt Warrior, and read them in order.  You can check out the web site for these books at http://theasphaltwarrior.com/index.php/the-asphalt-warrior-series/.  Happy reading.

The Great Plains

When you think of Colorado, you think of mountains.  What you don't think about are the Great Plains, which makes up about two thirds of the state.  I learned this when I first drove to Denver.  I kept looking for mountains in the distance, but didn't see any for hours.  It isn't until you reach Denver that the mountains appear, and the west begins.  In fact, Colorado was one of the states greatly affected by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.  Not only did "okies" make the trek from The Great Plains to California, but "colies," too (I just made up that word, by the way. So sue me.)  I was thinking about all this as I drove up to Fort Collins on a bleak grey day, glancing out the window toward the east, everything flat as a pancake until you got to Kansas City.  Ugh.

Closing Time At The Zoo

I took the above photograph as I was leaving the Denver Zoo at closing time this past Saturday afternoon.  It seems that the duck in the photograph above was taking possession of the place from the now disappearing visitors.  Every few minutes the duck would let out a loud squawk, no doubt trying to hurry along the stragglers so the animals could have the place to themselves once again.  And who can blame them?  I have seen some of those visitors.  Good riddance.

Cruel And Unusual

Every time I visit the Denver Zoo, I feel sorry for the leopard seen in the photograph above.  Unlike the lions and tigers, who have an outside compound to roam, the leopard is confined to a small cell, and paces back and forth all day long.  If the zoo is going to keep an animal like this, they should provide a decent area for it to roam.  Otherwise, they should send it to a zoo that can give it a more humane environment.  I say e-mail the Denver Zoo now and demand that they do something about this.  Just don't mention my name. Otherwise in a few weeks you might read about a tragic mauling to a trouble-making senior citizen.

Tiger Encounter!

I went to the Denver Zoo Saturday afternoon to walk around and take a few photographs, and was happy to find that unlike a few weeks ago, the tiger in the photograph above was happy to have his portrait taken. It was a lot warmer this time around, which I think must have put him in a more mellow mood.  He climbed up on a perch, sat down, and scanned the crowd, no doubt wondering what would taste good for dinner.   And frighteningly enough, he is looking directly at me.  Just how strong is that chain link fence, anyway?

A Final Word On First Friday

The past two days I have featured blog posts about last Friday's First Friday Art Walk, held monthly on Santa Fe Drive here in Denver.  It was not as crowded as in the summer, of course, but there was still a good turnout.  The neighborhood has been historically Latino, and for a long time Santa Fe Drive was a Spanish speaking street invaded once a month by hipsters and art lovers.  I noticed yesterday that that is changing. These days trendy coffee shops are opening up, and new, upscale apartments are being built in the area.  I imagine the hipsters are beginning to buy the late 19th century homes in the area and fix them up, too.  In any case, it is still fun to go down there once a month and peruse the artwork.  Much of it is pretty strange, and I have often remarked on this.  But then again, as I was working on the photographs I took last Friday night, I ran across the one on the left that I took in August of the woman carrying her dog like a new born baby, and I realized that for a lot of these galleries, this is their target market.  Enough said.

The Plug In Art Question

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I attended the First Friday Art Walk on South Santa Fe Drive here in Denver Friday night.  There were a few places that had some decent art, but not many photographs on display this time around.  Not as many people, either, like during the summer months.  I went into the Denver Art Network Gallery, which seems to be one of the more upscale galleries, and in a room in the back saw he two "plug in" pieces of art seen in the above photograph.  Plug in art seems to be everywhere these days, especially at the Denver Art Museum, where they even have a fish named Veronica Lake on a large screen television singing torch songs.  Back when I lived in Chicago, I would sometimes walk up Milwaukee Avenue, near the Wicker Park neighborhood, where at that time one side of the street was Spanish and the other half Polish.  You would sometimes see plug in art in the Polish  storefronts, and it was derided.  Back then it was tacky, but now it seems to be trendy.  How times change.  Of course, the Wicker Park neighborhood - writer Nelson Algren's old stomping ground -  has been gentrified and is now infested with hipsters.  Milwaukee Avenue probably has all kinds of art galleries on it now, no doubt featuring plug in art. The more things change...

People Are Crazy Here...

Of course, that is just my opinion, but I have valid reasons.  Let me explain - I was reminded by Peter, with whom I share an office at the local bookstore where I work - that yesterday, in addition to being Groundhog Day, was the monthly First Friday Art Walk.  Therefore, after work, I immediately drove to Santa Fe Drive, where it is held, and found a parking spot.  As I walked toward the galleries, I passes by The Renegade Brewing Company, a local brewpub, as seen in the photograph above.  Granted, it was a nice day yesterday, and the high reached 59 degrees, but by the time I got there it was nearing 5:30, and the temperature had dropped to the upper 30s.  Does that sound like patio weather to you?  And yet, look at all the people sitting there, drinking beer and having a good old time.  And another thing.  People wear shorts here year round, even when the weather dips belong freezing.  Is that rational behavior?  Do all these people come from California and long for year round summer temperatures, pretending it is really nice out?  I myself stand there, all bundled up, and just want to slap some sense into them.  And by the way - the groundhog did see it's shadow yesterday, both in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and in Denver, which means 6 more weeks of winter.  Deal with it, people.  Rationally.

More Chicago Nostalgia

My mother Mary grew up living around 57th and Prairie (5731 South Prairie Avenue to be exact), on the south side of Chicago, and attended elementary school at nearby St. Anslem's (her grandmother paid the tuition, since the family did not have much money).  Mother often talked about here life there, and I have a photograph of her - which I have put several times on this blog - as a child standing if front of the "L" tracks, which ran behind their building.  And so I was thrilled to find the photograph on the left of my Grandmother Spillard and my mother's brother (my Uncle Bill) underneath the "L" tracks with the back of their building in the background.  It gives a good idea of what the place was like back in the 1920s when they lived there.  I went back to Chicago in April of 2010, by the way, and visited all the old sites, including Prairie Avenue. The building they lived in is now a vacant lot, but it's neighbors are still there, and an expensive condo project was being built across the street.  Gentrification had finally reached 57th and Prairie.

My Uncle Bill, by the way, was quite a character in his own right.  He was an insurance adjuster, and was transferred to Cleveland early in his career, where he met and married my Aunt Elsie.  He often came back to Chicago on business, and would stay with us when he did.  His visits were always a happy occasion.  I remember one visit he and my father Nelson and I drove to the Lincoln Park Zoo one afternoon, a visit that I remember to this day.  Another time he and my father met me at Brainerd Park, located in the center of the South Side Brainerd neighborhood, where I was playing baseball, and he convinced  my father to buy me a baseball glove.  I also remember one time him reading out loud a Chicago Daily News story, in a dramatic voice, about the horrible conditions in the Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project that lined the Dan Ryan Expressway, and now thankfully gone.  He is seen in the photograph on the right in the backyard of my grandparents flat on East 85th place during one of those visits.  When he and Aunt Elsie, and shortly after them, my parents, moved to Stuart, Florida, we took a sightseeing boat cruise, and it ran aground on a sandbar.  We were stuck there for hours, but they lowered the price of beer to a nickel, and there was a piano player, and my Uncle Bill spent the entire time singing old time favorites.  We were finally rescued that night when the company's fishing boat came back from a day on the ocean, dropped off it's passengers, and came back for us.  Happy memories.

Leased At Last!

I have been talking a walk around the block after lunch each day before going back to work, and on my way pass the building seen in the photograph above.  It is an older building, but looks nice, and is in an up and coming Denver neighborhood.  For many months there had been a sign out front advertising a one bedroom, one bath apartment for $1,050 a month, but yesterday I noticed the sign was gone.  I assume the place has been rented.  Now to me $1,050 for a one bedroom in an older building sounds a bit pricey.  Just next door to my condo building they are renting studios for $1,000 a month.  That sign has been out in front of that place for a long time, too.  And housing prices in Denver are out of control.  My friend Valarie recently checked out Pueblo, a small city in southern Colorado, and reports that you can buy wonderful houses there for a song.  Of course, you would be living in Pueblo, but it is still Colorado, right?  Kind of.