Checking In With Blackberry

I took a photograph of my sister Susan's dog Blackberry the other day, and intended to use it on this blog. However, it was taken in the sun, and Blackberry's face was streaked with white. She has not voiced any objection to photographs that show her age (which is 14), but instead, I decided to use a photograph that I took of her last month, on a cloudy day that mostly hid those white streaks. Blackberry is still full of energy, however, and likes to run as fast as she can on our "walks." In fact, young children, and some adults, think she is still a puppy. Keep on fooling them, Blackberry. And consider a dye job.

A Song For The Dark Times

I just finished reading A Song for the Dark Times, Ian Rankin's latest Inspector Rebus crime novel. Rebus is a retired Edinburgh police detective, who can't stop sticking his nose into the investigations being conducted by his old colleagues. This time his daughter calls to tell him that her partner, Keith, is missing, and Rebus heads to the small town on the Northeast Scottish coast where they live to discover what happened. He finds Keith's body in the remains of a former POW camp, and starts to investigate the murder, to the dismay of the local police. I really enjoyed this book - lots of local color and lots of twists and turns. I recommend picking up a copy at your local library today.

Spring Training Winds Down

I watched the final televised Chicago White Sox spring training game on MLB.com yesterday afternoon. The game was played at their Camelback Ranch baseball facility in Glendale, Arizona, as seen in the photograph on the left. Opening Day is this coming Thursday, and the White Sox will start on the road against the Los Angeles Angels. The White Sox came from behind to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7 to 4, and are expected to be playoff contenders this year. Now that sports betting is legal here in Colorado, I have the ability put my life savings on the White Sox to win it all. Since I would of course jinx the team by doing that, I will try to restrain myself.

I was very surprised to find that White Sox television broadcasters Steve Stone and Jason Benetti (the young guy from Homewood-Flossmoor High School), seen in the photograph on the right, were already back in Chicago, broadcasting the game remotely. What I still don't know is whether they will travel with the team this year, or remain in Chicago and broadcast the away games from there. Since on Sunday they mentioned having huge television monitors in their broadcast booth, allowing them to follow all the action on the field back in Arizona, I suspect the away games will once again be done remotely, just like last year. Kind of a bummer, but understandable, I guess. I do not know if Steve and Jason prefer to stay home, or actually enjoy traveling to all those baseball towns. If it was me, it would depend on the city. "Pittsburg! Perfect!"

Getting Nostalgic About The Indiana Dunes

The Indiana Dunes (now Indiana Dunes National Park) has been a popular getaway for people from the South Side of Chicago for many years now. When my parents Nelson and Mary were dating back in the late 1930s, they and their friends would often go there on weekends during the summer. It was really not that far away, just a bit east of Gary, and featured not only those famous sand dunes, but also very fine beaches along the southern end of Lake Michigan. The photograph above is of my mother and father on one such weekend back in 1937. When I was going to college, I would sometimes drive out there myself to take photographs, and often I would bring my bike, park in Michigan City, and then bicycle along the water to Grand Beach, Michigan, where the Daley family had a house along the shore. Richard J. Daley, who was mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976 (my formative years), and his wife Sis lived in a humble bungalow in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, staying true to their Irish roots. Until Friday afternoon, that is, when a helicopter would whisk them away to Grand Beach, where they would stay until Monday morning. I often biked to the gate of that beach house before turning around, seeing as how the Chicago cops guarding the place would probably shoot me if I tried to pay the Daley family an impromptu visit. Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, who served as mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011, and his family still own the place, by the way, but I haven't visited them, either. Yet.

Pondering An Opening Day Dilemma

Opening Day for the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field will take place this coming Thursday afternoon, April 1st. For many years, I attended this annual event, although not for the past 4 years (the ticket now costs a bloody fortune). However, when I did attend, I would take the RTD (Regional Transportation District) light rail train from my condo to the Union Station stop (seen in the photograph on the left) and walk the few blocks to the stadium. That was all well and good until after the game, when it seemed like the entire city of Denver was trying to board the train home. After I did get on, everyone in the car was packed in cheek to jowl. Coors Field will only be at 50% capacity this year due to Covid-19 restrictions (about 22,000 people), but I imagine there will still be a lot of people wanting to board those trains. Since everyone will be required to maintain a 6 foot distance, that might be quite a problem. I hope RTD will have a LOT of cars on those trains this Thursday.

Except for big events like Opening Day, staying 6 feet apart from each other on RTD trains is not too hard. A lot of potential riders are still put off after being told at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic that taking public transportation would be a death trip. I myself have been taking trains and busses all over town for the past year, and often find myself the only passenger. And one of the few passengers I did encounter on a recent ride back to the University of Denver stop (seen in the photograph on the right) told me I looked just like Bernie Sanders. Really? I mean really? Amazingly enough, he did not seem to intend it as an insult, or even as a joke. Just another one of those Millennials who think everyone over 40 is ancient. Get any closer, kid, and I'll gum ya to death.

Posing For Portraits On A Chilly Day At The Zoo

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I went to the Denver Zoo Wednesday afternoon to take a few photographs, despite the cold temperatures. It was pretty windy and overcast when I got there, and most of the animals seemed to be sheltering inside on my first pass. However, as the day went on, the sun came out, and it felt much warmer, prompting a lot of the animals to head back outside, including the four bachelor lions, one of which can be seen posing for me in the photo on the left during my second pass through the zoo.

Surprisingly enough, even the penguins were not out and about at first, either, but decided later on that it was warm enough to venture out, including the one posing in the photograph on the right. I would think that penguins would like the cold, since they hang out in places like Antartica, but I suppose that after living the good life at the Denver Zoo, they have just gotten spoiled. 

The llamas were some of few animals braving the cold when I first arrived at the zoo, and I promptly took the photograph on the left, thinking that might be the only zoo photo I was going to get on this visit. This llama is named either Fernando or Jorge. Both were outside, but I have no idea which is which, and since this llama was willing to pose for the camera, it won the honor of being included in this blog post.

Since there were virtually no monkeys outside, I went into a building called Emerald Island to see if there were any in there, which is where I took the photograph of the monkey in the photograph on the right. I assume this poor thing is trapped inside that building 24/7, which is a very sad thing indeed. And it did look very bitter about it all as I snapped his or her portrait. Sorry I can't help you make a break for it, guy. If I did, I would probably wind up in a cage even smaller than the one you are in, and although I sympathize with you, I have no intention of trading places. 

A Denver Zoo Mystery

I went to the Denver Zoo yesterday to take a few photographs, and once again was surprised that the lion pride that includes two year old Tatu and twin lion cubs Oskar and Araali - born not quite a year ago - is nowhere to be seen. Each time I visit the zoo, the four bachelor lions are either in the main compound at Predator Ridge, or in a smaller compound at the back, and seem to be rotating those two spaces with the African wild dogs. Am I going to the zoo on days when the lion family is sheltered inside, and missing them is just a coincidence, or is it something far more sinister? Has the Denver Zoo sold the entire family to a traveling circus to pay expenses during the Covid-19 outbreak? I tried asking one of the bachelor lions, seen in the photograph above, what was happening, but he isn't talking. All he did was give me an enigmatic look. But he's definitely hiding something.

The Month Of Photography Continues

March is The Month of Photography here in Denver, and so most of the art galleries around town are featuring major photography exhibitions, including the Redline Contemporary Art Center, which I visited yesterday afternoon. I had a two o'clock appointment, and arrived early, and so hung around outside a bit, despite the cold and blustery weather, until I could enter at the appointed time. This gallery is a modern, impressive facility (seen in the photo on the left), located at 2350 Arapahoe Street, just north of downtown, and close to Broadway, where there are a number of missions for the homeless. It is an area filled with the homeless, and also new pricey lofts and apartments, making for a weird juxtaposition.

The exhibit on display is called Three Acts: A Survey of Shame, Emotion, and Oblivion. It consists of three separate shows, combined into one. The first features photographs with themes of shame and privilege, another features colleges that explore cancel culture and the existential crisis caused by the pandemic, and the last is called The Unperson Project," an archive of oblivion." The installation on the wall in the photograph on the right is called Shame Radiant, and consists of 200 photographs by different photographers with the theme of personal shame and the resulting guilt. One of the photographs is by my old University of Denver photography professor, Roddy MacInnes. This was my favorite part of the exhibit, and pretty fascinating to peruse.

The docent at the front desk was very friendly and helpful, and gave me a handout listing the titles and artists of each photograph displayed. I stayed for about an hour, and came to several conclusions. One is that collages are currently "hot." I should definitely get in on that action. Also, the photographers in this exhibit are serious artists, which means that many of the works displayed are in a style that I refer to as "pretty damned weird." But interesting. The show runs through April 24th, and I recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Hohokam Park Still Exists!

I watched my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, play the Oakland Athletics a while back as I was watching a big blizzard take place outside the windows of my Denver condo. The Oakland broadcast team was doing the telecast on MLB.com, and they were very complimentary toward the White Sox. They especially had good things to say about Liam Hendriks, who was Oakland's star closer last year, and who was recently signed by the White Sox as a free agent. The game was being played in Mesa, Arizona, which I remembered was where the Chicago Cubs trained for many years. And I was very surprised to find that this game was being played at Hohokam Park, which was the spring training home of the Cubs for many years. After the Cubs left for a new facility, I just assumed Hohokam Park was torn down. But evidently, the Oakland A's decided to take over that famous spring training stadium. The announcers were just raving about the place, and one of them even remembered Cubs television broadcaster Harry Caray being cheered by thousands of fans as he entered the press box for each game, saying it resembled the type of adoration the Beatles used to generate. I must say, I am much more favorably disposed toward the Oakland A's after watching that broadcast. The White Sox won the game 1-0. And I suspect the people in the photograph above are some of Wrigley Field's Bleacher Bums, who have not yet realized that the Cubs no longer train there.

Watching Tottenham Play Aston Villa With Mark

I visited my friend Mark, who works for the University of Denver's Anderson Academic Commons (the library), yesterday afternoon to watch Tottenham play a soccer game against Aston Villa, in Birmingham, England. Tottenham won the game 2-0. However, even though Mark is a member of the Colorado Spurs, the local Tottenham fan club, his heart seems to be with the Leeds soccer team, and can be seen in the above photograph wearing a Leeds jersey from the distant past. Mark has lots of friends in Leeds, and has visited there a number of times. Leeds, by the way, was named as one of the top ten places to visit in the world by Lonely Planet Magazine a few years  ago. The following year, the print edition went out of business. Was this the result of angry travelers canceling their subscriptions after returning home from a dream vacation in Leeds? I have no doubt.

Europe's Other Scourge: Mimes

Before the current Covid-19 outbreak, Europe was suffering a different kind of scourge: mimes. I have seen them in Barcelona, Venice, and when my sister Susan and I traveled to Europe several years ago, in Florence. That is where I took the photograph on the left of Susan and a mime in front of the Uffizi Gallery. You are supposed to give the mime money, and then he or she will perform some sort of entertaining act. Since this was Susan's first trip to Europe, she seemed to be confused about the process and wanted the mime to give HER money. On the other hand, knowing my sister, she knew EXACTLY what she was doing.

The First Day Of Spring!

Today is the first day of spring, and fittingly enough, Denver will see temperatures in the lower 60s, followed by snow on Sunday and Monday, followed by warmer temperatures, followed by snow, etc. etc. etc. This is what they call "Springtime in the Rockies," which sure beats the hell out of the below zero temperatures we were experiencing just a month ago. And will there be more snow and cold on Opening Day for the Colorado Rockies? Considering the amount of money you would have to shell out to buy a ticket to that game, the question is all academic to me. As far as I am concerned, let it snow, snow, snow. And no, I am not bitter. The photograph above, by the way, was taken at sunset in Washington Park a few weeks ago, with Monkey Island, supposedly haunted by a flower child from the 1960s, in the background. I myself make sure I am well away from there after night falls, just in case.

Yesterday's News

I just finished reading Yesterday's News, a mystery novel by R.G. Belsky. Belsky is a New York City journalist, and this is the first book in a series featuring Clare Carlson, a news executive and journalist at a New York television station. The story centers around a promise made 15 years ago by Carlson that she would never stop trying to find a mother's missing 11 year old daughter, which Carlson now has to make good on. I have read all the books in Belsky's Gil Malloy series, about a New York City wise guy newspaper reporter, and really enjoyed them. It appears that Belsky has discontinued that series in favor of the one featuring Carlson. I also enjoyed Yesterday's News, which has a lot of twists and turns and a surprise ending, but still think the Malloy series is better. Have wise guy newspaper reporters gone out of style or become politically incorrect? I guess so. In any case, I recommend starting with the Gil Malloy series and then moving on to the Clare Carlson series from there. Trust me.

The End Of An Era

The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) closed it's doors on the 16th Street Mall yesterday, and will reopen, sometime in May, at a new location a few blocks north, at McGregor Square, adjacent to Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies baseball club. The 16th Street Mall location (seen in the photograph on the left) opened back in October of 1994, and just two years later expanded to 20,000 square feet of retail space, with an events center that seated 300. 

It was on the way to that events center that I took the photo on the right out the window of an upstairs hallway. As I recall, the LoDo bookstore was originally three stories, then was reduced to two, and finally in March of 2014 reduced to just the first floor. Back in 1994, LoDo was still gentrifying, and rents were fairly reasonable. Now, however, this is the hottest part of the city, and the rent and maintenance costs for a retail operation, especially a bookstore, is untenable. That fact, combined with fierce competition from Amazon, dictated the move. It will be sad to abandon the ambiance of that 19th century structure, but hopefully moving to a development owned by one the members of the Tattered Cover's new ownership group will ensure their success in the new location. The end of an era, but perhaps the start of a new one.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and here in Denver it is quite a popular holiday. Two years ago, as far as I could tell, virtually every Irish pub's patio was packed, although last year, all the bars and restaurants were closed due to Covid. This year, most bars and restaurants in Colorado can have up to 50% occupancy, and some that have met special state regulations can open to full capacity. I imagine some semblance of normal will therefore be back this year. I am not sure if the signboard on the side of The Wine Seller on 6th Avenue here in Denver, and seen in the photograph above, is a nod to St. Patrick's Day, or just another way of saying "If you've got the money, honey, I've got the time." To celebrate this St. Patrick's Day, I am driving my sister to Greeley, Colorado to get her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. I am wondering if they will have a sign at the entrance that says "If you're not wearing green, then no vaccine." I wouldn't be surprised.

Spring Training Continues!

I watched my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, play the California Angels at Camel Back Ranch in Glendale, Arizona Saturday afternoon on MLB.com, while waiting for a major winter storm to hit Denver and Colorado's front range. As of Saturday night, the storm had not yet materialized, but the White Sox came through with a 6 to 5 win. Of course, wins and losses mean nothing when you are putting in a different pitcher every inning to see what they can do. The only time I remember a White Sox team trying to win every game during spring training was in 1970, when Chuck Tanner became their manager. The White Sox were so horrible the previous year, Tanner said he wanted to instill a spirit of winning into the players. The TV announcers called them the terror of the Grapefruit League that season. Of course, that meant limiting the amount of playing time for the rookies and other players trying to make the team. The White Sox finished dead last in the American League West that year, 42 games out of first place. Enough said.

Blizzard!

Denver's weather forecasters told us that a huge snowstorm would take place here all weekend. When I went to bed Saturday night, and could still see pavement in front of my building, I was convinced they had made a mistake. Then I woke up Sunday morning to a full scale blizzard, which I immediately took a photograph of out the window. But the problem with that was you couldn't see anything because of all the blowing snow, which has made me think blizzard photos are way overrated. I therefore waited until the wind let up a bit before taking the photograph on the left, which at least resulted in a photograph with details you could make out.

We wound up getting 18 inches of snow here in Denver and up in Fort Collins. However, now that Denver's official weather station is at Denver International Airport, located close to the Kansas State line, the official Denver snow total was 24.1 inches, making it the 4th biggest storm in the city's history. As Mark Twain once famously said, "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics." But it was still a pretty nasty storm. There were lots of people out and about in their cars, surprised at how easy it was to get stuck during a major blizzard, and needing to be rescued. Surely they couldn't ALL be former Californians, could they?

Speaking Of Snow...

Since this is such a snowy weekend here in Denver, it made me think of winters past, when my sister Susan, brother-in-law George, and I used to actually drive into the mountains to ski, both downhill and cross-country. We would often go with George's cousin Richard when we went downhill skiing. He was an excellent skier, and felt the more difficult the ski run, the better. He took us on runs that he thought were easy, but gave the three of us the feeling he was trying to kill us. Can you take out life insurance policies on people without their knowledge? I took the above photograph of Susan and George during a cross-country ski outing, a much safer winter activity than downhill, especially when Richard was around. As I remember, we were on a cross-country ski trail, near the Keystone Ski Resort, that led to an abandoned mining town. During the spring, when it was sunny, it made for a very pleasant day, although once the sun set, it got very cold, very fast. I remember an especially memorable trip back to my car while on a cross-country ski trail near Vail Pass, when the sun began to set when I was only halfway back. It took over an hour, with the car heater going full blast, before I could stop shaking. But I survived - physically, anyway.

The Calm Before The Storm...

The television news anchors and weather forecasters here in Denver have been in a frenzy the last few days about a big snowstorm heading to Colorado's front range, which is predicted to deliver 12 to 20 inches of snow to Denver and 15 to 30 inches up in Fort Collins. The storm is supposed to hit around noon today and continue through Sunday night. Will we really get that much snow or not? Some forecasters are hedging their bets by saying that since it will be fairly warm during the storm, a lot of the snow might melt right after it hits the ground, and might not look like as much snow as we actually get. If I was still working, and there was a possibility I might get a day off because of this storm, I would be excited. However, now that I am retired, and will be on the road between Denver and Fort Collins this Monday, I am not all that thrilled about the storm. The weather people want to set new records. I just want passable roads. In any case, the above photograph was taken from my bedroom window on this same day back in 2019. This snowstorm was called "The Bomb Cyclone," and although we only got 6 inches of snow in central Denver that day, the winds were so strong it was classified as a blizzard. Not a great day for a walk, as I recall, and as the person in the photograph is probably realizing.

My Father's 112th Birthday

My father Nelson Hoyt was born 112 years ago today. That is, indeed, a long time ago, even for me, but thankfully, our family believed in taking lots of photographs, and so I have a record of our family history collected in many, many photo albums. The photograph of my father on the left was taken on Lookout Mountain, just outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, during a vacation trip from Chicago to Pompano Beach, Florida back in August of 1963 (the roll of film was developed in 1964). We drove to the top of Lookout Mountain to visit the Civil War Battlefield there. As I recall, the park went all the way down the mountain, and being just 10 years old, I began running down the mountainside. My father said he was too old to chase after me, and insisted I turn around. Amazingly enough, Dad was only 54 years old back then, 14 years younger than I am now. In other words, just a kid. At least by today's standards.

The photograph on the right was taken exactly 20 years later, in August of 1983, along the Indian River in Stuart, Florida, where my father and mother Mary moved back in 1976. This was the last photograph I ever took of my father - he passed away from a stroke 3 months later. He is standing in front of his prized Camaro. Once, driving back home after a road trip to Denver, he was clocked going about 95 miles per hour through Georgia. He told the officer that he just had a cataract operation, couldn't see the speedometer, and was just keeping up with the flow of traffic, but got a ticket anyway. Damn those Georgia cops. In any case, Happy Birthday Dad!

The Dirty South

I just finished reading The Dirty South, John Connolly's latest mystery novel, featuring private detective Charlie Parker (named after the pen company, not the musician). Connolly's books usually mix the traditional mystery novel with the paranormal, but for the most part, this book is a more like a regular detective story. It is a reminiscence by Parker of the events that took place soon after his wife and child were murdered, while he was driving through the south looking for their killer. He arrives at a small town that was the location of two similar murders, and although he finds no connection to the deaths of his family, a third killing takes place while he is there, and the chief of police asks him to stay and assist with the investigation. This is a really well written, engrossing page-turner, and I heartily recommend it. Be sure to pick up a copy at your local library today.

The Overly Curious Cows Of Fort Collins

The other week I has a little time to kill, and spent it driving around the northwestern corner of Fort Collins, Colorado, right below Horsetooth Reservoir, which has a lot of county owned natural areas, as well as a number of farms. If you own a working farm, you pay a lot less in property taxes, and for a fast growing community like Fort Collins, that is the difference between being able to continue the family farm or selling out to a real estate developer. I took the photograph on the left at a farm off of North Shields Street. This particular cow spotted me as soon as I pulled to the side of the road, and wandered over from the opposite side of the field to get a good look at this stranger.

I think cows live very boring lives, and anything that breaks up that monatany is always welcome. Also, there is always the possibility that I might be bringing them food. In this instance, they were sadly disappointed. This farm is right inside the city limits of Fort Collins, just down the street from a residential neighborhood, which I find pretty fascinating. Of course, there are nothing BUT cows from Fort Collins eastward all the way to Chicago, and north all the way to Canada, so no need to worry. They are not an endangered species. Moose are a different story. I have never ever seen one, and am of the opinion I will most likely see a unicorn before ever seeing one of those mythical moose. Perhaps right in the middle of downtown Fort Collins.

Fort Collins - No Longer A Retirement Paradise?

Back before the internet drove most of them out of business, investment publications like Money magazine had annual lists of the best places to retire. For many years, Fort Collins topped those lists. The authors of those articles mentioned such attributes as a vibrant downtown, the benefits of living in a university community (Colorado State University is located there), the many recreational opportunities, a nice climate, and very affordable housing. Much of the population in Fort Collins is still made up of either senior citizens or college students. However, you can kiss affordability goodbye these days. Fort Collins, like Denver, is getting pretty damn expensive. I also noticed the license plate on a car parked in front of the Macy's at Fort Collins' Foothills Mall the other day, seen in the photograph above. They say you feel the cold much more the older you get (I myself can testify to that), and so I suspect the owner of that car feels the same way. Perhaps Florida wouldn't have been such a bad choice after all. 

It's Almost Spring - Time For A Bike Ride!

It reached 70 degrees here in Denver yesterday, and so I thought it would be the perfect day for my first bike ride of the year. I took the self-portrait on the left in front of the Grant-Humphreys Mansion on my way downtown. March and April are Denver's snowiest months, but that is kind of deceptive. The temperatures during these months are usually in the 60s and 70s, but often after a particularly warm day, we get about a foot or more of heavy, wet snow. It takes only a couple of storms like that to make those months the snowiest.

The Grant-Humphreys Mansion, by the way, was built in 1902 and is now owned by the Colorado Historical Society. It is a very popular setting for weddings. In fact, Aziz, one of my favorite former University of Denver Bookstore employees, and his wife Donna, got married there. Aziz was originally from Algeria, and his favorite story was how his grandfather got a pension from the French for fighting the Germans, and a pension from Algeria for fighting the French. He also bought a car from a friend for a very nominal amount, and had it fully insured, just before Denver suffered the worst hail storm in it's history. Aziz was amazed that he received thousands of dollars from the insurance company after they declared the car totaled. He lived in Paris for a while, and told me he preferred Denver much more. To live in Paris, he had to have something like 6 roommates, and wasn't able to afford a car. In Denver, he could have a place of his own, buy a car, and enjoy traveling through the wide open spaces. The American Dream - what a country, right?

Remembering March At Stuart Beach

Years ago, when my mother Mary lived in Stuart, Florida, I would visit her several times a year. When I could manage it, I would come down in March so that I could attend some baseball spring training games. My mother and I would also head to Stuart Beach almost every day for an hour or so. March was usually fine for sitting on the benches under the boardwalk shelters, although a little too chilly for swimming. However, it was always fun to sit and watch the tourists going into the water, pretending they were not freezing their asses off. The photo on the left shows us as we were leaving for the day after one of those beach visits.

August was the best month for going to the beach. There was no bumper to bumper traffic while driving there, and it was nice and hot, but with a cool breeze off the ocean. August was also the month my sister Susan would come down to Stuart with me, which made our days at the beach much more exciting. Susan liked to get on her boogie board and head straight out to sea, worrying the hell out of my mother. We would watch her go farther and farther out, but eventually she would head back to the beach, and walk up the boardwalk to join us, as seen in the photo on the right. Another close call avoided.

An Unofficial First Friday Art Walk

I took the light rail train to Denver's Santa Fe Arts District for the First Friday Art Walk yesterday evening. It has been exactly one year since I last attended this event. It was shut down after March of last year due to the coronavirus. However, the biennial Month of Photography takes place in Denver this month, and I saw on the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (CPAC) web site that the Bitfactory Gallery (which I have a habit of calling the Bitcoin Gallery, and seen in the photo on the left) had a new exhibit called Urbane, featuring "photographic interpretations of urban landscapes" by four photographers - David Eichler, Jeremy Patlin, Bailey Russel, and Lea Wagner - and would be open on First Friday, March 5th. It was definitely something I wanted to see it, and I must say, the photographs in this show are really very good.

I checked online to see how long ago the First Friday Art Walk had resumed, and discovered that it is officially still only a virtual event. Which explained why a lot of the galleries were not open yesterday night. However, about half of them were, although as you can imagine, the attendance was fairly low, as can be seen in the photograph on the right, taken at the Center For Visual Art, which is featuring 80 self portraits by South African photographer Zanele Muholi. Since this is an informal First Friday, many of the galleries had different hours. The Center for Visual Art closed at 6:00 Friday night, while The Bitcoin (I mean Bitfactory) Gallery didn't even open until 6:00. Not a problem if you are an early bird like me, and arrive at 5:30, which has always been First Friday's starting time.

Happily, the Museo de las Americas was officially acknowledging First Friday yesterday evening, which meant that admission was free, saving me paying the $5 senior rate. The museum was featuring portraits by a photographer named Gaal of the indigenous Otomi community of Mexico. He printed these photos using that region's traditional amate paper. These photographs are large, very powerful diptychs, and can be seen in the photograph on the left.

On the way back to the light rail station, I stopped at the Grace Gallery, which did not have any special new exhibits for the Month of Photography. However, I still checked out all three floors and took the photograph on the right on the second floor. As I was leaving, one of the artists asked me what work of art I liked so much that I took a photograph of it. I told him that I was mainly taking a photo of the wall and the street outside, and not a specific work of art. Not a tactful answer, I'm afraid. That is the problem with being the only visitor in an art gallery -  not much chance of blending in and being unnoticed.

The March Mutts Of The Month

I took the above photograph of the March Mutts of the Month while walking past Reivers, a bar and restaurant located on Old South Gaylord Street here in Denver. They look a bit grumpy, but I suspect that is because their owner was probably inside for an inordinate amount of time hoisting a few pints. Now, if this was the UK, dogs would be perfectly welcome inside a pub, most likely even more so than many of their human customers. And by the way, the entrance to Reivers is the best place I have found to take photographs of dogs. It must be a very popular spot for dog owners to drink. I suspect they give discounts if you show the bartender a dog license. Works for me.

Electric Cars Are The Future, But What About The Future Of Road Trips?

The CEO of General Motors wants to stop production of gas and diesel automobiles by 2035, the same year California plans to ban selling them in that state. And let's face it - trends that start in California tend to move eastward quickly. I was thinking about this while walking past a Tesla dealership (seen in the photo on the left) at Denver's Cherry Creek Shopping Center, the mall of choice for the city's affluent. And by the way, I am still not used to seeing car dealerships in malls. The only other one I can remember was in the Blues Brothers movie, when, to evade police, Jake and Elwood drove their car into a mall and a car dealership located there ("The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year"). But I digress. If electric cars are indeed the future, it is scary to think that Teslas start around $38,000, and those basic models only go about 263 miles before needing to be recharged. That would make a cross country road trip quite a long ordeal.

I know that in 2035 I will (hopefully) be 82 years old, but if I am still around, I very well might want to drive from Denver to Stuart, Florida and back. Shelling out 38K (and God knows how much they will cost by then) and only being able to go 263 miles per day would be a true hassle. But I do have a solution. I spotted the vehicle in the photograph on the right at Four Mile Historic Park the other day, and I am sure that one just like it could be had for far less than $38,000. It is only a 2 horse power model, but on the plus side, if you can only go 263 miles a day in a Tesla, why not just take a little longer and save some big bucks. Plus, it reminds me of what I first drove when I turned 16 back in Illinois.

Walking Past Homeless Camps

I have been taking a lot of walks through Central Denver lately, and it seems like the number of homeless camps grows larger every day. The city is trying to deal with the issue, but only two official camps for the homeless, with facilities provided for proper hygiene, have so far been established. As soon as a potential new site is proposed, the neighbors around those locations fight against it, and the city backs down. The result has been impromptu camps on city sidewalks all over town, such as the one in the photograph above. Once the garbage and human feces and rat infestations get out of hand, the police close them down. I can't imagine trying to survive in those tents during the winter. No matter how warm it gets here in Denver during the day, the temperature plummets once the sun sets. A great many of the people in these camps are mentally ill or have drug and alcohol problems, and do not want to stay in shelters, such as the Denver Rescue Mission or Samaritan House. Most of these people should be institutionalized and given treatment, but thanks to the defunding of mental hospitals back during the Reagan administration, that is no longer an option. I have no idea what the answer might be. Hopefully our elected officials can think of one.

Four Mile Historic Park

Last Friday afternoon I decided to visit Four Mile Historic Park for the first time in over a decade. This is a 12 acre site along Denver's Cherry Creek, on which is located Four Mile House, the oldest house in Denver, and seen in the photograph on the left. It was built in 1859, the year after Denver was founded, and offered services to travelers heading to Denver along the Cherokee Trail. It was called Four Mile House because it was located exactly four miles from the Denver city limits. It became a stagecoach stop when regular service began in 1862, but after the train from Cheyenne to Denver began operation in 1870 and eliminated the need for a stagecoach, the house was sold and became a farm.

Happily, it still is a farm, with a number of animals to visit and photograph, including the two pigs in the photograph on the right. And why have I not visited this living farm for over a decade, while visiting another living farm - the Littleton Historical Museum - many times in the intervening years? I am not sure. It is certainly not because Four Mile Historic Park charges a $5 admission fee, while the Littleton Museum is free. I might be a cheapskate, but nobody is that cheap, right? Right?

While at the park, I think I ran into an old friend. I am pretty sure that the goat in the photograph on the left is the same goat I took a self portrait with back when I was taking a black and white photography class at the University of Denver. Or at the very least, it is a close relative. While taking photos for that class, the goat wound up looking straight at the camera, and that, combined with the bewildered look on my face while posing next to it, was a big hit with the rest of the class. Alas, one of just a few such successes. Fame is fleeting, after all. And feel free to quote me on that.

I must say, the horses were pretty friendly, too, and each came up to me to be greeted. I was hoping to get a closeup of them side by side, but for the most part, they kept their distance from each other, no doubt a result of being cooped up together for so long because of the pandemic. I was able to take the photograph on the right, when they finally got relatively close. I definitely intend to visit Four Mile Historic Park again soon, and not just because I am now eligible for the $4 senior rate.