Watching The Rockies Beat The A's At Coors Field - Finally!

I went to my first Colorado Rockies game this season yesterday afternoon at Coors Field with my friend Mark and sister Susan (Mark is in the above photograph on the left, I am on the right, and Susan is still very camera shy). It was a contest between the Rockies, the worst team in the National League, and the Oakland A's, the worst team in all of baseball. Not surprisingly, Oakland won the first two games of the series, but yesterday the Rockies were able to avoid the sweep with a 2-0 shutout. And the pitching was actually pretty good - Ty Blach pitched 5 scoreless innings, and the closer, Justin Lawrence, retired the side in the 9th. I recognized only a few of Colorado's players - at 23 games under .500, it appears the Rockies are already preparing for next season by experimenting with the roster. And one of the few players I recognized, C.J. Cron, one of their best hitters, was traded to the Angels right after the game. Despite the poor records of both teams, the game still drew almost 32,000 fans, almost all of whom were there to enjoy the atmosphere at Coors Field instead of good baseball. Which is probably why there is no incentive for team owner Dick Monfort to put a decent product on the field.

Getting Together With Some Of The Old DU Bookstore Gang

I got together for a dinner with some of the old DU Bookstore Accounting Office gang and their spouses yesterday evening, hosted by Darrel, the former Accounts Payable Manager, and his wife Linda, seen in the photograph above on the right. Darrel and Linda recently returned from a trip to Paris and Normandy, including stops in Honfleur, where many of the impressionists painted, and Mont-Saint-Michel, which is celebrating its 1000th anniversary this year. Jim and Chris, the former Accounts Payable Assistant, and seen sitting to the left of Darrel and Linda, have spent the last few months helping Chris's father sell his house down in Florence, Colorado and move in with them up in Denver. I know all about getting a house ready to sell after helping my sister Susan, seen in the photo on the left and an honorary guest, get her place ready to put on the market. All of us are retired these days, including, of course me, who was the Finance Manager for the store, and found myself "retired" after the university outsourced the bookstore to Follett Higher Education Group, bless their hearts. And Yes! That's my reflection in the mirror on the wall, taking the photo. In any case, it was a very pleasant evening. Great to see all of you again!

The Wheel Of Doll

A while back I read a favorable review of The Wheel of Doll, a private eye novel by Jonathan Ames, and decided to get a copy of it from the local library. It features the adventures of a down and out private investigator named Happy Doll (Yes! Happy Doll). It was the second in the series after A Man Named Doll, which I decided to read first, in which his hero, Doll, gets involved in investigating the murder of an old police detective friend. It was a pretty good read, and so I then read The Wheel of Doll, where Doll is hired to find a homeless woman, who was once his girlfriend, by her daughter. It was a quick read, and a page-turner, but in addition to the large body count, I was kind of surprised at how Doll, during the most stressful parts of the investigation, would repeatedly snort cocaine to keep him going, and then marijuana to mellow him out. The series does take place in Los Angeles (Doll lives in a 1920s era house directly under the Hollywood sign), and so I guess that is just the way it is out there, which is something I have always suspected. And if Ames comes out with a third book in the series, would I read it? Definitely. I very much enjoy finding out what it is really like in the City of Angels.

The Red Rocks Beer Garden

My sister Susan and I visited the Red Rocks Beer Garden, located in Morrison, Colorado this past Wednesday afternoon. In addition to being located in a cottage built in 1870, it has a pleasant, laid-back garden, the entrance to which is seen in the photograph above. In the garden, there is also an historic outhouse, with a plaque attached, saying that it dates from 1860, which predates the house by 10 years. Does that mean there was once an older house on the site, or did they build the outhouse first and camp outdoors for the first 10 years? Definitely a possible subject for a history major's PhD dissertation. Morrison, by the way, is best known as the home of Red Rocks Amphitheater, located just up the road. I have walked around the place, but have never attended a concert there. They charge big bucks for those, and as a confirmed cheapskate, I avoid those kind of expenses at all costs (pun intended).

My Parent's Wedding Anniversary

Today would have been my parents Nelson and Mary's 83rd wedding anniversary if they were alive today. That is a long time ago in anyone's book. The photograph on the left was taken of the two of them in front of my Uncle Jack's (my mother's brother) home in Evergreen Park, Illinois on one of their anniversaries. Evergreen Park is where my sister Susan was born at Little Company of Mary Hospital and where Ted Kazinsky, The Unabomber, was born and raised, although as far as I know the two events were not related. But who knows?

My Uncle Jack was a really nice guy, and he and his wife Helen often had us over for dinner. Evergreen Park is a suburb of Chicago, just to the west of the South Side Brainerd neighborhood, where my sister Susan and I grew up, and the Beverly neighborhood, which was, and as far as I can tell, still is a very upscale place, especially famous for its hilltop mansions along Longwood Drive. To live on a hill in the State of Illinois is a rare and often expensive thing. In the photograph on the right are, from left to right, my Grandmother Louise Spillard (my mother's mother), my mother Mary, father Nelson, and my mother's brothers, Jack and Bill. I wish they were all still around to celebrate my parents anniversary today, preferably sitting in front of that garage in Evergreen Park.

Elk Meadow Park

On the drive back to Denver from Evergreen, Colorado a few days ago, I stopped at Elk Meadow Park and took the above photograph. Elk Meadow Park is part of the Jefferson County Open Space, and is located between Evergreen and Bergen Park. It is also the best place in the county to see herds of - you guessed it - elk. Evergreen and Bergen Park are both upscale suburbs, located 19 miles west of Denver, at an altitude of about 7,200 feet. I keep thinking what a great place this would be to live, until reality and winter (from September through June in the mountains) sets in. The Colorado Department of Transportation often closes I-70, the most direct route up there, during snowstorms. Nothing like sitting in your car on the interstate for hours on end until the road finally opens up again. Of course, most people who live up there can probably afford to own a place in town for such occasions, so no worries. If it was me, my place in town would be my car, parked on a side street. Oh joy!

Biking To The Cheesman Park Art Fest!

I biked to the Cheesman Park Art Fest this past weekend from my condo across the street from the University of Denver. This festival started out kind of small back in 2014, which I remember attending when I was working as the bookkeeper at the nearby Tattered Cover Bookstore on East Colfax. I was amazed at the time how many employees of that store I ran into that day. Since then, the festival has grown to a fairly large event. The setting in the park makes it very pleasant for strolling around and looking at the art, and it is very well attended, although Saturday afternoon, unlike in 2014, I did not run into a single person I knew.

Cheesman Park and the nearby Denver Botanic Gardens were once a cemetery, but the City Fathers decided to move the graves so that the city would have a park and gardens for its growing population. Unfortunately, they decided to pay the person they hired to do this by the coffin, and that enterprising individual realized that he could greatly increase his profit by cutting up bodies and spreading the remains among multiple coffins. When Denver officials discovered this, the contractor was fired, but work was halted, and a lot of bodies still remain there, which is why the place is reputed to be haunted. It is said that there are a lot of ghosts that wander the grounds at night, going to pieces about the whole thing.

The festival attracts a wide variety of people to view the art, listen to the musical acts, and partake of the food trucks. And the artwork was pretty good this year, although the photography booths seemed to be limited mostly to Colorado landscapes and a style I refer to as "just plain weird" - skiers on the top of giant rolls of toilet paper, golfers on top of a huge golf ball, and things like that. Still, it was definitely worth visiting, especially when biking through Denver's many parks and green spaces on a beautiful sunny day.

Hemingway Days!

This past weekend Hemingway Days took place in Key West, Florida. It is held there every year around Hemingway's birthday, which is July 21st. There is a street festival, a Hemingway lookalike contest, a fishing tournamnet, and a "running of the bulls," as seen in the above photograph that I took from a news story about it on WPTV (West Palm Beach) Saturday night. It appears to be more like the running of the Hemingways instead of the running of the bulls, but it does look like it was a fun event, although a little crowded. When my sister Susan and I take back our condo in Stuart, Florida (which we have been renting out for 14 years now) from our tenants next August, we can hopefully attend this event, if not next July, the one after. Of course, a hotel room there is not cheap, especially on Hemingway Days weekend, and so it might involve camping out in the car over the weekend. Sounds like fun to me!

Has The Kingdom Finally Lost Its Magic?

It is no secret that the Walt Disney Company is in the middle of a culture war with Florida Governor and Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis, who is trying hard to punish Disney for its political stances, despite the fact that Disney World is responsible for half the tourism in the State of Florida and is its biggest or second-biggest employer. Disney is actually struggling as a company, and expects earnings to be down 30% this year. However, the theme parks are doing very well indeed, with parent's still willing to spend their children's college money to take them there. I have visited Walt Disney World at least twice, and must say it is not my favorite vacation experience. I have also visited Epcot with my then wife Lisa, back in the mid-1980s, where Lisa took the photograph of me on the left looking like I had finally had my fill of the place, at least during this lifetime. And what is that in the background? Is it Cinderella's Castle? Did we jump the fence and sneak into Walt Disney World? Or is it some German castle in the World Showcase section of the park? I have no idea - my memory seems to be going even faster than I thought.

Disney's World Showcase, by the way, consists of 11 pavilions, each featuring a different country. I think I took the photo on the right of Lisa in the hell-themed pavilion. It was interesting to see what it would be like to wind up there. As I recall, right after that, we headed back to Stuart, Florida (a two hour drive from Orlando), where were were staying at my mother Mary's condo. Stuart has a charming old town, is surrounded by water everywhere, and has great beaches, where there is a steady breeze off the ocean to help cool you down during the mid-August heat, unlike back in Orlando, where the temperature feels like it is even hotter than the actual hell. At least that particular exhibit seems authentic.

Getting Together For Pizza With Wally, Mark, and Darrel

I got together yesterday evening with - from left to right in the photograph above - Wally, retired Operations Manager of the University of Denver Bookstore; Mark, who works at DU's Anderson Academic Commons (the library); and Darrel, the retired Accounts Payable Manager of the DU Bookstore. Mark, the host, ordered pizza from Bella Italia, located on Leetsdale Drive here in Denver, and I must say, it was pretty damn good. And it was fun to get together and find out what everyone has been up to lately. Wally recently got back from a visit with his friend who manages a ranch up in Red Lodge, Montana. Mark will soon be off on a trip to the UK, and Darrel recently returned with his wife Linda from a trip to Paris and Normandy. I myself bested all of them with a planned 3 night stay at the luxury downtown Motel 6 Resort and Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico with my sister Susan. Eat your heart out, guys. 

Tubing Down Clear Creek

Thanks to the combination of daily temperatures close to 100 degrees and strong spring runoff, Clear Creek in downtown Golden, Colorado has become quite the hot spot - pun intended - for tubers this summer. It was even crowded this past Monday afternoon, when I took the photograph on the left.  I assume most of those tubers were college students on summer break, although I suppose it could also have been members of the "Great Resignation" generation, who have found a way to quit their jobs and still pay their bills (probably by holding up 7-Elevens, but that's just a guess). I didn't see too many retirees out there on the water, even though 80 is now the new 40, as I keep telling my sister Susan.

There were a lot of people swimming in the water, too, as well as falling into that water from their tubes and kayaks. Just down river from here is the Coors Brewery, the largest single brewery in the world. Coors takes the water that all those people have been playing in, and uses it to make such brands as Coors Light. The company brags that it is this water that gives their beer its special flavor. I understand that the beer-making process involves heating the product to temperatures of 100 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so I am pretty sure it is perfectly healthful. But as for taste...

A Packard Sighting

I saw an old white Packard speeding down West 6th Avenue toward downtown Denver the other day, and it surprised me how fast it was going. Most antique cars I have seen on the road usually are not driving at high speeds on the freeway. I pulled up behind the car while waiting to merge onto I-25, and saw it had Texas plates, with no expiration dates, I might add. Probably the original owners driving up to Colorado from the ranch in Texas to avoid the extreme heat down there. Makes sense to me.

Paying Homage To Buffalo Bill

I visited the gravesite of Buffalo Bill Cody, located atop Lookout Mountain, just to the west of Golden, Colorado, this past week for the first time in over 40 years. To be perfectly honest, it is a bit underwhelming, even more so than I remembered, but there was still a steady stream of visitors walking up the trail to the site, seen in the photograph on the left. Buffalo Bill was a scout and showman, who eventually started a traveling "Wild West" show that became very popular during the late 19th Century. When rejected in his bid to be part of the World's Fair in Chicago back in 1893, he set up his show right next door, drew tremendous crowds, and became world famous.

Buffalo Bill actually wanted to be buried in Cody, Wyoming, a town he helped found. However, because he was in financial difficulties towards the end of his life, he made an agreement that would bail him out, but which required him to be buried on Lookout Mountain. An attempt was made by some citizens of Cody to steal the body, and bring it back to Wyoming, but they were thwarted, and here he remains (pun not intended). I must say, however, that it is a very pretty place to spend eternity, as seen in the photograph on the right. And so far, the citizens of Cody, Wyoming have not made a second attempt. Not yet, anyway.

Visiting Sanitas Brewing Company

I stopped by Sanitas Brewing Company a few days back to check the place out. It is located on Pearl Street in Boulder, although not anywhere close to the Pearl Street Mall or the fancy shops and restaurants on West Pearl. It is actually located far to the east in an industrial district, right where Pearl meets Foothills Parkway. I am happy to report that the beer is pretty good and Sanitas has a really nice, dog friendly outdoor patio, as seen in the photograph above. Plus, for train fanciers, the backyard is bordered by tracks, and one can watch the occasional freight train go by as you drink your pint. Be sure to wave at the engineer!

The Pearl Street Arts Fest!

This past weekend the Pearl Street Arts Fest took place on the Pearl Street Mall up in Boulder, Colorado. Every year booths are set up the entire length of that outdoor mall in the heart of downtown. The mall is a beautiful people place, filled with flowers and a view of the nearby Flatirons. The shops and restaurants, with outdoor patios, along the mall are mostly located in 19th century buildings, making for a perfect setting for an art festival.

In addition to photography, paintings, crafts, and other forms of art, there were also a couple of balloon twisters making balloon animals for the kids, as seen in the photograph on the right. And as usual, there were street musicians and buskers, including a magician, performing for the crowds, as they always do on weekends and weeknights during the summer.

And speaking of street musicians, Boulder has always had a 1960s vibe, popular with both old hippies and younger wanna-be hippies, too. Of course, since Boulder is the 7th most expensive housing market in the country, they either have to be pretty wealthy hippies, students at the nearby University of Colorado, or commute from other parts of the Denver area. Just up Boulder Canyon, in the mountains, is the town of Nederland, which was a very popular spot for hippies back in the 60s. And as far as I can tell, they never left, and still inhabit the town and surrounding wilderness, although they move quite a bit slower these days.

The festival had so many participating artists that they closed 14th Street on either side of the mall to accomodate all of them, as seen in the photograph on the right. In the background is the Boulder Theater, which hosted NPR's eTown - a weekly live music program -  during the early years, before it moved to bigger quarters in a nearby former church. Granted, I have never tuned into that show, but since it is still being broadcast, I might someday do so. Or even go so far as attend a show in person. Maybe. Do they charge an admission fee? As a confirmed cheapskate, that might be a dealbreaker.

The Return Of The Ugly American?

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Europe is expected to be crowded with Americans this summer, and all those tourists will be experiencing major sticker shock when they arrive. Do people in Europe resent the huge influx of Americans crowding their museums, restaurants, and tourist attractions? I must say, it was pretty damned crowded when my sister Susan and I visited France and Italy back in May of 2019, but instead of the "Ugly American," it seemed to be hoards of selfie-taking Japanese tourists that drew the most wrath from residents. Whatever they think, no one should be casting stones. I took the photograph above of Susan, posing in front of an advertising poster on the window of a beauty products store in Paris, when we visited there in 2019. That poster shows a woman with a variety of fruit plastered all over her face-creamed covered face. The English translation of the caption is "All our beauty products come from a garden." To me, that proves just one thing - the French can be pretty damn weird.

Relative Humidity

I just finished reading Relative Humidity, Laurence Shames latest "Key West Capers" comic novel. This time around, reluctant private eye Pete Amsterdam is enjoying the good life in his modest Key West home when his annoying mother Gertie shows up unexpectedly. She came down from New York with her new boyfriend Gianni, who thinks he is being stalked by a hit man, and wants her son Pete to find out what is going on. Out of his depth, he consults Bert the Shirt, an elderly retired Mafioso who lives in a nearby condo with Nacho, his pet chihuahua. Bert has a habit of getting involved in helping both locals and visitors alike out of the trouble - especially with the Mafia - they get themselves into on that island paradise. I really like these books, and am very happy that Shames has returned to writing this series after a long break. Unlike before, I believe these newer books are self-published, and only available on Amazon. Since there are only new copies available, at new book prices, I have been downloading Kindle editions of the most recent books onto my late brother-in-law George's iPad, which I only recently learned you could do. What can I say? I am not tech savvy. In any case, I enjoyed this 17th installment in the series, and can recommend it if you are looking for a fun, lighthearted read. Book or Kindle, they both read the same.

Happy Bastille Day!

Today is Bastille Day, the day France celebrates the storming of the Bastille prison at the start of the French Revolution. It is a holiday like the 4th of July here in the U.S., with a day off from work, fireworks, and parties held well into the night all over the country. I wish I could be there today, hanging out at La Terrasse, a cafe near Paris's Rue Cler neighborhood, seen in the photo on the left, having a couple of beers before making the rounds of the city. 

Of course, the best way to get around Paris is by foot, although if you are in a hurry or tired, the Metro will do just fine. There is a Metro stop right around the corner from La Terrasse, which my sister Susan and I used extensively when we were in Paris back in May of 2019. I took a number of photos of various entrances to those Metro stations, including the one in the photo  on the right, although for the life of me I can't remember where it was located. Was it a real entrance or just a nostalgia piece from days gone by?

And what better place to visit in Paris on a pleasant afternoon than the streets and walkways along the River Seine, parts of which are lined by book stalls like the ones in the photograph on the left. Books - and for that matter newspapers and magazines - seem to be still very popular in Europe, while here in the United States bookstores are having a hard time competing against the likes of Amazon and other online outlets. 

The highlight of Bastille Day is gathering in the Champ de Mars, bringing along a picnic dinner, and waiting for the fireworks to go off over the Eiffel Tower. Now that would be fun. Of course, it would be crowded as hell, the hotels would be priced at a premium, and finding a seat at one of those cafes afterwards might be problematic. Also, the last time I saw Paris (that's a song, right? Am I violating copyright laws?) the Eiffel Tower was surrounded by glass security walls, as seen in the photograph on the right. In previous visits, the Eiffel Tower was open to the Champ de Mars and you could walk right beneath it on your way to the park. These security precautions take a bit of the magic out of it all, but I would still have liked to be there. Perhaps next year, or the year after, or sometime. Dream on.

The July Mutt Of The Month

The photograph of this month's Mutt of the Month was once again taken at the New Terrain Brewery in Golden, Colorado, which is a veritable treasure trove of potential canine subject matter. The dog in the photo on the left looks like he or she had its own table, complete with a "party size" bag of pretzel crisps. It seemed affable enough, even though it didn't offer my sister Susan or I some of its snacks. There are so many dogs at New Terrain that I often wonder if there is some unwritten rule that you have to bring one with you if you want a beer. There are also lots of kids running around, but they can't require you to bring one of those along, too, can they?

Hilltop!

I went for a bike ride Monday afternoon from my condo across the street from the University of Denver to the Hilltop neighborhood, on the east side of Denver. One of the highlights of this community, besides the many fine homes, is Cranmer Park. In the center is a large sundial, as well as an outline of the front range mountains at the edge of a viewing platform, with the name of each mountain and an arrow pointing toward its location on the horizon. Which is why it was once named Mountain View Park. On the east side of the park are mansions facing those mountains, and when I look at those homes I always wonder which one was once featured in a Perry Mason episode. The original Perry Mason television show was set in Los Angeles. However, years later, Raymond Burr, the title character of that series, and who had a home in Colorado, starred in a remake of that series that was both filmed and set in Denver.

That was back in the 1980s, when Denver was going through a major depression. At the time, the city's economy was heavily dependent on the oil industry, and when the price of oil crashed, thousands of people were laid off across Colorado, many moving to different states to find work. On the bright side, it became pretty cheap to live in Denver, and also very cheap to film a television series here. It was fun to watch those episodes and see all those familiar locations. Now, of course, Denver is a pretty damn expensive place to live, and the number of television shows and movies filmed here is zero. But I have seriously digressed. That sundial is supposed to be be highly accurate, and at the base are instructions on how to calculate the exact time. Unfortunately, I did not have a couple of hours to spend figuring it all out, and so just looked at my wristwatch, which is a lot handier than a sundial. I guess some things really have improved over the centuries.

The All-Star Break Update

Major League Baseball's All-Star Game takes place tonight, marking the mid-point of the season. It is also the time sports analysts review how each team has performed during the first half, and speculate on what to expect between now and October. I tuned into a rebroadcast of the White Sox-Cardinals game played this past Sunday, and White Sox announcers Jason Benetti (in the photograph above on the left) and Steve Stone (on the right) opened the broadcast with quite a few first half team highlights, and seemed really upbeat about the team's prospects, despite the fact that my South Side heroes are 16 games under .500, although a mere 8 games out of first place, in one of baseball's weakest divisions. Their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, are actually doing much better, just 5 games under .500 and 7 games back. Of course, here in Colorado, the Rockies are 23 games under .500 and a whopping 18 games out of first place, but since everybody expected them to be really, really bad this year, nobody cares. In other words, if you placed all your money on either of my old hometown's teams to win it all, you are in serious trouble. If you placed all your money on the Colorado Rockies, you are in desperate need of professional help. For God's sake get that help NOW!

Dining In At Taco Bell

I had an early lunch yesterday afternoon with my friend Mark, seen in the photograph above wearing his Palm Beach Cardinals hat, at none other than Taco Bell, which I have to admit is my favorite Mexican restaurant here in Denver. The cheesy beef burritos and crunchy beef tacos taste great, and are very reasonably priced, as opposed to all those "gourmet" Mexican bistros that have tacos and other menu items that feature weird tasting ingredients that cost an arm and a leg (and you guys KNOW who you are!). As for Mark, who works at the University of Denver's Anderson Academic Commons (a library but with a lot fewer books), he is doing well and looking forward to his trip to Leeds next month, where he will stay with friends, attend a Leeds soccer match, a cricket game, and catch up with everyone he knows there. Hopefully they have Taco Bells in Leeds, too, so that Mark doesn't have to eat all those damn mushy peas.

Bayside And The Miami Hard Rock Cafe

Back in August of 1984, my sister Susan, mother Mary, and I drove to Miami from Stuart, Florida to see the sights. We went to Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, and also stopped at Bayside, in downtown Miami, to walk around that open air, Biscayne Bay fronted mall, and to allow Susan to buy a tee-shirt from the Miami Hard Rock Cafe that her husband George had requested. I took the photograph on the left as she entered that restaurant, looking up at the back end of a 1960s era Cadillac over the entrance that looked like it was about to fall down on her. I checked online, and that Hard Rock Cafe is still there, although whether or not the Caddy ever did fall down onto restaurant patrons I do not know. If it did, it probably would have hurt almost as much as the loud music they play inside.

Europe 2023 - Is It As Crowded As They Say?

Almost all of the travel articles I have read this year say that people are heading to Europe in droves, making for very crowded conditions. So many Americans are heading there that there is a major backlog if you need to apply for a passport. I can't imagine what it must be like to travel there now, considering that when my sister Susan and I travelled to France and Italy back in May of 2019, which is when I took the above photograph, it was crowded as hell even then. Susan had to leave the Louve almost as soon as we got there due to the crowds, and a guided tour of the Vatican Museum was through wall to wall people. Perhaps if you are planning to head to Europe, you might consider going in December or January. The crowds might have thinned by then.

The World We Once Knew

Years ago, when visiting my mother Mary down in Stuart, Florida, we took a drive with her friend Marion to nearby Hobe Sound, and browsed through a store called Chuckles Books and Fine Antiques (perhaps still in business as Chuckles Favorite Things), where I found a world globe from 1948. It was pretty cheap, and so I bought it and shipped it home to Denver, where I bought a stand for it from Pier One, which was also a bargain. This globe shows the world the way it was right after World War II. It is particularly facinating to see how Africa looked back then. Virtually all of the continent was controlled by the European powers, as seen in the photograph above. Most of these countries were given their independence in the 1960s. I remember visiting my Grandmother and Grandfather Spillard (my mother's parents) at their flat on East 85th Street in Chicago and looking at their weekly copies of Life and Look Magazines, which featured articles and photographs of that struggle for independence. A lot of that conflict was quite bloody, and the photographs of dead children lying on the ground has remained in my memory to this day. Quite an eye-opener for a young kid from the South Side of Chicago. Learning that life can be not very pretty often comes at a very young age.

Poets Row

This past Tuesday (the 4th of July) I biked past Poets Row, a collection of 11 buildings built in the art deco and moderne style back in the 1930s and 40s. They are located on Sherman Street here in Denver, just down the way from the Colorado State Capitol Building. I remember these buildings from when I first moved to Denver in 1981. Back then limited partnerships were all the rage, and I am pretty sure - but won't swear to it - that these buildings were offered as a limited partnership investment. Then Denver's economy tanked, and the city experienced its worst period since the Great Depression. These buildings went into foreclosure, and I assume everyone who invested in this limited partnership lost all their money. Triton Investment Company bought the buildings in a foreclosure auction in 1989, put money into them, and in 2016 sold them for $33.5 million. Another example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. On the other hand, Poets Row still exists, and adds a lot of charm to Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Is there a lesson in all of this? I assume it is that things are never black or white, but always in shades of gray.

A Bike Ride To The 16th Street Mall

I took a 4th of July bike ride yesterday morning from my condo across the street from the University of Denver to the 16th Street Mall, which is currently undergoing a major renovation. I must say, there were a lot more people out and about than I expected, since there are major areas fenced off all along the street, forcing pedestrians to walk through narrow passageways to get to their destinations. There are many empty storefronts along the mall, thanks to both the construction and the lack of office workers since the end of the pandemic. Of course, a lot of cities are experiencing similar problems, but at least here in Denver people are still showing up on weekends and holidays. And will things ever get back to the way they were before the pandemic? I am sure they will, but I am worried that by then I will be too old to bike down here. However, that's the opinion of a born pessimist, so take it with a grain of salt.

Independence Day!

Today is the 4th of July, a day of picnics and celebrations across the country. It is also the day I find out if the neighbors downstairs will once again be shooting off fireworks from their balcony, like they did last year. Talk about exciting! Not to mention loud. Years ago, I always used to attend one of the 4th of July fireworks games at Coors Field here in Denver, but eventually decided it had become too expensive. And evidently, not much has changed, since the local television news reported that remaining tickets were priced at over $100 this year. I must admit, however, that I did enjoy getting tickets to the Rockpile for those games. They are usually the worst seats in the house, but on the 4th, everyone in that section is led down to the playing field to watch the fireworks, which was always a special treat. Eventually, I decided to just go down to Coors Field near the end of the game, and take photographs of the fireworks from outside the stadium. The past few years, I have said the hell with it all, and decided to post the same photograph, as seen above, that I took in 2021. Fireworks are fireworks, after all. Can you really distinguish the 2023 fireworks from those back in 2021, or for that matter, 2001? I didn't think so.

The 2023 Cherry Creek Arts Festival

I went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival yesterday afternoon, along with what seemed like the entire population of Denver, and enjoyed it very much. This is one of the nation's top art festivals, and attracts artists from all across the country. As usual, I focused on photography, and visited the booths of all 18 photographers displaying their work. I especially liked the photographs by Igor Menaker, who featured many traditional black and white images of Chicago (https://www.menaker.com/), the photographs of Europe by Darren Olson (http://darrenolson.com/), and especially the work of Ken Laffal, who was featuring images, including portraits, from all over the world. I could not find a web site for Laffal, who is 75 and exhibits at a lot of festivals, but who I assume is not interested in the miracle of the information super highway. I definitely get it.

As for the rest of the art, a lot of it was very good, which is not surprising, since there is a lot of competition to show your work at this festival. However, as usual, there was a lot of art that I thought was pretty stupid, and wondered why it had been selected for exhibit by the selection committee. Of course, many of these booths were filled with people oohing and aahing over these works, and so I assume I do not have much of a futurre as an art critic. And as usual, everything seemed to cost a bloody fortune. Some of the photographs were priced at over $4,000. Of course, this is not surprising, since this event was being held in Cherry Creek, a neighborhood where price is no object. There were also a lot of food booths and food trucks around, but I did not even look at the prices. I just assumed it was all unaffordable. And surprisingly, I did not see a single Giant Turkey Leg stand. Go figure.

A Chicago Lakefront Flashback

I have been watching the WGN Chicago television newscast on my computer lately, and the big news there (besides a lot of shootings) is a NASCAR road race that is taking place this weekend (weather permitting) around Grant Park. Hearing about all that activity around the lakefront makes me nostalgic for the times I used to bike along Lake Michigan when I lived in Chicago. Sometimes my sister Susan and late brother-in-law George would come along, too. We would park near the Shedd Aquarium, bike north along the lakefront, and then through Lincoln Park, a truly wonderful experience during the summertime. I took the photograph above of Susan during one of those rides, back in 1973, when I was still going to school at the Illinois Institute of Technology. I still hear from IIT, by the way, calling to say hello, ask how I am doing, and make sure they are in my will. Nice to know they still care. And just a helpful tip for everyone back in Chicago - this will NOT be a good weekend for that lakefront bikeride.

Storm Watch

I just finished reading Storm Watch, C.J. Box's latest Joe Pickett novel. I like this series, featuring the adventures of a game warden in Wyoming, but in this latest book, Box lets his political leanings show, which I find kind of irritating. The plot revolves around Joe Pickett and his friend Nate Romanowski trying to stop an attempt by the FBI and the "deep state" to instigate a violent incident against the Republican governor, and blame it on a non-existent right-wing extremist group. The purpose of this is to discredit citizens fighting against the injustices heaped upon Wyoming by the federal government. Another of my favorite authors who has sometimes brought politics into his books is Steve Berry, who in one novel made Franklin D. Roosevelt the big villian. I like Box's books, including this one, but could we just leave politics out of mystery and adventure novels that are supposed to be entertaining? Please? Pretty please?