Crime Almost Pays

I am a big fan of Tom Corcoran's Alex Rutledge mystery series, which features a professional photographer who is always helping the Key West Police Department solve murders in that sun-kissed city. It is a series with lots of local color, but unlike writers such as Michael Connelly and Daniel Silva, who seem to put out a new book every 6 months, Corcoran takes his time producing new titles. And so, I was happy to find a Kindle version of Crime Almost Pays, a spin-off of the Alex Rutledge series, featuring a dicey pair of private investigators that call themselves The Aristocrats. Certain law enforcement types refer to them as The Bumsnoops, due to their past history of living on the streets. In this novel, they are hired by a woman to take photographs of a group of Cubans who were trying to drug her in Sloppy Joe's Bar. What starts out as a low level assignment quickly descends into very dangerous international intrigue. Once you have read all the Alex Rutledge stories, I recommend reading this fun tale while waiting for Corcoran to get his ass in gear and publish another Rutledge novel. Just sayin'.

License Plate Theft - Hope For The Best, Expect The Worst - As Usual

I drove my sister Susan to Wendy's for lunch the other day, and when we came back to the car, I noticed that my front license plate was missing. I suspect someone must have unscrewed it, and taken both the plate and frame the previous evening while my car was sitting in its parking spot. Is this kind of theft pretty common these days, or what? The rear plate is still there, which will help Denver police when they spot me driving the "get-away vehicle," no doubt expecting to capture or kill a triple homicide suspect, or some such scenario. I am pretty sure the days of shoot first and ask questions later are over, but you never know. Or perhaps the thief just took the plate to use on his or her own car, and the only effect will be a $2,000 E-470 toll bill sent to my address. I was thinking of waiting to report the theft until renewal time, but as you can tell, thanks to my vivid imagination, I will be reporting it today, and then heading to the Motor Vehicle Department for the 6 hour wait to get new plates. Hopefully, no major crimes have been linked to my plates as of yet, or I will be handcuffed and booked before I even step foot inside District 3 Headquarters to file that report. I wonder if I should set up a GoFundMe page for bail money in advance? Probably a wise idea.

A Golden Autumn

It was a very laid back afternoon yesterday along Clear Creek in downtown Golden, Colorado. It was hot and sunny, and not surprisingly, since it was mid-week, most of the people on the Clear Creek Trail were made up of Colorado School of Mines students, dog walkers, and senior citizens. There weren't too many tubers on the creek, either, as seen in the photograph on the left. Golden is a beautiful old town, founded in 1859, with lots of homes and businesses dating from the late 19th Century. Just for fun, I looked up homes for sale in the most historic part of town, which includes the Golden History Park, the 12th Street Historic District, and the Colorado School of Mines, and found there were none.  Which is not a surprise - why move if you are living in a perfect little city next to the foothills, in a restored Victorian, a short walk from a beautiful river path that leads into the mountains and a very pleasant downtown with lots of shops and restaurants. Not to mention having the Golden City Brewery located right in the middle of the neighborhood, in the backyard of an 1870s era home.

One side of the Clear Creek Trail goes right along the river, with plenty of spots to sit along the water, while the other side runs past the Golden Historic Park, as seen in the photo on the right. That park contains 1800s era cabins and other buildings from the Pearce Ranch in Golden Gate Canyon, as well as the 1876 Guy Hill schoolhouse. It gives you a good idea of what it was like to live on the frontier when people first started to settle in Colorado starting in the late 1850s. As far as I can tell, it must have been miserable. I myself once spent a night in a Victorian in Denver when my ex-wife Lisa was housesitting for a friend. Talk about cold, and don't even mention the bathroom, which I think was all original equipment. I assume those Victorians in Golden have been completely updated. Otherwise, all those people walking around town would be much more surly, like I was after spending the night at that Victorian horror.

Should The House Of Representatives Investigate Giant Turkey Legs?

Republicans in the House are investigating all kinds of things these days, including the Biden Crime Family, and as long as they are in an investigating kind of mood, I think they should take up the issue of Giant Turkey Legs being sold that might be many decades old. I have seen these booths at all kinds of festivals, including at the Denver Oktoberfest just this past week, as seen in the photograph above, and I suspect the unsold turkey legs are constantly being refrozen, shipped to the next festival, and then resold. Do they go from the Santa Fe Fiesta on the Plaza to the Breckenridge Oktoberfest to the Denver Oktoberfest, and then refrozen to just reappear at the Cinco de Mayo Festival in Denver's Civic Center the following year? America demands answers, and I believe the House should put aside the Biden Crime Family investigation and deal with this much more important concern ASAP. Since they will be allowing a government shutdown to occur this week, they should have plenty of time on their hands to deal with this critical issue. America needs to know!

The 53rd Annual Denver Oktoberfest

The 53rd Annual Denver Oktoberfest began this past weekend, and I headed down to 21st and Larimer Streets to check it out Sunday afternoon. It was a pretty laid back atmosphere and wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. There were still a lot of people celebrating with food and beer, but nothing like the atmosphere at the Oktoberfest in Breckenridge that I recently attended. In the background of the photograph on the left, for afternoon entertainment, a stein hoisting contest was going on, and on another corner a keg bowling event was happening, both attracting a modest but enthusiastic crowd.

The Ballpark Neighborhood, where the festival takes place, is where the Denver party crowd hangs out, and so I suspect the laid back vibe on Sunday was due to the fact that those partiers don't tend to show up at these events until the P.M. Especially this year, since they are selling VIP Oktoberfest tickets featuring unlimited beer and wine, which to me sounds pretty scary. A lot of this "hipster" crowd can be pretty obnoxious on normal weekend evenings, and so I shudder to think what it will be like this coming Friday and Saturday nights during the 2nd and final weekend of the festival. My recommendation is to go in the afternoon if you crave a "Diablo Dog," and get the hell out of there by dusk.

Next weekend will be the Colorado Rockies final home stand of the season, and the team is about to make history, losing over 100 games for the first time ever. Since Coors Field is just a few blocks away, as seen in the background of the photograph on the left, perhaps the Sunday afternoon crowd will mark the last game of the season and this historic milestone at Oktoberfest. It seems a very appropriate way to celebrate a very bad baseball team. But the ballpark is still nice, so what the hell, right?

Watching Newcastle Demolish Sheffield United With Mark

I went over to my friend Mark's place Sunday morning to watch Newcastle play Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, the oldest major league stadium in the world (built in 1862), and Newcastle beat them 8-0, just one goal short of the Premier League record. Mark was very happy about the outcome, since Newcastle is his favorite Premier League soccer team. Fans in Sheffield, not so much. But take heart, Sheffield. Yours is not the only city suffering humiliation due to a sports team. Yesterday, the Denver Broncos lost to the Miami Dolphins 70-20. Both teams set a record - the Broncos gave up the most points in their history, while the Dolphins scored the most points in their history. And it could have been worse - the Dolphins took a knee instead of kicking a field goal toward the end of the game, which would have broken the NFL's single game scoring record. And so both Sheffield and Denver avoided the shame of setting league worst records yesterday. But on the other hand, there is always next week. And yes, that is indeed Mark in the photograph above, wearing his Newcastle jersey in the stands of historic Bramall Lane, thanks to the magic of Photoshop.

More Chicago Nostalgia: State And Randolph 1979

I took the photograph on the left of the corner of State and Randolph in Chicago's Loop back in October of 1979. This was about one and a half years before I moved to Denver, while I was still working as the manager of the Walden Book Store at the Yorktown Shopping Center in Lombard, Illinois. Although I returned for a visit to Chicago in 2010, I don't recall paying much attention to how this area had changed over the years. I was probably still in shock finding out that Carson Pirie Scott had closed its famous Louis Sullivan designed State Street store after more than a century in business at that location. The bastards. In any case, just for fun, I checked on the internet to see if the two prominent theaters in the photo, the Oriental and the Woods, are still there today. 

The Oriental, which opened in 1926, closed two years after I took the photo, and was later restored and renamed the James M. Nederlander Theater. It is now run by Broadway in Chicago and is currently presenting Hamilton through the end of December. The Woods Theater, built in 1918, did not share such a happy fate. After a decline in attendance, it closed in 1989, the final films on the marquee being "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" and "Hellraiser II," two of my most favorite movies. I'm pretty sure they both won Oscars. In any case, the Woods Theater was torn down in 1989 and the site is now the home of the Goodman Theater, replacing its previous home next to the Art Institute. Wait a minute - the Goodman is no longer next to the Art Institute? That is where I heard Studs Terkel once speak, a very memorable evening indeed. Is nothing sacred? And by the way, the Art Institute is also where I took the photograph on the right of my sister Susan behind one of its famous lions, God knows how many years ago.

Early Autumn At The Zoo Part II

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, my sister Susan and I went to the Denver Zoo this past Thursday afternoon and had a really nice time, even though some of the animals, such as the tigers and lions, were keeping a low profile. When we arrived, there was not a lion in sight on Predator Ridge, but as we were leaving, we went to the viewing window one more time, and happily, one of the 4 bachelor lions came out of his hiding place and posed for the photograph on the left. These 4 lions made national news a few years ago when Denver had a major blizzard, and they were filmed charging into the very high snow drifts side by side, in a made for Hollywood moment. I think they were offered a television series called Bachelor Lions, but rejected it due to a salary dispute.

The big news at the Denver Zoo these days is that there is both a new baby mandrill and a new baby orangutan. I went to the viewing window at the mandrill compound, and saw a number of people huddling in the far corner, oohing and aahing. I saw the female mandrill sitting in front of the window, but it wasn't until I got to the front, elbowing aside quite a few women and small children (my apologies), that I saw she was actually showing off her baby to zoo visitors, as seen in the  photograph on the right. Of course, taking a photo through a viewing window of animals in a dark corner has always been a pretty hard task, and so I had to do a lot of adjustments in Photoshop to make it reasonably presentable. But if that mother really was so proud of her baby, she should have looked directly into the camera instead of staring into space. Of course, you can't have everything go your way, I guess.

On the other hand, exactly nothing is what I got as far as the baby orangutan was concerned. I think the mother was in the back of the orangutan house, and never appeared when I was there. However, the male orangutan, the father of the new baby, was outside in the compound, just hanging around, as seen in the photograph on the left. This is the same orangutan who took over care of his previous baby when the mother unexpectedly died, which is a very rare thing indeed. From his photo, he looks like a very gentle creature, but the zoo refuses to let people into the compound to pet him, so we'll probably never know for sure

While waiting to see if that mother and her baby would make an appearance, which of course they never did, I took the photograph on the right of another orangutan that looks like it is in deep thought, most likely trying to figure out the meaning of life, at least as it pertains to orangutans. This looks to me like one very intelligent monkey. Or perhaps it is just wondering when dinner will be served, and if the new season of All Creatures Great and Small will be airing on PBS pretty soon.

Early Autumn At The Zoo

Ok. Ok. I know Autumn does not begin until tomorrow, but the official start of fall is only 40 minutes past midnight, and so I say close enough. In any case, it was a warm and sunny day yesterday, and so my sister Susan and I decided to visit the Denver Zoo. The high was only 82 degrees, but many of the animals still wanted to cool off in the water, such as the bear in the photograph on the left. This is the first time this year I have seen one of the bears at the zoo - they (the zoo employees) have been doing a lot of work on that compound, and the bears have evidently been hanging out somewhere else - perhaps visiting relatives in Yellowstone.

It wasn't all that hot out, and so one of the seals was more than happy to take a break from swimming around its aquatic home and visit with one of the zoo employees, especially if she was giving out food, as seen in the photograph on the right. Food is a big motivator at the Denver Zoo, and if I was allowed to bring in snacks for these animals (nothing fancy - Cheetos, some Pringles, maybe even a few tacos), I could get some great portraits. At first, I though the two women in the photograph jumped over the fence to do just that, but finally noticed the Denver Zoo emblem on their shirts. Then they left, and the seal went with them, which surprised me. Where did they all go? To a bar for happy hour? "Two women and a seal go into a bar, and..."

One of the elephants, seen in the photograph of the left, was having a dandy old time with that tire hanging from a post in its compound. He was pacing around the area, checking to see if the door to the elephant house had been opened so he could have dinner and watch some TV. Each time he went past that tire, he gave it a mighty wack. Perhaps he was not playing with it, but taking out all his frustrations on it. You try being locked up for life without a trial, watched by strangers all day long. And you don't even get to order off a menu.

The giraffes were all out and about yesterday afternoon, too, including the pair in the photograph on the right. The zoo installed a viewing platform a few years ago to allow people, for an additional fee, to feed the giraffes by hand. At first, there was a stand that sold the food out front, and everyone was allowed to access the platform and watch - or in my case, photograph - people feeding these animals. Now, of course, you have to make an appointment to feed the giraffes, and only paying customers are allowed to access the area. Progress at last, plus more income on the bottom line, which the Denver Zoo really stresses that it needs. There are signs throughout the zoo publicizing how much it costs to feed each animal (10 million dollars a year to feed a single lion, or something like that). And no, I actually don't research all these things to verify their accuracy - I am positive everything I say is relatively correct, depending on your definition of relative.

Discussing The Major Issues With Stuart - Baseball And Political Correctness

I had a late lunch with my friend Stuart, as seen in the photograph above, at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in Lakewood, Colorado, winner of this year's ugliest suburb contest. Stuart, as regular blog readers know, is originally from the North Side of Chicago and a Cubs fan, but does not hold out too much hope for the team making the playoffs. They are leading the wildcard race by one game, but have gone 3-7 over their last 10 games. Not a good sign for a contender. I myself am originally from the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, and a White Sox fan. Interestingly, the Sox are also 3-7 over the past 10 games, but are only 5 games away from a 100 loss season, and probably years away from being a contender. As for the Colorado Rockies, they are only 4 games away from 100 losses, which would be a first for the team, but since they draw almost 3 million fans a year no matter how bad they play, thanks to the popularity of their ballpark, management doesn't care. We then went on to the topic of political correctness, which we both agree is just plain stupid. I mentioned to Stuart that I read an opinion piece on the CNN website about the new Agatha Christie movie, A Haunting in Venice, and the upshot was that Hercule Poirot, as well as other fictional detectives in both movies and books, do not have enough empathy for the victims, and only care about solving the crime. So does this mean mystery novels are now politically incorrect, too? Is this why Ian Rankin has put Inspector Rebus on trial for murder, and why John Straley has put his private detective hero Cecil Younger in prison? The World Turned Upside Down is no longer just an English ballad.

They Are Blowing Up What? Where?

All looks serene in Denver's Washington Park as autumn approaches, but this past summer vandals have been blowing up portable toilets. In fact, this has happened four times this year at Washington Park alone. And why are people doing this? As usual, social media is to blame - videos of exploding portable toilets are evidently very popular on sites such as TikTok. In other words, little sh*ts are to blame. Surprise! According to Denver Parks and Recreation, half the restrooms in parks across the city are out of commission. And the solution to this problem? Sadly, I don't think it is feasible to eliminate all those goofy video sharing apps - let alone all those damn smart phones - and so the city will just have to catch them in the act and impose community service sentences on them. I suggest 60 days cleaning out those portable toilets. If they are doing a good job, after 30 days they can be given gloves and a brush.

Finding Fixer-Uppers In Abiquiu

When my sister Susan and I visited Santa Fe, New Mexico a few weeks ago, we traveled north of the city to Chimayo to see El Santuario de Chimayo, a beautiful chapel and pilgrimage site. We then drove on to Abiquiu to see if we could get a look at artist Georgia O'Keeffe's home and studio. For the life of me, I could not find the place, and it is a very, very small town. Evidently the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum offers tours of the place, but they originate from the Welcome Center down on the main highway, and visitors are taken to the home and studio by shuttle bus. There are no signs or any acknowledgement of the place in Abiquiu itself. No doubt they keep the location secret to prevent gawkers, such as us. But I did take the photograph above of the center of town, and it looks to me like there are some great fixer-upper opportunities there, including that little gem in the foreground of the photo. A little work on the roof, a few repairs to the windows, a little elbow grease on the inside, and you have yourself a hacienda. Sadly, I do not have the skills to do this, but I am sure some shrewd bargain hunter who does will snap this place up quickly. When you do, please let me know where that damn house and studio are.

Oktoberfest In Breckenridge!

My sister Susan and I drove up to the mountain town of Breckenridge, Colorado from Denver Saturday afternoon to check out their annual Oktoberfest celebration, and I must say, the crowd was huge. It was wall-to -wall people all down Main Street, and a lot of people were wearing traditional Oktoberfest outfits. Not to mention silly hats, including the ever popular chicken hat, also a favorite for formal occasions, such as weddings. Oktoberfest began taking place in September, instead of October, the year after the first Oktoberfest, which was held to celebrate the wedding of King Ludwig of Bavaria (Mad King Ludwig to his friends). Everyone loved that first festival, and it was decided to make it an annual event, but to be held in September to keep everyone from freezing their lederhosen off. The tradition continues today in Munich as well as Breck, as the hipsters like to call it. 

Breckenridge is a very popular destination both summer and winter (it is, after all, a world class ski resort). Over the years, it has become a very expensive place to own a house or condo, or for that matter, spend a vacation. What I want to know is where all those obviously very prosperous Oktoberfest revelers on Main Street buy their outfits? Online? At a costume store? Does Breckenridge have a local outlet that sells lederhosen and dimdls, as well as other German goods? I would have asked the group of people in the photograph on the right, but did not want to interupt their conversation. And besides, I was afraid to hear the answer - most likely Amazon. How boring.

There were a lot of food vendors at the festival, not to mention a number of booths selling beer in large souvenier steins, no doubt at consumer friendly prices. Happily, in addition to all the other kinds of food being sold, one of the most popular of German delicacies, "Das Turkey Legs," was also being sold. Yum! I did not see a huge line waiting to buy them, however. Everyone was probably scared off by the spurious rumors being spread on the internet that leftover turkey legs are refrozen and then resold at the next festival, relabeled as "Los Turkey Legs" or whatever the occasion warrants. It kind of makes me feel bad that I am the one who started that rumor. Oh well. At least the beer kiosks were well patronized, with lines going all the way down the block - surprise! In any case, it was a warm, sunny day, the crowd was in a very festive mood, and it was a fun way to spend the afternoon. You can't beat "Breck" if you are looking for a great place to have a good time. Just stay away from those turkey legs!

Hurricanes Are Scary, And Seem To Keep Coming And Coming...

Hurricane Lee made landfall in Nova Scotia with near-hurricane force winds yesterday, far less dangerous than earlier in the week, when it briefly became a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mile per hour winds. It was headed toward Florida at the time, but all the models said it would turn north and diminish as it got close to New England and Nova Scotia. It actually wound up doing so, although I never believe it until it actually happens. And so all the people in Stuart, Florida, where my sister Susan and I inherited a condo from our mother Mary, could breath a sigh of relief. But only for less than 24 hours, since these damn tropical depressions keep forming off Africa and nobody knows where they will go for days on end. Two Category 3 hurricanes hit Stuart back in 2004 within two weeks of each other, destroying many homes and businesses, and the following year, another Category 3 went all the way up the east coast of Florida causing even more widespread damage. And so I know what these damn storms can do. I took the photograph on the left on Indian River Drive several weeks after the two hurricanes hit in 2004.

What really angers me is people having hurricane parties. A co-worker at the Tattered Cover Bookstore told me her mother, who lives in Daytona Beach, always had such a party whenever a hurricane approached. Talk about tempting fate. Years ago, John D. McDonald wrote a novel called Condominium, about a massive storm approaching Florida, and the many people who thought it was all just a lark, and didn't take it seriously. As I recall, the climax of the story was during one of those hurricane parties in a high-rise condo building. The hostess noticed somebody had spilled a drink on her new rug, making her very angry, just before a massive storm surge hit the building and destroyed it. As Dave Barry says, Florida is a great place to live, except during hurricane season, which runs from June 1st thru May 31st, and that is what it really seems like. And don't get me started on hurricane insurance. The photograph on the right, by the way, is of the pier behind the House of Refuge on Hutchinson Island in Stuart after the 2004 hurricanes.

Will Electric Cars Be A Boon For Public Transportation?

Governments worldwide, as well as the automobile industry itself, seem hellbent on having electric vehicles replace gas and diesel-fueled cars by 2040, and are projecting that over two-thirds of global car sales will be electric by 2030. That is a mere 7 years away. Granted, a lot of things can change over that period, but currently, electric cars cost a fortune. Hopefully, between now and then, they will become more affordable. If not, only the lucky few will be able to afford a car, and for a majority of Americans, public transportation will be their only option. Good news for the RTD here in Denver and the CTA in Chicago, but not so great for people who need to go where buses fear to tread. Of course, I suppose horses and horse-drawn transportation could be a possible alternative, giving the future a 19th Century vibe. Perhaps it is time for today's college-bound students to think about careers in blacksmithing. That might soon replace software engineering as the career of choice for the future. You heard it here first!

Watching The Rockies Beat The Cubs At Coors Field

I went to Coors Field in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) Wednesday afternoon to watch the Colorado Rockies play the Chicago Cubs. Both teams have a lot on the line - the Cubs have a chance of making the playoffs (they are 4.5 games out of 1st place and have a 2.5 game lead for a wildcard spot) and the Rockies have a chance of avoiding 100 losses, which would be their worst season ever. I really expected the Cubs to play well, but they actually looked pretty bad - they are the Cubs, after all - and the Rockies beat them 7 to 3. If the Cubs do make the playoffs, I suspect they will be eliminated in the first round.

The Rockies had an on-field celebration of their victory, as seen in the photograph on the right, no doubt thinking about those bargain tacos. Their record is now 53-92, with 17 games to go, meaning they will have to win at least 10 games to avoid going down in history as the worst Rockies team ever. A tall order, but they did hit a lot of home runs Wednesday afternoon, so perhaps it is possible. As for my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, they have been just awful, recently losing 2 out of 3 to the Kansas City Royals, currently the worst in baseball. This from a team that was expected to make the playoffs. Wait until next year - or possibly even next decade - White Sox fans. In other words, situation normal. Deal with it.

Final Thoughts On Santa Fe

All in all, my sister Susan and I had a very pleasant weekend in Santa Fe. It is referred to as "The City Different" and it really truly is. I was able to do a lot of walking around the place, and so was able to take many photographs, which I really enjoy doing. I remember my old University of Denver photography professor, Roddy MacInnes, talking about a friend who really loved photography, took all kinds of photographs using a film camera, and when the rolls were finished, simply threw them in a drawer and never had them developed. And I actually really get that. However, with that said, and since this is now the digital age, I intend to show some of my photos, for better or worse, such as the one on the left of the entrance to The Shed, my favorite restaurant in Santa Fe. This restaurant has been in operation since 1953 (my birth year), and is located in Prince Patio, an adobe hacienda that dates back to 1692. The food is great, it is located just off the Santa Fe Plaza, and best of all, has very reasonable prices. We went early to make a reservation for 5:30, when the place opened, and when we arrived, the line to get a table was out the door. It is that good.

Santa Fe is probably best known for its art galleries, of which there are many. I never actually went into any of them on this trip, not wanting to give the owner false hope, although I was very tempted to go into a gallery featuring the work of R.C. Gorman. He was very popular when I first started visiting Santa Fe back in the early 1980s (I think), and I really like his work. Sadly, he passed away in 2005. I hadn't given him much thought in years, until I saw that gallery featuring his paintings. I suspect I might have to win Powerball to buy one his artworks these days, and so I just walked on. But I have to say that many of the art galleries are works of art themselves, such as the one just off the plaza in the photograph on the right.

I was walking a few blocks south of downtown to take photographs of the San Miguel Chapel (built in 1610), said to be the oldest church in the U.S. (excluding Puerto Rico), as well as one of the oldest houses in the country, located just across the street, and passed the courtyard of another art gallery, where I took the photograph on the left. There is a story about the statue of the woman holding the lantern that the owner was relating to a couple of female gallery hoppers, but I did not hear the details. Places to go, things to do. Maybe I'll find out all about it next time.

One of those things to do was walk the length of Canyon Road, which is an art district with more than a hundred galleries and studios. Some of the galleries are located in ancient adobe haciendas, such as the one in the photograph on the right, and some are located in newer structures, the very newest built to fit in with its neighbors. Parking is at a premium here, and so I usually find a spot in the residential neighborhood at the beginning of the district, and walk uphill from there.

The scenery on this road is wonderful, such as the view of what I believe is an art gallery in the photograph on the left. It could be a home, of course, and if it is, I will definitely make an offer for it when I win Powerball. After all, I will need to have somewhere to hang all those Gormans.

Speaking of houses, how about this little number located on a side street just off Canyon Road. Perhaps the Gormans would fit better here. Since it is located just off Canyon Road, I suspect it would sell at a more reasonable price. I was often tempted to go up and ring the doorbell of some of these places, and make them an offer (I could probably afford $300,000 if I sold my condo in Denver), but was afraid they would just take out a gun and shoot me, assuming they have a "Make My Day" law in New Mexico like they do in Colorado. New Mexico, after all, has the third highest number of gun-related deaths in the country. Of course, most of those gun-related deaths probably take place in Albuquerque, where the governor imposed a 30 day moratorium on carrying guns in public last week, due to all the recent shootings there, provoking outrage and threats of impeachment. But I digress.

As I headed back to my car, I was very much tempted to make an offer on the piece of art in the photograph on the left. I know it wouldn't fit on the balcony of my condo, but perhaps my HOA would be willing to buy it and put it out in front of the building. I could tie it to the roof of my car when we headed back to Denver Monday morning, after breakfast once again at Pantry Rio, which I also throughly recommend. Sadly, I am afraid I will have to wait until the next monthly homeowners meeting to broach the subject, and had to leave that wonderful rooster behind. Hopefully nobody will snap it up before I return with a check for the two or three hundred dollars they are probably asking for it. Keep your fingers crossed, everybody!

More Highlights From Santa Fe

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, my sister Susan and I drove down to Santa Fe, New Mexico from Denver last weekend to attend the annual fiesta that has been held there since 1712. This past Friday night, after we arrived, I decided to walk from the luxury Downtown Motel 6 Resort Hotel and Spa, where we were staying, to the Santa Fe Plaza, to check out the action. I found that there was indeed a crowd dancing to the live band in front of the Palace of the Governors, but except for that, the city was pretty quiet. Although there were a few places along the way with live bands playing, most of the restaurants closed at 9:00, and there were not that many people on the street. However, despite this, Saint Francis Cathedral was all lit up, as seen in the photograph on the left, and as usual, looked pretty impressive. And no, the French Pastry Shop located in the La Fonda Hotel was not open, either.

The next morning it was much more lively. As usual. the Native American artisans were in their usual place under the Palace of the Governors portal, selling their wares to the tourists, as seen in the photograph on the right. They have been doing this since the 1930s, with only the Covid outbreak in 2020 and 2021 interrupting this tradition. And do Native Americans still believe that taking their photograph will steal their souls? As I understand it, this was a 19th and early 20th Century belief, and over the years, they have become more comfortable with the medium. After all, it is through photography that they have a permanent record of their culture. That is just my humble opinion, of course, which up to this point has never carried much - by which I mean any - weight.

And as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the plaza is the center of fiesta events, and most of the locals congregate there with their friends and families to enjoy the fun. This year there was an entire street devoted to arts and craft booths, and many food vendors on the streets surrounding the plaza. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, in addition to booths serving traditional New Mexican cuisine, there was also a booth selling giant turkey legs, just like back in Denver. Of course, in Denver you would have a booth selling "Los Turkey Legs" at the Cinco de Mayo Festival, which I suspect are then frozen, to be taken out and sold at the Taste of Colorado on Labor Day weekend. The remainders to be frozen again, and sold at Oktoberfest as "Das Turkey Legs." A local sitting next to me, waiting to start his job as a security guard at the festival, remarked that the turkey legs at the nearby booth smelled pretty bad, confirming all my suspicions about that industry.

And during the fiesta parade, a highlight of the festival, I was happy to see that St. Francis of Assisi was participating, on horseback no less, waving to the crowd as he went past the Palace of the Governors, as seen in the photograph on the right. Francis is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, and so it makes sense that he make an appearance. As the parade went on, it began to seem like everyone in the city was participating, too, which I assumed would take many hours. Therefore, my sister and I decided to leave the parade and head to Chimayo and Abiquiu for more sightseeing. When we returned to Santa Fe several hours later, the parade was still going strong. Surprise!

Fiesta!

My sister Susan and I attended Santa Fe, New Mexico's annual fiesta this past weekend, which took place in and around that city's famous plaza. This fiesta's origins go back to September of 1712, mandated by proclamation to take place every year to celebrate the reconquest by the Spanish of New Mexico from the Pueblo people, after the Pueblo Revolt of 1690. As you can imagine, there has been controversy surrounding the reasons for holding this fiesta over the years, but last weekend everyone just wanted to have fun and enjoy the festivities. Because Susan has had trouble walking as of late, Sunday morning, after breakfast at The Pantry Rio, we traversed the short distance to the Santa Fe Plaza, sat on a bench, did a lot of people-watching, and just enjoyed the pleasant weather while waiting for the annual parade to begin. And that is exactly what the locals were doing, too, many bringing their own chairs, visiting with friends and family members. The parade began around 1:00, led by mounted police and quickly followed by those conquistadors, who evidently still exist and hang out in Santa Fe these days, as seen in the photograph above. In the background, by the way, is the Palace of the Governors, which was built in 1610, no less. Now THAT is old, at least here in the U.S. I know there are a lot of places much older in Europe, of course. The UK even has pubs that old or older, many still populated by the original patrons, as far as I could tell when visiting there years ago. No doubt some sort of miracle.

The First Day Of Classes At DU

Today is the first day of classes at the University of Denver. It has been 11 years since I worked at the DU Bookstore as the Finance Manager, but I still pay attention to this date, since it was the busiest day of the year. No doubt due to some sort of PTSD. Virtually the entire staff, plus something like 15 temporary employees, were on the sales floor, ringing up customers on the cash registers, helping students find textbooks, and answering questions at the information desk, which back then was located in the center of the store, where the question mark is located in the photograph on the left. It was such a busy time, I did not take many photographs, but I did take some, although I have no idea what year they are from.

It was a much different business back then. Students still bought most of their textbooks at the bookstore, and months of planning went into making sure we had all the titles on the shelf before classes began. The year I worked at the bookstore after the University of Denver outsourced the store to Follett Higher Education Group, things were a lot different. To avoid having a lot of books to return at the end of the quarter, Follett would only order a limited number of copies, and then place special orders for students when those copies were gone. And the books that were special ordered came from other Follett stores first, instead of being ordered from the publisher. I remember one time a title was ordered from a Follett store in Alaska for a student who needed the book right away. You can guess how that turned out.

The thing I miss most about the DU Bookstore is the people, a wide variety of individuals, a lot of them with unique senses of humor. I still keep in touch with many of them, but others I have lost touch with, such as Dave, who was both the supply buyer and the advertising coordinator. He is pictured on the left holding up one of the signs Valarie, the Operations Manager for the store, made to keep cashiers from screaming at the next customer in line to come to their register. Of course, if the next customer in line was on his or her phone, waving a sign around does just not work, and so the screaming continued, although there was less of it. Happy First Day of Class DU Students!

Wicker Park Then And Now

The last time I visited Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, I was taking a city planning course at the Illinois Institute of Technology back in April of 1972. This was the neighborhood that Chicago author Nelson Algren lived in and wrote about. I can't remember what the project was that I was working on, but still have the photographs, and remember walking around the area. As I recall, the neighborhood was divided by Milwaukee Avenue. One side of the street was filled with stores and restaurants catering to the Polish community, whom Algren wrote about in his novels, and the other side was filled with Hispanic shops and restaurants, representing the more recent members of the community. Whether that meant the area east of Milwaukee was Polish, and the area to the west Hispanic (or vice versa), I have no idea. What I do know is that it has been a long time since I have seen a car with fins, like the one in the photograph on the left. I say time to bring them back.

As you can see from the photograph on the right, many of the homes in this neighborhood were, and no doubt still are, very nice. I honestly don't know if the majority of them were occupied by predominantly Hispanic and Polish people, or if it was a mixture of all ethnic groups, rich and poor. I grew up in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, and the north side of the city, where Wicker Park is located, is for the most part unknown territory for me. I moved to Denver back in 1981, but have still kept up with what is happening back in Chicago via WGN television news, Chicago Magazine, and lately even the Chicago Tribune. And I know that Wicker Park has become pretty upscale. It is fairly close to downtown Chicago, and as I have already mentioned, has very nice homes and apartments. A quick check of the internet shows that condos there cost upwards of half a million dollars, and houses like in the photo now go for well over a million.  And poor Nelson Algren is long gone.

I took the photograph of the kid on the left near the corner of Paulina and Moorman Streets (And yes, I did indeed make notations on the back of some, but not all, of the photographs). And just to be upfront about things, I did indeed use these same photographs in a previous blog, but I can't remember when or what I said about them. And if any of you out there actually remember that post, you must have a photographic memory or are doing some serious research about this blog, which has me worried. After all, I was not even in Washington that day. Honest!

Tides Of Fire

I just finished reading Tides of Fire, the latest Sigma Force thriller by James Rollins. This time, Commander Gray Pierce and his team, a special U.S. intelligence unit, must find the reason behind a series of earthquakes in the Tonga Trench, in the South Pacific north of New Zealand. These earthquakes are setting off hundreds of volcanos throughout the region, threatening the very existence of the human race. All of this started after a Chinese submarine sank to the bottom of this trench, leaking dangerous radiation. As usual, this is an assignment fraught with peril, complicated by the Chinese military trying to thwart the Sigma Team at every turn. I enjoyed this adventure novel very much, as I have all of Rollins' other Sigma Force thrillers. Rollins, by the way, was a veterinarian who decided he wanted to write adventure novels, and soon became a bestselling author. And he still has time to be a vet, too. Be sure to pick up a copy at your local library today for an exciting late summer read.

The September Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the September Mutt of the Month at - Surprise! - the New Terrain Brewery up in Golden, Colorado, where virtually all my dog photos seem to come from lately. New Terrain is very dog and kid friendly, and there is no shortage of cute cannines to capture on film. Plus, they have great beer and great views of Table Mesa and North Table Mountain. Not to mention a large dog park right next door if your pet grows restless as you sit and drink your pint. And best of all, these dogs know how to pose for a portrait, as the dog above clearly demonstrates.