A Legacy Of Spies

I just finished reading John LeCarre's new novel A Legacy of Spies.  I recently saw an interview with him on 60 Minutes.  He seemed like a pretty interesting guy, and so decided to give the book a try.  I have read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but that has to have been over 40 years ago.  In any case, there is a lot more talk than action in this book, but I think that is the case with LeCarre's other stories, too.  The action centers around Peter Guillam, spy master George Smiley's first lieutenant, who is summoned back to England from retirement in France to answer for a spy operation that went bad back in the late 1950s.  And once again we meet familiar characters such as George Smiley, and Jim, the gruff school teacher and former spy who was the hero of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  It took me a while to finish the book, but I definitely liked it, and recommend it to anyone who liked LeCarre's other stories.

A Ferrari On The Streets Of Denver?

I was driving home after running an errand Saturday morning, and spotted a Ferrari 458 waiting to make a left turn at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and East Evans Avenue here in South Denver (as seen in the photograph above).  This particular model has a base retail price of $243,000, roughly what my condo would bring if I was crazy enough to sell it.  I am just amazed that someone would pay that kind of money for a car, and even more surprised that Denver actually has a Ferrari dealership.  Not that a Ferrari isn't the perfect choice for grocery store runs.  If you need a quart of milk, you need it quick, and what better way to get there fast than a Ferrari.  I couldn't help but notice that the car was heading in the direction of the University of Denver, which has a reputation for having a wealthy student body.  Could an undergrad be driving that car?  Which gives me an idea. Maybe I should print up bumper stickers that say "My Other Car is a Hyundai" to serve that market. Perhaps I could earn enough to buy my own Ferrari.

Commerce City - Going Upscale?

I understand that Commerce City, located just to the northeast of Denver, is becoming an upscale suburb. In fact, the prize in one of those "Dream House" raffles put on by a local charity ($100 a ticket) was a luxury house in - yes - Commerce City.  Commerce City is also the home of Dick's Sporting Goods Field, where the Colorado Rapids Soccer team plays.  But for me, the photograph above is what truly defines Commerce City - oil refineries, lots and lots of oil refineries.  During the daytime, pretty ugly - but at night, fairly colorful. However, not a place I would like to live in, or even hang out in, for that matter.  As Mark Twain once said about Texas, if I owned both Commerce City and hell, I would rent out Commerce City and live in hell.And yes - I do still plan to do a photo book called The Bridges of Commerce City.  It will undoubtedly be a bestseller.

A Memorial Day Weekend Art Festival

Denver's first art festival of the season took place this weekend at Conservatory Green in Denver's Northfield neighborhood, located on the site of the old Stapleton Airport.  It took a little less than half an hour to drive out there, which reminded me that it once took less than 30 minutes to get to the airport, instead of having to drive to the Kansas border, like we do now.  But I digress.  This festival used to take place in downtown Denver, but moved to this new location a few years ago, and I stopped attending.  However, since I saw in the newspaper that it is considered one of the top art festivals in the country, I decided to go this year.  And I must say, the art was pretty good, and there were lots of photography booths, like the one on the left, which displayed a lot of really nice photographs of Europe.

The festival seems to be much larger than it was when it was downtown. The park is an oval about three blocks long, and the booths were set up all around the perimeter road surrounding it, as well as in the park itself.  .This is the first time I have visited this neighborhood, and I must say it is very nice.  There are a lot of 3 story townhouses surrounding this park, and just to the north are some really large homes, including contemporary versions of the Charleston Single House, complete with full length verandas on the side.  It is a fairly new community, and the trees are just starting to grow, giving it a definite suburban feel.  Also, although nice, the townhouses and homes all look alike, adding to that suburb atmosphere.  I myself prefer downtown or old city neighborhoods with lots of trees.  Nevertheless, I did enjoy looking at the photography.  In the photo on the right the booth features photographs from the Sahara.  The photo on the top left of the booth features a man kissing his camel. Nice.

Also at the festival was Xavier Nuez, a photographer from Chicago who specializes in lighting up abandoned buildings in deteriorating neighborhoods in Chicago and Detroit, making for some spectacular photographs, as seen in the photograph on the left.  I first saw his photographs when the festival was downtown, and was very impressed.  In addition to selling his photographs, he holds workshops on his lighting techniques, and takes people into deteriorating Chicago neighborhoods to learn "light painting photography."  There was a $150 show special for one of these workshops, and I must say I was tempted.  Perhaps next year.  Be sure to check out Nuez's web site at http://www.nuez.com/.

Walking The Dogs

I spent part of Saturday afternoon walking the Tutu (in the photograph on the right) and Blackberry (on the left), my sister Susan and brother-in-law George's two dogs.  Both Susan and George are experiencing serious health issues, and are not able to walk more than short distances.  Therefore, I offered my services as a not quite professional dog walker, all for the usual price - nothing.  Dogs and cats are great companions, and I can see why so many people are devoted pet owners.  However, to me it is like having children - they are demanding, expensive, and you have to consider them if you want to travel.  And I do not envy pet owners having to take them out if they need to go outside at 3:00 A.M.  And so for me, walking them is fine, but I get to return them to Susan and George at the end of the walk.

Once Blackberry spotted a squirrel (a tree rat according to one of my bookstore co-workers), there was no getting her away that tree, as seen in the photograph on the right. And what would Blackberry have done if she had captured that squirrel?  Probably licked him to death.  It reminds me of that home security ad on television where two burglars walk into a house and are confronted by a fierce, growling dog.  It walks right up to them and drops it's ball, wanting to play.  Still another reason not to own dogs.

The Final Friday Of May

Last night after work I headed to the Denver Art Museum (the DAM) for their monthly Final Friday event.  I wasn't expecting much, since there is only one new show (Jeffrey Gibson - Like A Hammer), which features recent works by this Native American artist. It was not my kind of art, and so my fears were indeed realized. In the self portrait on the left, by the way, I am standing in front of of one of the museum's contemporary art works.  It is right at the entrance to the building, and is a popular sight to photograph.  I bet the curator really thought he would "clean up" with this piece, ho ho.

Since there was nothing new on display this month, most of the evening's events centered around workshops and various activities, including an art class teaching guests how to draw the various animal sculptures on display at the Stampede - Animals in Art exhibit, which has been on display for about 10 years now (or so it seems) and will be on view through May 19th, 2019.  Really?  It will be here for another year?  Give me a break.  It is not all that wonderful to begin with, and do you really think people will keep visiting the museum when all they will see is the same old sh*t.  But I digress. Still another event was an "Improv Workshop," seen in the photograph on the right.  I am not sure exactly what this has to do with art, and was not interested in finding out, and so decided to call it an evening. Perhaps next month, when a landscape photography exhibit opens, Final Friday will be a bit more interesting. One can always hope.

Remembering Elburn

In the late 1970s, my sister Susan and brother-in-law George bought a house in Elburn, Illinois, located about 10 miles west of the Chicago suburb of Geneva.  At that time the Chicago metropolitan area ended at Geneva, and west of that was all farmland.  The house they bought was very nice, and my mother Mary and father Nelson (seen posing in front of the place in the above photograph) drove up from Florida to to visit.  I distinctly remember my sister forbidding George to fry bacon in the kitchen, and George having to do it in the unheated utility room (and it was a pretty cool fall, too, I might add).  Susan would also vacuum up crumbs right under my father's feet while he was still eating, shouting to Susan to "get that damn thing out of here." Susan is no longer such a fanatic about cleaning, by the way.  Every morning, a rooster - owned by Vince, the next door neighbor - would start crowing at 4:00 A.M. sharp.  Still, my parents came back for the Christmas holiday (I think).  Just a few years later, I moved to Denver, and Susan and George soon followed, selling the Elburn house.  I hear that the area is fully developed now, and Elburn has become a suburb of Chicago.  Happy memories of a happy time.