Celebrating Stuart's Birthday At Old Chicago

My friend Stuart - seen in the photograph above - and I celebrated his birthday at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in beautiful but incredibly boring Lakewood, Colorado yesterday afternoon. I would not be so presumptuous as to mention Stuart's age - I will simply say that he is OLD. Stuart and I discussed a number of topics, ranging from baseball to the January 6th hearings. Stuart is originally from the North Side of Chicago, and a Chicago Cubs fan. The Cubs are currently 17 games under .500, and even Stuart acknowledges that they stink. I am originally from the South Side of Chicago, and a White Sox fan. The White Sox have been beset by injuries, but are still only 4 games under .500, and I for one hope they can still make a run for the playoffs once all their injured players return. As for the January 6th hearings, both of us wonder how there can still be Trump fans after the revelations about his attempt to overthrow a free and fair election. There very well could be over 70 million of them, which is very very scary indeed. Even scarier than living in a suburb like Lakewood.

Coffee With Roddy At Kaladi's

I had coffee at Kaladi's, just to the west of the University of Denver campus, with Roddy, my friend and professor of photography at DU. I took quite a few classes with Roddy - seen at Kaladi's in the photograph above - when I worked at the University of Denver Bookstore, and he is both an excellent teacher and quite amusing too. This summer he will be taking a DU photography class to both Copenhagen and Stockholm, and afterwards heading to Finland to work on one of his photography projects. Now that sounds like a lot of fun. Have a great trip, Roddy!

Watching CFL Football With Mark

I watched the Toronto Argonauts play the British Columbia Lions with my friend Mark Sunday morning. The game took place Saturday night, but Mark recorded it so we could watch it the next day. Mark, seen in the photograph above along the Vancouver waterfront, is a BC Lions fan. I myself was rooting for Toronto, since I am rather nostalgic about spending vacations when I was young up in Ontario with my family. The BC Lions won the game 44 to 3, and the game was not as close as the score would indicate. Good thing I haven't downloaded one of those sports apps they advertise on television every minute or so, and started placing bets, even if they do say there is no way you can lose. After all, they can't say it if it's not true, right? Right!

The Highlands Street Fair

My sister Susan and I, along with her dog Blackberry, attended the 39th annual Highlands Street Fair this past Saturday. It is one of the largest such festivals in the Denver area, featuring music, food from local restaurants, and lots of merchandise and art. This massive block party was very well attended, and stretched all along West 32nd Street. When I first moved to Denver back in 1981, this neighborhood, one of Denver's oldest, was touted as the "affordable alternative to Washington Park." Now, of course, it is just as unaffordable as Wash Park, but still a fun place to visit.

Not only is this festival popular with people, but with dogs, too. It seems like every minute another dog was visiting with Blackberry, who tends to shy away from any dog that is bigger than she is, such as the two in the photograph on the right. I also think she was a bit freaked out by the crowds. She didn't relax until we headed back to the car through the much less crowded residential area, which features lots of 19th century Victorian homes. This has always been a one-day-only event, which helps explain the huge crowd, and I must say it was great fun. Can't wait until next year.

Getting Nostalgic About The Sun Castle

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my father Nelson, mother Mary, Grandmother Louise and I drove from Chicago to Pompano Beach, Florida back in August of 1963 to stay at the Sun Castle, a hotel right on the beach. It was a really nice place, and as I recall charged eight dollars per person per day to stay there during the summer, including breakfast and dinner. The photograph above shows my mother, grandmother, and me in front of the pool, where I spent a lot of time that week. The hotel was a three story building with a significant amount of beachfront, and we all had a great time there. Years later, when my mother was living in Stuart, Florida, we drove down there one day to look around, and the Sun Castle was long gone. There were nothing but high rises on both sides of the road, and if any of them were hotels, I'd be willing to bet they didn't charge eight dollars a day including meals any longer, although I could be wrong. I should probably head down there one of these days and find out. Tell them that was the price advertised on Trip Advisor.

It's Summer, And Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Is Doing A Land-Office Business! On A Weekday!

I took the photograph above of the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream shop this past Wednesday afternoon as I was walking home from getting a haircut in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood. Even on a weekday afternoon, the place was packed, which was not a surprise, since it was such a hot day. It does remind me of the line spoken by Michael Moore in his 1989 documentary Roger and Me. He stated that he moved from his hometown of Flint, Michigan - where so many people were out of a job and looking for work - to San Francisco, where everyone had a job but nobody seemed to work. Has Denver taken up that mantel now that the place is filled with Californians? Perhaps so.

Bella Joy Gardens

I took the photograph above of Bella Joy Gardens and the mural of Isabella Joy Thallas the other day as I was walking along East 17th Avenue on my way to Denver's Lower Downtown neighborhood and the Union Station light rail stop. It is a very small park named for a woman who was shot and killed while she and her boyfriend were walking their dog in the Ballpark neighborhood. The accused shooter, angry about their dog doing its business in front of his house, shot them both using an AK-47 he stole from a policeman friend. What a commentary on today's society when something so violent takes place over something so petty. The trial starts next month, and the defendant plans to enter a plea of insanity.