Even a fox

Anticipation was in the air as the three of us walked down Bannock Street in Denver. The clock hadn't yet rang 6 o'clock and people were milling around the City and County Building waiting for someone to set the holiday lights aglow. Vendors sold glow-in-the-dark merchandise and flashing "sun"glasses among other goodies. Bundled up, citizens walked past heaps of snow and up to the nativity scene, looked up and stared at darkness.

As we neared the end of the block, lights still unlit, one of us spied a tiny fox. Its feet painted black and its tail whipping about, the little critter hopped alongside the building, seeming to be filled with excitement at the firing up of the lights, but we all knew the shy creature was just plain scared. It was searching for a tree or bush to hide behind, yet too much action was going on nearby and it was evident the fox could not relax.

Still, there it went - Hop! Hop! Hop! - not even letting the fact it only had three legs (the lower hindquarter was missing) slow it down.

Snow days!

I've been home all week anyway, but over the last two days I couldn't leave the house if I wanted to.

Denver was buried under 2 feet of snow and blizzard conditions for about 36 hours, ending earlier at noon today. But now, the sun is out (until it sets in about 15 minutes) and our driveway and neighborhood streets are still covered under drifts up to 5 feet tall.


This was a view from our master bedroom last evening. Yes, that is a street in our complex filled with mounds of snow. I think the plow truck got stuck; at least that's what it sounded like last night.


By the look of it, the sun has a lot of snow to melt in the coming days, including the massive amount on our rooftop.

Lest anyone worry, C. and I have plenty of food, drink and stuff to do. To wit, he has been playing a Tom Clancy game on his Xbox while I've been uploading photos, updating this space and sending e-mails to friends far and wide. Yesterday, I baked 11 dozen cookies and 16 mini loaves of lemon and pumpkin bread, wrapped them in cellophane bags and prepared to pass out the holiday cheer. I think a game of Scrabble might be in the cards later. Today, I even have done a bit of crocheting and knitting. (Below: Thanks, G., for the new Ballband Dishcloth pattern! As you can see, I'm loving it and almost have two scrubbies completed! Thank God I buy the kitchen cotton almost every time I'm in the craft store. It's so inexpensive at just over a buck a ball.)



That is all for now. I hope you and yours are staying warm and safe!

Holiday update

So it's 14 days to Christmas and I've got nearly all of my shopping done. Greeting cards are out and all but one package has been sent. I just have to finish crafting a couple of gifts before I'm done for the holidays. This is much better than last year :)

And I do have plans to do a little baking. Can't wait to fill the house with good smells of pumpkin, banana and lemon bread! Now I'm hungry.

Countdown!

I've decided to make my countdown ticker (above) into a regular feature. I guess I'll have to find new reasons to count down to an exciting date! (My birthday could be the next one, for instance.)

Hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

Holiday tidings

With my Christmas tree twinkling across the living room walls and holiday music in regular rotation on my iPod, I wish thee a very happy holiday season!

P.S. My goal is to do the remainder of my Christmas shopping online. The mall just isn't worth it.

Sound advice

Just read inside the cap of my Jones Black Cherry Soda.

Encourage tranquility if you are feeling agitated.

Good advice considering I haven't done a lick of work after being here for an hour (our system is on the fritz).

This might give me more time to view the lighting ceremony at the City and County Building across the street from work. Should be quite a treat!

Howdy, partner

On a recent trip to Tucson, Ariz., I took a little walk on the Sabino Canyon Trail, which peeks into the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Thirsty for adventure and armed with my trusty Nikon digital camera, I set out with my family. We agreed on a 2-mile stroll.

Just before the midpoint of our walk, I saw this massive saguaro very close to the road, peering from high above the trail. So I stuck my camera at its trunk and pointed skyward. Here's what I got.




Just beyond the 1-mile marker on the path, I saw the destruction that the area's monsoons can bring. In the summer, a gushing mass washed out a wide path of the road, which had since been rebuilt. But still below in the wash was the debris of heavy boulders and once-strong trees, pushed aside as though they were feathers. The tree skeletons looked like the mangled vine of a bunch of grapes after they've been eaten. And from afar, the mudslide marks on the mountain face look like scratches made on a painting before it is dry.

P.S. Wildlife surprise No. 1: At sunset, a doe and her two little ones scampered away from the trail into the thick brush peppered with different types of cacti. The moment was merely seconds, and efforts to capture it on my camera were in haste.

P.P.S. Wildlife surprise No. 2: On the way to the airport, my cousin M. was maneuvering our way up the driveway and we spotted a bobcat with eyes trained on something across our path. The small, quick animal saw us, then made after his target -- a black house cat that was lumbering low to the ground, bounding for any sign of safety. Our guess is we startled the bobcat so much, we might have saved the other kitty's life.

Sign o' the times

On my way home from work one night, I had to laugh at myself.

Out loud.

I had caught a glimpse of the new price of a gallon of gasoline on the electronic Pilot truck stop sign off Interstate 70 and was appalled it had gone up.

The new price was $2.13 a gallon. A few months ago, people would have given away their first-born for such a price, but since the sticker price has gone down in recent weeks, I found a one-cent hike surprising. Silly me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be paying in the low $2s for gas, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish it was cheaper.

Update: This same gas station has unleaded for $2.099 a gallon. Score.

By request

Here's a view of my paper's new building, as posted by request.
(And the story my paper ran about it can be found here.)

More photos

Since I neglected to direct y'all to the rest of my holiday photos, I figured almost a week later wouldn't be bad. (Sorry 'bout that.) As you hum your favorite Mexican folk song, click here.

'Nuff said

Between swigs of a Pacifico and after a serenade during our trip to Puerto Vallarta, I saw this studded message across the back of one of the musicians. With a mouthful of chips and guacamole, I ran after him to capture this picture.

Love is powerful, indeed.

Seasons collide

Fall met winter today, and there were signs everywhere.

First, this view out of our back yard shows the leafy tree bogged down with the weight of the overnight snow.

Later as I walked to work along Broadway, I stepped over slush and soggy leaves. Some where taupe, some bright golden, some red and a few green ones, not paying attention to the chilly temperature. I even saw some leaves that escaped the wet precipitation, crunching under my snow boots as I motored past the capitol.

But don't worry; I won't be freezing off my derriere. The forecast for the weekend? Upper-60s and clear.

I love this city

Two new reasons I like working at the new DNA/Rocky/Post building:

1. Walking into our newsroom's cafeteria in the late afternoon, I saw the most beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. Twilight was near, and the snow-capped peaks lined the view behind the Denver City and County Building. Talk about purple mountain magesty.

2. Through the same floor-to-ceiling windows later that night, bright pink lights shone on the top of the City and County structure in honor of breast cancer month.

They were both glorious views, enough to make me take pause and forget (even for a second) the stress and hustle of work. Take a breath. Drink in the view. It also reminded me of the treat that is coming soon, when that same building will be smattered in holiday lights and other decorations. 'Tis the season.

I'm baaack!

Sorry it has taken so long, but lest you worry, I have brought back plenty of ideas for this space from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. (And a few before that, which, sadly have not made it here yet.)

Stay tuned.

Cat and mouse

According to these two little critters, 3 in the afternoon means playtime in the park. A pair of squirrels, whipping and twitching their tails around, were playing a little game as I walked along Civic Center Park.

Squirrel A would run about six steps as Squirrel B closed the gap. 'A' would stop, letting 'B' catch up just long enough to draw in a breath (a little squirrel breath!), then it was off to the races again.

Squirrel A ran about a foot up a tree trunk, then made a beeline to something yummy in the grass, then across the fallen leaves, all the while with Squirrel B in tow. Their game played out quickly, darting around like birds that change direction just when you thought they wouldn't. What a fun day in the park!

Sing it, baby

Since I've been walking a lot more due to the parking situation at my new work building, I see many many savory characters along my route of either Broadway or Colfax, sometimes both. I had just dropped off a couple of letters at the mailbox off the 16th Street Mall and Broadway, so I headed back down Cleveland Place and saw him.

A man who looked like he was out of the Old West: black Stetson, a wanna-be handlebar moustache, dark boots and jeans with a shiny belt buckle and a red Western shirt. But the catchy part was his singing. He had a pair of black headphones wrapped around the back of his neck and was singing at the top of his lungs. I heard him over my own headphones and promptly stopped my music to listen. As he got farther and farther away, I could still see the heads a-turnin'!

Odd dog in the park

I only caught a glimpse, but it's now like a snapshot I have memorized.

The day was zooming by quickly -- errands, the daily grind, etc. -- and I was hurrying to work. Suddenly, my eyes caught two figures in a park near the Cherry Creek bike path.

Two yoginis wearing bright colors that reminded me of springtime were postured in downward-facing dog, but the part that caught my eye was the sea of colorful flowers that surrounded them. What a prime piece of real estate they had staked out. I imagined the scent of all those flowers they were breathing in deeply. It reminded me to slow down, to make time for myself.

It reminded me of a T-shirt I bought at a yoga conference a few years ago. A buddha smiles, and beneath it is a sort of demand.

Inhale. Exhale. Ahhhhhhh...

Crazy, 'mon'!

Shame on me. I haven't told this to everyone yet, so here it goes.

It has been almost three weeks ago, but C. and I went to Keystone for a golf tournament he had qualified for. It was The Fan-950's summer golf tour, and after three tries at different qualifying tournaments around the Denver area, he finally qualified and later won.

The grand prize? A trip for two to Jamaica. We're planning on going in late March. Just about everything is included: air fare, transfers, golf (go figure!), meals and beverages at the all-inclusive Grand Lido resort. I'm not quite sure, but I believe it includes scuba diving (on excursions for beginners). Something I read on their Web site also says manicures and pedicures are complimentary.

And just in case you're wondering, C. shot an 82, but the scoring was a Stableford format in which he finished with -1 points.

Not his greatest round, but good enough to win.

P.S. As one friend said, time to get our Red Stripe on.

Remembrance

Over the past week, I've heard various stories from people; their memories of 9/11.

Where they were, whom they were with, what they were doing. What they were thinking.

So I thought of my story. Here it is:

I was living in Pueblo at the time, but on this day five years ago I was in Arvada staying at Mom's house since I had gone to the Broncos' Monday Night Football the night before. Out of nowhere, she burst into the guest room where I was sleeping, shouting "We're being attacked!" Wha? My brother had called her from Minnesota, an hour ahead, and told her, plainly, "Turn on the TV." I think it was about 8 a.m. MDT. I followed her into the living room and we didn't even speak. My dad appeared, he didn't say a word. We sat in silence, watching what so many of us can replay vividly in our minds. And I had to go to work. In Pueblo. I think it was about 11 a.m. or noon when I was driving down Interstate 25, and I saw something that will never be erased from memory. A single man standing on the bridge of Downing or Washington (this is all before the T-REX project) was waving an American flag. It was big, he was small, and that flag flapped to the left and the right, and he just stood there, making his statement. I drove down the highway, listening to a continuous feed of news from the radio, then went straight to the newsroom in Pueblo. Sympathetic faces stared back at me, and nobody said a word to each other. The first thing I wanted to find out was if the high school soccer games in the county had been cancelled. "Nope," my editor said. Shoot. I had to cover a boy's game and I didn't really want to. Begrudgingly, I arrived at the Roncalli Middle School soccer field, where it was East and Centennial high schools getting ready to take the pitch, both teams unbeaten. In the press box, I sat with the scoreboard operator and an officer working security. We tuned the radio to the news. The soccer game was flat, boring, inconsequential. The first thing I asked the boys after the game was, "Do you even want to be out here?" The overwhelming sentiment was no. They wanted to be at home, with family, with friends. Not out doing this. The next day, the school district said it should have postponed games, which is what most districts in Colorado did, not to mention professional sports leagues. It was the right thing to do. I wrote my soccer story for the next day's paper, all the while catching snippets of news from TVs and wire stories. On that day, I couldn't get enough coverage. It was all to satisfy the question that was poking at me all day. The burning question was "Why?"

"Why did this happen?"

Psych

Driving down Broadway on my way to work yesterday, I passed a sign that shouldn't be displayed on a Sunday. It's something at which those of us who have lived in Colorado at any one time (or a lifetime) would furl our brow. As I passed Blake Street, my eyes flashed across the words.

"Liquor store --> OPEN"

Huh? The arrow was just taunting me. I'm sure it was someone's mistake by leaving the sign out overnight, but that's just wrong to make us think we can buy a frosty case of beer or a liter of our favorite liquor from the LQ on a Sunday.