Autumn Aspens

We were meant to work on the deck today and in order to free up the day to do so, I declined 2 invitations (an art show in the afternoon & coffee with a group of friends in the evening). Then Warren decided that we needed time as a family and he was right.

A 'family day' usually equates to a day's drive to one of the many towns in and around the Rocky Mountains.

As we headed up US-285 to Winter Park, we came across various pockets of bright yellow color dotted on the mountains and along the roadside. Some of the yellow was so bright that it looked luminous. There wasn't much in the way of orange but we did see a few orange trees blazing among yellow ones.

We came across a lone moose and stopped for a while to observe. Zulu saw the moose through the car window and barked which startled it but it didn't run off.

We stopped at the town of Fraser for a picnic lunch. At this particular spot there is a bronze statue of Dwight Eisenhower aka "Ike" who was the 34th President of the United States (1953 -1961) and who was succeeded by John F. Kennedy. (Bear with me - I am trying to get up to speed on American history).

The boys enjoyed monkeying around on the rocks after lunch.

The bronze statue is of Ike fishing because it was one of his favorite hobbies while staying in Colorado.

We ventured up to one of the peaks in the National Park and it got a lot colder. It even started to snow while we were up there. The boys and the dog explored the area while I sat in the car. I admit, I am a wuss and don't like to get cold. The vegetation is so different up; trees cannot grow at such a high elevation and so most of the vegetation is brush and grass.

On our way back home we drove through Estes Park and everyone and their stepson was there. It was the weekend to view the elk herds and we drove past many enthusiasts who parked their cars along the road and had deck chairs out, thermos and sandwiches for comfortable elk viewing.

Warren and I found that rather strange.

We saw a group of horse riders out in the fields and that made for a pretty picture.

On the way home we saw more of the yellow Aspens and a lovely rainbow at Rainbow Corner (the name speaks for itself).

The leaves are quickly turning to brown and will all be gone within a week. Even though the unfinished deck is driving me CRAZY, I'm glad we took the trip up to see the leaves and I'm glad we took the time away from house cleaning and projects and spent the day together as a family.

The New Kind of Cowboys

On our way up to see the Fall leaves of the Aspen trees, we were assaulted by at least 100 bikers who were heading in the same direction we were. We were wondering what the event was and noticed that they all had pink - either on their bikes (ribbons) or on their bodies (shirts or headbands) and we realized that they were doing a "Ride for the Cure" to raise money for Breast Cancer.

We were amazed at all the variations of Harleys and other types of bikes. It was also interesting to see the different types of people. I always believed bikers to be the hard, weathered and tattoo'd type who worked in construction. Those are the usual types we see while on the occasional Saturday afternoon family drive, sitting on their bikes outside the dingy, dark and eery 'biker bars'.

On this day we were surprised to see a wide variety of bikers riding together. There were older men with long gray beards and ponytails, butch women wearing leather from head to toe and whose arms were larger than Warren's, mothers and their young daughters, petite & pretty women, heavy set men with boots and leather jackets, couples young and old and even an old gran whose skin flapped at us as she rode on by.

Warren reckons that the biker is the modern day American cowboy!

My Gymnast

When Cullen sat down in the middle of the soccer field during a game last Spring and declared "I don't want to do this anymore", I knew his 'career' in soccer was over. I think he enjoyed the fact that he was doing what his older brother was doing, I think he enjoyed the excitement of dressing in his kit and going to the game, but I know he didn't enjoy the game of soccer.

And we had a few clues...he would watch his shadow while running instead of chasing after the ball, he would do cartwheels down the field in the middle of the game, and he would trying to strike up a conversation mid-game while running alongside one of his opponents.

During the Summer I took Cullen to a free 'trial lesson' at a local gym and he beamed throughout the entire lesson. As soon as Jordan started soccer, I signed Cullen up for gymnastics.

So on Monday afternoons Cullen has his lesson with a group of boys and he loves it. (Jordan is convinced that one day Cullen will be competing in the Olympics. Judging from his lack of concentration and his 'Harry Casual' gene, I very much doubt that but I am pleased that Jordan believes so much in his brother!).

Dr Sketchy's - Honey Touche

Last night I was back at Dr Sketchy's (a group of artists that sketch various models) and we had a repeat model - the lovely Honey Touche. I guess that's her stage name - she's a burlesque dancer and has a hairstyle that I just love. The was a bar close to downtown Denver called The Thin Man and the sketching was in the bar's basement. I went with the Extremely Talented Naomi and her brother Luke.

My sketching leaves much to be desired but its fun to just hang out, sketch and have a night out from the kids. Also, I'm hoping that Naomi's talent will eventually rub off on me and my sketching will improve. So far, she hasn't shared any of her artistic germs with me.

I struggle to do faces so I didn't draw Honey's face in the first picture but did a fun 'throw-away' one of her in the 2nd picture. (There were quite a few more but I'm won't subject you to the other blobby attempts).

My picture of Honey

This last one is of Honey up close with one of Naomi's sketches.