Awesome day

What a delightful day with my friend Jennefer! The day started with a yummy breakfast at the Cow Eatery, and a long walk through Morrison, then all the way down to Bear Creek Lake and back. We saw lots of birds, and passed a herd of white tailed deer. We had walked over six miles, and we were ready to eat again! We made our way over closer to downtown Denver, and had a delicious lunch at El Noa Noa, on Santa Fe Drive.

Then we headed over to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and watched two IMAX movies. We saw a 3D space documentary, which was very fun and informative, then ran through the Chocolate exhibit, with our free 10 minutes between films, and went into the next movie, about how airplanes have changed our world. That one was narrated by Harrison Ford, and did a really nice job, of showing how the shorter travel times, and better accessibility to remote places, has changed everything.


We weren't ready to end our fun day, so after that, we took a very relaxed evening walk around the lake, snapping pictures of the beautiful post sunset sky, lots of geese, the lake, reflections, the Pavillion lights.






The Pavillion building at the lake - never seen it lighted before - with the American Flag waving beautifully in the lights nearby. 









Pretty moon over the lake, and downtown Denver in the background.








I just loved seeing the lights reflecting on the lake. I've tried achieving this kind of picture by using the watercolor filter in Photoshop, but this one just came out that way on its own. Makes me smile to look at it.





After our walk, we still had energy, and hunger pangs, so we headed off in search of food. We found a great, but very busy, place called Humboldt on 18th Ave, and had a really delicious dinner. I remember taking Dad and Adele there a few years back, when it was called "Strings," and it was great then, but it's even better now.

Omigosh. This day will be hard to beat!

A personal victory

On a more positive note, this week I'm celebrating a personal achievement, of (intentionally!) losing 10% of my body weight over the past eight months. My trigger event, was that I asked for an A1C reading during my annual physical exam last year, and was told I was slightly above the normal range, which technically made me prediabetic. Holy ****, I thought, after the past 20 years of dealing with Kristan's diabetes and complications. Don't need to do anything special, they said, since I'm still below the diabetic range. Don't worry, my dad said, since several of my ancestors were prediabetic but never became diabetic. But, I decided to be proactive, and my first action is to keep close track of my food intake, and exercise a little more, with a goal of 10% weight loss over a year. My doctor, and other people, have told me that that alone can make the difference. So this week, I made it! Slow and steady, that's my motto, in many things, and this too. This puts me back at the weight I was, 30 years ago, when Kristan and I were married. Coincidentally, after that last scare in the ER in January, I went to my primary care physician for a follow up, and asked for another A1C as long as I was there. The result was encouraging, as it now falls just inside the normal range. Woo hoo!

The idea of moving on

My friend Rachel forwarded me to this post on Kelley Lynn's website, where she talks about the idea of moving on. I thank her for the thoughtful and self respecting words. Nobody has yet asked me to move on, and now it's been a year since losing Kristan, the center of my universe for over 30 years. She's so on target – every single thing has changed, and most people don't get that. In all fairness to the well-wishers who speak such hurtful things, I like to think that if I were ever to ask someone to move on, I would be asking them to not let their memories of their previous life paralyze them, leaving them unable to function in today's world. That is the only thing that I wish I could move on from.

Sunday at the ER

So, it was my turn, Sunday night, to spend four hours at the ER. Very scary experience, but I'm fine now. It turns out, that something I ate, really disagreed with me, and vice-versa!

Burma Shave signs

Before there were interstates, when everyone drove the old two-lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. I remember fondly, seeing these signs alongside the highway, when our family drove cross-country several times when I was little. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart, the first four each containing one-line of a four-line couplet... And the obligatory fifth sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream. We would run across a group of these, every once in a long while, and everyone would read them aloud and smile at the clever humor.

DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW OUT SO FAR IT MAY GO HOME IN ANOTHER CAR Burma Shave	TRAINS DON'T WANDER ALL OVER THE MAP 'CAUSE NOBODY SITS IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP Burma Shave	SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH BY MISTAKE SHE THOUGHT IT WAS HER HUSBAND JAKE Burma Shave
DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD TO GAIN A MINUTE YOU NEED YOUR HEAD YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT Burma Shave	DROVE TOO LONG DRIVER SNOOZING WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS NOT AMUSING Burma Shave	BROTHER SPEEDER LET'S REHEARSE ALL TOGETHER GOOD MORNING, NURSE Burma Shave
CAUTIOUS RIDER TO HER RECKLESS DEAR LET'S HAVE LESS BULL AND A LITTLE MORE STEER Burma Shave	SPEED WAS HIGH WEATHER WAS NOT TIRES WERE THIN X MARKS THE SPOT Burma Shave	THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL FOR BEER LED TO A WARMER HEMISPHERE Burma Shave
AROUND THE CURVE LICKETY-SPLIT BEAUTIFUL CAR WASN'T IT? Burma Shave	NO MATTER THE PRICE NO MATTER HOW NEW THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE IN THE CAR IS YOU Burma Shave	A GUY WHO DRIVES A CAR WIDE OPEN IS NOT THINKIN' HE'S JUST HOPIN' Burma Shave
AT INTERSECTIONS LOOK EACH WAY A HARP SOUNDS NICE BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY Burma Shave	HANDS ON THE WHEEL EYES ON THE ROAD THAT'S THE SKILLFUL DRIVER'S CODE Burma Shave	THE ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING DEPENDS ON YOU TO DO HIS THINKING Burma Shave
CAR IN DITCH DRIVER IN TREE THE MOON WAS FULL AND SO WAS HE Burma Shave	PASSING SCHOOL ZONE TAKE IT SLOW LET OUR LITTLE SHAVERS GROW Burma Shave	HE SAW THE TRAIN AND TRIED TO DUCK IT HE KICKED THE GAS AND THEN THE BUCKET Burma Shave
A MAN A MISS A CAR A CURVE HE KISSED THE MISS AND MISSED THE CURVE Burma Shave	.	.

Stuff works!

My refrigerator is running again! (I know, I'd better go catch it). I can read the display on my microwave again! The wrecked door on the oven bottom drawer is replaced! Gosh, I guess you'd call these simple pleasures. But I waited far too long, and it feels so good, to finally get that all done.

One year

Facebook reminded me this morning, that today is the first anniversary of that miserable night, when I got a call from the hospital at 10pm, saying that Kristan was unresponsive, and I raced in there, dragging her visiting brother with me, only to find she was already gone. It's been quite a year. I'm sure I must've healed emotionally over the past 365 days, although from my nearsighted vantage point, I find it difficult to tell. I've had plenty to keep me busy, not unlike previous years, so I don't think of her every moment, but when I do come up for air, sometimes it hits me like a ton of bricks. I've tried all year, to finally get out and travel to see family, especially my dad, and I think I've been successful. I'm resolving this year, to try to get a little of my self back - on no particular schedule, but I'm determined to make some positive changes, even though I've no specific plan for what they might be. Thanks to all my friends and family, for your support, either up close and personal, or electronically - all of it is very much appreciated.

Trip for Uncle Bill's Funeral

I just got back from traveling to the east coast with my niece Dorothy, and meeting up with my cousin Rebecca and some of her extended family, to bury her dad - my uncle Bill - at Arlington National Cemetery. She arranged a funeral for him, with full military honors, and it was a very moving service. I miss my uncle Bill more than I knew.

A very big upside to this trip, was the opportunity to get together with Rebecca and her family and friends, uncle Bill's companion Anita and her family, and my sister Mikele and her family. Over the next two days, we completed a few whirlwind tours of the D.C. Metro system, the National Zoo, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian American History and Air & Space Museums.

Christmas Trip!

I just got home, after two weeks of being away, visiting with family and friends in California for the Christmas holiday. My niece Dorothy, who recently moved to Colorado, shared the drive. We covered over 2600 miles in 40 hours of driving.

It was really nice, to have Dorothy along. Not only did she do some of the driving, but she was a great conversationalist, and it was fun sharing meals with her, too. She loves to make quirky faces in pictures. I got used to that after awhile... We stopped for breakfast at "Marion's of the Rockies" in Idaho Springs on the way out, and completely lost track of time (and two hours on the road!) while chatting, before, during, and after the meal.

Mandy was a great little traveling dog. She spent most of the time sleeping quietly in the back seat of the car. She dutifully ventured out to do her business, every time we stopped for gas or at a rest area. She was also a great little roommate, cuddling with me under her little fleece blanket on the bed, in the hotel rooms, at my sister Mikele's, and when we stayed with our friends Ken and Freddie. She got along great with Mikele's dog Molly, and tolerated the cats well enough. What a great little trouper.

Dorothy was very happy to see her chickens again, and it seems that they were also ecstatic to see her. They were all over her in an instant, climbing up on her shoulders when she invited them, and tapping at her ears in an endearing way. She walked around the chicken coop, saying hello to each and every one of them in turn. During the time we were there, Mikele said they all started laying more eggs than ever before. One of them, who hadn't been laying at all since Dorothy left a few months ago, started laying again, producing an egg every day, and sometimes two. Happy, happy, happy!

My sister had to work right up until Christmas, so we descended on her, and whisked her away for lunch each day. She and her coworkers in Cal Poly's Administration building won the informal Christmas office decoration contest, with their suspended ornaments and little white lights around the ceiling.

Mikele's husband Bob and I played frisbee golf twice at the 18-hole Atascadero disc golf course. The first day we played, we got rained out before we finished playing around. The next time we played, the rain came back, and tried again to shoo us away, but we stuck with it, and finished all 18 holes. I really enjoyed that! It's too snowy to play in Colorado these days. I think the dogs really liked adventuring around the course with us, too.

I drove over to Los Osos one afternoon, to visit with my friend Sher. We attended the same junior high and high schools, but we didn't really know each other, until we became fast friends, after she contacted me, while coordinating attendance for our 30th high school reunion, quite a few years ago, now. She has two different dogs since the last time I saw her, and Mandy did her usual "carving out her space" thing, while we were visiting.

I invited Sher out to dinner, and we decided to ask my sister and her family to join us in Morro Bay. We had a delicious seafood dinner at "Off the Hook Seafood Grill & Sushi", and really enjoyed the food, the company, the view of Morro Rock, the bay, and the sunset. What fun.

We hiked the Bob Jones trail, from a trailhead near Highway 101, to Avila beach, a nice walk of about six miles. Each time we had lunch at Custom House, a nice seafood restaurant, with outdoor patio seating right along the boardwalk. Very pleasant! Mandy was her usual great self, keeping up with us, and behaving very well, while laying at our feet while we were eating.

We had a delightful Christmas Eve dinner, hosted by my nephew Brighton and his girlfriend Marissa, at their pleasant partly below-ground rental space they call "the hobbit hole." Marissa, who works with her mom Jodi at the "Bloom and Grow" flower shop, sings opera professionally, and teaches yoga classes, wasn't feeling well, but it was hard to know it, because she did an incredible job, serving all of us a delicious feast, with a delightful atmosphere.

I wasn't really ready with Christmas presents for everybody, but at the last minute, Bob, Dorothy, and I made a trek to San Luis Obispo, and I had so much fun, walking around my old college town, visiting the stores. I really liked how much bigger all the trees have gotten, since I was walking around SLO with my girlfriend, and stopping into all the cute little women's clothes stores, so many years ago.

Everyone said it wouldn't matter, but I think I was channeling Kristan, because I suddenly starting having some ideas about things to get for people. I felt so much better, having a little something under the tree for everyone on Christmas Day.

We saw the new Stars Wars Episode VII movie! It was fun! I should thank everyone who saw it before we did, but were nice enough to not spoil anything. Oops. I accidentally cut Marissa out of this selfie, but she was there!

On our way back home, we stopped in Lincoln, CA for a short, but very pleasant, visit with my friends Ken and Freddie, who used to live just down the street from us for ten years, but moved away in 2014. They were the best friends anyone could ask for, going for walks on a moment's notice, helping Kristan get to medical appointments, and sharing many meals and holidays with us, over the years. We got the royal tour of their new house and yard in Lincoln, went for walks in the open spaces nearby, and drove around looking at the Christmas lights in the nearby neighborhoods.

It was COLD the last morning of our trip -- MINUS 19 degrees (51 below freezing!), when we woke up at the Little America in Wyoming. There was a low lying fog in the area, but it didn't cause us any problems. The car barely cranked over, and it did start thank goodness, but now I'm wondering if the battery is going bad again, less than a year after being replaced. The lighted trees around the hotel looked beautiful in the bone chilling cold, as I was filling the car with gas before we headed East across Wyoming that morning.

It was nice to come home to a pretty sunset. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the refrigerator had failed while I was gone, and it must've been awhile ago, because all the food in both compartments was warm and dried out. With my friend Jennefer's help, we were able to find a company that agreed to come out and repair the refrigerator today, but then they discovered they had the wrong type of compressor, and will have to come back Saturday to finish the job. Before they arrived, we filled two entire large trash cans with spoiled food. It was very sad to be throwing away what used to be good food, but it was also an emotional experience for me, as a lot of the food items were special things that Kristan was fond of, and I had been keeping, with the idea that I'd figure out a way to make use them.

While the repairmen were attempting to fix the refrigerator, Jennefer and I watched the original Star Wars movie that I had bought while we were in California. I learned some time ago, that she had never seen any of the Star Wars movies. I tried to show her episode IV on videotape last summer, but that was when I discovered my VCR wasn't working any more, so I finally bought the entire series on BluRay, when I was visiting with my sister and her family. I think she enjoyed it!

After the movie, and the repairmen had left, promising to return on Saturday, Jennefer and I went out for a quiet dinner at Merle's in downtown Littleton. We took a New Year's Eve selfie on Main Street outside the restaurant, hoping the pretty lights would look a little festive.

I'm so glad to be home...

Chautauqua Park

Jennefer and I met my niece Dorothy this morning, at Chautauqua Dining Hall in Boulder for breakfast. I love all the fireplaces they have in the dining hall!

Then we went for a cold, icy, walk on the trails in Chautauqua Park. We had a great time!

Snow!

Well, the Snow has definitely arrived, and continues. I didn't anticipate not being able to tell which mailbox to put my letter in, this morning...

Big snow forecast

It's pouring rain out there! That's probably a good thing - if it were snowing, every inch of this rain would be the equivalent of about a foot of snow to shovel in the morning. Although I *was* looking forward to a nice pretty layer of white stuff when I get up. The forecast has been alternately calling for 2 feet, a few inches, 3-7 inches, 4-11 inches... it's hard to know if we'll get anything. I guess it depends if it gets cold enough overnight, to turn this rain into snow.

Fun with LEDs

When I lamented that the time change made it impossible to play disc golf after work, without blundering around in the dark, looking for lost discs and hard to see holes (the baskets), someone at the disc golf course mentioned that there are LED gadgets available, to light up both the disc and the hole. So, I got on Amazon and found them. Here's what they looked like, last night, when we tried them out. Coincidentally, I happened to get a hole-in-one on hole 3 - my first "one" in years! It was so cool, to watch the little blinking light on the disc fly through the air towards the well-lit hole, and then hear the chains, and see it fall into the basket. Very satisfying and fun.

In the first picture, we're preparing to putt into hole 1, which is off to the right, and is lit up with an amber LED downlight. That's my friend Jennefer off to the left, just in front of the house's window in the background, holding up her disc with the little green LED light taped to the inside. And my disc is lying on the grass in the foreground.

The second picture shows hole 3 up close, just after my hole-in-one. Woo-hoo! Some other players nearby, playing the home behind us, saw my throw, and congratulated me on my great accomplishment. That felt good, too. :-)
The cool little downlight has several LEDs in a circle on the bottom, and has some kind of wireless link to a small handheld remote control, which allowed me to turn it on and off, and select any one of a dozen different colors, or choose a mode where it changes to a new color every second or so.

Sunday walk

Just finished a delicious breakfast at Racines, and a nice walk around Denver City Park, with my neighbor Jim and my friend Gail, and Mandy, of course.

Long walk with Dorothy

My niece Dorothy, who moved to Colorado a few weeks ago, met me in Morrison for breakfast, then we walked along Bear Creek for over 5 miles. We had a delightful time, and got to see a few traces of Fall colors left, but mostly were reminded by all the plant life going dormant, that Winter is essentially here. We were out walking for so long, that by the time we got back, it was lunch time, so we went back to the Cow, and were not disappointed, as their lunch menu was equally delicious.

Special K STUG

I was rooting around in the pantry tonight, looking for something easy to wolf down for dinner, and ran across this box of cereal I picked up recently. Seeing the big K, and the words around it, got me all choked up. She really was, both special, and original.

Sunday walk

Pics from this morning's beautiful walk at Denver city park, with Jim and Jennefer. We saw a dragon in the middle of the lake!

Dinner at Merle's

Took Jennefer with me, back to Merle's Diner, for another delicious veggie burger, with quinoa, black beans, and eggplant. And some amazing spices. Yum. Interesting shadow on the blind when we got here.

Breakfast at OPH

Just finished a delicious breakfast at Original Pancake House, with Dorothy and Jennefer! What a treat. It feels like we got one of everything!

Cold out

Short walk this evening. Not surprising, on this 34° night. I wore my "dog walking" coat tonight. It has really great reflectors built-in. Thanks to Kristan for thinking of this.

Fresh Start Cleaners Closing

Kristan got me started, bringing my shirts here to Fresh Start to be laundered, and I've fallen into a comfortable routine with it, over the years. I got a phone call earlier this evening, asking me to come pick up my shirts, because they're closing tomorrow. After I picked up my clothes, wished them good luck, and climbed back in my car, I found myself experiencing an inordinately intense surge of grief. I guess it's because this routine she got me started with has ended, which has me thinking back fondly of all the different places she tried, before she settled on this one. Oh well. At least these surges are temporary.

Blue Light Special

I'm in the pretreatment 90 minute waiting period,

at the dermatologist, prior to receiving their Photodynamic "Blue Light Special" Therapy. *Then* they "burn my face off" (my words). They applied a special solution to my face, that will bind to the precancerous cells in the skin. Then they will hit my face with a strong blue light, which will kill the bad cells. The goal is to hopefully avoid having these cells go bad on me in the future, because they won't be there any more. This is supposed to be much more effective, than running around my face with liquid nitrogen, and burning individual spots away.

Dorothy's here!

It doesn't get much better than this. My niece is here!!! She's joining Jim, Mandy, and I, for breakfast at Racine's, and our usual walk around Denver City Park. Hooray!

Enjoying a "Viva La France" French toast breakfast, on my Friday off. Mandy's in the car on this 43° morning. Today marks the anniversary of my 37th year working at the same company (if you count all the corporate pac-man shenanigans), and 41+ years since I started working professionally. Here's a nice Fall color pic, of the trees on Ridge Road this morning.