Snow + Obama = Interesting Wednesday

Our terrace - 10/26/11

On Monday, Denver set a new high temperature record of 80°.  On Wednesday, it snowed and snowed - the first of the season.  Colorado weather is definitely interesting.

My ticket

Also, on Wednesday, President Obama spoke at UCDenver, where Barry works.  Since he was literally speaking across the street from our loft, I would have felt badly if I missed the opportunity to see our President.  Last night, he stayed at The Four Seasons Hotel, about 3 blocks from our place, so several blocks of the surrounding area were totally closed to traffic.  It was eery to walk over to the campus in the snow with no traffic to be seen.

Line to see Obama

Remnants of line to see Obama

With ticket in hand, I waited for over an hour as the white stuff continued to fall to go through security to get into the speech. It was worth it.  There's a certain excitement about being in a room with thousands of regular people and one very powerful person. Segments from his speech in Denver can be seen here.   Everyone was hoisting their cell phones to record a glimpse of the Pres, so I apologize for my disappointing photo below.

The guy in the white shirt under the flag is Obama

What a difference a swing state makes.  When I lived in Georgia, we never saw any candidates come through in 2008.  Both parties ceded the election to the R column. But, since Colorado is a swing state, I expect to see lots of action. This is already the second time in a month that Obama spoke in Denver.  Most people who have lived here a while have seen him numerous times.  I definitely had candidate envy, so I will have to make up for all of the lost opportunities of seeing politicians do their thing while we live in Denver.

So, an interesting Wednesday, and I'm ready for the snow to stop now please.

Cabbage of Ostracism

I was invited to Ethiopian Night at a friend's house, which meant making an Ethiopian dish to share.   Once I found a recipe named "Cabbage of Ostracism," I was hooked. How could I pass that one up?  Of course, I worried a bit about the ostracism part - hoping that there were not gaseous outpourings upon ingestion that caused one to be ostracized.  

It looked and tasted pretty normal, if anything I would have liked it spicier.  And no ostracism that I detected.

But it made me think how much fun it would be to name our dishes in this way. Meatloaf of Mediocrity, Eggs of Anxiety, Beneficent Brownies, Cauliflower of Conjecture, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Tonight I think I'll go with Fish Tacos of Tenacity.  

Would love to hear your creative suggestions.

Is Thomas Wolfe Correct?

Yes and no.

He did say "You Can't Go Home Again", and I learned this past weekend that you can in some respects, but not in others.

For the first time since I moved to Denver last November, I went back to Atlanta (and, yes, I had grits more than once while there) for less than 72 hours.  I tried to cram in as much friend immersion as I possibly could in that short time period.  I was disappointed that I did not get to see everyone who I wanted to spend time with, and the time that I spent with those who I did see was shorter than I would have liked.  But it still was so much fun to see my ATL friends.

What struck me is that I don't miss the place at all.  I drove by my beloved home, and my first and foremost thought was "thank goodness we don't have to take care of that property any more." 

Of course, I do miss the people, but it was very comforting to see folks who I haven't seen in almost a year and just pick up exactly where we left off.  It was as if I had seen them a few weeks ago.  What a wonderful feeling - just the way I hoped it would be when I wrote about friendship in this blog nine months ago here.

How different adult friendships are than friendships when you are young.  Remember how people who you now barely remember signed your yearbook in high school, promising eternal friendship?  Then you saw them a few years later and had nothing to say to each other?  Well, this was nothing like that.  This was a great experience, giving a secure feeling that these people will be with me for life.

For me, "Home" was definitely not the place, but the people.  Thank you, friends.

Weekend Invasions

There were a significant number of  visitors to our hood this weekend.

First on Friday, I noticed a line of thousands of women pouring out of the Pepsi Center near our apartment.  I went on line to see the origin of this wealth of women and found out that it was a conference of The Women of Faith.  Who are these women, I wondered?  I went on their website and found this description of the the 2-day event in Denver:  "God loves us more than we know.  He gives us more than we can ask or dream.  He's unrestrained . . . excessive . . . outrageous . . . Over the Top."  Wow - I've never seen God described like a Justin Bieber press release before.  To add to this, I was rendered breathless by the list of speakers at this event, including ... wait for it ... Blair from The Facts of Life (Lisa Whelchel).  I've always felt that my spiritual world needs inspiration from a child tv star from the 80's, don't you?

In the other direction, on the downtown Denver roster this weekend, was the Great American Beer Festival at the convention center.  I'm not quite sure what one does at a beer festival, but I imagine it involves drinking large quantities of beer.  I do know that 40,000 tickets were sold to this maxed-out event.  I also know that there were beer-drinking folks everywhere, sporting necklaces with beer cans hanging from them or pretzel necklaces with actual edible pretzels dangling.

So I felt a bit out of place this weekend until Sunday, when the Race for the Cure invaded.  Finally, my people were here.  Quite a sight from the terrace as tens of thousands walked, ran, jostled and enjoyed.  A great cause.

Bullwinkle in the Backyard and Other Autumn Items

We moved to Denver last year at the end of fall, so we have now almost completed all four seasons here.  By far, I've enjoyed the autumn weather the most.  It's been sunny, warm but not hot, and absolutely spectacular.  I've felt like a whiny Goldilocks when it comes to the Denver weather:  the winter was, at times, too cold; the spring was too wet; and the summer was too hot.  But, I gotta admit, fall is just right.  

The Flatirons near Boulder (where the hike/walk took place)

And I've been trying to take advantage of this lovely weather, making the effort to do more outdoorsy things (but, I still fall very short in this category compared to my fellow Coloradans).  I've even taken a small hike, which I would just call a walk.  This reminds me of the question that I've had since I moved here:  what is the difference between a hike and a walk?  I would never say that I'm taking a hike to Main Street, so maybe it has something to do with whether it's in the city or the country?  Or is the difference whether you're walking on a paved surface versus dirt?  Or, as one friend suggested to me, when you drive to a place just so you can walk, that's a hike.  

There are beautiful sunsets every night that we enjoy from the terrace.

Bullwinkle in the Backyard (note the golden aspens in the background)

I drove to the mountains to see an old Texas friend this week.  As her dog barked on the deck, we went outside to see what was going on.  There was a very large moose in her backyard, who bore a suspicious resemblance to Bullwinkle.  It's beautiful in the mountains this time of year.  The many aspen trees are all turning a golden yellow, and they absolutely glimmer.

View from the lunch table at Breckenridge

Fall is also a time to celebrate the birthday of my lovely and talented daughter, Emily Shur.   She turned 35 this past week, which makes me feel incredibly old.  I know that I gave birth to her a very long time ago, in the days when seeing a pregnant woman have a glass of wine would not bring consternation from the public at large.  In fact, the night before Emily was born, I called my doctor to tell him that I had started having contractions.  His advice was to drink the strongest alcoholic drink that I could and go to sleep.  He said if I was really in labor, I would need the rest and would eventually wake up because no one has ever slept through labor.  I followed his advice and, yes, I did wake up, but somehow I think he would not give the same advice today.  Anyway, I hope Emily enjoys her year as much as I enjoy having her as my daughter.

Happy fall to all.

Bonny Scotland

We're back from our trip to Bonny Scotland - beautiful scenery, historic surroundings.

We started our road trip at St. Andrews.

St. Andrew's Castle from the 12th Century

St. Andrew's Cathedral, a relative newcomer from the 14th Century

On the way north to Inverness, we stopped at Glamis Castle where the Queen Mother's family lived.

Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle from the garden

Glamis Castle Livestock

My favorite was the Isle of Skye, which, in parts, reminded me of the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand.  We took a great drive around the Trotternish Peninsula that was spectacular.

Next we went south to Oban on the only awful day weather-wise - rainy and very blustery.  We stayed at a lovely place, once owned by the Duke of Argyll.

Dungallan Country House, Oban

After 5 days on the road, we were happy to give up the car.  The reverse driving was a challenge, as were the narrow curving roads.  Sometimes, there was only one lane for both directions and we relied on the other guy to stop where necessary.   Sometimes we didn't understand the signs, even though they were in English, and sometimes the signs were unmistakably clear. 

Huh?

They didn't have to tell me twice

We finally settled in Edinburgh for the last part of the trip.  Of course, history abounds here, and we enjoyed staying in Old Town (even New Town is a few hundred years old).

View of Edinburgh from the Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle (yes, that's me in the bottom left)

Outside the National Gallery of Scotland

The fitting finale for the trip was the wedding we attended at Dundas Castle where the ceremony took place in the Auld Keep, built in 1416.  A beautiful event, complete with the wedding rings being flown in during the ceremony by a white owl.  

Bride and Groom with bird friends

Wedding cake befitting a castle

Dundas Castle at night

A magical place and a magical trip.

The Happiness Project

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I would provide a book report of sorts on The Happiness Project.  Well, I've completed reading the book, and while it isn't exactly my kind of book (or, for that matter, my kind of project), there were some worthwhile tidbits in it that I'd like to share.  

The author, Gretchen Rubin, is far too anal for me.  She spent a year trying to be happier by assigning a topic each month to work on. For example, one of her resolutions during one month was to make three new friends.  I had to wonder what kind of friendship you can create when making friends is simply something on your to-do list to be checked off.  She even broke down "fun" into three separate categories. Hey, it's not "fun" if you have to categorize it.  The author has a "Resolutions Chart" where she gives herself check marks or stars if she follows through on her resolutions. She has "12 Commandments" as well as "Secrets of Adulthood" that she uses as the basis for her project.  

While this attempt at happiness is way too structured for me, I did think that there was some worthwhile information in the book - not rocket science and maybe things that I already knew, but sometimes it's good to see it in writing.   Some of her 12 Commandments resonated with me, such as "Be Gretchen" (or, in my case, Be Judi); "Let it go";  "Act the way I want to feel"; "Enjoy the process".   Her "Secrets of Adulthood" ranged from "Do good, feel good" to such things as "Bring a sweater".

So the basic premise of the book is to try to create the optimum atmosphere for happiness by tackling topics such as vitality (exercise better and get more sleep) to relationships (marriage, parenthood, friendship) to mindfulness (be more in the moment as you go about your busy life).  There is some merit in taking time to consider how we react to our environment and the people around us.  Rubin discusses studies that show "emotional contagion" where we unconsciously catch emotions from other people - both good and bad moods.  We all know that to be true, but maybe being a little more aware of this will help us avoid the bad and emphasize the good.

One of the most interesting (to me) topics mentioned in the book is that for both men and women, "the most reliable predictor of not being lonely is the amount of contact with women. Time spent with men doesn't make a difference."   So that's why I value my lady friends so much.  Aha!

I did identify with some of her suggestions, like find more fun, take time to be silly, enjoy now, be grateful, fake it till you feel it, and laugh out loud.  The book encouraged me to continue my own mood makeover in my own way, trying always to be more in the moment, lighter and, well, just plain old happier.  And to never, not for a second, forget how grateful I am.

Postscript to Post:  We take off for 10 days on Friday to Scotland for a vacation and, at the end, a wedding in a castle.  Stay tuned for photos posted here in mid-September. My goal for today is to fit everything I'm packing in one carry-on.  Ah, true happiness if I'm successful.