When the waiter brought the plate, he pointed out the chef's artistic touch with the smiley face hamburger.
Done medium rare, it was an excellent lunch.
Good day. Good food. Good friends.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Happy Meal
Had lunch in Loveland with Rich and Bill at the Palomino Mexican restaurant. I was concerned over the Mexican choices with my grains/gluten intolerance, so I chose my usual -- a naked hamburger. Bacon strips was an added option.
When the waiter brought the plate, he pointed out the chef's artistic touch with the smiley face hamburger.
Done medium rare, it was an excellent lunch.
Good day. Good food. Good friends.
When the waiter brought the plate, he pointed out the chef's artistic touch with the smiley face hamburger.
Done medium rare, it was an excellent lunch.
Good day. Good food. Good friends.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Car Show and a Model T
I enjoy going to car shows, but most times I am disappointed. I went to the Arvada car show this past week end. As a fund raiser, I forked over five dollars. That should have made me change my mind. Pretty sure I wasn't going to get five dollars worth of enjoyment out of the visit. Okay. The five dollars went to a good cause -- Children's Hospital.
When I go to car shows, I like to see the style, the lines, the elegance of the car body. I know it is silly me. That car body is there for the engine. That means that almost all of the hoods are open so the browsing public can see the engine.
Wonder if this engine runs. Or is it just a pretty piece of hardware that looks like an auto engine. Seems to me that a chromed engine would have to be washed and cleaned after every errand to the grocery story. If that was where the car went.
Of course there are other cars that don't even pretend to be interested in the body of the car. It is to hold the engine. In this case it is a carburetor for every cylinder. Okay. So this one you couldn't put a hood over the engine.
The 1962 Corvette was one of those very few cars where the hood wasn't open.
There are times that I have a difficult time finding a parking place for the Silver Slug. Sometimes, covered garages aren't high enough for me to park in there. This vehicle would have a problem in either case. Looks like an eight foot width. That might even be a problem on some narrow roads.
Then there is the novelty of cars. Could this vintage VW pursue a speeder, or more likely the vehicle is a siren with red lights.
The best car show was when I returned to the Elks Lodge. Mel brought his 1917 Ford Model T to the lodge to show us how he spends his spare time. Mel bought the car about 1960. It has been a work in progress ever since and continues as such. Someday it will have fenders again and other amenities so it could be driven in rainy weather. With no electric starter, Mel was the starter with a hand crank. Two speeds forward and one reverse, what more could you ask for in 1917.
Mel was offering rides. Ernie took a ride down hill to his RV -- about a 100 yards.
It was a great day.
When I go to car shows, I like to see the style, the lines, the elegance of the car body. I know it is silly me. That car body is there for the engine. That means that almost all of the hoods are open so the browsing public can see the engine.
Wonder if this engine runs. Or is it just a pretty piece of hardware that looks like an auto engine. Seems to me that a chromed engine would have to be washed and cleaned after every errand to the grocery story. If that was where the car went.
Of course there are other cars that don't even pretend to be interested in the body of the car. It is to hold the engine. In this case it is a carburetor for every cylinder. Okay. So this one you couldn't put a hood over the engine.
The 1962 Corvette was one of those very few cars where the hood wasn't open.
There are times that I have a difficult time finding a parking place for the Silver Slug. Sometimes, covered garages aren't high enough for me to park in there. This vehicle would have a problem in either case. Looks like an eight foot width. That might even be a problem on some narrow roads.
Then there is the novelty of cars. Could this vintage VW pursue a speeder, or more likely the vehicle is a siren with red lights.
The best car show was when I returned to the Elks Lodge. Mel brought his 1917 Ford Model T to the lodge to show us how he spends his spare time. Mel bought the car about 1960. It has been a work in progress ever since and continues as such. Someday it will have fenders again and other amenities so it could be driven in rainy weather. With no electric starter, Mel was the starter with a hand crank. Two speeds forward and one reverse, what more could you ask for in 1917.
Mel was offering rides. Ernie took a ride down hill to his RV -- about a 100 yards.
It was a great day.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
From The Gallery
Hibiscus
Pretending I have artistic talent,
a photo was enhanced
with the help of
Photoshop and Topaz Remask plugin.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Fat Tire
Yup. It's a beer. But it is also a tire. For a bicycle.
When walking the streets of Golden on a recent visit, I found a fat tire on a bicycle.
No doubt I could have gone in the bicycle store and gotten the answer to the reason for a fat tire on a bicycle and where it would be used. Instead I used the source for answers -- the internet. Surly is the manufacturer. Quoting from the ad copy for the Moonlander model:
Wonder. Did the bicycle come first. Or the beer.
When walking the streets of Golden on a recent visit, I found a fat tire on a bicycle.
No doubt I could have gone in the bicycle store and gotten the answer to the reason for a fat tire on a bicycle and where it would be used. Instead I used the source for answers -- the internet. Surly is the manufacturer. Quoting from the ad copy for the Moonlander model:
Such a large footprint allows you to ride them at very low pressure, and like a snowshoe enables even greater traction and float over all kinds of terrain…wet stuff, roots, rocks, pebbles, gravel, sand, and many types of snow.With that tire surface area, no doubt it takes a lot of leg power to pedal that bicycle -- no matter where you travel. Even if there are people.
....
Moonlander, like its name implies, is meant to go beyond where normal bikes, even normal fat bikes, can go. It is designed from the ground up to ride where there are no roads, no trails, no people.
Wonder. Did the bicycle come first. Or the beer.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Giant Cowboy
In my nomadic wandering,
roadside oddities provide good photos
-- and sometimes great stories.
This giant cowboy is at the entrance to an
RV/trailer park on Federal Boulevard in Denver.
Wondering why the statue, I searched the internet.
RoadsideAmerica had a entry about the Concrete Cowboy.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Cobble Stone Art
Natural stone constructed buildings are works of art. Those beautiful buildings have provided me with many photo opportunities.
Hewed, carved and dimensioned stone is the most usual form in building construction. Field rubble and cobble stones are a more fascinating building material. Selection of the rock to fit while building a wall would qualify as art.
The best example of cobble stone construction is the Golden Armory (Colorado). A three story building, the cobbles are not decoration. They comprise the walls of the entire building.
The first two photos show the main entrance on the west side,
The bottom floor of the three story building is accessible from the north side. This photo on the south side shows the entrance at the second floor.
Driving on the streets of nearby Arvada, I saw this brick built home integrated with a cobble built chimney and front porch pillars.
Constructing an entire building of natural stone no longer happens. If it does, I have not seen it. Some building construction with stone is done in retaining walls, entry ways or other decorative features of a building. Not the entire building.
A mason who builds with natural stone qualifies as an artist.
Hewed, carved and dimensioned stone is the most usual form in building construction. Field rubble and cobble stones are a more fascinating building material. Selection of the rock to fit while building a wall would qualify as art.
The best example of cobble stone construction is the Golden Armory (Colorado). A three story building, the cobbles are not decoration. They comprise the walls of the entire building.
The first two photos show the main entrance on the west side,
The bottom floor of the three story building is accessible from the north side. This photo on the south side shows the entrance at the second floor.
Driving on the streets of nearby Arvada, I saw this brick built home integrated with a cobble built chimney and front porch pillars.
Constructing an entire building of natural stone no longer happens. If it does, I have not seen it. Some building construction with stone is done in retaining walls, entry ways or other decorative features of a building. Not the entire building.
A mason who builds with natural stone qualifies as an artist.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Blue Moon
Summer season's blue moon.
Why a blue moon... Quoting the essential words from: August's Blue Moon: Lunar Oddity of Night Sky Explained
Names were assigned to each moon in a season: For example, the first moon of summer was called the early summer moon, the second was the midsummer moon, and the last was called the late summer moon. But when a particular season has four moons the third was apparently called a Blue Moon so that the fourth and final one can continue to be called the late moon.
Another unusual night time event occurred in the early morning hours two nights ago. About three I was awake to hear a great horned owl hooting. After several of the territorial calls, I decided to step outside (after I put on some clothes) to see if I could spot the owl. Looked in the direction of the hooting and I spotted the owl at the top of a pine tree. Watched as more calls were made.
Seems I was the only one awake at three in the morning. No others heard the owl. Without a corroboration from another bird watcher, I understand that I cannot claim the sighting. Sorry. You will just have to believe me.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Farmers Market
After my Sunday morning stop at Starbucks for tea, the next stop is the Arvada Olde Town Square for the farmers market.
The square has several water jets randomly spouting water providing excitement and wet entertainment for kids (and some adults).
The farmers market tents and booths are around the periphery of the square and the water fountain.
Farmers markets should be freshly grown edibles to take home to your kitchen. There are a few of those stands at every farmers market. However, they are out numbered by booths of fast food, goat cheese, popcorn, boutique winery, massages, flavored pastas, doggie treats, several bread/pastry bakeries, pillows and bedding, pottery, honey, salsa, etc.
The number of booths selling directly from the family vegetable/fruit farm is small. Very small. Sometimes a single booth selling locally grown produce.
At those same farmers market, there will be a booth selling branded produce (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) which can be found at your grocer. Prices are competitive. Have to wonder why you wouldn't buy the same stuff at your grocer chain store -- for the same price. Have to wonder why it is even sold at the farmers market.
My reason for going to farmers markets is to purchase grass fed beef. Snow Creek Ranch has booths at most every farmers market along Colorado's Front Range. With the ranch in southeastern Kansas, I find it novel that Front Range Colorado is where it is sold. At my next farmers market visit, I will have to get the rest of the story.
The Angus beef from the Snow Creek Ranch is expensive. Considering that bison in the grocery stores is $9 a pound, the $9.75 for the grass raised beef seems an okay price.
Always the skeptic, I have questioned the farmers market sellers about Snow Creek Ranch beef. Since they all read the same marketing literature, the story is always the same -- doesn't matter which farmers market I visit. So it becomes a matter of belief on my part.
Maybe I didn't buy the beef from the rancher, but the positive for me is that the product didn't come from one of the national food conglomerates distributing through a chain grocery store.
The square has several water jets randomly spouting water providing excitement and wet entertainment for kids (and some adults).
The farmers market tents and booths are around the periphery of the square and the water fountain.
Farmers markets should be freshly grown edibles to take home to your kitchen. There are a few of those stands at every farmers market. However, they are out numbered by booths of fast food, goat cheese, popcorn, boutique winery, massages, flavored pastas, doggie treats, several bread/pastry bakeries, pillows and bedding, pottery, honey, salsa, etc.
The number of booths selling directly from the family vegetable/fruit farm is small. Very small. Sometimes a single booth selling locally grown produce.
At those same farmers market, there will be a booth selling branded produce (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) which can be found at your grocer. Prices are competitive. Have to wonder why you wouldn't buy the same stuff at your grocer chain store -- for the same price. Have to wonder why it is even sold at the farmers market.
My reason for going to farmers markets is to purchase grass fed beef. Snow Creek Ranch has booths at most every farmers market along Colorado's Front Range. With the ranch in southeastern Kansas, I find it novel that Front Range Colorado is where it is sold. At my next farmers market visit, I will have to get the rest of the story.
The Angus beef from the Snow Creek Ranch is expensive. Considering that bison in the grocery stores is $9 a pound, the $9.75 for the grass raised beef seems an okay price.
Always the skeptic, I have questioned the farmers market sellers about Snow Creek Ranch beef. Since they all read the same marketing literature, the story is always the same -- doesn't matter which farmers market I visit. So it becomes a matter of belief on my part.
Maybe I didn't buy the beef from the rancher, but the positive for me is that the product didn't come from one of the national food conglomerates distributing through a chain grocery store.
Friday, August 16, 2013
From The Archives
From a wild flower hike at Herman Gulch on July 16, 2000.
For a digital camera of the time, these are great photos.
As an early adopter, my first digital camera was about 1997. Still shooting film at the time, that digital camera was used rarely since the photos were -- pretty bad.
There photos were taken with my second digital camera -- the Kodak DC290. Purchased in 1999, it recorded my nomadic exploring until 2004 when I purchased a dSLR with interchangeable lenses.
Reviewing some of those photos in the archives, I wonder why I didn't keep that camera. Took some really good quality photos.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Ordinary Beauty
No sights. No scenery. No vistas.
Just ordinary beauty.**
Found at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
** Credit for the term "ordinary beauty" goes to Ted at Life With Kurumi in his post The Arizona Trail.
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