The Way it Looks From Here

Breakfast, Creole Style

2012-02-05T11:16:00.001-07:00

I just can't say enough about Lucile's Creole Cafe; they always take care of my morning stomach grumbles in fine style. This morning's repast was a Boudin Sausage patty under

two properly poached eggs, with a Tasso Hollandaise sauce. A side of Collard Greens,

and Cajun style Beans and I'm all set. Tabasco vinegar is wonderful on the greens. Don't forget the Beignets and Chicory Coffee.

Dinner in the woods

2012-01-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we had a limousine ride to Frisco, where we boarded a sleigh and trekked off into the snowy countryside for a mile or so to a large tent in the woods for dinner. The photo was taken with my iPhone well after dark in light snow, so it did pretty well. The trip up was fun, the meal was ....adequate, the entertainment was great. The mules in the picture are old hands at this, having been toting tourists around the hills for a decade and a half. They're part of quite a string, six mules, a pair of Belgians and another horse who pulls a sleigh for two, for photo-ops. Lots of fun. There are similar services in Steamboat, Breckenridge, Aspen, Durango and other towns. Something fun to do for an evening.

Having Survived the New Year......

2012-01-05T09:04:00.001-07:00

We are actually doing pretty well. We made it through the holidays with minimal tension, although the Rose Parade and Bowl on Jan 2 this year made the whole week seem strange. We opted not to go for the "finger-food" stuff on New Years Day (actually Monday) like pizza rolls and such, and instead Kyri made one of her famous recipes, a cheese pie. That with a salad and a Champagne cocktail with blueberry and pomegranate juice made for a fine meal for watching the parade.

And, later on in the week we got a new TV, forty six inch LED style, and had them haul away our old tube-type 32 inch model which weighs 382 pounds, and had been acting up for about a year. I was worried the delivery guys were going to sprain something getting that old behemoth out of the living room, but they took it (literally) in stride. We didn't realize how bad the old TV was until we sat around last night watching the new one. Wow!

Why am I not surprised?

2011-12-15T09:24:00.002-07:00

Well, here's a situation that just makes me crazy: I have high blood pressure, and my doctor has prescribed medication XYZ, which really seems to work for me. However, ...........

I have medical insurance, but my plan will not cover any part of a prescription for XYZ.

I have a discount card from the pharmaceutical company that makes XYZ, that says, in big letters on the front of the card, "Pay no more than $25 a month* " They will pay up to $140 towards the cost of the medication, after your co-pay.

But, in the fine print (remember the * in the "pay no more" statement?), if your insurance won't cover XYZ, you get $25 off. Whoopee, the company will buy you a cheap dinner.

So, If your insurance doesn't cover XYZ, and you need the discount, you can't have it. If your insurance pays for XYZ, then you get a big discount. WHAT?

Why am I not surprised?

Any wonder the general public has no love at all for pharmaceutical companies, or insurance companies?

The Food Channel has a lot to answer for.

2011-12-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, thanks to the food and cooking channels and Emeril Lugasse, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and lots of other chefs, many of us learned that we actually had a flair for cooking. Here in Englewood we are within an easy drive of Whole Foods, Tony's Meats, The Savory Spice Shop and the EVOO Marketplace, so top-flight ingredients are not a problem either. In the larger Denver metroplex there are several ethnic/regional grocery stores as well, so the ingredient spectrum over the last, maybe ten years is like going from a sixteen-color box of Crayons® to a box of 64. Long story shortened, here's last Sunday's Dinner: Pork braised in truffle and sage infused olive oil, acorn squash with maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, green beans sauteed in just a touch of vermouth. Good stuff!

How strange, something actually useful........

2011-11-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

I am a big devotee of fountain pens. I have a very small collection, less than a dozen pens, about four of which I use, the rest are too good, too unusual, or too awkward to use because they were not meant to be useful but collectable.

The brand I like to carry with me is Lamy. I was at one of the local art supply houses recently and noticed Lamy's blotter bottles. What a great idea. I am always at home when I re-ink my pens, because I'm not a cartridge fan. I like to be able to change ink colors more often than I could if I had to wait until a cartridge was empty. One of the hassles with a filler-type pen is that you always, always have extra ink somewhere; on the barrel of the pen, on top of the nib, someplace.

This bottle goes a long way to solve the problem. Included, tear-off blotting paper for after-fill cleanup. Very convenient. Neat!

How to keep warm in the winter

2011-11-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Kyri doesn't seem to have problems keeping warm in the winter when we have turned the furnace down. Blankets and cats, a good solution. I'm moving around too much to attract the four-foots.

Oh, those Victorians

2011-11-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Victorians were a bit over the top on some of their decorations.

I enjoy shaving with soap and a blade and so on every now and then. It's a welcome break in the tedium of shaving, and a ritual all in its own. But I will say, if I had to look at this scuttle every day, I might change my opinion. Flowers, and shading, and gold leaf......?

A Victorian era shaving scuttle from my collection

More breakfast shots

2011-11-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean for this blog to turn into a breakfast log, but as I keep finding excellent breakfasts here and there, might as well let somebody else know. Comments are welcome, of course.

This morning's offering is from Lucile's Creole Cafe in Littleton. A Butternut Squash and cheese omelet, with a fennel sausage gravy. Very good.

Butternut Squash and Cheese Omelet, Fennel Sausage Gravy

I opted for the protein route this morning, and had scrambled eggs with hot Louisiana sausage. Also good. Now I'm armed for the day.

Chilly morning

2011-11-02T07:21:00.000-06:00

07:30, still snowing. Power is on, but I lit one of the kerosene lamps anyway, for a warm light while I was updating my journal. Five inches of snow so far from this one, 0.67" melt down. Supposedly it will clear up and get warmer the next few days -- I'll believe it when I see it. Had to take a shot with the iPhone.

More Wild Country inside the City

2011-10-23T06:59:00.000-06:00

President Eisenhower wanted to retire to Colorado after his stint as president, and bought some land on which to build his retirement home. His wife wasn't totally excited about Colorado, and they ended up in Pennsylvania. The piece of land he bought stayed in the family for a long while, then was sold to a private school, now known as Kent Denver Country Day School. There's a lake on the property that's pretty photogenic. I haven't seen water this still and placid in a while. The colors were very nice, but there are signs around the lake stating that there's no trespassing, no swimming, no boating, no fishing, no dogs, .......just plain no. So, unless I can get some official permission, I guess I won't go back.

Strange, the things you find in old drawers.

2011-10-13T14:55:00.001-06:00

You find the strangest things from time to time cleaning out drawers. This card is almost fifty years old now. And I still talk regularly to my Scoutmaster from back then, and some of the guys in my old troop. I was going to get the name correctly spelled, but never did. Too late now by decades.

I must say, some of the best times in my life were with the Boy Scouts. My mom was a den mother when I was in Cub Scouts, and my dad was an assistant Scoutmaster when I was in Scouts. We sure did a lot of camping and fishing back then. I liked working for all the merit badges, but my patrol specialized in First Aid, and won all the district and state competitions for about four years running.

Another Tea Tray

2011-10-06T15:55:00.001-06:00

From previous posts you might have gathered that I am a fan of Chinese green tea, and particularly interested int the Chinese Gongfu Tea Ceremony, Tea, we are told, not only by the Chinese herbalists but by modern medicine, is good for you. All sorts of antioxidants there. Basically, "good for what ails you."

Just my opinion, but if you're going to go to the trouble of buying good tea, you might as well add a bit of ceremony to the drinking process.

The ritual of tea is pretty simple. Pour hot water onto tea leaves, steep, drink. It's the ceremony that makes it fun. The Gongfu Tea Ceremony is as much a meditation as it is a dressed up ritual of making tea. Flowers, incense, music, lighting, clothes, all play a part in the ceremony of the underlying ritual. To that end, there are some props and tools that help to make the ritual into a ceremony. One of these is a tray to hold your teapot, strainer, pitcher, and so on, that allows for the storage of "extra" water, used to heat and sterilize the teapot, tools and cups. The tray needs to have provision to hold the excess water or a facility for drainage. We have a "honored guest" tray, inlaid with mother of pearl that we save for special occasions. I was looking for a good sized, robust tray for everyday use, and found one from a company called Bird Pick Tea and Herb. I like the shape. You can see the drain tube coming out the left side. Put a little ceremony in your life!

Another "Get More Exercise" scheme

2011-09-28T17:54:00.001-06:00

I need exercise, but I get bored with walking .....and running, and swimming, and .... just lazy? In any event, I have to do something that involves a hobby, with exercising as a secondary consideration. For instance, I walk around carrying a camera, stopping to capture images as the muse directs.

I can do this, because the lazy part of my brain pays attention to the photography (something I enjoy) and ignores the fact that I'm walking. It's not as aerobic as it could be, but I just can't get into striding along, swinging my arms, panting and puffing and going around the block, down the path, just like yesterday, just like tomorrow...... see?

So, while cleaning out some dumpster fodder this last weekend, I found my old metal detector. I have been a treasure hunter/metal detectorist/gold panner for a long time. I have quart jars of coins I've found, boxes of rings and jewelry. But, mind you, this was all many years ago. But the detector seemed to be in good shape, and I've been giving the battery pack a charge every couple of years (even with that kind of mis-treatment it still seems to hold a charge) so I thought I'd get out and swing it about for a while.

My first outing was not very productive. In an hour of detecting at a local park, I gathered up several miller light beer cans, a couple three-inch pieces of rebar, and a couple old pull tabs. At least the thing was working, the pull-tabs were buried almost six inches down. Back to the drawing board.

Hurray! Not skunked after all!

Realizing that it's been over ten years since I used the detector, I sat down with the manual and really, seriously read it. This morning, I went to another park and started swinging. I thought I was going to get skunked again. With the machine properly tuned for the type of ground I was walking over, I had dozens and dozens of bad targets -- that I could tell without digging were aluminum, foil, nails, or other trash. I was about to call it quits, walking back to the truck, when I got a good signal... short story, dug a penny, a dime, and two quarters, 1983 to 1988 vintage.

Sterne Park, 9-20-2011

2011-09-20T10:51:00.000-06:00

I went for a walk to Sterne Park this morning, more for exercise than to take a walk in a park; last fall the city of Littleton decided to cut down the willows and small trees almost all the way around the lake. It's not nearly so pleasant a place now.

The park now looks half finished, the herons and cormorants have vacated to other demesnes. The ducks are still there, cedar waxwings and tanagers, and a sizable group of Red Winged Blackbirds come in this time of year to feast on sunflower seeds in the nearby farm garden.

What they were thinking about I do not know. Safety measure perhaps, so evil-doers couldn't lurk in the shadows and spring out onto the path armed and spoiling for rapine and pillage?

In any event, always having a camera with me, I was surprised to encounter a coyote sauntering through the trees. He was surprised as well, I suspect. After we exchanged the social pleasantries expected of us in our social stations, I proceeded around the pond and did catch a nice image of a pair of ducks. ...and that's the way it looks from here.

Water in (and under) the Highline Canal

2011-09-20T07:03:00.000-06:00

There is a spot nearby where the highline canal passes over the hiking trail. The water is carried inside a timber raceway made of 6" and 8" square timbers. The "overpass" has been there a long long time, and it still is quite water tight. Not perfect of course, and I got a few images of dripping water to show off.

It was a dark and stormy .......morning?

2011-09-13T11:55:00.000-06:00

Moon heading for moonset about 0630 this morning, handheld from the front porch. ISO 1600
300mm Lens at f/5.3. First is the shot as seen,

the second was taken at the same time, after a little twiddling. Two different moods?

Yet another hobby

2011-08-31T13:42:00.000-06:00

Some few of my black powder / native american items. I obviously was more crafty when younger.

End of Summer flowers

2011-08-30T15:47:00.000-06:00

Well, it's the hottest, driest part of the year here, and the flowers are showing it. Here's a slightly abstract view of a few.

2011-08-22T08:52:00.001-06:00

A few shots from "the other 90%" exhibition this past Saturday, from the artists' studios. Shots taken with the iPhone.

More HDR, from up in the mountains

2011-08-06T17:10:00.001-06:00

Traveling past the town of Ward, Colorado I couldn't resist having a look at this old,
tumbledown church. It's long since been superseded by a new church nearby, and
someone at some time made an effort to stabilize the windows, but apparently in
vain, and now the whole building has a distinct lean to the south. One exposure,
mildly "massaged" with PhotoMatix Pro. ISO 200, 17mm, 1/160th sec. at f/18.
Thanks for looking.

More HDR

2011-08-05T10:45:00.002-06:00

Lately I have been fiddling around with small subjects and light, and haven't really had enough good results to post on the blog. But, playing the last couple days with reflectors and flash and PhotoMatix Pro HDR software, at least I have some shots that are ok to look at. I've tried to dial back the "HDR-ness" factor a bit, and just use HDR to gently enhance rather than make garish poster art.

Photomatix Pro is certainly capable of the heavy duty tone mapping and compression that just screams HDR, but it's also very easy to use in a more subtle fashion. At least, that's "the way it looks from here."

After all these years........

2011-06-27T09:54:00.000-06:00

Another project under way; I have been gathering parts and pieces for a long time for this, and finally started assembling since summer solstice seemed a good time to get going. Another part of my ancestry and family tradition to acknowledge. I'll keep the blog updated as things progress. Still a few things to add, Kyri is making a medicine wheel to put in the arc. More as things progress.

.....................Mitakuye Oyasin

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day

2011-06-14T09:35:00.000-06:00

I must say I have a weakness for ~~Italian,~~ ~~French~~, ~~German~~, ~~Chinese,~~ ~~Japanese,~~ ~~Arabic,~~ ..... well, food in general, I guess. This morning's escapade: Poached eggs on Louisiana beans, with grits, Andouile sausage, biscuit and rhubarb jam. And of course, chicory coffee. Yum.

FRPF

2011-06-13T16:02:00.000-06:00

Kyri, myself and Jay at FRPF near Buffalo, in the mountains this past Saturday