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I'll close out January with this fantastic photo of Cascade Avenue from the 12th floor of the FirstBank Building (formerly the Holly Sugar Building) that Pat took a couple of weeks ago. I love it because it reminds me so much of André Kertesz's "Washington Square, New York, 1954", which happens to be one of my favorite images by my favorite photographer. Pat has such a great eye. :^)

Skywatch Friday

Here's an assortment of oddly disconnected objects to be found at Memorial Park in Manitou Springs:

1. A life-sized statue of a World War I soldier
2. American flag and P.O.W./M.I.A. flag
3. Large carved portrait of a "mountain man" with a squirrel on his shoulder
4. Plaque commemorating the life of a man named Homer Sharpton, at the base of a rather sad-looking tree

There's more random stuff in the park that I didn't photograph, but you get the idea. I love the disorganization of it all. It's so MANITOU.

For more Skywatch Friday pictures from bloggers all over the world, click HERE. Have a great weekend!

Speedometer Service

I have always loved this building at 449 E Kiowa Street! It was clearly built in the 1930s and it's housed the Speedometer Service Company for as long as I can remember. (And it's always been pink, as far as I know.) They're a very small business and can work on practically any car, but a lot of their patrons own vintage, collectible automobiles and hot rods. I've used them too, years ago. I own a rare old BMW that's difficult to find parts for. They did a great job for me. (They also fixed one of my old VW Karmann Ghias long ago.) My speedometer has just decided to break again so I guess I'll be visiting these guys again soon, in their cool pink building.

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Another shot from our hike in Red Rock Canyon on Monday. See yesterday's post for more.

A nice day to take a hike

We are having some really nice weather in Colorado Springs right now. Yesterday was almost like spring! All the snow from the last few days is melted away. Of course it won't last, so Pat and I took advantage of the beautiful day and went for a hike in Red Rock Canyon yesterday. It was a bit muddy in some spots, but we had a great time and got a little sunshine and exercise. Here are a few pictures from our hike.

It always amazes me how a tree can take root and survive in such a hostile spot. The top of this huge rock formation is totally exposed to the elements from all sides.

Here's a closer look at that hardy tree. It looks like a ponderosa pine. It makes for a nice picture.

John "Prairie Dog" O'Byrne

On Saturday, at a loss for something to photograph for the blog, I decided to make a quick run to this cute little forgotten park on Bijou and Corona, in the neighborhood called Middle Shooks Run. We have a lot of hidden "pocket parks", as I like to call them, sprinkled around the older parts of our city. I've known about this one for years but I never paid attention to the sign bearing its name. Who is this John "Prairie Dog" O'Byrne? It wasn't until I sat at my desk and downloaded these pictures that I bothered to read the description on the sign, and what a treat it was to learn that the park's namesake was one of those Wild West characters from right out of the movies, the sort of larger than life eccentric that every city has in its history. Mr. O'Byrne's claim to fame was his livery service, powered by a team of elk! Here's a fun fact: the elk were named Thunder and Buttons. If you've lived here a while you're probably aware of a popular bar and restaurant in Old Colorado City, O'Byrne's old stomping ground, called Thunder and Buttons. In all these years, I had no idea that's how the bar got its name! And I had no clue that this wonderfully colorful character, John "Prairie Dog" O'Byrne, lived here over 100 years ago, bopping back and forth between Old Colorado City and Colorado Springs in his elk-powered carriage. But Mr. O'Byrne's story doesn't surprise me a bit, given the short but lively history of our city. The things I've learned about Colorado Springs while writing for this blog! It's always fun when I uncover an unexpected gem like this.

To read more about Mr. O'Byrne and his exploits, HERE is a great article about him written by Dave Hughes in 2006. Interesting stuff!

Sunday Style!

I took this picture a couple of months ago while walking downtown with Pat. I was drawn to the text on the cuff of the shirt, so Pat patiently waited (as always!) while I grabbed a few shots. Yesterday I finally googled the words and found out that it was a quote from John Lennon, from an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1971. This shirt was in the window of a cool store called Rutledge's, on the corner of Tejon and Kiowa. Rutledge's is strictly menswear. It is, essentially, a modern-day, old fashioned men's clothier. They have some amazing stuff in there! I've always been of the opinion that we women have much more choice when it comes to dressing ourselves; men are stuck with basic trousers, basic shirts, and basic shoes. The only way an average guy can really express himself sartorially, it seems, is with crazy socks and ties! (I always said that if I was a guy I'd have a thousand ties and a thousand pairs of socks.) And it's true -- visit the men's area of any department store and you'll find a predictable array of nice, average shirts in a limited range of very safe colors, an array of nice, average trousers in an even more limited range of very safe colors, and maybe three different styles of overcoats, all in grey, navy or black. Oh but at Rutledge's, you can find so much more! This is the place to go if you're a guy yearning to break away from a world full of Dockers and polos. This shirt with the random John Lennon quote hidden inside the cuff is just the tip of the sartorial iceberg at Rutledge's. They even make custom tailored suits there. It's the kind of shop that every big city should have, and I'm so glad we have one here in our downtown.