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Well the world may be going all to hell but at least we still have this view.

International Women’s Day March

On Sunday we went for brunch downtown, and as we were leaving this large gaggle of protestors came marching down the sidewalk. I didn't even realize that there was a protest planned, otherwise I would have participated!

Now You See It, Now You Don't

This is what the weather looked like on Friday, seen from 8th Street looking toward downtown. Twenty four hours later the snow had completely melted away and the sun was shining.

Sunday Style!

My friend Jenn looked extra extra magnificent in a lavender gown last weekend at my mom's 90th birthday tea party. She even wore matching lavender Doc Martens. Love it! 

Elsie Palmer

Behold seventeen year-old Elsie, one of General Palmer's three daughters, in a portrait painted by none other than the great John Singer Sargent around 1889 or 1890. At the time, Palmer was here in Colorado Springs while his wife and daughters were on an extended stay in England.

Sargent is one of my favorite portraitists. His works are generally quite large, even life sized, and Elsie's portrait is no exception. It's part of the permanent collection of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and I've always admired it. What you're looking at here is not the actual painting, it's a copy that hangs on the wall in the Palmers' family home, Glen Eyrie Castle, where my mom's birthday celebration was held last weekend.

A Man's Home Is His Castle

The man in question being our city's founder, General William Jackson Palmer, and the home being quite literally a castle. This is where my mom's birthday party took place over the weekend. They do a high tea thing on the weekends. I am a big Colorado Springs history nerd as you know, so naturally a visit to Glen Eyrie Castle is always a treat.

The View from the Top (The Top of the Social Pyramid, That Is)

Saturday was my mom's 90th birthday, and we celebrated this landmark achievement with a tea party at Glen Eyrie Castle attended by many friends and family. Glen Eyrie was built in the early 1870s by our city's founder, General William Jackson Palmer, who was quite the anglophile and fancied a proper English castle for his beloved wife, Queen. (Yes, that was really her name. Okay technically it was Mary, but everyone called her Queen.) If you step out the front door and walk around to the patio, you're treated to quite a lovely view indeed! More to come.