Meeker Music

The jazzy mural that adorns the large window of Meeker Music's storefront downtown.  I love old school music stores like Meeker. They smell good. As long as there's "band camp", there'll always be places like Meeker's in every town!

Municipool

During one of our evening walks this summer at Monument Valley Park, I grabbed this shot of the public pool. It looks so tranquil at that hour.

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I'm not usually a fan of graffiti, but I am a fan of Lennon, Hendrix and Marley, so I kind of like this little tribute that I captured near Prospect Lake a month ago.

The Rocky Mountain Rampage World Cup Skating Competition

Pat and I stopped by Memorial Park yesterday to catch the tail end of the Rocky Mountain Rampage World Cup Skating Competition.  When I was in college I hung out with (ahem, dated) skaters constantly, but it's been a while since I spent an appreciable amount of time at a skate park. Brought back some great memories!

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I shot this image in between locations during a senior portrait shoot last weekend. He's a scary looking dude! According to THIS site, the A.R.M. stands for Association of Recovering Motorcyclists.

Turning back the clock at the Denver Modernism Show

The Denver Modernism Show is this weekend! My brother Chuck and I went last night and it was great. We got there a little late for the Miss Modernism Pageant (darn it!) but I did get to meet the newly crowned Miss Modernism, Michelle Baldwin, shortly afterward. My friend Jaime, who was Miss Modernism 2010-11, was there and she looked fabulous! In fact, lots of people turned up wearing their fun mod styles (I also gave it my best, but no one took my picture -- boo hoo!). It really is a great event for people watching. It's also great for shopping, and I did plenty of that too. There are over a hundred exhibitors showing everything midcentury, from furniture to cars to jewelry to art to toys to clothing... I even saw a tiki aquarium, and ooooooh I was sorely tempted! If you're into Midcentury Modern the way I'm into Midcentury Modern, you've got to make it to the show sometime this weekend.

Congrats to the new Miss Modernism, Michelle Baldwin!

This lithograph is by one of my favorite artists, Shag (Josh Agle).  I would dearly love to have it (maybe because the girl in it looks a little like me) but it was out of my budget.  Shag was actually there and I got a chance to chat with him for a few minutes. He's a nice guy.  I also met him a few years ago at a gallery opening of one of his shows in Denver, but I don't think he remembers me ;^)  LOL

Ah, the joys of early '70s decor.  Need I say more?

I sincerely hope these mod apple green chairs find an appreciative home this weekend -- they're awesome!

I thought this couple was so cool and so adorable, I begged them to let me take their picture!

Tokyo Grill

"Drive thru" isn't exactly the first thing that springs to mind when I think of sushi. Gotta love the ingenuity of the guys at Tokyo Grill on North Academy:  give the people what they want! Of course they have dine-in as well, but I've noticed that they do a brisk business serving people at their drive through window. Judging from their website, the menu looks yummy, healthy and very reasonably priced. I've got to try this place out!

Four and twenty blackbirds

Arriving home from work yesterday around dinnertime, I stepped out of my car and heard a ruckus coming from across the street. The crown of our neighbor's tree was covered in blackbirds, dozens upon dozens of them, all chirping up a storm and creating quite a symphony. It was cheerful in a way, but at the same time it was creepy to see all those birds massing in one tree at twilight. Then I realized they were also massing in the giant elm in our backyard, only those birds were silent -- even creepier! Very Hitchcockian. I grabbed my camera and managed to get a good shot of the birds circling around our neighbor's tree.  Shortly afterward the whole lot of them abruptly took off in one giant chirping mass. Amazing!

Adopt a median!

One of our colorful, flowerful medians downtown. This one's on the corner of Wahsatch and Uintah. Almost all of our downtown medians are available for "adoption" under the Springs in Bloom program. This particular median has been adopted by First Baptist Church. I love the Springs in Bloom program -- it keeps things colorful!

The Air Force Academy planetarium

I was at the Air Force Academy over the weekend to shoot a wedding at the Cadet Chapel. Spitting distance from the chapel is the planetarium. I haven't been in there since I was in high school, years ago. It was one of the must-see things on your tour of Colorado Springs, of course, so whenever we had visitors my parents would shuttle us to the Academy and we'd visit the Cadet Chapel and then sit in the dark of the planetarium and watch the show.

Alas, I've just learned that the planetarium has been closed to the public since 2003. I don't know if it's even in use at all these days. Too bad! I was just thinking it'd be neat to pop in there and see the show, but I guess that won't be happening after all :^(

[P.S.  The next time I'm there I'll try and get a picture of it with a blue sky -- I promise it's much more striking that way.]

Paris Crêpe

Pat and I had a late brunch at Paris Crêpe yesterday, a new downtown restaurant we've been dying to try.  Above is my Nutella and banana crêpe in its early stages, and below, voilà! A thing of beauty indeed, almost too pretty to eat! But I assure you, I did indeed eat it and it was scrumptious.  I can't wait to go back and sample more of their wonderful menu!

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Taken in Cañon City yesterday, on the way home from a portrait shoot in the beautiful country between Cañon City and Westcliffe.

Tattoo in progress

I captured this tattoo in progress through the window of To the Grave Tattoos as we were leaving the Hill Climb fanfest on Friday night (see yesterday's post).  I think to the grave is a rather appropriate name for a tattoo parlor.  Pretty darn literal, actually.  Once you get a tattoo, you're pretty much stuck with it for life and maybe even a little beyond!

The Hill Climb is on!

You may remember me mentioning in an earlier post how the Pikes Peak Hill Climb had been canceled because of the Waldo Canyon fire. This was absolutely devastating for Manitou Springs, who relies heavily on tourism and the Hill Climb every year for revenue. Well I'm happy to say that it's been rescheduled for this Sunday! Last night they held the usual Hill Climb "fanfest" party downtown, where some of the race cars were on display for everyone to drool over. You might have even gotten lucky and met one of the drivers! There were a ton of cool cars, not to mention the chili cookoff, which was emitting mouth watering aromas into the air. Thousands of people showed up to enjoy the fun, have some chili and see some cool cars. It was a great big street party!

Ah yes, a "monster truck". This is so not my thing. But it was fun to see one up close! Check out the lady sitting in the rear tire. That's a BIG truck!

Firefighters were out and about, "passing the boot" for donations. This time they were collecting for MS.  For once I had some cash on me, so I put some of it in the boot and was rewarded with this big smile.

The chili cookoff was in full swing -- it smelled so good out there!

High flying motorcycle stunts over Tejon Street. Daredevil!

What a cool looking car.

I used to have a BMW just like this one (minus all the racing logos and paraphernalia and that giant front spoiler). Mine had a little spoiler on the rear, otherwise it was identical to this one. It was a great car! I sold it a few years ago to my friend Stephani, who's taking good care of it :^)

Be positive!

I love this guy's outlook. I'm guessing he doesn't have the same advantages as most of us do.  I'm guessing he's homeless, actually. Yet he was the most positive guy out there today, spreading his life-affirming message on the corner of Bijou and Cascade. He certainly put a smile on my face :^)

In Visions of Cody, Jack Kerouac wrote, "Everything belongs to me because I am poor." Here's your proof.

11 Dec 2013 edit -- Here's an update on this guy: http://gazette.com/side-streets-problem-is-the-median-not-the-message/article/1510857

Helen Hunt Falls, looking a little sad :^(

Last month I got to play tour guide for my friends Susana and Vladimir and their daughter, visiting from out of state. Among other things, we went to Helen Hunt Falls to enjoy the scenery. This was taken at the top of the falls, and as you can see, the water level is very low. Take a look at THIS photo that I blogged in July of 2009, taken almost three years to the day from today's picture. That's the actual falls, not the "pre" falls like you see above, but still you can clearly see that the volume of water was much, much, MUCH heavier then.

I certainly hope this coming winter brings at least average snowpack, because Colorado Springs is pretty darn dry right about now.

2012 Inline Speed Skating Championships

Pat and I went by the 7-11 Velodrome in Memorial Park yesterday to see if anything was going on, and we found that the 2012 Inline Speed Skating Championships were underway. What a surprise! I had only the dimmest awareness that inline speed skating was a competitive sport, and no inkling whatsoever that our velodrome was ever used for anything but bicycles!  We stuck around for a few minutes and took some pictures.  The guys in the above photo are just doing laps and warming up, this wasn't taken during an actual race.  Maybe I'll try and go back tonight or Tuesday to grab some pictures with a "real" camera and get a closer look at this exciting sport.

Date night

I was in the middle of a senior portrait shoot downtown last Saturday when this cute couple walked by. Looks like date night to me!

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A bird's eye view of Tejon Street, captured from the 8th floor of the Alamo Building on August 1st.

Boulder

I was in Lyons, Colorado for business purposes yesterday, and on the way home I drove through Boulder.  This was taken during a millisecond break in traffic on Broadway Street at Pearl, right in the heart of Boulder's cute shopping district called the Pearl Street Mall.  Boulder is definitely not the town for me, but I do enjoy visiting it from time to time.

August theme day: numbers!

Today's the first of the month, and you know what that means! Yes, it's Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers all over the world.  This month's theme is numbers. I must confess that I did not take this picture in Colorado Springs. I didn't even take it in Colorado -- heck, I didn't even take it in North America! I snapped this photo in Versoix, Switzerland when I was there in March. I know it's not a very touristy picture to take; after all, it just depicts address numbers on a building. I was simply attracted to the red and black, a color combination that I cannot resist. Red is my favorite color, and when paired with black I am especially drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Hence this random picture of numbers, which sure came in handy for this month's theme day ;^)

To see more theme day pictures from CDP bloggers around the globe, click HERE.