Man in Blue

Today I stopped by Adventures in Mini Golf just to see if there was anything worth photographing. To my surprise they were open, though now that I've had a chance to look at their site, it does mention that their winter hours are based on a "play it by ear" system depending on the weather. Temperatures were in the mid fifties with a chilly breeze, which didn't deter the two patrons that I spied putting away on the other side of the fence. As for me, I stayed in the parking lot and grabbed a shot of good old Paul Bunyan. I couldn't resist -- he's so photogenic.

A Safe Place for Pets

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of doing a photo shoot at Safe Place for Pets, a nonprofit in the Rockrimmon neighborhood that finds new homes for animals who've been orphaned when their human parents have died. These people are saints. They mostly take in dogs and cats, and these poor fur babies are confused, sad and missing their humans, so you can just imagine how lonesome they must be. I did not mention it here on the blog, but our beloved cat Lilo, who was 19-20 years old, passed away in August of 2023 and it broke my heart. We are finally talking about adopting another cat, probably this spring. When we do, we'll be going to Safe Place for Pets. If you're in the area and are thinking of adopting a dog or cat, I highly recommend this place. They really, truly care.

2022 Colorado Springs Garden Tour (Part 3)

The tour took us from Rockrimmon to Mountain Shadows, the neighborhood that suffered the loss of about 350 homes in the Waldo Canyon Fire (two of my friends' homes burned down that day, unfortunately). The gardens on display were tranquil and beautiful, betraying almost no trace of the devastating blaze a decade ago.

A cactus growing out of a boulder. Plants always seem to find a way, don't they?

A tree in this garden was scorched beyond help in the fire and did not survive. The family decided to turn it into art rather than remove it.

African daisies -- this was a nice reminder to plant some in my garden next year!

2022 Colorado Springs Garden Tour (Part 2)

From the grade school, we moved on to a couple of private residences side by side. Both of them had lovely, inviting gardens in their backyards.

2022 Colorado Springs Garden Tour (Part 1)

Last month I took in the Colorado Springs Garden Tour with my friend JB. I've never actually done the tour despite the fact that I'm such an avid gardener. This year it was located in the Mountain Shadows and Rockrimmon neighborhoods, hard hit by the Waldo Canyon Fire a decade ago. If you recall, about 350 houses burned down in the inferno.

The theme of the tour was From Ashes to Beauty, and a few of the featured gardens incorporated damage from the fire. Our first stop was a vegetable garden at a grade school in Rockrimmon. More to come tomorrow.

Monstrosity-ish

Pat and I have a habit of randomly driving around town to check in on neighborhoods where we've lived in the past, especially during our adolescent years. Long before we met, Pat lived in Rockrimmon (the northwest part of town) and I lived in Village Seven, where we found this humble abode a few days ago. When I was in high school, Village Seven was considered to be more or less the east side, but exponential eastward growth of the city over the last three decades has now made it more like central. It's a pretty big area that encompasses mostly middle class homes, with a few fancier digs in some spots. There were never any houses like this on on Avondale, however. That was always one of the more affluent streets but this house sticks out like a sore thumb. Clearly someone tore down one of the existing homes and put this in its place. What do you think of it? It's not my cup of tea, especially in a neighborhood that was built up in the late 1960s through the '70s.

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Today I had a rendezvous with a model in Rockrimmon, and I took the scenic route back to my neck of the woods, stopping in Monument Valley Park for a moment to take this picture of the duck pond. This always has been and always will be one of my favorite spots in the city.

The house(s) on the hill

This morning I had a doctor appointment on the northwest side, and as I waited for her to come and examine me, I glanced out the window and saw these giant homes above us. This part of town is called Rockrimmon, and some of the houses there are quite expensive. As you can imagine, these ones here must be especially pricey though, because they have a wonderful view from up there. In Colorado Springs, the view is everything!

Rockrimmon

On Tuesday I had to run by a friend's house in the Rockrimmon neighborhood to pick something up, and these two young bucks were hanging about, right next to the driveway. If you live in this part of town, you'd better get used to having four legged friends in your yard, and lots of them. I saw deer in front of nearly every home on my friend's street! It's a daily occurrence, but deer aren't the only animals that frequent Rockrimmon gardens; there are also bear, bobcats and even the occasional mountain lion.