The Sobriety Dance (Or Not?)

This guy can almost always be found in the median at the intersection of Uintah and Cascade, dancing while holding up a sign. I've noticed him there many times over the last few months (he's kind of hard to miss). Although it doesn't look like it in this photo, that's actually a busy intersection with queues of cars perpetually waiting for the light to change color, so I just assumed the sign had something to do with panhandling, since he always has a captive audience. But while getting this photo ready to post, I could see that it actually reads "Dancing to make you smile while you wait awhile - 4 years sober." Hm. Part of me says, "Good for you, buddy!" And the cynic in me thanks fat chance, he just takes the handouts he receives and gets loaded. Who knows? At any rate, he's one of the more eccentric characters to land downtown lately.

February 2023 Theme Day: Virtue

The first of every month is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers! This month's theme is virtue. According to Ben Franklin, cleanliness is a virtue, so I thought I'd run by the car wash on Uintah and 17th to see if I could catch anyone in the act of being virtuous. Sure enough I found this guy, who was doing his best to make my car look bad. I guess I'll be virtuous myself tomorrow and get my car washed.

For more takes on virtue from CDP bloggers worldwide, click HERE. Enjoy!

An Ode to Marian Anderson

I first noticed this uplifting new mural a few months ago. You can find it near North Middle School and the School District 11 offices, on El Paso Street a little south of Uintah. The great Marian Anderson was a famous singer who performed everything from spirituals to opera, and Gwendolyn Brooks was a celebrated poet and author, not to mention the first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. I love how wonderfully she describes the way Marian Anderson's voice made her feel. It makes me want to listen, too.

All too familiar

Ah, yes. The cone zone. You see them all over the city these days. Here's why:  our roads got so potholed that it made national news. This is not something that you want your city to be known for. Things got so ridiculous that people were getting pulled over for drunk driving when in fact they were only weaving to and fro trying to avoid potholes! (This actually happened to my brother.) Pat and I replaced too many tires to count. To this day, his car has a bent rim on the front driver's side. The newspaper had a pothole map, kept up to date by readers. The local TV news did pothole updates. Our friends would do random alerts on Facebook. Crater sized hole in the road, watch out! (The one by King Soopers on Uintah was mind boggling.) Pat and I started to give the potholes names. It was bad. Finally, a couple of years ago the citizens of Colorado Springs reluctantly concluded that the only solution was to raise the sales tax, and ever since, road crews have been aggressively repairing, resurfacing and improving thousands of miles of road. We should be happy about it of course, because the pothole situation was extremely bad, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little weary of cone zones! At one point recently I couldn't access my house from north, south or west, and had to drive out of my way to the east to get home from my studio. It's crazy! But I suppose I'll shut up now, because anything's better than the potholes. Right?

More progress

The City is making fast progress on the project that's going on in Monument Valley Park, along the creek bed near Uintah Street. I took this picture a few days ago, and compared to my last update, you can see it's really moving along. I had promised to call the City and do some investigating because I really want to know the scope of this undertaking, and in fact I did call and I believe they told me it's called the Legacy Project. But I can't find my notes so I'll have to revisit this subject later! I will continue to post updates, because if it's a large scale project that permanently improves the looks and functionality of this public space, I'm all for it.

A finished project

I have been documenting the progress of the historic Dickey House on Cascade and Uintah over the last few years. I think the homeowner has finally finished with all of his home improvement projects. I haven't been able to get a nice picture of it until the other day, when as luck would have it Pat was behind the wheel, not me, and we were stopped at the traffic signal right in front of the house. The light was perfect so I quickly grabbed my camera and took a quick snap. The place looks the best I've ever seen it! Kudos to the homeowner, who I witnessed out there doggedly working away for lo these many years, not to mention the amount of money he must have spent. What a lovely home he now has to show for his efforts!

Untitled

A cheerful mural underneath the Uintah Street bridge, just east of the interstate.

More opinions on the state of things

I find that the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission rather likes the corner of Cascade and Uintah. I happened to have a camera on hand the last time I saw them, so I grabbed a couple of shots while waiting for the light to change. The motorists passing through the intersection were quite supportive of them, honking and waving as they drove by.

Sunday Style!

I run into stylish people everywhere! Earlier this month I went to the ARC on 19th and Uintah to donate a bag of clothes, and one other person was there to make a donation as well. Right away I noticed her cute shoes. I love Mary Janes! I must have at least ten pairs! She told me they were by Hot Chocolate, a company that you may remember from THIS Sunday Style post last year. Cute and comfy vegan shoes, great tattoos, a friendly smile, and she supports the awesome ARC... what's not to love? I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone and she told her name was Lauren. Thanks Lauren for the pictures! Maybe I'll run into you at the ARC again sometime!

Another DeLorean sighting

I saw another DeLorean the other day. This one was on Uintah and Nevada. A little dirty but it sounded good! I remember back in the day when these cars were considered to be "dogs" -- that is, not very fast and prone to mechanical problems -- but the slick design has held up well over time, and of course it's impossible to see one without thinking of "Back to the Future".

Van Briggle Pottery tours!

I saw this the other day while I was stopped at a red light and quickly took a picture. Here's your chance to see one of the coolest historic buildings in Colorado Springs! As far as I know, they have never allowed tours here (or if they have, I've never heard about it).  I would love to see the interior of this incredible building but I have a wedding to shoot, so please go for me! You can find it on the corner of Glen and Uintah, just a block east of I-25 when you take the Uintah (Colorado College) exit, at the entrance to Monument Valley Park.

Poké-stop

Yesterday I had an errand that took me to Rick's Garden Center on Uintah and 19th, and this sign was outside the door. I'm not into the current Pokémon fad at all. I've seen lots of people wandering around downtown lately, staring at their phones. I don't know too much about it but it seems to be a digital form of geocaching, simply put. It's an intriguing idea for small businesses to capitalize on it! If this silly-but-harmless little fad leads people to explore downtown and the west side, and to discover cool places like Rick's Garden Center, then why not? Good for them and good for Rick's!

Flamingo bouse

If you need something to smile about, drive north on Hancock from Uintah Street and look to your left. There's a house with a flock of pink plastic flamingos in the front yard about half a block up. You're welcome!

The Dickey House

I have been watching this beautiful old Victorian mansion on Uintah and Cascade undergo an extensive facelift over the last year or so. It's gotten a new roof and landscaping, and it looks like the green paint is getting a touch up now. I assume that the crane parked in the yard must have something to do with the painting process. What an enormous undertaking this project has been for the owner. I'm guessing the interior of the house is getting a complete re-do as well. For a long time it was divided up into apartments (actually, one of my friends lived there when I was in college), but I think it's gone back to being a single family home again.

I've always been curious about this mansion, so in writing this post I decided to do a little sleuthing and found out that it's called the Dickey House. It was built around 1898 by Mary S. Dickey, widow of the Reverend Clement Cresson Dickey, and it's over 8,100 square feet! Here's a picture of it when it was newly built:

You can see that an extensive addition was added to the west side of the home at some point, as the original building is much smaller than what stands today. Oh and by the way this lovely home is currently valued at close to a million dollars! What a gorgeous old mansion. I'd love to see the inside some day! (And if you're interested, HERE is a picture I took of it in 2010. Oh and yes, that's a guy wearing shorts and going for a run on a freezing day. Typical diehard Coloradoan!)

EDIT:  My trusty sources tell me that the current owner and his family do live in the home, but the property still has a few apartments as well. This makes good sense to me, since the place is so huge!

Be careful out there!

On the way home from my studio Saturday evening, I came across this car accident on Uintah and Hancock. This is not the first time I've seen a bad accident at that intersection. It looks like this car was broadsided pretty badly. It's destroyed! Hopefully those people you see on the sidewalk are its passengers; they seem to be uninjured. (However, two fire trucks were deployed to this accident, so it's likely there were injuries.) The other car is pictured below. You can't see its front end from the photo, but it's completely crumpled. I believe there was a third car casualty on the other side of the intersection, but my memory fails me now.

It's a scary world out on the roads these days, people. Be careful! Stay alert and don't text! Not just to avoid causing an accident, but to avoid being hit by someone else who might not be paying attention. And please wear your seatbelt. There's no excuse not to. I hope all of the people who were involved in this accident are okay!

Muddy Waters

No, not the famed blues musician, alas. It's Monument Creek looking murky and nasty. I took this photo yesterday afternoon from the bridge behind the Colorado College, looking north toward Uintah Street. See how high the water is -- it's over the banks. I haven't been posting about the daily, heavy rainstorms we've been having because it seems to be a constant topic of conversation these days. Rain, rain and more rain. The last time I remember such a rainy May was the year I bought my house in the late 1990s, and trying to move in and get my life sorted out was complicated by daily deluges. We are all starting to get a little worn out by this weather, I think. It's so bad, several of our local parks have are temporarily closed because of damage to the hiking trails, and there was a big rock slide on a highway exit ramp in Manitou Springs. Houses are sliding down hills, sinkholes are appearing out of nowhere. And don't even get me started on the subject of the enormous potholes riddling every street in town. According to the weather forecast, we don't have a dry day in our future until next Tuesday! But it could be worse. My heart goes out to the people of Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas. I have seen the pictures and video of the incessant flooding that's happening there right now, and heard of the deaths. It's terrible!

Tomorrow I'll show you a couple of pictures of the duck pond in Monument Valley Park. We may not be loving all this rain, but the waterfowl probably like it very much.

Here's the view looking to the south. The sky may look blue here, but an hour after I took this picture, it was raining again. And two hours later it was hailing!

A close-up of the creek bank showing how high the water level is. So muddy! And those plastic bags sure do add a nice touch of ambience. Sigh.

Landmark

This big, beautiful Victorian home sits on the southeast corner of Uintah and Hancock, and I think everyone must use it as a landmark because of its color. Not exactly a shy and retiring shade of orange! I do like the color. This house has been in this spot for a number of years, but not as long as you think -- I recall that it was moved from another location and plopped down on this corner about 20 or so years ago. I do not know where it was originally located, but I do know that a century ago, Victorian houses were not typically placed at an angle like this one is. Whoever made the decision to orient it toward the corner instead of directly facing the street was not being historically accurate. (Also, cladding the lower story in stone and brick. Definitely not historically accurate!)

September 2014 Theme Day: Rust and Ruins

The first of every month is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers. This month's theme is rust and ruins. Today's picture makes me sad, because my friend Todd grew up in this once proud Victorian on Uintah Street, and now look at it! When Todd's family lived in this home, it was lovingly restored and immaculately maintained. They sold it about 20 years ago, and the new owner immediately divided it up into apartments. I don't believe it's even seen a coat of paint since. I'm sure that, since it's located across the street from the Colorado College, its renters have been primarily students. This poor house is showing the signs of two decades of rowdy, careless renters and an even more careless, obviously absentee owner. The sign in the window says "For Rent", but would you want your college-aged kid living here? It looks like a crack house! (It's telling that school is starting at CC and all the students have arrived for the year, yet this house still has empty apartments to let.) Even this rainy summer cannot make up for the yellowed, weedy "lawn"; the shutters are utterly dilapidated, the paint is peeling off, the siding is missing large chunks, and the porch is sagging. What a pity. Sadly, many of our downtown rentals are starting to look just like this, including a few Victorians I lived in during my renting years, long ago. I'm sure Todd winces every time he drives past his old home. I know I do! I do wish there was a way to mandate that our downtown homeowners, whether they rent out their property or live in it, are good stewards of their historic houses. This kind of blight and decay should not be happening in our beautiful downtown and Old North End.

To see more images of rust and ruins from CDP bloggers all over the world, click HERE.

The sunset picture that wasn't

I've been trying for the past week or so to get a good sunset picture, but circumstances have been conspiring against me! Take last night, for instance. I could see out our kitchen window that it was going to be an amazing sunset. Pat and I rushed to the car, hoping to make it to the Garden of the Gods overlook in time to catch the colors at their peak. Normally it's a 10-15 minute drive, depending on the traffic. On a Sunday night, 10 minutes for certain. But oh no, the guy in this enormous van wasn't having it! He pulled in front of me onto Uintah, a one lane road, and proceeded to drive 20 miles per hour, carefully stopping for every yellow light. He was AGONIZINGLY slow and cautious. After a few minutes of driving behind him, unable to pass (and calling him a few choice names that he should be glad he couldn't hear), I gave up and took this picture from behind the wheel at the corner of Uintah and Hancock as the light finally turned green. By the time I made it the handful of blocks to I-25, the sky was almost completely dark and the color was long gone. Sigh. Maybe I'll have better luck this week.

Look at me

This lady's bright colored hair caught my eye as I was driving west on Uintah Street a few months ago. That's a bold color indeed! She definitely doesn't fear attention.