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Three years ago my friend Angie and I learned that one of our old friends, Lesa, had died a while back. We don't know how or why, since neither of us had been in contact with her for a long time. We've made it a point to visit her grave every now and again, so that's what we did last Friday. Looking around Fairview Cemetery you see a lot of old headstones, and sadly many of them were babies or small children, like Miss Juanita May here. I'm glad that someone is still putting flowers on her little grave.

2026 Colorado Springs Garden Tour (Part 1)

Happy Independence Day to my US readers! Last Sunday I hit up the annual garden tour with my friend JB. Most of the stops this year were in my brother's neighborhood, actually. I didn't take a ton of pictures, although as usual all the gardens were very nice indeed. More to come.

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Here are the last couple of shots from my California trip a couple of weeks ago. These were taken on a stroll through my friends' neighborhood, which borders a semi wild space. Coyote sightings are a near daily occurrence, and the fauna is lush and abundant.

A Meditative Space for a Not So Meditative Place

I'm back. Pardon my unplanned absence. I didn't intend to leave the blog unattended for the last few days, in fact I already had photos prepped, but what happened was a migraine that lasted from Thursday to Saturday. It was pretty awful and I spent most of that time in bed. I do feel better today, though, and in fact I was able to go to the Colorado Springs Garden Tour yesterday, so my weekend wasn't 100% a total bummer! Pictures from that soon, but first, more from my California trip a couple of weeks ago.

You may be wondering why I have been to San Clemente three times since February. The reason isn't exactly a happy one. My dear friend Janet's family has been dealing with a debilitating illness: glioblastoma. Janet's awesome husband, Ethan, was diagnosed in the spring of 2025, and his mobility was immediately and profoundly impacted. He underwent a lot of physical therapy over many months and it was helpful, but the reality is that Ethan has essentially been disabled from the moment his symptoms surfaced. Thus the entire family (Janet, their daughter Rachel, and Janet's cousin Arthur) has been centered around his needs for over a year now, 24/7, and frankly they are all exhausted. It has been very hard on all of them. My role in this? Emotional support friend. Janet and I are very close and she needs a shoulder. I am that shoulder. Pat and I went there in February to help with things around the house, then I went back in April just to hang out and provide support, and again this month. 

If you've ever dealt with cancer, you know that chemotherapy and radiation treatment are part of the deal. While I was there this time, Ethan was undergoing radiation therapy. I think it was ten treatments in a row, so he had to go to the cancer center pretty much every day. I went with them on one of those days, and because I was excluded from the actual treatment suite, I hung out in the waiting room. Eventually I wandered outside and came across this nice, serene space called the Sabatasso Family Healing Garden. Since I had a camera with me and nothing else to do, I snapped off a few photos for you. It was indeed a very calm, meditative garden and I appreciated it.

Cancer sucks.

Speaking of Old Houses...

A couple of weeks ago my friend Chuck made a Facebook post about a movie he had been in many years ago, and it brought back some memories for me. Around the late 1980s and early 1990s, for some reason Hollywood randomly noticed the Pioneers Museum. Subsequently a few made for TV movies were filmed there, especially in the historic old courtroom. I remember these productions quite well because at the time I was working in a pro camera shop downtown called Shewmaker's, and film crew members stopped in once or twice to pick up movie-making related supplies. Anyway, these movies required extras, so lots of local folks got to be "background," including some of my friends.

The movie in which Chuck had a small role was called "The Incident", and it starred the venerable Walter Matthau as a small town defense attorney in WWII era Colorado who is compelled to represent a Nazi who's been accused of murder. In the film, there is a POW camp located just outside of town (the old Alexander Film Company's headquarters were used for the location) and it was chock full of captured Nazis. Chuck got a non speaking role as a menacing Nazi who threatens to beat up Walter Matthau with a baseball bat.

The house that stood in for Walter Matthau's home was featured quite a few times in the film along with many other familiar locations, such as Bancroft Park, Fairview Cemetery and the Garden of the Gods. Out of curiosity I decided to see if I could actually find the house. Clearly it was in Old Colorado City, and after driving around for just a few minutes I came across it on Pikes Peak Avenue just west of 17th Street. It's a beautiful home and my internet snooping tells me it that it was built in 1908 and is currently worth between $925,000 and $1,000,000.

As for the movie, Pat and I watched it on Amazon Prime after Chuck dredged it up on Facebook, and since I'd never actually seen it before I was very amused to spot a few other friends in it, too: Tony, Elizabeth and Eric. They all looked so young! And of course it was fun to see all the locations used around town. It's worth mentioning too that it was a decent film, by no means was it a clunker. We were entertained. So if you want to see what Colorado Springs looked like in 1990 while masquerading as "Lincoln Bluff" in 1944, you should give it a watch! And if you do, when you get to the scene where Walter Matthau is being threatened by three Nazis in the infirmary, Chuck is the strapping young man on the left.

Sunday Style!

Back to Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend for today's post. Lots of bodacious Betties and cool cats to be found at the car show. Next Sunday I'll wind up my VLV series with just a few more snaps of vintage style captured over the course of the event.

I ran into a few friends at Viva this time around. This is Stephanie and it was a nice surprise to bump into her at the car show. 😊

My mom had a purse very much like this when I was a small child. This would have been around 1970, I think. Hers had a horse head design in the tooled leather and I remember being obsessed with it. Finally she gave it to me a few years ago. I've never used it but I think it's high time that I take it out for a spin.

Things I Saw in SoCal (Part 1)

April was a busy month for me. Only three days after returning from Las Vegas, Nevada, I was airborne again, bound for San Clemente, California. You may recall that Pat and I visited San Clemente in February. This time I went solo, to visit the same friends. I had a little beach time during my stay, plus a day of just driving around by myself while my friends were otherwise occupied.

Above, here's something so very California that I had to share it even though the shot's a little blurry: a foot powered "taxi" filled with giggling girls as a guy walks past with a surfboard balanced on his head! Below, a practical solution to the $6+ per gallon gas prices in Orange County: a cool vintage scooter. I'm sure it rarely needs a top up.

San Clemente is really just a little surf town. Much of the local culture and economy revolves around the sport. There's a beach nearby called Trestles that's known for its incredible waves -- so much so that the 2028 Olympic surfing competition will take place right here in San Clemente.

The thought of growing a banana tree right in your front yard boggles my mind! It never freezes in San Clemente (as I type this, it's 39° F in Colorado Springs, and we're expecting below freezing temperatures tonight). When I was a kid growing up in the Philippines, we had banana trees just like this in our yard.

Fave No Kings Messaging (Part 5)

My last few shots from the protest. I hope you enjoyed them! More importantly, I hope you're finding effective ways to make your voice heard, too!

My beautiful friends Julianna and Marian. They're sisters.

Sunday Style!

A little gallows humor for today -- or maybe I should say guillotine humor. This was my friend JB's choice of earrings for the No Kings protest on March 28th.

April 2025 Theme Day: Entertainment

Every first of the month, City Daily Photo bloggers participate in Theme Day, and this time the theme is entertainment. Sewing may not seem like a good time to you, but honestly it's probably my favorite hobby at the moment. This is my beloved sewing machine. It's well over 20 years old, but I refuse to replace it even though Pat periodically threatens to buy me a fancy new one.

This year I have decided to really lean into the things that bring me joy, and I've identified them specifically: gardening, reading and sewing. The reason for this is the current administration and the daily chaos that it brings. I need to actively envelop myself in happiness! I don't know about you, but personally speaking the last time this creep was president it was just perpetual, 24 hour stress for four straight years, alarm bells constantly clanging in my head. Doing the things that I love, and spending time with the people that I love -- that's what's keeping me sane right now. The photo below shows my current work in progress: a vintage looking Hawaiian shirt for my beloved Pat. I can't wait to see it on him.

For more interpretations of entertainment by CDP bloggers all over the globe, click HERE. Enjoy!

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! 

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.

San Clemente (Part 2)

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, it rained relentlessly for almost our entire stay in San Clemente, California last week. On Friday the sun finally came out, and although it was still chilly I prevailed on Janet's cousin Arthur to chauffeur me around town. I have been to San Clemente many times and I always make it a point to visit Stewart Surfboards (above) so I can buy a new t-shirt. The surfboard in front of the store says something to effect of  "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy a surfboard and go surfing and that'll make you happy." I'm paraphrasing since I didn't take a picture of the whole board, sorry! After our stop at Stewart's, we made our way to the water. Living in landlocked Colorado, I crave the ocean, even if it's chilly out. I'll share some great views of the Pacific tomorrow.

San Clemente (Part 1)

We spent all of last week in California visiting our good friends Janet and Ethan, their daughter Rachel, and Janet's cousin Arthur. They live in San Clemente, toward the bottom of Orange County. As you can see, it was quite chilly and very rainy. Not exactly what you think of when you conjure up sunny southern California in your mind's eye! It wasn't until our last full day there that the sun came out. The bad weather didn't bother us though; we actually stayed "home" for the most part and didn't do much in the way of sightseeing. Mostly we helped out with projects around their house, which is why you see a picture of a very soggy garden center at the bottom of this post -- I helped them plant an herb and veggie garden in the rain! I love gardening, even if I get soaked. More (sunnier) pictures tomorrow!

Who Gives a Scrap?

I met up with my friend Teresa this weekend at Who Gives a Scrap. I just love this place! They have some pretty fun stuff. It's basically sort of a thrift store for makers -- you know, knitters, crocheters, sewists, artists of all kinds, scrapbookers... you can donate your unwanted crafting stuff (and it's a non-profit, so hello tax write off!), and you can buy pretty much any crafting supply you can think of here for cheap. Some of their offerings are pretty interesting and you never know what they're going to have in stock. I'm not exactly "crafty" but I do love to sew and knit, so Who Gives a Scrap is right up my alley. I think every city needs a place like this.

Sunday Style!

Here's my friend Marian, who wore a jacket with cool detailing when I saw her last week.

February 2026 Theme Day: Double

Well here we are again, the first day of a new month, which means it's Theme Day for participating City Daily Photo bloggers. This month the theme is double. I brained on this for days without coming up with any decent ideas, then I decided that the force was with me and a great subject would simply present itself if I let it. I was right. I went to my friend JB's today so she could join me on a dog walk, and as we wandered around her neighborhood these two nearly identical dachshunds barked excitedly at Frodo from their vantage point on the back of the couch. How perfect was this? I had already taken what I thought was an excellent photo for the theme only moments before (and I will blog that image tomorrow), but this was so much better, and funnier too.

For more takes on double by CDP bloggers all over the planet, click HERE. Enjoy!

When All Else Fails

When you can't think of anything to point your camera at around here, there's always Starr Kempf's place. I was in the neighborhood today to see my friend Rachael, so I swung by to grab this shot for you. You can read more about the backstory of these pieces in THIS post from May of 2016.