Rocky Mountain High~6 Months in Colorado!

Hello Colorado! Yes, I finally feel like I LIVE in Colorado after my visit to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. Here in Arvada I have been admiring the view of the Rocky Mountain Front Range everyday and salivating at the chance to get closer into the mountains. Last week on a beautiful autumn day I realized that dream. It was 48 years ago that I fell in love with Colorado, and that long since I was up close and personal with the glorious terrain. I probably took hundreds of photos and it is overwhelming to begin editing my favorites. I found heart rocks covered in multi-colored layers of lichen that thrilled me. We saw a herd of Elk in the throes of their mating season and listened to the bull bugling for his herd to follow him! We went to the timberline, about 13,000 ft. altitude, and I was slightly out of breath, albeit it was about 25 mph wind and freezing cold! Along the road up to the mountains the Aspens were showing off their beautiful autumn colors, mostly yellow, but some orange bits and still some green. We took a short hike in a meadow with the mountains surrounding us and it reminded me of why I fell in love with Colorado! A few wildflowers were left in the meadow and of course I found a few heart shaped stones as souvenirs. As a bonus in Estes Park we found a lovely Labyrinth to walk with amazing views. I am so grateful to live here amongst the magnificent Colorado nature, and for new friends to share these wonderful adventures with. Here are a few photos to enjoy.

I celebrated living in Colorado for six months on September 4th with a month of fun filled adventures with new friends, enjoying cultural outings, taking art classes, continuing my weekly “meditation in nature” class that I love, listening to live music at a few venues, going to the theater, visiting some galleries, taking in the First Friday Art Walk in Denver along the Sante Fe Arts District, holiday barbecues, nature walks in the neighborhood along the trails near my house, walking the Labyrinth, and the path in Majestic View Park, savoring the breathtaking sunsets over the mountains. I will include more pictures for you to enjoy.

Trees framing Longs Peak over Standley Lake

Last but not least, I celebrated my Honda’s 32 year anniversary! I bought it brand new in 1990 in Los Angeles, and it has been with me on all my life journeys ever since! It only has 61,000 miles on it and will outlive me for sure! I went to Standley Lake for a photo op and Mother Nature gifted us with a rainbow in the distance! I also celebrated a 6 month anniversary with my friend Alan who has a similar Honda. We met on March 12th at Majestic View Park, and for a moment as he drove up, I thought my Honda was being stolen until I realized his car was too dirty! He has almost 333,000 miles on his! We have been “car” friends ever since, and he came for visit to take a photo of what I call, “The Meeting of the Honda’s”. Here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy!

I am looking forward to October with many more Autumn Colorado Adventures! So until then I hope you enjoyed reading about my September fun filled adventures!

Happy Autumn & Enjoy!

September 30, 2022 0

Colorado Cultural & Creative Fun…

I don’t know where this month of August disappeared to. Thankfully, I have a lot of photo art creations and fun memories to look back on. Much of the month had to do with learning my new cell phone and fun camera editing apps, causing many challenges, but also a lot of serendipity along the way! I’ll post some of my favorite photo art and a serendipitous video of my first rainbow sighting here in Colorado. I enjoyed so many glorious nature outings and of course taking photos along the way! I also enjoyed some fun cultural outings with friends. We went to a one-man comedy production in Lakewood, Colorado at their lovely Cultural Center. It was a laugh riot entitled: “My Mom’s Italian, My Dad is Jewish, and I’m in Therapy! It resonated with me since I happen to be all of those things! Also, with friends we enjoyed some live Americana folk music at La Dolce Vita, a cool coffee house in an eclectic part of Arvada called Olde Town. Just the other evening with one of my newest friends, we went for a walk along the labyrinth and out for dinner back in Olde Town. And last night a belated birthday dinner with my housemate, and girlfriend at my favorite sushi restaurant. My life has been so enriched during these almost 6 months of living in Colorado, making new friends and sharing in such fun cultural and creative activities.

Fun with photo filters!
A view of the Rocky Mountains!

The labyrinth with the Rocky Mountains in the distance! Another fun photo filter photo art creation!

Out for a lovely evening sunset walk in my neighborhood, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance! This was my first attempt creating photo art with my new filters!

Photo Art Creation – August Full Moon – Supermoon

I took more enjoyable walks in the neighborhood savoring the amazing clouds and sun after a few thunderstorms. The month of August has been extremely hot here with thunderstorms almost every afternoon it seemed!

An afternoon of Meditation in Nature at Majestic View Park a few weeks ago.

My new cell phone camera surprised me with this video of a time-lapse rainbow, the first rainbow sighting I’ve had since I’ve arrived here! Apparently it’s just something my phone does if it finds a landscape photo that it can turn into a time lapse with music in the background! Quite serendipitous to say the least!

Serendiptious Rainbow Video!

I’ve also had even more fun with my new camera apps, experimenting with new techniques, and lighting, which I am calling painting with my camera!

I found a beautiful heart cloud in the sky and then I used my filters to create it into an ethereal looking cloud!

And last but not least some other interesting sites and new furry friends I found along my walks in the neighborhood in the month of August!

August 31, 2022 0

Officially a Coloradan!

After 48 years of Colorado dreaming I have officially become a Coloradan! I got my Colorado ID/drivers license, car registration/license plates, and voted in the primary election! Now, let’s hope I don’t get called for jury duty, not yet at least!!! The month of June went by like a flash, so many official things to accomplish!

I did have some creative fun in June, and began a 53 week plein air art project, drawing my interpretations of the Rocky Mountains and surrounding landscape. I have been inspired while visiting all my favorite nature spots in the area. I continue to walk the labyrinth several times a week, and love my meditation in nature class every Wednesday at Majestic View Park. That is where most of my drawings were created, along with my newest nature favorite, along Standley Lake trail. I am excited to begin a drawing and art class on July 1st which I hope will assist in improving my skills immensely!

Continuing in the creative mode, I got inspired to write a short story about my almost 4 months of living here, and the trials and tribulations of life at my affordable rental house! It was very cathartic to write, and is quite humorous at times. I have always loved Norah Ephron’s writing, so I attempted to infuse some of her style into my story.

I have also begun writing another memoir, this one about the past 5 years of my life, which I have entitled: “Limbo”! I have written about 6,000 words so far, and many more to go! The past 5 years have been filled with so many adventures and challenges, and as I write this memoir it brings up many emotions that I have pushed aside, so I could keep moving forward, and now it has become a very necessary healing and cathartic piece to write. The uncertainty of life during the pandemic was excruciating to write about, it was a time of “Limbo” for all of us. Between my Zen adventures, the political climate, the pandemic, and all the unplanned moving around I had to do, it has been quite a ride in Limbo Land for me! Limbo Land also known as the space in between, the bridge to nowhere, and the timelessness tunnel of my life.

I mentioned this is my second memoir, my first was written during the height of the pandemic in 2020. It was a great escape into reliving my many wonderful food related travel adventures throughout my life! It is available on amazon, and is called: “My Royal Palate”, Lobster, Steak and Ice Cream! There are great stories about my childhood, family restaurant, and many delicious recipes are included!

The summer solstice just passed us by, and I have begun the countdown, there are 84 days until autumn arrives. I hate summer, I hate being HOT, I hate being sweaty, and I really HATE mosquitos! See you in July, it’s one month closer to autumn!