Happy 50 or Watching 40s in the Rear View Mirror

Hey, watch where you throw that confetti! Who brought the horns in here? Can't you see I am celebrating the Big 50? Oh, that's what all the hoopla is. Thank you.

I decided a long time ago that fearing a milestone birthday is just silly. You may as well embrace it and party til your butt falls off, besides the other alternative is just not as much fun.

So I started my long weekend of celebrating with a trip to the eye doctor. He assured me that my eyes are healthy. Good thing, because I have not been able to see out of them clearly since I was six. Then I was off for a shopping day with my mom. She exchanged some Christmas gifts for others that fit better (yay for mom) and I got a new work outfit and winter coat - thanks so much.

Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack was a hoot! Good food, fun drink with a shark in it, and they only made me look a little foolish in front of a room full of strangers. They say that is good for the soul occasionally. Overall, a fun place for a birthday dinner.

Then we were off to Denver to visit the Wings Over the Rockies Air Museum. It is located on the Lowry base and is a little tricky to find. Once you get there you realize that you could have seen the gynormous hangar from a ways off if you had known where to look. It is full of displays of historic pictures and memorabilia from Lowry's heyday which includes it's roll during the Eisenhower days when Denver was known as the Summer White House and the Glenn Miller Band played for the then president in the Hangar where the museum is now. During our visit that is the music that was piped through the building, definitely some good dance tunes.

Dad had the opportunity to look at a restored J3 Piper Cub, like the one he learned to fly in --- years ago. (He'd shoot me if I filled that number in)

And we had the chance to stand next to and under the Blackbird. It is huge.

Afterwards we visited a couple new knitting stores, both in Centennial, Colorful Yarns and Knitty Cat. Both had lots of fun things to look at.

We stayed overnight and headed home the next morning with a stop in Parker, CO, to visit the newly opened Purls of Wisdom. The shop owner, Jen, was very helpful explaining what she carries in the way of a large selection of traditional yarns selections. She has the largest selection of Rowan I have ever seen. She says it is her favorite yarn, especially the one called Calmer. Her shop has a very meditative feel to it, as her website says - Zen-like.

A great weekend all in all. The weather cooperated and the traffic was light, not much else you can hope for.

My theory: Celebrate every age because you only get to do it once in this linear fashion!

Mother Nature Wins Again

As you may have guessed from previous posts, not much gets in the way of a road trip in my life. With or without my traveling family members (The 3 Mouseketeers, as we like to call ourselves) I ususally go on mini-road trip adventures as scheduled.

However that is not the case today.

My plan for today was to deliver the kittyghan donations for the Cat Care Society to Colorful Yarns in Centennial (that is on the current outskirts of southern Denver) and visit Knitty Cat in the same area before I came home to finish my Xmas projects.

Mother Nature has other ideas this morning. Even though the snow is minimal, the ice on the roads makes it treacherous, as the newscaster on Channel 13 has just remarked.

As you can see below the kittyghans are ready to go, mostly crocheted ones donated from CK and the knit one I made, with crocheted kitty spider strings and some additional toy items. Then I prepared the box to put everything in with help from my assistant, Pedro. He sat in the box for counterweight while I taped the wrapping paper on it. He is so helpful.







As you can see the box is ready and I am monitoring the road reports carefully to see if I am going to attempt it. I have driven in adverse conditions with much deeper snow depths before, however, ICE makes me hesitate. Will post later with the outcome of the day.