Summer's passing

It is hard to believe that it has been a month since my last post. Mark and I have continued to have some great bike rides. His family has a reunion at Snowmass every year and the rides to the Maroon Bells and up Independence Pass were beautiful. The berries had not matured yet because of the cool summer. The bears depend upon these berries to get ready for winter and with them still not being ripe has brought the bears into town looking for food. One elderly woman who has feed the bears for years despite the insistence of the Wildlife department asking her to stop was found dead and partially eaten by a bear. They killed the bear that ate her. I think she would have been sad about that.

Our garden is providing us with about 20 pounds of vegetables a day. The tomatoes, squash, eggplant and peppers have been great. The cucumbers are gone now. I think about my grandfather when I eat tomatoes as he ate them three times a day everyday of the year. This was long before we knew about the beneficial effects of lycopenes that are in tomatoes. He lived to be 99. I think about him in the garden too as he encouraged me to plant my first one and was always there with good advice. I think about my grandmother when I eat onions because she loves them. She turned 95 this week. She once told me that if she was about to leave this world she did believe that if you just put a little onion on her lips it would revived her. I love that.

Mark and I are heading to Mexico to visit Larry, Viny and Alberto the last two weeks of November. We had hoped to get there sooner however we did not plan our schedules well enough in advance to accomplish that. We would like to be there during the rainy season one year. We are hoping to take a cooking class during our visit. We both love to cook and the food there is quite tasty.

Halloween is on a Saturday this year, so we are planning a party. I love Halloween. We decorate the house and go all out. We have a 15 foot Spider that John built out of scrapes that we light with black lights. It looks great.

Last weekend Bev Cobain, Kurt Cobain's cousin was at our house for dinner. I had bid on a catered dinner by Gourmet Catering at a fundraiser for the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Colorado. She said she would attend the dinner with whomever won the bid. The auctioneer offered a second dinner to the next highest bidder for the same price as my winning bid. We decided to combine the dinners and so we had 17 people around our dinning table. The caterer did all of the cooking and serving. It was a wine paired dinner and the chef came out to describe each course. It was delicious and the wines were good. Bev has written a couple of books of which I have the once called, "Dying to be Free". Her books are about helping families after they lose a family member to suicide. Bev was the family member that was called when Kurt killed himself. The two groups mingled well. It felt a bit odd for me to have a dinner party at our house and not be in the kitchen. When the party was over the kitchen was spotless. I loved that part.

Triple Bypass

Mark and I got up at 4 am yesterday to get to the start of the Triple Bypass cycling ride which started in Bergen Park. We picked up Jeff a rowing buddy of Mark's on the way. We began the ride at 5:50 am and arrived in Avon at 3:50 pm. This was a good time for us. There are aid stations along the route for food and bathroom breaks. We did not spend a lot of time at the stations. The views are terrific. The first great vista as we were climbing Squaw Pass prompted Mark to say, "This is the second best thing I have seen today, after waking up by you." I love him. The climbing is long and slow, the descents are fast, sometimes very fast. My top speed was 38.5 miles and hour. I enjoy the speed, however several of the descents had strong cross winds which blow one about. I am not fond of them. We we got to Copper Mountain we had a bit of rain which we were able to ride out of. Then a bit of sprinkling when we were in Vail. We arrived at Avon sooner that we thought we would. We had made arrangements to return to our car via the shuttle at 8 pm. Fortunately we were able to get on the 5 pm shuttle which was great especially since it started pouring rain right at 5. My thighs are a bit sore this morning, otherwise I feel great.

I talked with my mother wishing her a Happy Birthday. She is seventy one today and says "I feel just like I am only seventy." My nephew Josh is 30 today. They are all going out to Dave's BBQ in Tulsa. There will be about 26 of them. They like this place because it has a balcony area that they can have for themselves. I got to attend this last year. They serve the food on trashcan lids.

I am going to buy an i Phone today, pull some weeds, then off to a rowing club party. Mark's crew of 8 has won the national title these past two years. They did not enter the race this year so the are having a party one last time with the huge trophy before the ship it off to this year's winner.

I have been enjoying watching the Tour de France. I have not seen a lot of it this year. The intrigue is great with Lance and Contador being 2nd and 3rd places and being on the same team. It is likely to continue to get interesting.

I need to call a bee keeper to come and collect the bee hive that has started on our west balcony. The bees swarmed there about a month ago. I thought they were just resting. They decided to stay and build the hive. It is completely in the open which surprised me. I like the bees but their home is in an inconvenient spot. We like to sit on this balcony and eat. The bees do not bother us but they tend to go for whatever we are eating and that is a recipe for disaster.

The long drive back to Denver

Mark and I met Mark and Kristin at Relish a newer restaurant in Breckenridge that was recommended by a friend. When our waiter Sam arrived at our table I asked him about his being at this place instead of our favorite restaurant Cafe Alpine. He let us know he switched when the owner of Cafe Alpine decided to close the place. This was a shock. It was the best place in Breckenridge and Mark and I loved eating there. The owner paid off all of his debt and decided to go into the consulting business to help other restaurants be successful. He said the landlord of the place was hard to deal with. We were sad to here this news. The sous chef from Cafe Alpine opened Relish so we knew we were in for a treat. The food at Relish is great. So now I suppose this is our favorite place in Breck, although we have another new place to try called Modis.

Mark and I got up late, 8 am this morning so we did a smaller ride. We rode from Breckenridge around Lake Dillion and back, so only 36 miles. The weather was cool and we again had a tailwind riding back to Breckenridge. A rare event and two days in a row. We had seen a new bike trail just over the top of Swan Mountain and decided to explore it. I was a short climb and then a long decent through blooming mountain meadows to Lake Dillion. Definitely a great find and one we will bike again.

The traffic on Sundays from the mountains can be quite heavy and today it was worse than usual. The stop and go traffic started on the west side of the Eisenhower Tunnel which is about 80 miles from Denver. When we finally got to the tunnel the siren went off and the tunnel was closed for about 10-15 minutes. We are not sure why that happened. Mark and I know all of the side roads off of I-70 so when we got to the first exit that we could get off that parking lot we did. I love the side roads because the landscape is beautiful and the road is mostly quiet. Of course we are not the only locals who know this trick so we had some company. The trip that usually takes an 1 1/2-2 hours took 2 1/2 hours. It was slower however I love those back roads. It rained on us before getting home. They say that Breckenridge has had more rain this year than they have had since 1870. Everything is green.

Percy our blue front Amazon Parrot is singing because he is happy we are back.

Cycling from Breckenridge to Vail and back

Mark and I had a great ride today. The trip is 73 miles and we climbed 4200 vertical feet. The weather was beautiful although it rained when we got back to the car. It is cool in the mountains and will likely be a bit chilly when we watch the fireworks after dinner. I saw a red fox running down the road in from of the cabin last night and a white crowned sparrow in town. Mark is ready to head to town so we can find a parking spot and get to dinner on time to meet his rowing buddy Mark and his wife Kristin. So off we go.

Fourth of July weekend in the Mountains

Mark and I drove to the our cabin last night. The traffic was lighter than we expected and moved well the entire way. It often gets jammed up on the weekends. I bought a new grill for the cabin at a silent auction fundraiser for Voz y Corazon the suicide prevention program MHCD has for latina teenagers. Latina teens are at the highest risk for suicide in Denver. The girls helped design that program and wanted a safe place to talk about whatever they wanted. We have professional artists, including Dwight Davidson, teaching the girls different forms of art. They talk about everything in these art spaces. Our clinical staff work with the girls around choosing life and teach them how to intervene with their friends who are talking about killing themselves.

Mark had to slightly dismantle the grill so it would fit in his car for the trip. The weather was great as the light dimmed over the mountains last night. He put the grill back together while I put food away in the kitchen for the weekend. We watched the first episode of the second season of Battlestar Galactica before heading to bed. It rained hard last night and has been threatening rain all morning. So we are reading and relaxing at the cabin instead of our original plan of riding the 70 miles from Breckenridge to Vail and back.

Bemrose creek is at the edge of our property and is running high. We have had a lot of rain this year and I have never seen the mountains this green. It is great. There are warblers singing all around this morning as I sit on the deck writing this blog. We see three mountains from the deck, Mt. Lincoln which is east of the continental divide, North Star peak, on the divided and Mount Quandry west of the divide where our cabin is. Each still has snow. Heart shaped Arnica is blooming on the property, along with several types of legumes. This should be a good year for mushrooms. We have about 20 types that grow. One is the size of a pie and the animals love it.

Gay Pride

Mark and I walked to the bus stop this morning to ride the Colfax Avenue bus to the Gay Pride March. Colfax is the longest Avenue in the US and the bus is known to have the most interesting riders. Our bus was full of all kinds of people, the small elderly woman with a tee shirt made out of rice that said, "Live your life, everyone else's is already taken." The young guy standing next to me had a spiked dog collar and spiked wrist restraints. Two lipstick lesbians got on the very crowded bus and said, "Looks like we are all going to the same place!" Then the man who looked to be in his eighties got on with a rainbow shirt. I of course had my rainbow umbrella. They announced at the parade that 250,000 people were there.

The Parade starts every year with the Dykes on Bykes. They were as rough and loud as ever. I love the noise they make. They were followed by SQREAM, the Scooter Queers Riding Everywhere and More. This made me wish I was on my scooter. PFLAG, Church Groups, Bars, Clubs of all sorts, like the 4 wheel drive club, the rainbow cloggers, the Mile High Freedom Band and the Bear tones, four big bears who sing. The native american group, two spirits were here again. They were great. The Bunk house always has a truck and of course the politicians show up, which I appreciate.

Here was the finale. The longest boa on the planet. The last car of the parade had a drag queen with a pink boa that is 1.25 miles long! It was draped in five strands which allowed everyone to join in at the end of the parade with the boa draped over them. Mark and I were right in the middle of this. It was great walking down the hill of Colfax to Civic Center Park with long strands of boa flowing over people down below and following behind. Las Vegas Pride had a one mile boa last year, so this year Denver made history. They were selling sections of the boa as a fundraiser for The Center the GLBTI community center. Of course we had to have a section which I worn home on the bus.

We have had a lot of rain this summer in Denver and everything is green and the temperatures are cool. Our flowers and vegetables are great and we still sleep under a comforter at some point in the early morning.

Mark and I are training for the Triple bypass ride. Yesterday we rode from Georgetown where they were having a marathon, to Keystone over Loveland pass and back. This was a 56 mile trip where we climbed 6200 feet. It was great. Of course one's legs get tired after such a trip. We have been watching the DVDs of the remake of Battlestar Galactica. What a nice way to end a day of riding.

I love our little life in Denver. We are looking at long range vacation plans. We still want to get to Denmark while our friend Berengere is still the french ambassador to Denmark. She is living in a palace in Copenhagen. Our friends Anne and Gilles have moved into their custom built BIO home. They built an energy efficient home in the french alps. We want to visit. And of course we what to see Larry, Viny and Alberto in Tepozlan. I may wind up taking a trip alone to see them this year as Mark does not have as much vacation as I do.

cycling in the mountains

I do not post often enough. This morning Mark and I rode from Bergen Park outside of Denver over Squaw Pass by Mount Evans and Echo Lake, then down to Idaho Springs and then back to Bergen Park. This was a 47.6 mile trip and we climbed about 4,000 ft. It was beautiful. We have been training for the Triple Bypass a 120 mile trip from Bergen Park to Avon, CO. This ride goes over Squaw Pass, Loveland Pass and then Vail Pass, hence Triple Bypass. You climb 10,000 feet and this trip is done in one day. This will be on July 11th. We have done this before and if the weather is good the trip is great. Later this summer we will ride the Courage Classic which is only 156 miles over three days. This is in the mountains and a fund raiser for The Children's Hospital in Denver.

Last night we had a dinner party at the house. Our dinner parties are for 8 total people as our round table in the dinning room easily sits that many. We do have 8 leaves to expand the table to 14 feet by 6 feet and can easily sit 22. It is harder to have an engaging conversation with that many people so we prefer the smaller group. I did most of the cooking as Mark was racing in his skull and crew races. He won one gold metal and two silver metals. A couple of his rowing club members came to the dinner a they one two golds and one silver each. Quite the accomplished group. One of my Livingston Fellows and his wife joined us. Adam and his wife Alissa. He is the director of Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and his wife is a professor of contemporary art.

Of course my blog would be incomplete if is left out the menu. I made what I call a SushimiTini which is a bed of cucumber with tuna sushimi that had been slightly marinated in grapefruit juice with Serrano peppers, white soy sauce and mint. I serve this in a martini glass with a grapefruit chip that I dehydrate. Everyone love this. We served this with Champagne.

The next morsel was an amuse buche of a lentil salad with truffle vinaigrette and topped with a bacon vinaigrette. Adam said he could make this bite an entire meal. We served this with a white boudoir.

The next course was saffron mussels with the same wine

The main course was a pork tenderloin marinated in balsamic vinegar, garlic and red pepper flakes that Mark grilled, serve with a roasted red potato salad with dill gherkins, onion and mustard. We served this with a Pino Noir wine.

The desert was fresh strawberries, blue berries and raspberries with sweet creme fraise that we make with orange zest. We served this with Proseco.

The conversation and dinner was a delight. Adam and Alissa gave us a painting as a gift. It is 4x4 inches by and extraordinary artist.

The week before last I was in DC talking with Senators Udall, Bennet and Representative Degette's health care staffer about including mental health in the health care reform. All of these meetings went well. I was also elected as the first vice chair of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare which represents the mental health providers in our country. I was asked to testify for the FDA advisory committee concerning access to psychiatric medications for children.

The meeting on Friday of that week ended early so I went to the National Gallery. They have a director's choice audio tour of the museum. I did not have time to do the entire tour and when I told the African American woman in her mid 60s who was selling the audio tours that I only had and hour and a half to spend in the museum, she asked me what I wanted to see. I told her I wanted to see the more important works in the museum. She immediate pulled out a map and started circling the gallery numbers and adding the audio numbers to the map. The timing was great and I saw fantastic works of art. I thanked her profusely when I finished my time in the museum.