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Climbing at The Palace
It’s a bright, warm, summery day. At last, I feel well enough to venture out. We drive up to The Palace for a little climbing. The river crossing is still at low winter levels, even with temperatures in the sixties. I’m able to rock-hop across. Cedar creek is blind as usual at the mouth, but…
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Book: Marbles / Oxford Stroud
I nearly gave up on this story of a boy growing up in Alabama during the great depression, but then got hooked by the Wild Man of Zanzibar chapter. The poetic throes of childhood passions seemed saccharine at first, but as they matured with the character I grew to appreciate them. Issues like racism and…
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Been Sick
I figured a couple of days at home with a head cold would help me catch up with the blog, but no, I sat in my lazy boy and practiced zero motivation. Managed to log in and do a little bit of my paying job, and that’s all. Other than being sick, though, it was…
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North Table Mountain Climbing
On our way back from Winter Park we stop in Golden to meet Kate & Mark for some climbing at the sunny North Table Mountain crag. This place has often treated us to good early season sport climbing, and it does so again today. After a long, cold winter, lounging outdoors in short sleeves is…
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Mary Jane
Three more inches of snow fall during the night, and we’re on the Zephyr lift at 9 am under blue skies. We split up to take different routes to the Mary Jane side of the ski area. In the trees on a run called Outhouse I have my best powder run of the season, sinking…
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Winter Park
Ann’s brother Ryan and his wife Danielle have made their way to Colorado for some snowboarding, and they are here after a week of snowfall in the mountains. We spend the morning making our way to the Winter Park Ski Area, check into the Sundowner motel, and hop on the free shuttle to the ski…
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Live Music: David Finckel & Wu Han
Our friend Alan persuades us to see this well-known piano and cello duo perform at the Edna Rizley Griffin concert hall in Fort Collins, even going so far as to buy me a ticket when I was noncommittal. I’m glad he did. The Griffin hall is small and intimate, which allows for a much more…
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Book: Hobo / Eddy Joe Cotton
The subtitle is “A young man’s thoughts on trains and tramping in America.” The book delivers just that. The young man is observant and fanciful enough to make it engaging, while keeping it low key, letting the dirt in his fingernails come through. He’s interested in lingo, and shares it in a way that retains…
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Live Music: Colorado Symphony Orchestra
None of us are sure if we’ll make this concert. Dad has all the tickets, Ann has extra work to do over the weekend, and Dad and Sarah are fighting off some kind of virus. When the evening comes, though, all of us make it Boettcher Concert Hall, find each other and our tickets, and…
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Movie: House of Sand (2005)
The first surprise is that Brazil has a vast desert of sand dunes with isolated “lagoons” that provide enough water to support human settlers, just barely. The story follows three generations of women stranded in this area, unable to return to the outside world that goes on making wars and discoveries that become echoes in…