Wordless Wednesday: how many pennies?

 

Wordless Wednesday: prickly beauty

 

Many Harveys

Whoa! Look what's invaded our local Botanical Center. I know rabbits in most gardens are pests (I recently read some Peter Rabbit stories to my granddaughters) but these beauties are something else altogether!

These guys are part of a new set of exhibits by Hunt Slonem, an artist I was unfamiliar with, but who seems to really be into bunny rabbits.

I took advantage of a SABOT membership perk the other morning and made an early morning stroll to see these very cool sculptures.

Butterflies also feature, in fields small...

...and large...

One of the most interesting sections of the garden at any time is the courtyard surrounded by some of the greenhouses and interior spaces. Here's what it looks like from the handy walkway that gives you an aerial view:

And here's a closer look down at ground level:

The balls that are scattered about come close to upstaging the bunny, imho...

I especially like the ones suspended above the ponds, casting such cool reflections in the water:

Of course, I'm rather partial to those ponds even without art exhibits in them; nature puts on her own artistic shows there as well. Here's a couple of water lily shots, taken on an earlier excursion this spring:

Aren't those blossoms lovely?!

Wordless Wednesday: Now *that's* an airport* bathroom!

 

*new part of C concourse, Denver International

Now, THIS is Colorado!

It's hard to believe, but it's been five years since we've been skiing! First covid, then other trips and other responsibilities...but we finally got back to our favorite ski area, and were rewarded with some of the best snow so far in their season.

And they always have some of the best snow in the state, partly because of their high elevation. The picture above was taken from a run that goes along the Continental Divide, at over 11,000'. I had been a little worried about taking in such thin air, since a couple of respiratory bugs had laid me low recently, but the adrenaline must have taken over and I didn't have too much trouble. Whew! I would have hated to miss views like these. 

The mountains in the near distance above are Ouray and Chipeta. Ouray was an influential Native American chief and Chipeta was his wife. You can learn more about them here, although I don't know if it will explain why the mountain Ouray is as far away from the town Ouray as it is. Geography is fun!

You can see some of the work that's involved when it snows this much at the right. Hal is using our new roof rake—we didn't even know that was a thing!—to take some of the snow off the roof of our garage. We're glad he did; after we left they got gobs more snow and it piled up there again!

Enjoy these these other views of the ski area and the surrounding countryside—home to a boatload of 14'ers and some of the most beautiful peaks in the Rockies...

We had perfect weather for our first days' runs, but it got a little cloudy for our later outing. However, don't the clouds look impressive in such surroundings?!

Snow on the trees makes you feel like Christmas, doesn't it? This is a shot along one of the roads leading down from the Divide.

In the distance you can see the top of the gondola you can ride in summertime up from Monarch Pass. The elevation of the pass itself is 11,312', so we're a good bit higher here and at the gondola's top.

These are some of the most recognizable peaks in the area. The flattop on the left is Mt. Aetna, and next to it is Taylor Mountain, right across the valley from our cabin.

There are fun items presenting good photo opps here, too. Like this sign identifying a green run (mine) called Skywalker and a black (never mine) called Mirage. If you can find the names under all the stickers!

And finally, there are amenities to mention. The ski area lodge has been remodeled since our last visit, and most of the changes are positive ones (although no hot cider on the main level is not one of them!). There's even appropriate artwork on the way down to the place where you can get hot cider...

I sincerely hope it won't be five years before we can come back to this magical place!

Wordless Wednesday: Laurel Heights indeed!

 

New zoo!

Yes, I know it's been a long time since a new post has appeared here, but I promise to do better, and I do have a good excuse. For the past few months my energies (creative and physical) have been devoted to 1) grandchildren, and 2) administrative duties (mostly pleasant) required by my recent drafting into the position of President of the Tuesday Musical Club*. 

Ironically, though, it was this position that landed me in a very pleasant place one evening last week, so pleasant and news-worthy that I've been inspired to take up the blogging pen again.

Since our clubhouse is located on the edge of Brackenridge Park, I was invited as Club representative, to a presentation outlining the extravagant traffic planning that has to go on to accommodate Park and Zoo traffic during the upcoming spring break weeks. The great thing was the presentation (which also included drinks and a yummy buffet) happened on the new Zoo terrace, looking down on the fabulous new entrance portal that's only recently been completed. You can see the portal at the top of the post.

Any of you who remember the old, rather clunky, entranceway, should be blown away as I was by this improvement: better for handling crowds and so attractive! I was especially taken by the butterfly arch over the top of the stairs; can you imagine a more cheerful welcome?!

From the terrace, I liked the view of the rows of papeles...

...but the real treat was the "lemur walk"! I've tried to outline it in this wide shot; look for the red box:

It's a large loop made of tubular caging material, that the lemurs, whose enclosure is nearby, apparently love to circuit. I got to see several taking the air while I munched on empenadas and cookies. Here's one of them:

The runway even has a "diaper" where it goes over the people walkway, so there aren't any embarrassing defecation events. What an enjoyable feature! I can't wait to bring my grandkids to enjoy the new, improved, zoo!

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*One of the projects I'm most interested in tackling is an improvement of our Club's website. Hopefully future clicks will find it to be more informative than it is now, but you can see some of its illustrious history here.