Colorado scenes

A number of pictures from the last few months in Colorado that never got posted.

Dressing up at the Denver Art Museum. After the costume corner, I'd say it's a rather mediocre museum for a major metropolis. There are a few Bierstadts, but otherwise I wouldn't make a special trip.

The collection does play to the region's strengths

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Our final set of spring visitors was Tom's brother's family -- the Virginia cousins!

Cousin slumber party

Some desperate criminals if I ever saw 'em. Maggie and Santiago's visit provided our first occasion to attend a barbecue dinner and cowboy music show at the Flying W Ranch, an area institution for half a century...and a few months after our visit, the first place reported burned to the ground in the Waldo Canyon Fire.

 

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I started taking walks along my favorite neighborhood trail as often as I could before the move. The last time I went, early morning on moving day, the trail was closed due to the wildfire. On the visit pictured here, however, Edith and I were delighted to discover some fleeting spring blooms.

Yucca

Indian paintbrush

You can't tell here, but the prickly pear cactus was also on the verge of blossoming into yellow-green waxy flower.

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The girls were able to participate in their end-of-year ballet recital before we left and loved the experience, especially Alice. Their teacher does an amazing job, choreographing the whole show and even sewing most of the costumes herself to save families money. The performance was a series of dances based on the Beatrix Potter stories, incorporating all her students from these preschool puppies to high school and college soloists. 

Alice, second from left

Edith was meanwhile a sweet and rather serious pig in yellow smock (center), bidding a tearful farewell to her older brother pigs as they set out to seek their fortune.

Edith in the back, worried because the other girls seem to have forgotten that the next cue is for them to exit the stage, and shouldn't everyone be on task?

The bows. Alice is the smallest one, front center. In the recital it was more obvious than ever how diminutive Alice is compared to her same-age peers, standing a good head shorter than the others. It made her the runaway puppy that the older girls were quickest to pick up and put back in the cage!

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Hanging in the neighborhood with bestest buddy, Ellen. Ellen left for six months in Finland, her mother's native country, before we knew whether we'd be there on her return or not. Alice still plans for their first reunion playdate come Christmastime, not fully understanding what our move east means for her friendship with Ellen.

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Alice understands plenty of other things these days. Some recent comments and queries:

• Why do people cry when they're happy? 
• I just saw a Virginia sign! (Q: How do you know it's a Virginia sign?) It had the shape of Virginia on it.
• Do you know, Virginia and Kentucky have kind of the same shape?
• Oklahoma is [shaped] like an airport, where you walk down the long hallway to get to your plane.
•  How do you get out of heaven once you get in?
• How does the power plant get the electricity to the houses?...How do they put the electricity into the wires?...How does it move through the wires?...That's a little weird.
• What number is five 2s? (A: 22,222.) NO. [Annoyed.] Not all the 2s next to each other, I mean, what number does five 2s make? (A: Oh, 10. Is that what you mean? What five 2s add up to?) [Satisfied smile.] Yes. Thank you. (Silent Q: How the heck did you know the difference...and that 22,222 couldn't be the answer you were seeking?)