Wednesday, November 12th
Frank and I took an afternoon flight out of Oakland to Denver arriving a little after 4:00 pm. Timing was great; Dan was returning from a business trip and was able to meet up with us at our gate within security. So glad he did. That airport is humongous and we were three terminals and one train ride from the luggage carousels and his parking area. We changed levels about four times ... up and down twice if I remember correctly.
We stopped at a grocery store on the way to his house to get any specialty items or foods that we habitually would have for breakfast. The store was a King Sooper's Marketplace in Castle Rock and it was huge —120,000 square feet. Frank and I got separated and he called my cell to tell me he was at #13. The store is so huge it has even numbered aisles in the the front half and odd numbered aisles in the rear half, kind of like what some theaters do with their seating. The way the aisles were staggered, I could not find my way from the front to the back to aisle thirteen. I asked another customer but he shrugged his shoulders and looked as me weirdly. Our home in California is about 3000 square feet so being unable to locate Frank is the equivalent space of looking throughout 40 of our houses. When I called Frank's cell phone again, (since yelling Marco Polo did not work) we clarified that he was at a checkout aisle, not a grocery aisle.
We rested up after travel and chilled at home most of the day. I gave four-year-old Irene a little gift I'd bought for her, a blue hair braid wrapped with a strand of pearls. She looked at it and gasped "an Elsa braid". Irene wore it to school the next day and since our visit I have been pleased to see it in her hair in photos from other occasions. I'm glad it was a hit. In the afternoon I joined Dan on some small mini-trips to get to know more about the family's daily routines. I rode along to pick up the kids from school. On a repeat trip to pick up eleven-year-old Vivian who stayed late for a Student Council meeting, we saw a "super cool" car in the parking lot that and seven-year-old William insisted he take some photos of it. He was fascinated with the purple color, the big shiny paint job, and the upswinging doors. Will was the cell phone photographer in the following photos. In the early evening I tagged along again and watched Will at his karate lesson.
Dan and Carrie both work from home, so during the day, Frank and I were on our own. Teleworking requires such discipline. I think I would be too distracted to give my job full attention while at home but they both seem to do it. So does my daughter Robin. Sigh. It is a new age, I guess. Frank and I just relaxed, watched a bit of TV, worked on a jigsaw puzzle, and enjoyed Dan and Carrie's new home.
Saturday, November 15th
Lillian had a guitar lesson in downtown Castle Rock. Frank and I used the opportunity to look around in an antique/boutique store called The Barn. Our timing was inopportune. The place was mobbed. Apparently publicity on the radio and elsewhere has been plentiful and an an entire army of Christmas shoppers were crammed in every nook and cranny. We walked the length of the store and when we reached a crowded small room at the back, Frank spied another man. He spoke to him, "Yo, hey. Glad to see they do let men in here." The man good-naturedly grumbled back, "I did not come willingly." This YouTube video gives a pretty good overview of The Barn. Here are two pictures of the front and part of the back yard area.
We spent only about an hour at The Barn and then walked a few blocks to Castle Rock Music to meet up with Dan and Lillian where Lil had her guitar lesson. The music store had a great display of guitars and even a couple fancy accordions. Frank took accordion lessons when he was a kid. Outside, just around the corner from the music store, I took Frank's picture with flat-topped Castle Rock in the background. Castle Rock has a quaint, yet vibrant, downtown. Many towns can report no more welcoming environment than a strip mall or harried business district. A town with a walkable downtown area is truly an enjoyable, but sometime fading, anomaly of the times. I am pleased Dan and Carrie chose to relocate their family here.
A cocktail pool (or "spool") is a small, compact water feature, bigger than a hot tub but smaller than a standard pool, designed for relaxing, socializing, and cooling off in tight spaces like urban yards. It blends spa and pool features, often including jets, seating, and heating, allowing year-round enjoyment for unwinding or light exercise, rather than serious swimming.
Frank and I spent about an hour enjoying the warm pool. The first half hour or so was with Dan and his kids and their friends. We dodged swinging pool noodle battles, even though we stayed at what had been decreed to be the "calm end". The water spray surges died away once the kids got out. Frank and I stayed in longer afterward for a bit of relaxing and to fully soak in the ambience of outdoors under the stars of a Colorado mountain evening.
Sunday, November 16th
Dan had recently bought himself a Chevrolet Corvette1969 Stingray, an adolescent dream come true. He has always liked the body shape. The one he bought is not a pristine fully restored model. It is a T-top by choice, and not a convertible. As Dan puts it, "It looks good from afar, but it is far from good". He is looking into getting it repainted, but for now he is just loving the ride and relishing the thumbs up and smiling looks he gets from those he drives by. He took both me and Frank for drives in his neighborhood.
The Chevrolet Corvette (C3) is the third generation of the Corvette sports car that was produced from 1967 until 1982 by Chevrolet for the 1968 to 1982 model years. The C3 was the second Corvette to carry the Stingray name, though only for the 1969–1976 model years.
Sunday afternoon, Dan, Carrie, and the kids (yes, all four) had scheduled appointments for fittings for their skis and snowboard rentals for the season. Frank and I did not go along. We did work on a 1000 piece cats jigsaw puzzle by Charles Wysocki, cleverly titled All Burned Out. Not only was 1000 piece size an ambitious number, but working the mostly brown puzzle on a rough hewn brown wood table top added to the challenge. When we left Tuesday morning, there was still maybe ~20% left to assemble. By the following Saturday, Dan and the kids had finished it. I included that proof of assembly photo Dan sent.
Is It Cake? is an American game show–style cooking competition television series created by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, and hosted by Mikey Day. The series premiered on Netflix on March 18, 2022. Contestants create cakes that replicate common objects in an effort to trick celebrity judges. Winners of each episode receive $5,000 and a chance to win more money by identifying which display of cash is real and which is cake.
Dan cooked dinner on Monday night using his outdoor smoker for the beef and his barbecue for the grilled asparagus. All was delicious. He accomplished this culinary feat while taking William to a Boy Scouts meeting. Dan inserted a tiny digital thermometer into the meat and placed a sensor near the outside of the smoker. From his cell phone, while he was at the meeting he could monitor the cooking process and see how the temperature of the meat was rising and how quickly it was approaching his goal. I helped a little bit. I put the meat on a short time after he had left for the meeting. Dan and I communicated by text; I once needed to adjust the position of the sensor closer to the smoker so he could get the readout and track it on his cell. The meat was done to perfection! We ate shortly after Dan and Will returned from Boy Scouts.
And the kids... Always growing...Always growing...
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