Yesterday was a Colorful Day

I had looked back at the last few days of photos and they seemed a bit dull and monotone so I wanted to color things up a bit. Yesterday started with the evening before as we were returning from -something, I already forget- we saw a sea of blue yard signs a few houses up the street.  I walked up to check it out and it was some kind of Aspen democrats meeting.  The street was lined with lots of cars and individuals of all varieties were streaming to the house.  Yesterday morning when I was riding the bike in to the bakery at about 7:00 am I noticed several cars and a motorcycle still parked at the house.  Too much to drink?  Who knows what those democrats do at those "meetings".

The days are starting to blur into one another.  Actually yesterday Maya was not feeling well most of the day after having been up a lot the night before.  So I guess it was the day before that just she and I rode into town.  She needed to stop in to Carl's Pharmacy for various and sundry sundries.  Here are a few shots along the way:

 Maya pedaling away.  Maya in the upstairs toy section of Carl's hunting for something she doesn't need.

This is where Maya went in to use a bathroom.  It wasn't too long after this that she started feeling ill.

So that was two days ago.  Yesterday, as I mentioned, Maya was not feeling too well - mostly tired from being up the night prior.  My day started with the early ride to the bakery.  It is actually quite cold early in the morning.  I noticed that most of the people I encounter in the morning are actually runners.  Later in the day the bikers come out.  Here's a shot of a view I enjoyed during much of my ride.

Abe had a tennis lesson with Tory at The Aspen Club and Spa in the afternoon.  After I dropped him off I stopped by to pick up dresses that were being altered for the girls.  The seamstress lives in an apartment above Clark's Market.

I encountered this rugby game in the park so watched for a few minutes.







I liked this guy's shirt, especially the silhouette in pretty Aspen leaf.

Here's an action shot of Abe going for a 100 MPH serve.  May the force be with you.

And an awkward pose with his coach Torre.







Last evening we had dinner at Mezzaluna then went to the opera Falstaff.  It was great.  At dinner we had a waiter named Biff who kept telling jokes that weren't very funny and that none of us really wanted to hear.  I was going to complain but then I thought about that pot/kettle adage.

Leadership

I have a lot to report today but for fear of running out of time right now I want to start by saying that I received a nice birthday surprise in the mail today.  My Yellowstone friend John S. sent me a video I wanted to get when I was in the park earlier this month.  It wasn't available at the time but it showed up in the mail today.

Thanks John.  And thank you also for the nice Lamar Buffalo Ranch coffee mug you gave me when I was there.  I truly appreciate these gifts and am moved by what a great example you have set for my other friends (and acquaintances).

I will continue my report in another post as I am a bit choked up right this minute.

Lucky

Ain't that the truth.


Today is relatively quiet here.  I dropped Maya and Ms. Nicolette off at the music school for rehearsals and practice with Tamara and Natalie.  Then the rest of us rode bikes into town to pick up a few essentials at Carl's Pharmacy.  Carl's is one of those stores that if they don't have it, you don't need it.  For example, Abe bought a Nerf football and a package of roast beef-flavored gum.  Jamuna got some hair products.  While they were shopping Dr. Carl and I walked across the street to a hardware store located in an old bank building.  I purchased a couple of items to repair my GPS device - the attachment loop had torn off so you can see how I repaired it.



Here is a shot of one of those special parking meters in Aspen. Solar-powered, and you can pay with coins, credit card, or a cell-phone account.  Just because I could, I set up an account.  I think it may be more of a hassle to use the cell phone but what the heck.  If you use the cell phone to pay you will get a text message reminder when your time is expiring and you can add more time it necessary without having to return to the meter.  I supposes that would be nice.












Here are a bunch of photos of the duplex:

 This is Maya's bedroom - studio.

 This is the so-called Mudroom.  That animal head is mounted on a mirror in which you can see a series of ski lockers with boot and mitten driers.  There are only six of the cubicles so I haven't yet figured out how they get by.

 Here is a wall in Abe's domain, a remodeled garage. Since I have been getting the mail for the owners I couldn't help but notice there is a steady stream of literature from NRA, Rifle magazine and the like.

Here is another view of Abe's area.  There are four double bunks and two slide out beds under the bottom bunks.  If I am doing my math correctly I think that means 12 sleepers.  Yes, that's an air hockey table against the wall. Oh, and yes those are flat screen TVs mounted by each bunk.

Next round of photos I'll be sure to show a photo or two of the game room and media center.

Here is the laundry room.  It is adequate for a rental property, I suppose.

New blog feature and an update...and an UPDATE

FYI, I just added a new gadget to this blog called "Follow by email". I don't know how this works nor what it will do so try it if you like. I assume it will send and email to subscribers if/when I add a new post.  You will see it to the right just above the photo of the squad.  I also updated our address.  I will update the photo of the kids soon.

UPDATE:  I signed up for the FOLLOW BY EMAIL option and it appears to send an email which includes the text of the blog post sometime in the small hours of the morning.  Since this post didn't have any photos I'm not sure how it would handle them.  I'll leave the gadget in the margin but have a feeling it won't be very satisfying.

Street Cleaning in Aspen

I failed to mention that as Carl and I were pedaling up the bike path along Cemetery Lane a large water truck was heading the other way spraying water on the street.  I've seen this type of truck spraying water on dirt roads in construction areas but never on a paved city street.  Then, while we were having lunch the same truck drove right in front of our duplex.  The thing is, the street isn't at all dirty, gritty, sandy or the like, and it rained rather hard yesterday evening.  I wonder if rain water isn't quite pure enough to rinse the streets in Aspen.  I also wondered if blow dryer truck would be following but I didn't see one.

Here's a shot of the truck.  For whatever reason it had just turned off the water flow right before I snapped this shot.










I've mentioned our favorite and most appreciated collaborative pianist Tamara Goldstein.  Here she is working with Maya this afternoon.  I had to sneak this shot through the glass door so as not to interrupt the flow of the collaboration.

Shopping Adventure

Dr. Carl and I just returned from a shopping spree.  We rode the bikes along the Roaring Fork River on the Rio Grande Trail, the usual way, but peeled off a side trail to Aspen Meadows Resort.  We had never been over there so I was surprised to see quite a nice resort compound which I believe is part of the Aspen Institute.  There was quite a steep hill climb over loose gravel so we couldn't make it up on skinny tires.

At the top of the hill we encountered this colorful sculpture.



We rode to the tent to get a few more CDs at the dub office but the office was closed.  We continued into town and used a Starbucks gift card to procure a couple of pounds of coffee.  Then off to a bike shop to see about getting a mirror for the bike I ride so I can keep tabs on those who follow but the inside diameter of the handlebar was too small to accommodate the available mirror.  No big deal.  Then we dropped into the bakery for yet another loaf of six-grain.  Again, no day-old bread available.  Then back to the dub office.

We saw this sign "Havanese Crossing" which reminded me of our dog Max.  And George too.



We took an alternate route back to the duplex.  We had to walk the bikes down a narrow single-track trail that was aptly posted "No Bikes".  I suppose a highly skilled mountain biker could have made it but I'm glad we chose to heed the warning.

I suppose we rode about six miles.  Very refreshing.

Now off to Maya's rehearsal and the grocery store.

Paradise

It is such a beautiful morning in Aspen and we are all thankful for being here and being safe and healthy.  Yesterday was moderately busy.  Abe had a tennis lesson with Tory, Maya had a rehearsal with Tamara then studio class.  Jamuna babysat for three hours and Abe had a lesson with Ms. Whitney.  Somewhere in there the VWs, Maya and I took a short walk around the neighborhood.  After all that we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the Hickory House after which another hot tub event occurred.  I turned on the TV for a rare indulgence in fake news a la Comedy Central.

Above is Abe working with Ms. Whitney.  She was recently "promoted" to play with the Aspen Festival Orchestra as assistant principal violist.  She had been in the same position with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Below is a pic of a proliferating weed that caught Dr. Carl's eye during our walk.

Here is the entrance to the restaurant.  We'll be having leftovers for a couple of days.

Right this moment Abe is practicing his viola without being asked to do so.  I hope he is feeling well.  The girls are going to be practicing soon, and Dr. Carl and I will bike into town to stop by the dub office and conduct a couple of other errands.

Later Maya will rehearse again with Ms. Tamara.

Vocabulary Lesson

It's raining again as I listen to a recording of the evening of Baroque music we attended live at Harris Hall on July 19.  The AMFS records just about every performance and makes these recordings available to students for their review (and pleasure).  I dropped by the "dub" office today and requested a couple of CDs, one of which they had already dubbed so I'm listening to it now.  BTW, dubbing is the process of making a copy of a recording.

Today was more like the good old days of Aspen - very busy with a lot of running around.  I awoke with a nasty headache so popped a few ibuprofen, drank some OJ and a bit of coffee then forced myself to ride the bike into town to get bread.  Alas, there was no day-old bread available at 7:30 and the fresh stuff doesn't come out until after 10:00 am.  So I settled for some bagels, apple fritters, and a few other sweet pastries.  I made it back before anyone else was up for the day.

Abe had a nice viola lesson with Ms. Whitney at 9:00 and then a fantastic tennis lesson at 10:30.  While he was having his tennis lesson Dr. Carl and I found a place to park in town.  On a slow-news day I'll report on the system that is available in Aspen to pay for parking on the street.  We walked up to Wheeler Opera House where AMFS has a box office.  I got tickets for the opera (Verdi's Flagstaff), another concert, and the final opera of the season, West Side Story.  WSS will be performed three times and the two regular shows were already sold out.  The first of the three shows is a benefit program which sells tickets for $1000 per seat but thankfully there were some seats in the balcony which were offered for just a little bit more than the usual price.  I snagged five of those as I know the kids always like those gang fighting shows.

After we got the tickets we ambled down to the bakery and were able to get a couple of loaves of bread.  We picked up Abe and returned to the duplex.  While we were gone the girls accomplished some serious practicing - so I'm told.

We had some lunch then I took Jamuna and Ms. Nicolette up to the Aspen Middle School for Jamuna's lesson with Mr. Lilleslatten.  I think I mentioned that he is from Norway so we briefly discussed the recent tragedy there.  Above is a photo of the lesson-event.  Mr. L. conducts his lessons in the foreign language classroom.  Here also is a shot of a poster in the hall.

I believe the caption is "Oh No!  I forgot my homework!"



During Jamuna's lesson I went back to the dupe to get Maya.  She was having a theory lesson with Dr. Carl.  The kids always amaze their music teachers with their knowledge of music theory, thanks to these lessons with Carl.  Here's a shot of granny Maya in the midst of a lesson.

I then took Maya with me to collect Jamuna and Ms. Nic and then on up to the music school for a rehearsal with Ms. Tamara.  While Maya and Nic were there I drove Jamuna to her babysitting gig.  I had a few minutes so that is when I went to the dub office.

On my way back to the music school I drove past a property we looked at while Peter and Naila were here.  I learned a new word that is actually quite self-evident.  A property on which sits a house of no value to a buyer, when they really just want the land, is called a "scraper".  If you want the lot you buy it and scrape off the house.  Here's a photo of a scraper in Aspen.

Asking price:  $ 3,800,000  (yes, almost four MILLION).  No, I'm not joking.

Sounds like trouble....

Obama's on the tape and the spooz are falling.

We're back from a 5-miler down the bike path, through town, then back to the dupe via an alternate route.  Nice ride.  Rain was a threat when we left but we made it back before it started to sprinkle.  The hot water system had failed but we were able to figure out how to reset the boiler and I found an error-code list on the internet that suggests there was a power outage earlier.  All is good now.  Dr. Carl, Ms. Nicolette, Jamuna and  Abe are sitting in the hot tub now that the threat of lightening has passed.  I think Maya is watching a cartoon - believe it or not.

Earlier today we stopped at the fruit and vegetable stand just west of town and picked up some delicious peaches and a variety of nice, fresh vegetables.  They are roasting in the oven right now.  We'll have them with some penne, chicken and shrimp shortly.

And Happy Birthday to John S. in Yellowstone.

Day 1 of Second Session

Today is Monday and I have some catching up to do here.  It is also the first day of the second session at AMFS (Aspen Music Festival and School).  We've been here just two weeks and have about four weeks to go (we arrived midway through the first session due to BLYAP in Ottawa, KS).  While Maya was having a lesson with Natalie, Mr. Kantor's assistant this summer, I ran into a couple of new friends that we met in Kansas, Emily and Gloria.  Hopefully I will remember to post some information about how Maya's second week in Kansas went even though I wasn't there to record the details.  One of these days I need to mention a trip that Jamuna, Abe, Uncle John and I took to Florida in the spring.

Peter, Naila and Shalini left yesterday morning after a delightful visit.  We had supper at Little Annie's after the girls endured yet another exhausting day of bag collecting.  Here are a few documentary shots:


































As you can see I drove the B-Squad bus right up to the plane.  I was nervous that I would clip a wing while driving among all the private planes.

Later in the day we picked up Ms. Nicolette and Dr. Carl who will be spending a week with us helping with practices and enjoying the music festival.  Last night we celebrated their arrival with dinner at Asie's, fish eyeballs and all.

Today I dropped Prema at the airport so she can head back to work then took Maya and Ms. Nicolette up to the music school to find Natalie.  While I was there I noticed the temporary restrooms.  I thought it was odd that a special gas pipeline had been installed but I suppose that makes sense.



















I didn't proofread this yet.  We're going for a bike ride.

Slow news day (in Aspen)

Lots of crazy events being reported from around the world but here in Aspen we had a slow day.  Maya did have a lesson with Mr. Kantor.  Abe had his first viola lesson with Ms. Whitney Bullock of Houston, TX (don't confuse with Whitney Houston).  Peter, Abe, Jamuna and Shalini biked into town where Prema and Naila were "running errands".  We all met up at an Israeli-Mediterranean restaurant for lunch.  The girls needed additional time in town so Peter, Abe, Shalini and are just hanging out at the dupe.

Not much photography to display.

Uneventful day, so far.

Not much going on so far today.  Maya did have a session with Ms. Tamara today.  Jamuna, Abe, Shalini, Peter and I rode into town and acquired some carbohydrates at Main St. Bakery.  We then acquired some sandwiches from the Grateful Deli and sat in Peapcke Park for lunch.

As we were riding down Silver King Drive Prema, Naila and Jamuna were racing into town for something they referred to as "shopping".  I noticed that the grocery list is still on the kitchen counter so I suppose they'll be calling any minute (but they left over two hours ago?!).

I just got up to call Waste Management to inquire why the trash had not been collected yet and can see that the trash and recycling was collected a couple of minutes ago.  I mention this our of sheer desperation for a news item and also because earlier today a WM truck drove right past our stuff while I was waiting outside before the bike ride.  It has collected a couple of house down the street, drove by and waved (no kidding) and then collected the trash a few houses past.  Makes no sense to me but, hey, it's Aspen.

This evening we will be treated to Julia Fischer again, playing the Bach Double among other pieces.

I spy eight knees.

Single-engine prop set

Today was a great day.  Abe had a great tennis lesson, Jamuna and Maya had a good day of practice and fun with their "cousin" Shalini, Prema and Naila (childhood friend of Prema's) went shopping and Peter and I flew his plane to Taos, New Mexico.  He conducted some business there then we drove down to Santa Fe for a bit more business and lunch.  Drove back to Taos the flew back to Aspen.

Here are the kids packed into the back of the van.

 This is Peter's plane, parked in Aspen.

 Pre-flight check.  My left knee is in just the right place for take off (not bad for a beginner).

That's Peter looking at some architectural pieces to use in a house he and Naila are building.

The same merchant had a huge room full of colorful rugs from India.

 Here's another view of some other stuff they had for sale.

When we were getting gas at the small Taos airport I noticed this jet.  Peter was pretty sure it belongs to John Travolta.











On the way back Peter let me take the stick for much of the journey.  It was a bit more involved than I thought but he kept saying I was doing a fine job.  After we landed and he got out of the plane I noticed that his back was drenched with sweat.  I think his side of the plane was in the sun, or something.

This is final approach into Aspen.

Here are the kids awaiting dinner at an outdoor sushi restaurant.



Below is a moment of play before the girls all went to hear Gil Shaham and others while the boys all came back to the duplex.