Snow Day

Author-historian James Michener reported it used to be said of the Platte River: “Too thick to drink, too thin to plow.” Were he still around, he could write about modern Gunnison snow storms: Too much to ignore, too little to shovel. Compared especially to last year, we have a decent amount of snow on the […]

Reality Check

On Friday I got an e-mail from the real estate company we are going to use to sell our current house, Some Day. Audrie of The Clarke Agency wished me happy holidays and wondered about the status of our house construction project. She knew it was early, and no pressure, but she has a client […]

Comes a Color

I have always liked color. As a kid, I enjoyed looking through the Land’s End catalogues, not particularly attracted by the clothing, but I liked the stacks of sweaters alongside the models, showing all the available colors. My childhood may have been somewhat deprived, because for school I always got the box of 24 Crayons, […]

In Living Coral

This, as you can see, is Pantone’s Color of the Year, starting in five days, and let me be probably not the first to say: ick. Many years ago, I read about the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver that clerks were not supposed to comment on the titles their customers were purchasing, good or bad. […]

Window to the World

Lynn’s had her complaints about her posting at the Almont Post Office, many of them focused on the fact that it’s a manual office, and most of her training was for automated processes — but then she looks out the window. Does your work view look like this? My work views have seldom been great […]

So This is Christmas

Three dreadful holiday columns in the Crested Butte News (two from reliably good writers; for the third, when a word like “pus” works its way into your holiday column, you’ve done something wrong — like me, using it just now) ought to be enough to convince me of the folly of trying to write about […]

Symbiosis

Our friend Carol may or may not be shy, but she is retiring — seven days from now. We, and Carol, are part of a Sunday breakfast group that at its fullest numbers 10, with the potential for a stray guest or two. Lynn and I are the youngest members of this group, some of […]

The Long and Winding Road

When Oz and I walk to work, it takes about 25 minutes. If I go without him, it takes 20. If I ride my bike, it’s about 10. (All of these times expand if we run into friends along the way.) I don’t really know how long it takes if I ride the bike and […]

Here Comes the Sun

Yesterday I promised a continuation of my bicycle discussion, and I’m sure you are all anxiously awaiting my thoughts on this matter. But I forgot: today is the winter solstice, so I hope you will be able to wait a day or two longer. And explain this: there has been no sign — zero — […]

Phat

A brief history of my bicycles: I started on Spike, a blue Stingray with a silver banana seat. (I don’t want to disappoint you, but this was the only bike I named.) At six, while learning to ride in Denver, I slipped and bit my tongue — a scar that lasted decades. At seven in […]