Happy Holidays from the Blossoms of Lights (2022 edition)

Ciao Readers!

Is it possible that I haven’t blogged in 2 years?!?!? It must be, as the last entry is wishing you a happy 2021, from the Blossoms of Lights at the Denver Botanical Gardens…

Well, I am here again tonight and the lights are even more spectacular! As an aside, I came here to Denver for a quick trip with a travel voucher I got when I missed my connecting flight to Italy in Munich….Yes, you read that right….I have an entire trip to Bologna and Milan from October that still need blogging about! It all started one evening walk in June when I was feeling down and decided a Counting Crows concert would do me some good…I couldn’t find any in the US that fit…then I noticed they’d be touring Italy in the Fall…well one thing led to another, and, a blog post for another day!

For now, please enjoy these photos from Denver, and my sincere wishes for warm and peaceful holidays and a bright 2023!

Happy Holidays from the Blossoms of Light

Ciao Readers and Happy Holidays!
I thought I’d ring out the old year and welcome the new with the wonders of the Denver Botanic Garden’s Blossom of Lights (with the help of a gorgeous evening sky). Walk with me as the evening progresses…

Wishing you and yours healthy and peaceful holidays and much joy in 2021!

Botanic Gardens of Albuquerque & Denver (a photo anthology)

Ciao Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you well. Today I shift from philosophizing to sharing pretty pictures!  Two of the places I’ve felt comfortable going these last many months is for a stroll outside at the Botanic Gardens in Albuquerque (which I have probably been to 100+ times) and the one in Denver (which I had never been to before). Unfortunately, the one in Albuquerque is closed for a bit (I think they could actually open under the health order as the zoo has, but I am guessing it’s staying closed for financial reasons), so these photos are from a couple of months ago.  The gardens in Denver are open and the photos are from when I ventured there several weeks ago.  Enjoy!

Albuquerque:

Denver:

 

More Monets than Imaginable (or a VERY quick trip to Denver)

Happy Thanksgiving Readers!!!!!

I hope you are all safe and warm!  We are snowed in, which is perfect since we weren’t going anywhere and we cooked everything yesterday.  Pretty, huh?

 

In any case, this is a post about Monet and Denver, so on with it….

The Denver Museum of Art is a pretty amazing place, and right now it is showcasing the largest Monet exhibition in the U.S. When I read about it, I HAD to get tickets, which I did, for this past Monday at 12:00. So, off we go to Denver on Sunday….I had checked the weather several times throughout the week and the driving weather there, and back on Tuesday, looked great. Which is why it was a bit perplexing as we drove in Sunday evening to keep seeing road signs saying “Storm Warning: Expect Road Closures for Monday-Tuesday.” Being the modern age, I was able to get on my iPad and weather.com, and what d’ya know, it was supposed to start snowing Monday about 3:00 and then pretty much not stop. Time for an impromptu plan….

Our tickets were for 12:00 on Monday and it wasn’t supposed to start snowing until 3:00+, so no problem, we could see the exhibit, then hit the road and beat the snow! AND – I almost forgot – before we went I discovered Denver has a Shake Shack (you may recall my obsession with shake shack burgers from previous posts).  We had planned to go to Shake Shack after the museum, but new plan – get to Shake Shack before they open at 11:00, be the first in line, get our heavenly burgers, then high-tail it back the 40 minute walk to the museum just in time for our ticket time!   And, amazingly enough, we pulled it off!

The exhibition was beyond description – when I had read “100+” Monets, I expected a few big ones and lots of little half sketches, etc. NOPE – it was room after room after room of giant, gorgeous, mind-blowing Monets!!!  I read the info on each and every one because I wanted to know where they came from – they were sourced from all over the world including Tokyo and a museum in Omaha Nebraska!  Second only to the Stendhal Syndrome-inducing exhibit was my amazement at what it took to get all those paintings to the Denver Museum all at once for this show. In any case, if you are anywhere near Denver (when it is not snowed in) before February 2nd, I cannot recommend this exhibition enough.

So, street art on our walk to Shake Shack; our beloved burgers; and just a taste of the Monets….Enjoy!!!

 

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