Sunday it was 79°. Monday it was 80°. Today it was 65°. Tomorrow the forecast calls for 33° with five inches of snow. Winter doesn’t want to end. It will be cold and wet for the first day of civil unions in Colorado.
Archive for April, 2013
Winter Returns
Posted in my life on April 30, 2013| 3 Comments »
End Of An Era
Posted in my life on April 29, 2013| 3 Comments »
It only took one signature this morning to execute the agreement that officially ends our relationship. I’m buying K’s share of the house. I’ll transfer funds from my savings account into his account later in the week. K deeded his share of the house over to me this morning. I’ll refinance the existing mortgage balance into my name on Friday. K and I will be roommates until his project ends in February and he finds a new place to live. It’s the formal end of one life and the beginning of a new one.
Two In a Row
Posted in friends, my life on April 26, 2013| 2 Comments »
Last night I joined a group of fourteen at Bastien’s for Project Angel Heart’s Dining Out For Life annual fundraiser. Restaurants donate 25% of their food sales to Project Angel Heart which has been delivery meals to people with HIV/AIDS, cancer, kidney disease and other life-threatening illnesses since 1991. Over 300 area restaurants participated this year. Diners are also solicited for personal donations during dinner. Cindi, her boyfriend Joel, Barbara, Terry and Lee were on my end of the table. It was my first time meeting the other diners.
The food is always great at Bastien’s and last night was no exception. I had a good time but there were at least five different conversations at any one time. Terry and I made plans to attend the next gay networking event. I hadn’t seen Terry since his husband’s funeral last year. Cindi, Joel, Barbara and I talked about renting a house in Cabo this fall.
As I was leaving I ran into Mike and Chris who were dinning with a large party in the lower dinner room. I chatted briefly with Mike’s table and then headed home.
I was out of the house two nights in a row. Tonight will make three. I’m going to the last Friday of the month event at the DAM tonight and then heading over to Spark to see the Madeleine Dodge and Sue Simon show that opened last night. It should be a fun way to kick off the weekend.
Guys & Art
Posted in art, my life on April 25, 2013| 2 Comments »
I attended another gay networking event last night. This time it was held at the Clifford Still Museum. It was a handsome, well dressed crowd, which thankfully, had more women in attendance this time. I think a mix of men and women makes the event more interesting. Once again, I felt like a stranger in my own town. I only knew a few people in the crowd. I can appreciate a room full of good looking men and beautiful women but I have to admit I was more interested and moved by the art.
Clifford Still was a leader in the first generation of abstract expressionists. His contemporaries included Motherwell, Rothko, Pollock and de Kooning. Denver was blessed when it was chosen to be the home for this museum.
I met Sam and Al at the museum. They had already toured the galleries and were not impressed with the art. This did not surprise me. Al is a new friend so I don’t know a lot about his likes and tastes. Sam only likes representational art. Most of the art in his house features an elephant, or some other wildlife, and appears to be selected because it matches the décor of the room. Sam isn’t the type of person who goes outside the box and Still’s art never stayed within the lines of social norms for the times.
Sam and Al headed to the bar another round of drinks so I toured the galleries upstairs. I can’t find the words to describe how and why I was moved by the monumental paintings in the galleries. They were breathtaking. The use of a few colors along with positive and negative spaces produced spectacular masterpieces. Even the smaller works were impressive in their simplicity and color palate. I could have stayed upstairs all night but I returned downstairs to meet up with the guys.
I ran into a couple of people I met at previous networking events. Conversations were short as most of the guys seemed to want to work the room. I chatted with a guy who I’d seen at the gym before I left. He was a nice guy but I was getting tired so I bid him adieu around eight. Sam and Al had already left.
It felt great to get out of the house for a midweek art fix, a cocktail and a little socializing. It’s hard to beat hot guys, pretty women and great art.
Ugly Spring
Posted in garden on April 22, 2013| 2 Comments »
Snow has been falling off and on since nine this morning. The forecast calls for five or six inches in the city and up to a foot in the higher elevations. The moisture is welcomed but the recent snowfalls have devastated the spring flowers. The first wave of tulips blooms were frozen when the temperature dipped down into the teens. The second wave was buried under nine inches of snow. At least I got to pick a big bunch of daffodils and hyacinths before the snow ruined them. This is the ugliest spring I can remember.
Three On One Street
Posted in neighborhood on April 21, 2013| 2 Comments »
Another original house in the neighborhood is scheduled to be demolished. It’s a 4,600 sq. ft. six bedroom mid-century ranch on an acre lot. The existing house was gutted to the studs four years ago and has been sitting empty. The owners had a change in fortune and were unable to complete the remodel. The proposed new house will be a 7,200 sq. ft. story and a half. The architectural committee has yet to approve the new house. The house will be built by a custom home builder who lives in the neighborhood so I’m sure it will get approved. This will be the fourth new home under construction in the neighborhood. Three of them, including this house, are on the same street. Change seems to be constant here, and, for the most part, it is good here.
Changing We To I
Posted in my life on April 19, 2013| 2 Comments »
One of the hardest things about my relationship ending has been changing “we” to “I”. For twenty years I have been coupled. Now that I’m single there is no longer a “we”. In conversations I often find myself referring to past events I experienced with K. We went to Paris. We rented a house in P-Town. We flew business class to Frankfurt. We hosted a dinner for Cindi. We bought paintings from Madeleine Dodge. We have a koi pond in the back yard. We often dined with Tom and Sheila.
I have to make a conscious effort to talk from the “I” perspective. I am so used to saying “we” that I find this this hard to do. I know this probably sounds rather silly to most people but it is one of the little details of ending a relationship that most people probably never think about. There is no more “we”. There is only “I”.
Snow & Ice
Posted in my life, work on April 18, 2013| 2 Comments »
I decided to work from home today. It snowed all day yesterday and the streets have become an icy mess as the temperature is in the teens. I didn’t feel like risking my life driving to the office for a two hour meeting.
I had a cup of tea after I came in from scraping an inch or two of snow off the ice covered driveway and walkways. I’m having a hard time waking up. I feel like I could go back to bed and sleep another five hours. I think I’ll have a cup of coffee before I dial into the conference bridge for the meeting. I want to be fully awake in case I have to I defend myself against the mean girls in the event they gang up on me instead of Miss G.
Spring in Colorado
Posted in my life on April 16, 2013| 3 Comments »
I awoke to nine inches of snow this morning. Some of the western suburbs got up to eighteen inches. Another inch or two is expected later this afternoon. The color of spring in Denver is white.
Jumping Off A Cliff
Posted in friends, my life on April 14, 2013| 2 Comments »
I feel like I jumped off a financial cliff. I signed papers on Friday to refinance the mortgage in my name. I’m moving to a thirty year note which will dramatically reduce the monthly payment. The taxes and insurance are actually more than the monthly principal and interest payment. I didn’t want to be pressured by a large payment in case I find myself unemployed at some point in the future. Also, I want to be able to afford to have fun and buy the occasional new shirt or pair of jeans, or shoes, or plane ticket…..
Speaking of new shirts, I found myself in the mall on Friday afternoon talking to Christopher and trying on shirts. Christopher and I had a nice chat while he showed me the new Robert Graham and Theory arrivals. I passed on the Robert Graham shirts as they were not to my liking and the price was too high. I tried on a few of the Theory shirts but ended up leaving the store without a purchase. I suddenly came to my senses in the dressing room and realized that I’ll need to pay closing costs about the same time the Neiman’s bill will be due. Besides, I already have at least eight Theory shirts hanging in the closet. I didn’t really need another one.
I spent most of Saturday on the annual architectural tour of Denver. I went with, Fred, a new friend I met at last month’s gay professional networking event. Fred invited a coworker and her husband joined us. I instantly felt comfortable with Fred’s friends which doesn’t usually happen when I meet new people. It was a wonderful way to spend a beautiful warm sunny day. I had a great time on the tour.
It started raining last night a little before midnight. It was too warm for snow in city but Beaver Creek got fifteen inches overnight.
I have to get my ass in gear and do some yard work today. I need to spread more mulch before the forecasted snow storm arrives tomorrow. It’s a typical spring in Colorado, warm one day and snow the next. I’m glad I didn’t put away the snow shovel.
The Corporate Slave 