Happy Halloween

Halloween on Venice Beach, 1938.

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Turkey In Town

My annual Thanksgiving trip to Santa Fe has been cancelled thanks to Covid.  I’ll miss my friends.  I’ll also miss dinning at the usual spots I hit on every trip.  Sadly, there will be no Friday gallery tour with my friends.  Mike invited me to his house for dinner with some members of his late partner’s family.  His late partner has been dead for about 20 years yet Mike still maintains a relationship with them.  I politely passed on Mike’s offer.  I don’t know his late partner’s family and it just sounded like there would be an overhanging of grief on the day. 

Enter Cindi to the rescue.  She will be in town for most of Thanksgiving week.  Cindi will be staying with a couple who live in the canyon where she lived.  I’ve dined with this couple a few years ago.  They are a lot of fun.  The husband is extremely handsome.  He also wears an eye patch, which, for some odd reason, makes him really hot.  I wonder if I have a pirate fetish.

Cindi has saved me from spending Thanksgiving alone at home. I’ll now have dinner in a beautiful canyon setting.  And it’s a shorter drive.  Santa Fe is six hours away while the canyon is only an hour.

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A Matchmaker & A Life Coach

A 42-year-old-single man messaged me on Scruff. I enjoyed a lively chat with him.  He’s a professional match maker, or so he said.  Seems rather odd that a matchmaker is single.  Makes me question his choice of occupation.  Another man, aged 43, who messaged me is a life coach who does handyman work on the side.  He’s an interesting man who looks like he would be a great cuddle buddy.  Thankfully, neither man pitched their professional services to me. 

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Withdrawing Benefits

Last week, I called WM to ask for a professional favor.  A friend needed representation and I thought WM would be a good match.  During the course of the conversation, WM asked me to have brunch on Sunday.  I’ve hadn’t seen him for a while.  A few weeks ago he granted me benefits, which, had not been exercised.  I always had a great time with WM but I had second thoughts about brunch.  He has a charm that’s hard to resist. 

We met a new place in Cherry Creek.  WM has become a regular there.  Our table was in a small alcove away from most of the other diners.  WM picked up a new client by doing me a favor.  He thanked me for facilitating the connection. 

Over brunch, WM told me he’s been seeing a guy for a few months.  He was seeing the guy when we were dating.  WM thought he told me about the guy but he didn’t.  The guy is WM’s age but looks much older.  This is the first time WM has dated a guy his age.  The guy has two kids and is divorcing his wife.  The guy asked WM to be monogamous, which, WM agreed to.  WM subsequently withdrew my benefits.  I was relieved.  I didn’t want to fall back into the old groove with WM.  I think we are better as friends, without benefits. 

I wish WM the best.  I question how long he can be monogamous.  He’s doesn’t have a good track record with relationships or being monogamous.  At least he’s going to try, which, is a good thing.  I was happy to relinquish those unused benefits.

Bruch was tasty.  We both had biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and a small fried chicken breast.  At $27 each, I thought it was a bit pricey, but it was in Cherry Creek, which, is not known for budget dining options.  After factoring in WM’s company it was well worth it.

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Art Night With Bruce

Friday night, Bruce was my plus one for the DAM’s opening of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Here’s a brief description of the exhibit from the museum’s website:

Featuring paintings and photographs by internationally celebrated artists Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Gunther Gerzso, María Izquierdo, Carlos Mérida, and others, the exhibition takes a closer look at the role that art, artists, and their supporters played in the emergence of national identity and creative spirit after the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920.

The company was good but I thought the exhibit was a bit of a disappointment.  I expected more paintings.  There were numerous photographs of Frida and Diego which were interesting but I thought the exhibit could have been better organized. For example, early in the exhibit there is a photograph from Frida and Diego’s second marriage.  Later in the exhibit you find out they divorced and remarried two years later.

After the exhibit, Bruce and I had dinner at his favorite restaurant, where everyone know his name.  The manager, assistant manager, the hostess, a sommelier, two of the chefs, a pasty chef and a busboy stopped by to greet us.  As usual, Bruce took over ordering and over ordered. And as usual, the food was divinely delicious.  We had enjoyable conversation.  There was no pressure about hooking up as Bruce is happy with his new guy, LA, who flew back to California earlier in day.  They are discussing LA moving to Denver and buying a house together (the last house deal fell apart).  It’s good know we are finally cemented in the friend column.  Bruce picked up the almost $300 tab. 

After dinner, Bruce drove me back to my car which was parked by the museum.  We chatted for a few minutes before we drove back to our respective homes.  It was an enjoyable evening with one of the most interesting men I ever met. 

Here’s the gift box given to attendees as they left the museum:

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Pray For Rain or Snow

These pictures of the Calwood fire in Boulder County were taken by a friend. The fire, which started on Saturday, has burned 9,000 acres and destroyed 26 homes. The second photo was taken from my friend’s front porch. We need snow or rain.

I live in south Denver far from the fire.

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Art Night

I flew solo on the art tour last night.  My art wingman, Bart, was off on a camping trip in Utah. There was another end of the world sky last night thanks to the forest fires burning north and west of Denver.  I took the photo of downtown when I arrived on Santa Fe.  Watching people wearing masks scurrying down the sidewalk away from downtown made the evening feel as if it was lifted from a sci-fi movie.  Oddly, there was no smell of smoke.  I stopped in two galleries on Santa Fe before heading west to check out the co-ops in Lakewood.  Very few people were out. Yesterday afternoon, the mayor issued an edict forbidding groups of more than five in an effort to bring down the rising COVID infection rate.  It felt good to get out of the house.  I had a chance to chat with a few of my art friends before heading back home and ending the night with Netflix.

Pete Yumi, Information Age Collapse, mixed media on canvas, $3,500, Pirate Contemporary Art.

Lydia Riegle, Living Bridge III, acrylic, graphite and oil on canvas, 40 x 30, #2,100, D’art Gallery.

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Easy Voting

My ballot arrived on Saturday.  Six pages of decisions to make with most centering on local Colorado issues.  I filled out my ballot on Sunday morning.  After lunch, I drove to the ballot drop box at the District 3 police station which services my neighborhood.  I was surprised to see a steady stream of cars coming and going with voters dropping off their ballots. 

Voting is so easy in Colorado.  The ballot arrives by mail.  You have time to research the issues and make your decisions.  You can mail the ballot back, or drop it off at numerous drop-off boxes around the city.  Admittedly, I don’t know how many drop off boxes there are in the rural areas.  You don’t have to go to a polling place on Election Day.  There’s no risk of a COVID exposure while waiting to vote in person.  And I got a text when my ballot was received by the Denver Election Divisions.  Easy voting is one of the great benefits of living in Colorado.

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Drama With Friends

On Saturday, Bruce messaged me on Scruff wanting to get together. The message was followed by six videos.  He wanted to hookup because LA was ghosting him.  It didn’t happen as I had other plans.  Bruce told me I’m one of the few men who have ever told him no.  I told Bruce I’m not like most men. 

There was a lot of Bruce drama this weekend.  He put a cash offer on a condo. His mother is wiring him $1m today for the purchase.  He’s now in Chicago closing on his house there. He’s been vague as to what is happening to the $2m from that sale.  He is also paying $12k to break his lease.  And he ordered the new Ford Bronco.

The Cindi called yesterday.  She was standing on the edge ready to jump over family drama at her niece’s wedding.  Cindi was barred from her brother’s house by his new wife.  I’m not sure why that happened.  Cindi was driving back to Santa Fe from Tucson, crying on the phone at 85 miles per hour.  It took a while but I finally got her calmed down.  I told Cindi she needs to talk to a therapist about the ongoing push and pull situation with her mother and other family members.  There’s always some kind of drama when she sees her family.  Perhaps, Cindi is the catalyst.

In humorous news, Mike bought a Hyundai Elantra to drive to hook ups.  It seems the G wagon is too flashy for many of the neighborhoods here.  A G wagon is no big deal in the villages where he lives, or in Cherry Creek or Washington Park, but in Northglen it sticks out like a Rolls in public housing. 

I also had a long chat with a man with whom I’ve wanted to talk with for a long time. It was a very interesting talk. He’s a great guy. I can see a long friendship starting.

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Added Benefits

WM sent a very suggestive text a few days ago.  I reminded WM that we moved into the friend column.  WM responded by telling me I have benefits.  I didn’t know I had benefits given the last conversation we had.  Although WM is fun to hang out with, I’m not sure I’m interested in those benefits.  It would be restarting where we left off with no changes on WM’s end.  I haven’t seen WM for two months.  I miss him at times but if nothing else has changed there’s no sense in going down that road again. 

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