Closer to the art...

What a journey it's been from start up until this point.

I have a ways to go before I'll be banging out art on a consistent basis but I'm happy to say that at this point I've been able to get a few pours that look close to something I've been after for a while now.

Careful instructions from Coach Shaun were instrumental as was practice, practice, practice..

My machine makes it difficult to do many back to back pours so another factor in the time I've spent is that many days I might only make one attempt and others two. Once in a great while I'd get in three pours. Not exactly powering in the practice ya know, so it takes time...

But I'm happy with the progress and am finally starting to see things that I think are kind of cool.

Closer.....

Moving blog...

It's a little bit strange and I've got no explainable explanation right now but I'm moving to a new blog.

I've lost my Feedburner password and don't have the first clue who watches this blog...if you have interest please subscribe to the new blog and see what antics I am up to.

See ya over here.
http://newpossible.blogspot.com/

PPF3

It's been a fun idea but at the same time it's getting strange....

Oh well, here is another one from El Dorado canyon.

PPF2

Got in a training climb today in the Matthews/Winters park.

About 4.5 miles with just under 1,200 feet elevation gain. The target 14er for the first climb this year has Elevation Gain: 2,850 feet Round-trip Length: 7.00 miles so the training climb is about 50% or so by the #'s. Numbers don't tell the whole story but I think it was a decent day out there.

This is the second edition of PPF...

So much fun.

And yesterday on a little day trip we spotted Longs peak. It was looking pretty intimidating over there. From what I've been told it's even more intimidating in person. I doubt I'll be considering it until 2012 but it looks cool.



The weekend was pretty damn sweet!

PPF1

This is something I want to start doing. I actually started doing it when I put my lucky rock on top my shoe at Handies peak to take a pic of the rock and my shoe was the only contrast I could think of to illustrate the point that me and the rock were both in that spot.

But I started thinking about it years ago on our first trip to the grand canyon and fell in love with something special about special places. They are no respector of persons...

If you want to go there you have to take your feet and place them there.

This really hit home for me when I started going off the beaten (paved and safety approved) path. Everybody out there is the same...if you want it you have to earn it by stepping your little feet one stride at a time and getting to the place. Sure money can still buy helo trips to remote locations and set you in exclusive resorts but there are places only those that go and earn the right to stand there will ever stand there.

I like that so much...

I'm going to start taking pics of Places I've Put my Feet. PPF1 is above.

Red Rocks day

Got back out to Red Rocks for some stair climbing.

Big snow from earlier in the week blew any chance of getting on a trail this weekend. Eventually we will gather all the gear necessary to deal with weather events but for now the crazy dump of 12+ inches of snow several days ago means a sloppy mess out on the Apex trail system we have been romping on and as of now we are not prepared to deal with the slushy goodness.

So it's stair climbing at Red Rocks.....

The thing that strikes me most about getting out where other people are at is just how amazing a process acclimation to elevation is. I can feel loads of difference in how my body is responding now compared to when we first got here but when you watch other people who are obviously more acclimated it's interesting. Nothing like slogging up a slope and having to move over so somebody can come jogging by. ;)

I like RR for a back up destination to get in some exercise and training for the upcoming season but it's a real kick in the (pick your place you don't want to be kicked). It does not take more than about 30 steeps up the stairs before you know you are into something. And it's like progressive...the more you push the harder it gets.

So you can get in, get some work done, and get out pretty quick.

I think it's funny that they have a heart monitor station at the top. :)

Art still eludes me.

I have still not given sufficient effort to it to pour real art.

At this point I can not blame anything other than my lack of focus and time behind the pitcher for this season of goofy art that I'm pouring.

I'm not really sure if I'm going to commit to pouring decent art or if I'm somehow into pouring these funky ass shapes that have more to do with random vibes from the universe than controlled work on my part...

I'm just not sure yet.

From today another flowing blob-o-tron.



I do think it was cool that I somehow captured espresso planets on my el cheapo camera today. They are teeny tiny (click for a slightly better look) and most people probably have no idea why this is of interest but I got a kick out of it so here it is.

Apex to Sluice to Pick n' Sledge

That is the chill spot at the top of Pick n Sledge off the Apex trail system.

We got a chance to get a few hours on the trail today and it was pretty good. Pretty...pretty..pretty good. ;)

Conditions were super sloppy. We figured as much from the big snow on Friday. The snow was over by Sat mid am and with temps around 60 today (Sunday) it was go time for another training climb day on the Apex system. Learned that some sort of micro spikes or something like that is a MUST for snow/slush/ice/mud conditions. The people we saw with them were doing fine in spots where we were slip sliding away..

Oh well live and learn, we still made the top of the trail we were after. I'm not sure if an actual complete "summit" is available on this section but we were within a few feet or so of the absolute top but this isn't set up like a 14er with a marker and stuff but it is a great training location for the upcoming season and I'm sure we will be back soon/often.

Good day out there today.

Union Station

I've been too busy lately to say much about anything...

Settling into my new job is a real process and I think it's going to take another 2 months or even 3 before we really find a groove and set our patterns to living in a new place.

We did have some time last week to hit 16th street mall and Angie got a cool pic of Union Station.





And a look at the clock tower looking building down the street...





We also found a crepes place there that serves Lavazza (meh..) and really good crepes. They do an in house almond pesto that really caught my attention. It was outstanding on the turkey and cheese buckwheat crepe. I just poured some half and half in this coffee and it made a ghost face... Blaaaah!




Anyway, it's all about working and settling in at this point. Very time consuming stuff. I look forward to saying more once things calm down a bit.

Royal with altitude.

We made a day trip to Royal Gorge Bridge yesterday and it was certainly something different. The bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world...

This is what it looks like from inside the cable car going across the gorge.



This is the cable car looking back from the bridge area.



Something a pic won't show is what it's like to be walking on the worlds highest suspension bridge when the wind blows and the entire bridge starts flexing, warping, bending, and swaying around like crazy as you are 1,200' over the rocks and river below.





It was a fun day for all.

Kayleigh, Sarah , and Adam...




Me and Angie..



We also rode the incline elevator to the bottom....all in all it was a nifty little day trip. ;)

Transportational coffee

Soon I should start posting things that make sense but another item of interest happened that I feel like noting.

Transportational coffee is not something that you find/experience at Starbucks or in 99% of all kitchens so this post is something most can just pass up...Sorry about that.



Now onto it:

Today I was planning on pouring into an irregular shaped cup to see what funky things might happen in the interpretative art avenue but as fate would have it the odd cup walls just destroyed anything of visual interest.

Fine by me because I was met with trasportational coffee in the cup. By my senses this is not an everyday occurrence. Mainly because I do not try to find it and allow the intensity of the experience to dictate to me what it wants. Another way to say it is that I am content (at thins point in time) to let the small still voices remain subtle and it takes a "stand up and shout" cup to sway my attention. Again I'll stress at this point in time.

So today it was such a loud roar.

Outdoor cafe' Someplace like Austria or Bavaria...maybe it's even main street USA at Disney World to be honest the overriding factor is outdoors, crisp air, and a very airy atmosphere and as I look deeper I'd bet $1,000 it's Bavaria.

Sitting at a small table with white frame and white chairs...etched glass table top.

Alone but only right now...somebody else has stepped away from the table but should return.

Eating chocolate croissants.

VERY strong register of chocolate croissants.

Most interesting is we are also smoking cigarettes and there is no coffee to be found anywhere on the table. ?? :o

Of course I've never been to Bavaria, don't smoke, and hardly ever eat chocolate croissants but that goes without saying right?

2 pics I like

I have a couple pictures from last week that I enjoyed. This is just a quick post to mention them...no real content or comment.

The first one is something Adam found on a walk a few days ago. He took off down Cherry Creek Trail looking for a lake we heard about without knowing exactly how far away it was. This pic is just a bit down the path but he wound up weaving, turning, trail switching, and stream jumping his way about 5-6 miles from here.. hahaha! He isn't used to that sort of thing but this is a cool pic from along the way.



The other one is from my testing of the Handpresso Wild. It's not art but to me it's artful. Sometihng unintended happened when I selected my hand made cup from Stray Clay and the way this thin espresso got washed out in the milk...I just like the pic for some reason.