Life & Art During Covid 19 - The Finale!

A few weeks after Steven and I came home from our very abbreviated trip to Asia and the Middle East in the middle of March because of the advancing coronavirus, I began daily walks with friends in our and adjacent neighborhoods. It was very evident that the virus had brought out some people's creative talents in the form of painted rocks and inspirational sayings on sidewalks to help us all get through the pandemic as best we can. I began 'chronicling' the best of them and also of spring's emerging beauty by taking photos. I hope these last in my series of photos will help lift your spirits if they are flagging.

May 29th: Pretty pink peonies and an unusual variety of Columbines:

Ghoulish humor in the age of the virus:

May 30th: Since Steven and I normally leave Denver in mid-May to stay at a state park down in Florida's Panhandle for six weeks, we never see our own poppies in bloom. It was a treat, therefore, being home unexpectedly at this time and seeing them flower.

Oh, to be a kid and swing your worries away!

My friend and afternoon walking buddy, Gail, and I saw these lovely white peonies at a home in the southern part of our subdivision.

What a fun way to welcome friends over!

May 31st:

I took this photo of the Foothills in the foreground with the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the background while on my weekly Sunday afternoon stroll with Karen at Writer's Vista Park halfway between our homes. Steven and I live too close to the Foothills so we never see the mountains unless we drive east to get a panorama view or drive west into the mountains themselves.

June 1st: When Gail and I explored parts of the Columbine West neighborhood a month ago, it was intriguing coming across these large horse sculptures at one house.

Look carefully at the decorations under this nearby mailbox and you can feel how much the homeowners must love their 'vino'!

How often are we encouraged, or encourage our children, to 'Be Different'?!

June 3rd: My friend and morning walking friend, Darlene, and I appreciated the thoughtfulness people in her neighborhood expressed so publicly acknowledging the 'helpers' during the pandemic.

This had nothing to do with the pandemic but wasn't our local county's sewer design a work of art that Darlene and I came across at Clement Park near the end of our long walk?!

If you can't grow flowers, buy flowers!

This was good to remember at all times and not just during the pandemic.

How fun for children all across the country to go on 'teddy bear walks' since people have been encouraged to cheer kiddos up by placing teddy bears or stuffed animals in windows.

June 4th: A storm cloud looked pretty threatening as I walked home through West Laurel Park after my afternoon walk with Gail.

June 5th: I had never had any appreciation for 'lawn art' before I began strolling up and down streets through neighborhoods. I really began liking whirligigs and outdoor glass art like this and hope that one or the other might be my birthday gift next year if Steven doesn't object! 

Sounds like this saying came from a hippie from the 60s!

Almost every time Darlene and I would pass this same bench in the open space west of Pierce, it was decorated with something different to brighten everyone's day!

That same afternoon, Gail and I wondered why someone had thought of collecting this fuel pump and also placing it in such a visible position for all to see. I had never seen anyone have one before in a suburban home.

As one of our children had years ago donated a kidney to an unknown recipient, this plea to be organ donors hit very close to home to me.

I wish my phone's camera could have done justice to this vibrant purple salvia plant that thrived in the xeriscape garden.

June 6th: Guess you know by now I really love poppies, huh!

I wish someone could explain to me what so much of the world's fascination is with roosters and chickens as stores almost the world over sell their likeness on everything imaginable!

June 7th: The area around this mailbox must have the perfect soil and growing conditions for this climbing clematis.

Having walked around Clement Park for years, springtime is such a fun time to watch mummy and daddy ducks make way for their ducklings. (Thanks to Robert McCloskey who wrote a book with about that same title!)

June 8th: From ducklings the morning before at Clement to a turkey strutting itself the next afternoon in the front yard of a homeowner a few blocks from us! I read later on nextdoor.com that several turkeys had escaped from a turkey farm over on Platte Canyon a week earlier and this one had somehow found his way a couple of miles west to our neighborhood! I wonder what unusual animal we'll see next.

June 9th: I only learned recently the thin blue line in an American flag represented law enforcement and showed support for the officers who put their lives on the line each day. This 'flag' was at a garden on Canyon in Columbine West.

June 10th: The entire yard at this home had a nautical motif, including this great white shark!

Five days earlier, I had noticed a home with the fuel pump. I shouldn't have been surprised, then, at the coincidence of yet another home having its own fuel pump, too, nearby! Are they a collectors' item and I only now am finding out about them?! The pump did sort of go with the retro camper, though.

As Steven and I left the next day, June 11th, for our road trip to see our new granddaughter Max in San Francisco and then return via some of the national parks in the Pacific Northwest, this is my last post in this series. I hope you have enjoyed this often quirky look at life chez nous during the pandemic.

Posted on July 2nd, 2020, from Kalispell, Montana, near Glacier National Park. Please take care of yourselves and keep safe.