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 for 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.

Life & Art During Covid 19 - Part 3

This is the third in a series of photos I took while on walks with friends while escaping from 'sheltering in place' during the coronoavirus that has so changed the world. The previous posts reflected the joy, creativity, and, also yes, the political angst, people had getting out among others in these troubled times. I hope the following photos will make you smile at some of the fun and unusual moments I captured.

May 22nd: My friend and morning walking buddy, Darlene, and I passed by this grove in the open space west of Pierce many a time as it was near her home. It was intriguing watching the trees' changes over the space of a month. I don't know what trees they were but they always reminded me of bamboo trees Steven and I had seen on our travels.

It was always fun coming across this bench beyond the trees as nearby residents 'decorated' it frequently with rocks and inspirational sayings, something that never happened pre-pandemic.

Later that day, my afternoon walking buddy and friend, Gail, and I couldn't help but smile seeing the 'bear' clinging to the tree in the southern part of our neighborhood, Columbine Knolls South/Estates in Littleton.

I confess to never being a big dog lover but this one was awfully cute!

These pretty pink tulips were another harbinger of spring's beauty.

Before my 'pandemic strolls' I don't ever recall seeing Colorado's flag anywhere but on state buildings. Since I'd begun exploring neighborhoods near and far from my home with mainly Darlene and Gail, I noticed many homes were proud to fly the state flag.

May 23rd: I am not up in my classics to know whether Plato really penned this but seeing this on the trail at Wayside Meadows Park in our subdivision made me appreciate someone more cultured than I!

Gail and I also saw these unusual variety of day lilies that afternoon.

May 24th: With Steven busy on household projects that had been put on hold for a long time and my walking both mornings and afternoons in between catching up on trip blogs, he and I rarely got out to walk together. When we did that night, the normally placid creek at Wayside had swollen its banks due to a sudden storm.

The trail on the southwest side of the park was impassable so we had to take the long way back home, retracing our steps.

Several days earlier, Gail and I had walked through the graffiti-filled culvert under Wadsworth but Steven and I weren't temped that night!

Years ago, a landscaper recommended we plant these purple salvia against our fence. What a great suggestion as they were there the perfect plant for those who travel a lot like we do as they require almost no TLC and continue to bloom!

May 25th: I rather liked this piece of Americana.

Why be content with just one birdhouse if you can have more, seemed to be the motto of these homeowners!

May 26th: I have probably seen this 'sunburst' close to a dozen times when walking near Darlene's home and every time I like it more and more. Do you think the homeowners might notice if one rock were to 'accidentally' go missing every couple of days so it could be recreated somewhere else?!!

In case you think Gail and I don't live in the Wild West, here's proof!

The flowering bushes along Pierce looked so attractive until I got close and purposely took a whiff. And then, I almost gagged as they smelled ghastly, remember Gail?!

May 27th: 'Grandpa's Garden' at a home on Moraine in the adjacent Columbine West neighborhood was well loved as no doubt were his grandchildren if these lupines were an example. They inspired me to look for some of the perennials at a nursery a few days later!

Back in our neighborhood, Charlotte's flowers caught my eye.

The two C's: Columbine flowers and the Colorado flag at the rock garden on Moraine in our neighborhood.

I hope people will continue to paint and display rocks for all to admire even when the pandemic is but a distant memory because they bring such joy to others.

In case you forgot how much I loved lupines!

Our next door neighbors, Dave and Ginny, have some of the most exquisite peonies. When Gail knew how much I loved them, she kindly brought over a lovely bouquet of them for me from her garden. I was sad when I finally had to toss them when leaving for our current road trip to San Francisco and the northwest. 

Another stormy night at West Laurel Park directly across the street from our home:

May 28th: The smiley rock was new to the bench that morning in the open space west of Pierce that I walked with Darlene. Every time we walked there, I wondered what might be new to surprise us.

That afternoon, these wispy grasses caught my eye when walking with Gail.

I bet Wizard of Oz fans lived here!

A few days earlier if you recall, this same home had a black bear clinging to the tree. The residents must have had a large stuffed animal collection they wanted to display!

May 29th: I wonder if  the residents at this home in the southern part of our neighborhood had a family member serving our country, or were especially patriotic because of Memorial Day which had just past. Whatever the reason, I applaud their public recognition of the thanks we all owe the selfless patriots.

Next post: The last in this series of photos of Life & Art During Covid 19. 

I am simultaneously writing the last posts from two trips Steven and I took, one to Ireland and the UK last fall, and a much shorter one to Sri Lanka and India in March that was planned to have been four months long and take us through much of Asia and the Middle East. IF you want a change of pace and locale, here are links to the most recent posts from each trip:

https://bergersadventures7.blogspot.com/2020/06/105-british-museums-amazing-assyria.html

https://bergersadventures8.blogspot.com/2020/06/312-traveling-by-train-to-gompaha-in.html

Posted on June 27th, 2020, from along the Columbia River Gorge  in The Dalles, Oregon, as we slowly wend our way through the Northwest's most beautiful national parks en route home. Please take care and be safe.