Wahoo Ranch 2008

There are nearly a dozen of us who went to school at U.C. Boulder and/or lived in Boulder CO in the 70's. We had some pretty adventurous times back then and formed pretty strong bonds that persist in spite of time, distance & diverse lifestyles. Every ten or so years we meet somewhere in Colorado where we haven't been before. The death last year of our good friend & group member John Roush spurred us to get together this year. We got two cabins near the Frying Pan River a few miles east of Basalt. Sort of halfway between Glenwood Springs & Aspen. That's me on the right, above, with Steve. I worked with Steve framing in Wyoming in 1975 & doing concrete work in Utah 1976. We both liked Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, Kinks, John Mayall, Arlo Guthrie. He builds & remodels houses in the Denver area.

Here's Nancy & Pete on the left, Betsy & John on the right. That's one of our cabins behind them. John was my freshman roomate. If I was a superhero or a Mars explorer or a viking, I'd want John as my side-kick. (Actually, come to think of it, it would probably be best if I was the side-kick & John was the Masked Ranger. As a group, now that we are older, we have developed the good sense to let John make the decisions when they really count. It's a little bit like what my girlfriend Jen means when she says - while we are watching "Lost" - "Give Sayeed the car keys!")

Ron works for the feds in Idaho. Nancy's a teacher.

Had a nice hike one day. Kinda short but at least the thunderstorms missed us.

Lynn, Pete, Olga, Ron, me, Nancy, Betsy, John. We had a nice couple days. All their kids are grown now & off to college, so it was just us & the wild stories could get told again. Too short a time together. But isn't that always the case?

Denver 2008

After leaving the cabins, we convoyed over Independence Pass, where there were snow flurries & we saw what its owner called a domesticated red wolf, although that is pretty unlikely.

The mountains were all dusted with new snow.

That night in Denver I visited with Jennie, the older of my two half-sisters.

And the next day I had lunch with fellow American School of Paris alumnus Phil Rowland. This is the view from the roof terrace of his mid-20th century condo building overlooking Cheesman park.

Angela Davis Speech recreation

About a week ago, on the 2nd, I went to the Port Huron Project's recreation of an Angela Davis speech. Lots of white art curators there.

Swimming in Austin

I sure do like splashing around in the water. Jen's friend Lauren has a swell pool.

Kayaking In Austin

It was my own fault for insisting we go take a closer look at the geese. They attacked us, scared shit out of me I have to admit, all that noise & their beaks biting the kayak as we tried to turn & haul ass away.

We escaped with everything except my dignity, though the camera lens had gotten wet & I didn't realize it until I downloaded the photos later & saw that they were blurry.

Saw dozens & dozens of turtles.

Houston

Jen & Kara Hearn & I are having drinks in Duke of Hollywood Tailors Char-Bar in downtown Houston after taking a boat tour of Houston harbor while Hurricane Dolly wandered by. This is an excellent place: a functioning tailor shop, shoe-shine stand & bar. In the photo below, Jen has just spied the shoeshine guy, Weldon Renfro, pull out two pair of cowboy boots. In a second, Dick DeGuerin's assistant will come in to pick up the shined boots, but not before Jen scoots over to have a look. They turn out to be a pair of Dave Wheeler boots & a pair of Charlie Dunn Texas Traditions - which is now Lee Miller Texas Traditions. DeGuerin was one of Ken Lay's lawyers during the Enron trials & was a classmate of David Koresh.


Our cool motel in Houston.

Houston sites/sights

Two shots above are of The Beer Can House in Houston.

The Orange Show in Houston was closed the day we went. Hurricane Dolly was passing close by & the were probably worried about lightning hitting this structure, which is probably 25% iron.

The Flower Man in his new digs in the Project Row Houses neighborhood of Houston.

As far as I know, this is just a cool private home in zoning-challenged Houston.

Seeing friends in Texas

My old pal Dan Plunkett in front of his record store in south Austin.

Bootmaker Lee Miller, Jen & former Austin mayor Lee Cooke, who is picking up his repaired boots from Lee & his wife Carlin's shop in south Austin.

Jen & I visit bootmakers James Morado Jr. & James Morado Sr. in their shop in north Houston.

Some boot brushes in Morado's shop.

Painted the bedroom

Working on my decoy

Looks like Franta Skala