In Denver, we had some of the best food EVER. When I got in Thursday, we had breakfast at McCormick’s (same place where we had our engagement dinner).

Tyrone took me out north of Idaho Springs up to St. Mary’s Glacier. The plan was to hike up the glacier, across a high plain, and down to some beautiful glacial lakes. Driving up to the glacier, I had a headache, that became more and more pronounced. Halfway up the mountain, I noticed it was getting worse, but concentrated on my fear of heights. Finally, about 900 yards from the lakes, a piercing pain went through my ears. Altitude sickness! We had to turn around. I got really nauseous on the way down, and slept for the next 2 hours straight.

Later that night we had the “Chef’s Tasting Menu” at Luca D’Itallia. The tasting menu consists of 6 courses of the most amazing food. The highlight was a cheese ravioletta, with some sort of brie-like cheese that was more buttery than brie with shaved truffles. It was completely insane, and probably the best dinner of my life. The entree had morel mushrooms!

On Friday, we ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Watercourse. Ty had the best chimichanga in the world, with tempeh, and a fried outer coating that was nice and crispy. To trace of greasy at all! Took this pic of Ty before we went in. He had been researching for his latest novel, and this picture embodies much of it:

Next up the new addition to the Denver Art Museum (DAM).

Ty on the sculpture deck:

The new addition was really very spacious. It was fun to see some of the stand-by pieces in a new setting. The best part was one of the temporary exhibition RADAR.

Liked the new addition except for 2 things. 1. The titanium outer coating is covered with very old fingerprints and smudges on the sculpture deck. 2. Where the walls lean in instead of out, there are unfinished boards about 2 feet away from the walls. They look like an afterthought. Someone we talked to thought they had to be there so no one would hit their head on a wall. Another person thought it had to do with the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are really very ugly. The Denver Art Museum really needs me to crochet some covers or cozies for those boards, or at least pep it up with some fluorescent rubber bumper or something.

Took this picture while shopping at a thrift store with Ty and some friends: Kathleen and Elaine. They took us in while we were in the mile-high city.

Took the train out on Thursday: the longest day of the year. The windows on the train meant there was an almost imperceptible rosy-fingered dawn starting at 4:30 AM. The seats were quite comfortable, and the scenery was great. It seems must less stressful than riding in a car. The train was an hour late getting in to Lincoln, and 1.5 hours late getting into Denver.

More on the trip soon!

Garden update: The potatoes are DEAD! The tomato plant is going completely nuts and even bloomed a little while we were away. The heat really helped.

Finished reading that 1100+ page book.  Finished organizing a big event at work.  We had a “night at the races”, where our company sponsored 3 races.  It was a bunch of fun, but I didn’t win that much money.

Getting ready to ride the California Zephyr for the first time in my life! I’ve always wanted to take the train. Taking it out to Denver soon, so I will continue to maintain radio silence, unless I can post a picture or two from Ty’s computer.

I’m 1/3 of the way through a 1100+ page book right now, so no crafting.  The planning gears are turning though.

I do have a project set up with a painter friend of mine,  Wendy Jane Bantam.  She just finished her MFA at UNL and now is headed out to San Francisco.  She’s got some fun and simple lines that I think would be good for creweling.  Her MFA project has a really cool castle and landscapes that just jump into wool form in my head.

Here are some more examples.

Felt like reading a bit more recently, so when Tyrone picked up Thomas Pynchon’s latest _Against_the_Day_ (at 1000+ pages), I decided it was time I finished _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson (at 1100+ pages).

Oh, you spotted the bookmark. They are really lovely, and crocheted by Virginia Kennedy. Ty and I both got one for Christmas. I like the little gold flecks on the ribbon.

Now if I was really talented, I would write some sort of secret crochet code ala Dicken’s Madame Defarge , while reading _Cryptonomicon_, and make subversive bookmarks for my friends.

We biked to the track to celebrate in Tyrone style. He won 5 for 7 bets. I only won what I told him to bet for me.Last night he mentioned in passing a rhubarb upside-down cake. I found I had just enough flour and eggs to make the pineapple upside-down cake from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It turned out pretty nice, and he was surprised to see the cake appear a couple of hours later.

My mother had just sent us a ton of rhubarb on Sunday night. It totaled 14 cups cleaned. I had to borrow some from my neighbor last Thursday to make 2 sets of rhubarb custard bars for the potlucks. (I definitely owe her some bars/cake now) The bars went over great! Each only had one piece left! I’ve been modifying the recipe to use up a bunch of powdered sugar. It really makes the custard more fun somehow.

We seem to be having a bunch of problems with our plants. Figures, most are reaching “adolescence”.

The top tomato plant broke off in the wind about 2 weeks ago, but the top kept growing. The residual moisture must all be gone now, because the top half has died. Consulting with Mom tomorrow on if the plant is worth keeping or if it will produce tomatoes. Tyrone thinks it would be fun to have a stocky tomato plant.

The potatoes have faced a plague of slugs. The internet has many “natural” remedies, but it has just as many sites that disprove the natural remedies. Right now we’re taking the “Tyrone goes out every morning to commit slugicide” approach. This morning he got 20. Think the slugs got the beet seedlings too. These beets don’t exist anymore:

We have a big scruffy buck rabbit running around our back/front lawn, and he could be the culprit too.

Finally, most of the soybeans are doing great. I took a pot of a few beans to work, and I was surprised to see fast they reached 11 inches. My cube mate and I were so proud of how fast they grew:

…then my mother tells me that they grow fast and spindly when they don’t have enough light. Sure enough, the next day, they were all bent over under their own weight. Well the bright side is that I have another empty terra cotta pot!