Ferris Family Velo Fun!

You can generally find most of the the Ferris Family at home in Boulder, CO.  In this foto, however, they're out in front of Boathouse Pub along the banks of the frothy Yampa River in Steamboat Springs.

Dad Bill took the dare and climbed up on the handlebars of Sarah's bike.  Mom Linda and daughter Stephanie look on in disbelief.

A fun time was had by all!  

Joe Hoyt, Ashcroft, CO, 8500', no Walking!

Lookee what I got from brother Joe Hoyt !

 Hardbody younger bro, on his Greg Lemond, up at 8,500' on the way to Ashcroft, CO from Aspen.  Joe swears he stayed in the saddle the whole time -- never once had to dismount and walk the steed.

Ahh .. to be young and buff and in the land of the late, great, mystical Hunter S. Thompson!

Ride on, Joe.  R.I.P., HST.

Butler Enjoys Hahn's Peak Haute Cuisine.

Old college buddy Jim Butler and his wife Margot are in Steamboat for the same wedding that Sam and I are attending.  While the gals were feting the bride-to-be at a shower luncheon, the boys took a trip to Hahn's Peak in North Routt County -- with a stop at the Wither Cabin, Hahn's Peak Historical Society, and Steamboat Lake.


All this tourist-ing stuff works up an appetite in a fella, so we stopped for lunch at the local cafe.  Butler had a roast turkey, guacamole and bacon on home-made whole wheat.  Old Poppy here chose the organic black bean burrito - OMG. The taste. Yumm!


Wait-person Alana enjoyed taking care of the geezer-diners.  We left a more-than-generous tip.

A Forest Giant - Routt County, CO outpost of National Forest Service displays this good-size remnant of an Engelmann Spruce which was cut in July 1960 near Steamboat Springs, CO.

Measurememnt suggests these stats: tree was 135' tall, diameter was 61", this particular Engelmann was probably 295 years of age when it was felled, and this baby yielded  5100 board-feet of wood -- enough by itself to build a 5-room house!

Tattoo Cowgirl!

Big smile, big western imagery, this tattoo cowgal has it all!

Lovely Tattooed Lady -- Voted Best in Show at Minneapolis Body Art Expo.

This lovely young lady got our vote tonight for best body art-work at Minneapolis show!  Raised in NYC, and a resident now of the Twin Cities, this Japanese-American displays scenes from her ancestral land like iconic pagodas and an exquisite Geisha Girl.

Miami Joe Hoyt and BFF, "Pepper."

Joe loves his wife of 30 years, Nancy, but this "Pepper" canine sure does occupy a warm spot in my brother's heart!

Crary Presents: Radish from Her Garden.

Now that sister Crary ("Coggie" to those who know and love her) is officially retired, she has time to flex her green thumb and do some gardening. Her back yard is in Freeland, WA (on Whidby Island) and  hubby Mark is mighty pleased with wifey's prowess in the area of sustainability.

The luscious radish Crary holds here reminds me of a window box our Mother helped me build and plant as a Cub Scout merit badge project in Chillicothe, Ohio.

I've changed a lot since the Cubs, but radishes (and my gorgeous sister) are pretty much the same as they ever were.

Stone Arch Bridge Over Mississippi River.

Jason and I headed to downtown Minneapolis today to do some touristy-biking in the the most fascinating, historically relevant parts of the City.  We were stunned by how vigorous and angry the Mighty Mississippi was -- result of heavy rains up river, super-size runoff, and opening  the floodgates to control the river's flow.

In pic above Jason looks upriver toward # 1 Lock. We're standing on the Stone Arch Bridge which is car-free, and a must-see destination for visitors from all over the world. While on the bridge J and I were treated to the spectacle of the "Mississippi Queen" heading back up-river and rising and lowering of water levels in the lock helping the stern-wheeler make her way home.

Is this Joe Biden in the Ray-Ban Aviators?

Damned if this doesn't look like the Vice-President of the U.S of A!  Is it you, Joe, behind those Ray-Bans? Or, could it be Jim Jowett?

Now Here's a REAL Cosmo Girl!

My dear friend, former asst. and protege, and present-day spiritual advisor, Sue Samour McKeon, is in Minneapolis this week for a convention.  (Sue is VP-Mktg. for the North Carolina Orchestra in Raleigh).  So off to dinner this former Cosmo Girl and her old boss go to some trendy watering hole in the Twin Cities. We shared the entree (fab pasta dish) and an evening of remembrances of the good old days.  They were good, and we agreed that we'd been blessed to have worked with the legendary Helen Gurley Brown -- the Number 1 Cosmo Girl!

HGB is as smart, effective, and successful as any executive we've ever met.  And the lessons Sue, I and countless other Cosmo Girls (and Boys) learned, were priceless.

Thank you, Sue, and Helen, and all the rest of you:  Tony, Kitty, Claeys,  Harry and Andy, Joyce, Kelly, Penn, David C, Joe and Terry, Teri T, Cindy, Bill, Wilkie, Norma, Bob, Frank, Gil, Robyn, Dana, Nada, Judy, Jean, David J, Daniel, Avery, Gib, Pers + Claws, Dara, Joanne, Alison ......  and there are surely names that didn't make the list.

Backyard Garden Steps Smell Great!

Just behind the rose bushes and the retaining wall in the back yard, Poppina has built steps to the upper tier of the lawn.  Thyme has been planted in the cracks of the treads. And more recently the herbs have flowered -- giving us back yard denizens a symphony of smells that defy description. And only happen this time of year.  And just look at how beautiful those little periwinkle-hued thyme blossoms are.

Dancing Around the Dominican Republic.

The floor at Minnesota Science Museum is appliqued with a massive map of the world. Shot from a satellite, and showing relative size and position of all the earth's dominion, this vinyl Mercator is pretty impressive.

It's not clear, however, which nations are which.  No sovereign names overlay the land mass. So when a new friend and I remark on the size of Cuba, or remember that Hispaniola comprises Haiti to the west and Dominican Republic across the mountains, we can be pretty confident of our facts.

But since the map is the floor, and shoes take the place of laser pointers, the toe of a pair of Keen's tends to settle questions of geography.

Think: toe dancing the Dominican Republic, somewhere to the northeast of Jamaica.

Working Like Dogs at Two Pony Gardens.

Jason and Dave put in a monstrous hard day on 5/31 at Two Pony Gardens in Medina.  Farmer-owner and task mistress, Lisa, whips her day-laborers onto ever greater performance -- turning soil, spreading hay, prepping rows for planting veggies, pounding stakes into grateful ground, and erecting 8-gauge wire fencing to guide pea plants in their reach for the sky.