Weekend Catchup: Normal

I had a fantastic weekend, can I just tell you?

The Alan Smithee Pants of Doom were a complete hit (which of course boosted my ego). Alas, no photos, but I'm hoping I can get a shot of them post-Burning Man (their intended venue)... it'll be interesting to see how they hold up!

Friday night I had dinner with TR at Rodney's, a downstairs bar/grill type spot in Cherry Creek with fantastically nice wait staff and bathrooms decorated (subtly) with some amusingly smutty true facts. The food was absolutely delicious, and I was shocked to find I have a bacon limit, which those of you who know me best will understand was blowing my mind a bit because mmmm bacon, but there it was anyway... best BLT ever.

After dinner I tagged along to a campaign kickoff for a friend of TR's who's running for State Representative for his district. I'm nowhere near his district, of course, I'm not even in the same county, but he wanted to donate to the cause, and I'm just nosy... I really like meeting folks who are that motivated to really get in there and get political, something I wish I had the ability to do myself just lately! He was really nice, had a great turnout, and bonus, I got to meet TR's brother and almost-sister-in-law, both of whom I had heard lots about and were delightful (naturally). Hopefully I made a decent impression of myself, I tried hard not to drool or trip or babble too incoherently; the fact that his brother was DJ-ing (and thus it was loud) saved me I think.

Saturday I got a little Denver culture. First we went to one of several restaurants owned by a local diner magnate, Pete's Kitchen, and had deliciously decadent gyros omelets - it was the good kind of gyros, off the spit and served with excelled tsaziki sauce. I could almost feel my arteries hardening, but since we were headed for a walk at the Denver Botanic Gardens I didn't feel too guilty!

Plus, yum, and there's no Greek food in Longmont with the exception of The Giggling Greek, but she doesn't believe in gyros. I asked once, when she had a booth at the Niwot concert series, and she compared it to hot dogs, insisting that she wouldnt serve that if her life depended on it.

I hadn't been to the Gardens here as yet (I always loved Chicago's), and had been wanting to for awhile, so it was nice to finally do that. They have a fantastic greenhouse in which you can get a story or two up into the more muggy, sunny canopy of palms, and there were lots of really beautiful, very healthy and happy tropical specimens, which wouldn't happen in my house, as I am a plant killer.

And they had a poison dart frog! It was in a terrarium, of course, and wasn't actually poisonous anymore, as they feed it special vitamin-dusted fruit flies that inhibit the toxins - and hello new band name! (Vitamin-Dusted Fruit Flies, not Inhibit the Toxins, although that could be the first single. I am nerd, here me roar.)

Outside, we enjoyed watching the bees working hard, and I saw something I hadn't seen in awhile now that I think about it...

Bumblebees!


They're so cute... I don't want to hold one or anything, but still

I used to be terrified of bees, and still sort of dislike them (you know my rule, 4 legs or less), but in that kind of situation I know they have zero interest in me and can watch them work.

My favorites were the Herb Garden, were I admired a spider (apparently it was my day for multi-legged admiration), the architecture in the education building, playing with the Omniglobe, and the Scripture Garden, which wasn't really all that scripturey but rather just historically biblical, including olive and fig trees and a beautiful reflecting pond. We didn't see everything of course, as it's a really big place (and it was getting really hot), so we're definitely going to have to go back another time, and in cooler weather.

Sunday we had lunch at Annie's Cafe, another popular Denver spot. Good (fresh iced tea, excellent chicken salad), cute (classic lunchboxes!), but it was no Pete's. :)

One thing I have to report about myself, that I'm abashed (sort of) to admit...

I have become a rabid ex-smoker.

I always swore that I would be the understanding, "hey man, I understand the struggle" ex-smoker (because it is a struggle to quit, it's one of the hardest things I've ever done), the tolerant one who wouldn't stoop to dirty looks, who would understand that smokers can't smell what we do, and who would support smokers rights and remember when I was among those treated like pariahs.

Instead, I perk up like a hunting dog at the faintest twinge of smoke, shoot the stink-eye in the direction of the offender and cover my nose.

What a hypocrite!

Strangely I find it's just regular cigarette smoke that causes this reaction (and cigars, too, because gross) - I'm guessing it's what's burning *besides* the tobacco in cigarettes that makes the smoke so acrid, because I love the smell of good pipe tobacco, don't mind inadvertently walking into a 4:20 cloud when the locals have their yearly gathering on campus, and even sort of *like* the scent of my friend Annette's additive-free rolling tobacco (it's vaguely sweet), although I don't want to smoke any of those things myself - my lungs have been abused enough over the years.

How was *your* weekend?