Fall Season and Dear Friends Visits

Beer festivals, friends visiting from SA and neighborhood progressive parties have been keeping us busy these past few weeks. So, apologies for not updating the blog for a while.

Scott and Christina invited us to the "Brew at the Zoo" evening. Scott, brewmaster for RockBottom Brewery, was hosting a stand at the function. We arrived early and got first choice of food testers and all sorts of beer. It was such a lovely warm evening, walking in between all the various animals drinking beer and eating food. We even all went on a ride on the Caroussel, just like kids. It was an amazing evening, lots of fun.

Christina and I

The Carousel - for "Big" kids

On Sunday, Stewart and Madeline and Anna arrived for a visit. We were lucky with the weather, and got to show our visitors some great sights around Denver. We drove up to Mt Evans, had a pic-nic at Echo Lake and saw some great views of the changing fall colours. We all took a train trip through the Royal Gorge, the drive was a little long, and Anna had a long day, but it was a lovely experience. Little Anna also got to play with little Lucy across the street, and they had great fun. Most evenings were spent on the patio, drinking wine and catching up.

Stew and Chris

The amazing Echo Lake

Anna playing with the ducks

The fall colors

The Royal Gorge

Anna and Chris on the train

Anna and Lucy

Stew, Mads and Anna left on the Friday and on Sunday evening we picked Terry up at the airport. The ppor guy was a little tired, after his flight from Costa Rica to Atlanta, and then onto Denver. Terry had the most amazing time in Costa Rica, fishing up a storm (-:

A cold front swept in on Monday, and we had our first snow on the mountains. Terry and I took a drive to Breckenridge, to see the snow and little ski town. It was stunning and Terry enjoyed the snow fall. Unfortunately our furnace decided to break at the smae time, after a chilly evening, a $1000 check, we got it fixed. We took a drive to the famous Bass Pro Shop, where I think Terry thought h was in heaven and hopped up a storm. I also tried to take Terry fishing, we tried Liar of the Bear, and Evergreen Lake, but clearly I'm not meant to be a fishing guide.

Terry fishing at Liar of the Bear

Evergreen Lake

Sylvia arrived on Thursday, also very tired after a exhausting 17 hour flight to Washington, then onto Chicago where she has a Law debate with her students and then to Denver. Her first words were "Geez, you live on the other side of the world". Terry was so excited about showing Sylv's Bass Pro Shop, that we had to pop in on the way home, where Terry finished his shopping spree.

Terry's favorite place, Bass Pro Shop.

Sylv's soon recovered, and we took a drive to Evergreen on Friday for Terry's last fishing attempt. Friday night Chris got us all tickets to the Rockies Baseball game. Sylvia, terry and I caught the light-rail into the City and met up with Chris at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had great seats and Te and Sylv's enjoyed their first Baseball game....and the Rockies won!

Terry and Sylvia at Coors Stadium

The next day was the Coventry Neighborhood progressive party. I was hosting a South African appetizer stage. Thank goodness for terry and Sylvia, who helped BIG TIME with the food. We made Bobotie, Pap Tert, Pumpkin Fritters and Ostrich Capacchio. It was a great success, and even though we were expecting 35 people, we had close to 50 people pop in. Terry and Sylvia made friends with all the neighbors, and Terry even swapped his Springbok T-Shirt with our Neighbor Rob.

Cooking away

Sylvia and I took Terry to the airport at 4am the next morning, and then chilled the rest of the day. Sylv's and I took a road-trip the next day, and drove up to Silverthorne to see what the factory stores had to offer. Sylvia found lots of great offers and shopped up a storm. We stayed in Frisco and had a lovely dinner in Breck. The next morning we drove over Independence Pass, which is amazing this time of year with the changing of fall colors. We had so much fun, taking lots of pics and eventually reached Aspen. We both fell in love with aspen, I now know why it's so famous. After some lunch and some sight-seeing, we headed back home.

Love the hat doll

Oh, and the sun glasses

At Twin lakes on the drive over Independence Pass

Little town of Twin Lakes

At the Chilly Continental Divide

Helicopter right above us

Sadly, Sylvia flew back to Chicago the next morning. It was so amazing seeing my friends again, and loved spending time with them and showing them my new home.

Chris and I also celebrated our 3rd Anniversary. We treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at the Chophouse, in Downtown Denver, and had a lovely time. I can not believe it's 3 years, we have done so much together, I can not wait to see what the next 3 years will bring.

So now we are back to the grindstone. Chris is working hard and I am looking at a few opportunities, always sometime happening, life is all about change.

Red Rocks, Mt Evans and a Wedding

The great thing about Colorado in the summer (and winter), is that there is always so much to do, and always, something going on.

Chris and I were again very privileged to be invited to another concert at Red Rocks. This time Jackson Browne was playing. We had cocktails and dinner before the show. At least this time it was not raining, you could really enjoy the amazing views while watching the concert. Thanks Robin and the gang for the invite.

The stand filling up

Jackson Browne performing

Posters from past performers at Red Rocks, includes U2, Sherryl Crow, Dave Mathews, UB40 and the list goes on...

The weather has been amazing, and so one day, I decided to take some "ME" time, get out of the city and what better place to do that than in the mountains. I drove to a park in Evergreen, Elk meadows, and went on a lovely long hike. The views were amazing, the weather perfect and with nothing but the sound of nature, it was bliss.

After a great hike, some home made saamies, I decided to go for a scenic drive up to Mt Evans. You can see and feel fall is in the air, as the Aspens are starting to change. Echo lake was stunning, and you could just sit and chill next to this beautiful place all day long. I found a pic-nic site which has the most amazing views over the mountains, definitely a place to take my visitors. It's always good to take some time out on your own, and have some alone time.

Contemplating the world from a view

The weekend only continues to get better. We went to Eerie to visit Iwan and Liezl for the night. As usual, the food was amazing, Iwan and Liezl really know how to cook. We met their neighbours who came over, and after watching the Bokke beat Australia, we really started celebrating. The next day, the guys played golf while Liezl and I snuggled up with a DVD and a pizza. Aaahhh, what a great end to a amazing weekend.

My rose bushes were trashed after the crazy storm 2 months ago. I am not sure what happened, maybe the roses felt like they had a good pruning, but they have just blossomed in the past 2 weeks. Love it!

Our garden is looking lovely, so sad to think in 2 months time it will be covered in snow )-:

The strangest thing happened last week, sitting in my study, a "swarm" of birds, like a black cloud landed in the garden, there were hundreds, in the front and back. They looked like little black starlings, and it sounded like an avery all around me. I tried to take some photo's but chased them away when I opened the door. Some came back, but not nearly as many as there were. I think that they were migrating to somewhere.

Melissa and Arts Wedding:

On Saturday, Chris and I headed to Breckenridge for the long awaited Art and Melissa wedding. After 2 accidents on the highway, we finally arrived at our hotel, "The Great Divide" Lodge. Shuttles were arranged to collect us at the hotel and take us up to Ten Mile Station. It was so strange seeing this mountain without snow, knowing we skied on the road we were driving up.

The views from Ten Mile Station (in Winter a restaurant and Apri-Ski spot).

Melissa looked amazing, and so happy!

The pastor was fantastic, dressed in a suite with her cowboy boots, she did a Indian Blessing at the end, which was very special.

Melissa's boss, Ken and his wife Sandra, sat at our table. What a great couple. Chris and Ken got horribly drunk on tequila, while Sandra and I danced.

Mrs Pieters and me

Hungover in front of Starbucks

Chris looking rather peppy in spite of all the shots

Breckenridge is stunning! It's 150 years old, with such charm, so much to see.

The main street in Breck

We got invited to a Brunch at the House the Bowman family rented for the week. The house could fit approx. 20 people, and it had great views. It was great seeing everyone after the big night, and Art and Melissa looked blissfully happy, Congrats guys!!!

Baby Woollam

Many of you who read my blog would know that my friend, Toni and her hubby John were expecting their first little baby. We did not know what is was, as they wanted to keep the sex of the baby a big surprise.

On Friday the 4th September, baby Troy Woollam was born at 13:54, at a healthy 3.5kg. I think he's going to be a rugby player (-:

Toni and Troy are both doing well and are at home, getting used to the new famiy life.

Congrats John and Toni. Little Troy is amazing, I can not wait to meet him!