My World

My world

     If I close my eyes and reach out my hands to either side, I can touch the edges of my world. On March 7, 2020, the Novel Corona Virus 19 contracted my world. On that date, I returned home from San Antonio, Texas by way of Houston. That's 1,226 miles. During the almost two months since then, the farthest I've been away from the hallway in this picture is 6.4 miles.
     This is my hallway. Behind us and to our right is the great room, my kitchen/dining/living room. My husband and I cook, eat, read, watch TV, and doze there. The first door on the right is the coat closet. Ostensibly meant to hold visitors coats. The last visitors we had were since our niece and her family. They stopped over on their way to go skiing in the mountains then back home to New Mexico. They left our house March 10.
     March 11, I went to my exercise class at my Rec Center. March 12, my rec center closed. And my public library closed. The two suns of my circumbinary social system went dark.
     On March 17, Colorado's governor and the State Public Health Department issued "Public Health Order 20-22 closing bars, restaurants, theaters, gymnasiums, casinos, nonessential personal services facilities, and horse track and off-track betting facilities statewide." (And here I didn't even know Colorado had a horse racing track. I knew there had been Gray Hound racing in Colorado, but it had shut down sometime before I moved here and was then banned in 2014.)
     At first Stay-at-Home was frightening and oppressive. The Rec Center where I went four days a week for exercise class was closed. That was my connection with the community. That's where I'd met my friends, where I interacted with them, where my walking group had been formed.
     I call it "my walking group" but it is truly "our" walking group -- a loosely knit group of people mostly over 65. We are from all over -- as global as Covid-19. And some are that rarity, Native Coloradans.
     Thank goodness, the Stay-at-Home Order has exemptions. We can walk in our town's public parks or on its streets as long as we observe six-feet social distancing and wear masks.  That's what the walking group does now, almost everyday.
     We used to go for coffee, or whatever, at various shops and bakeries after our walks. That's when we visited. By that I mean we talked about everything -- politics, religion, families, children, grandchildren, science, health, books, movies. You name it, we talked about it. There was always empathy and plenty of laughter.
   
     Those shops and bakeries are open for curb service only now, so we sit in empty picnic pavilions or set up our folding chairs in parking lots and driveways (maintaining social distancing, of course) and we visit. We still enjoy empathy and plenty of laughter.
(This photo was taken after the 6-feet, but before face masks were mandated and before those who live in Senior housing were restricted to their apartments and allowed no visitors and no communal dining.)
         
Oh, yes -- and now we have Zoom meetings. That could be a joke "How is a group of Senior Citizens like a kindergarten class?"
       

     One day last week, I understood that this is my world for the foreseeable future.
Oddly enough, recognizing that was very freeing. My world happens to be in the midst of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Mountains and lakes, and wondrous skies with glorious sunrises and sunsets.

Sunrise and Sunset (Both photos looking west from my back deck.)  

   





We have walking trails that feel like we're away from the city, while still being in the city. The herons and cormorants and egrets, the geese and ducks and robins are all back from their wintering grounds. They're building nests and hatching babies. They remind me that life goes on.
   
     Life does go on and we observe the current restrictions knowing that we are protecting our families and friends as much as we can. And they are protecting us as much as they can.

This is my world.

Being 72 in the Year of Corona Virus

A Silver Sneakers Class

Silver Sneakers is a program of physical fitness classes for people 65 years old and older. I have benefited greatly from these classes -- everything from increased endurance and improved balance to greater strength and flexibility at least as they relate to my physical self. (There are certain ethical and political issues about which I am not famous for being particularly flexible.)

I am 72 years old and in this time of the Novel Corona Virus pandemic, my age group are the most vulnerable to death as a result of Covid-19. Unfortunately most of my friends and a goodly group of my relatives are in this age and risk group. And, at this age, we are more likely to have "underlying health issues," which all and sundry take pains to point out are complicating risk issues.

I would here be inclined to extol my general good health, but I shouldn't tempt the Fates.

I walk with a group of people pretty much my age (and this is a very fluid group) three mornings a week and go to coffee together afterwards to discuss the world's problems and the successes of our children and pets. Plus I go to Silver Sneakers classes two to four days a week depending on what else is going on in my life. I feel that both activities are very important to my physical and mental wellbeing.

A friend recently said "I think we retirees need to stay home and go out for necessities when we need them at least for awhile to help the slowdown of people being infected. What are your thoughts." 


We walked at Addenbrooke Park and went to The Village Roaster for coffee Tuesday. The young woman at the counter wiped down everything customers touched.


Geese by the acre on Addenbrooke's Soccer Fields. That's Mt. Morrison in the background.

Yesterday morning we walked at Kendrick Lake. Another look at Mt. Morrison, this time across Kendrick Lake.











Then I went to class yesterday afternoon. There weren't very many people in class so there was plenty of space between us. I took disinfectant wipes and used them liberally on the equipment, including the chair I sat in. They have the scanning wand set up on the counter so they don't handle our cards to check us in.

I think walking outside presents minimal risk.

I think these things are all important to maintain my health, so I will continue to do them as long as I feel well. I don't have reason to interact with children, people in nursing care facilities, or hospitals. I think I will avoid entertainment venues that might be crowded, if such things continue to exist in the near future. And I'll probably do my errands when businesses are likely to be less busy. Again using hand washing, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes.

The thing is, this virus is rather like fire -- as long as there is fuel available it will spread and the people of the world have no immunity (at least those of us who have not yet had the virus) so we are the fuel. Unfortunately this corona virus will run its course and we just need to stay as healthy as we can so if we do contract it, we have a reasonable expectation of surviving.

I am worried about my friends. We are in the age category at risk of worst outcomes, and many of us do have underlying health issues.

I am perfectly willing to make adjustments to my behavior as conditions warrant.

And I certainly will take appropriate actions including self-quarantine if I, at any point, test positive for Covid-19 or, indeed, begin to feel ill with anything. I don't want to share a cold or the flu with anyone either.

Stone House Park -- Nonfiction

The Stone House

Built sometime between 1859 and 1864, the Stone House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Constructed of stones from Bear Creek and rough-dressed sandstone quarried from a nearby ridge called the Hogback, the house has 18 inch thick walls -- the better for its inhabitants to withstand 100 degree summers and minus degree winters. These days it belongs to the City of Lakewood and is a popular venue for wedding receptions and family reunions.

Stone House Park is one of our walking group's favorite destinations.

Bear Creek, where they gathered the rounded river rocks used in building the house, runs through the park. Fed by snow melt in the mountains to the west, it provides water to this otherwise parched country. Water for trout, trees, birds, and wildlife of all kinds.

A paved bike and walking path runs along the south side of the creek. It goes west to Red Rocks Park, home of the well-known Red Rocks Amphitheater where everybody from The Beatles to Joe Bonamassa have performed. The bike path runs east to the South Platte River Trail.

Along the north side of the creek, the trails are unpaved, but well-maintained.



I completely missed the weather forecast for this morning. I thought it was supposed to be 48 degrees and sunny.  Silly me. It was 33 degrees and completely overcast at walking-time. Some of us had other obligations and others had more sense than I so I walked alone. That was perfectly okay. I could stop and take pictures at will, without worrying that I was slowing the group down.

With the flowers and most of the leaves gone for the winter, I saw things that I hadn't noticed before. Like the bat houses that local Eagle Scouts have put up near the shore of the park's lower lake.

And a grand old cottonwood stump, much bigger around than two people could reach.

By the end of my walk, I ran into Lanay, a fellow member of our walking group. Our group is from everywhere -- New Jersey, Louisiana, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Germany, California, etc. And even a couple of Colorado natives.

In addition to walking together in beautiful parks, we visit. I get to learn about all kinds of places I've never been. For example, Lanay did her graduate work at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. And that is one of the places my daughter is applying to for graduate school. So I got to find out that Ithaca is a beautiful city on a hill and Cornell is a welcoming and well-regarded educational institution. I've  appreciated their Ornithology Lab and its All About Birds website for years. But now, I know that it will be a good place for her to live, if she does go there for school.

What better way is there to make connections with the world?

The Walking Group's Field Trip -- nonfiction

Several years ago a couple of people who participated in a class sponsored by the Consortium for Older Adult Wellness started a walking group. Since then more and more people have joined the walks. Most are active at one or more of Lakewood's four rec centers and most are senior citizens, though that is not a prerequisite.

The walking group is very free-form. Not everyone walks every time. Most of the time we walk at one of Lakewood's more than 200 parks. We do keep our walks to easy terrain because we have all levels of fitness in the group. Probably the biggest difference between our walking group and others is our penchant for coffee and treats at local coffee and bakery establishments.

We don't claim to be a weight-loss program or even a fitness program. It is an opportunity for us to get together with really nice people from different backgrounds and different parts of the country and, indeed, the world. And, of course, we use the après-walk visit to solve the world's problems.

Occasionally we take field trips to local areas of interest. Last Thursday we visited Hudson Gardens.

Hudson Gardens and Event Center is a 30-acre non-profit botanical gardens located along the bank of the South Platte River, in Littleton, the next town south of Lakewood. Walking there is free to the public. They have concerts on an extensive lawn during the summer, rent facilities for weddings and other private events. They host a big beer festival in September, and decorate for holidays from fireworks for Fourth of July to lights for Christmas.

Originally developed in 1941 as the private gardens of Colonel King C. and Evelyn Leigh Hudson.  The gardens contain varied grounds ranging from high, dry prairie to river wetlands, featuring plants that thrive in the dry Colorado climate.

  

The rose gardens are a joy from June through late summer.

This time of year, the pumpkin patch is very popular. They also have raised beds of kitchen garden veggies -- green beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, etc. 

The big surprises for me were the varieties of sunflowers.

Colorado grows sunflowers in fields, like wheat or corn so I'm used to seeing the standard commercial sunflowers they grow for seeds. The fields in Eastern Colorado are actually quite beautiful and the flowers follow the sun just like the sunflowers we grow in our flower beds.

But these sunflowers come in all kinds of colors. Like these on the right. They're colored more like Indian Paint Brush, but of course they're much larger. 

And below are little white ones nestled in among the more standard yellow ones.

                  And, of course, the bees like them, too.

Then there are the water features. Because Colorado east of the Rockies is in the High Plains Desert, water is a limited resource. There are books written about it. There have been pitched battles fought over it -- both in court and with guns. So water, any water is appreciated and celebrated. 

That's Rich. He's the mainstay of the walking group. 

He hardly ever misses a walk and often comes up with

wonderful suggestions -- like Hudson Gardens.

For our après-walk it was Lucile's Creole Cafe for brunch. I get to take credit for this choice. Lucile's is my favorite restaurant in Colorado. But, then of course, I love Louisiana food and they do it pretty much right.

My place at the table -- beignets, fruit, and coffee. No, I didn't eat all those beignets myself. I shared.

The first time I had a beignet, I didn't see what the big deal was. The next morning I had one and it was pretty good. The third morning I HAD to have one.

This was us. Not all of us could be there for the walk that day, but for those who missed it and for those who didn't, we'll do it again. Laissez les bon temps rouler, y'all.

Crown Hill Walk -- nonfiction

Here I am on the trail again. 

This time the walking group visited Crown Hill Park, a Jefferson County Open Space. The 242 acre park is fifteen minutes from my house. It has 9.5 miles of natural surface and paved trails, including 1.2 miles of paved trail around Crown Hill Lake. In the northwest corner of the park is Kestrel Pond, a certified National Urban Wildlife Refuge.

This truly is an urban wildlife refuge. The park sits on the border between Lakewood and Wheat Ridge, Colorado, in the midst of a human population estimated at almost 156,000.

Wheat Ridge High School is just beyond the northern limits of the park. In the background you can see the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The haze is from wild fires in the Pacific Northwest, some more than a thousand miles away. The jet stream (one of several upper air currents around the Earth) flowing from west to east carries the smoke across the mountains. The smoke then settles south along the east side of the Rockies compromising our mountain views and our air quality.

A gentleman just coming out of the wildlife part of the park, alerted us to the presence of a deer and her twin fawns ahead. The Mule Deer doe calmly grazed in the meadow as we walked past. In the background you can see electric lines, and just beyond the trees is Wheat Ridge High School and the rest of the city.

  

Kestrel Pond is fenced so that it can be closed to humans during nesting season. This spring  it was closed for the early days of these two fawns' lives.

More a wetlands, than a pond, Kestrel Pond is home to migratory water birds and shore birds.

In addition to the Canada Geese on the bigger lake, we saw these on Kestrel Pond. The bird in the upper left is a Killdeer. The two larger birds are American Avocets and the little brown bird is a Sandpiper.

Not to be outdone by the fauna in the wildlife refuge, the flora is abundant this time of year including a plant I did not recognize.

This is the Arrowhead plant, also known as Indian potato. According to the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service the Indian potato or Wapato (Sagittaria cuneata) is common and widespread from eastern Alaska east to Newfoundland and south to Texas. The tubers have a potato-like texture but more the flavor of water chestnuts when boiled or roasted to remove their slightly bitter taste when raw. Arrowhead tubers grow in muddy soil underwater and were harvested by Indians using sticks or with their bare feet (once freed, the tubers float to the surface to be gathered).

None of us knew of their special properties, though I doubt any of us were inclined to squish around barefoot in the mud to harvest them.

Another plant new to me is the Red Smartweed -- apparently an invasive species that's hard to kill out, but very pretty with its bright fuchsia colored flowers.





I love living here. Here I am in the midst of suburbia complete with decent public transportation, excellent medical facilities, ample shopping, and world-class entertainment venues and still have the natural world practically outside my front door.

Kendrick Lake Park -- nonfiction

Kendrick Lake is one of the several walks we do. The trail around the lake is one mile. It is generally not too much uphill nor too much downhill. That's important because people who walk with us are at all fitness levels.

Our walking group is very fluid. Anywhere from three to ten walk on any given day. Here are five of our walking group.

Kendrick Lake is especially fun because the people who live along the shore decorate for the holidays and maintain beautiful flower and vegetable gardens.

                      

             Halloween Spider. It moves!                         and the Grinch rises up out of the chimney.

 

Donut Burst

Our walks are not just for physical fitness. They are also for our mental health. So after the fresh air and restoration by virtue of Mother Nature, we meet for coffee and whatever. We have different favorites depending on which place we walk. When we walk Kendrick Lake we either meet at Donut Burst or Taste of Denmark. We share political opinions, book and movie recommendations, find out about travel destinations and new grand babies. And generally solve the world's problems.

Kendrick Lake is five minutes from my home and like most everywhere in Lakewood has a beautiful view of Green Mountain. The lake has been an inspiration for two pieces of short fiction. It has a thick reed bed at the west end -- a perfect place to hide bodies! Did I mention that I write murder mysteries?

 
Kendrick Lake with a shaft of sunlight illuminating
a patch of Green Mountain

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