Jerk Pork at Last

Today is one of the best days of my life in Denver, Colorado. To begin with its a wonderful summer day at last so I decided to ride my bicycle downtown to visit the Art museum. But first I must go pay for my ticket at the Amtrak depot before they raise the price on me again. A few weeks ago I called to find out how much it was return from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah, and was told $170. When I called to make my reservation today it was $217....a whole $47 more. Absolute highway robbery, but as they say you learn from experience and I did not know that trains set their prices like airlines in that the earlier you book the cheaper it is.

I am only paying the price for this experience because I have not been on a real train (not a subway please!) since I was a teenager and feel like a kid going on my first train ride. I am going to visit my friend Sharon whom I have not seen in probably 20 years and who is now a Mormon living in Salt Lake city. Boy don't I have a lot to learn when I get there. So under those circumstances I had to pay the huge fare increase and not bawl.


Anyway, when I was leaving the train station and going towards the Art museum, I heard music playing loudly and naturally headed in the direction only to run into the Denver Chalk Art fair on 14th Street. The streets were blocked off and people were drawing all sorts of things on the pavements and the road, all in chalk.There was really some good stuff there.

As I once again headed towards the Art Museum, I ran into the People Fair. This is an annual thing where streets around City centre are blocked off and food  and other products are on sale in booths. As I ambled through the crowd, by god, what did I see.....a sign saying Jamaican food. My withdrawal symptoms immediately escalated and I rushed over. Naturally I used my best yardie language and enquired what they had only to be met with a blank stare. So I started my usual tirade about foreigners exploiting Jamaica's good name and reputation only to be joined by a man who assured me in good Jamaican language that it was not so. He said the reason why the people in the booth did not understand me was because they were his family who were born in the USof A.

My first question to him of course was if he had jerk pork and and it was as if God decided to give me a special blessing for his reply was "Den no mus". Oh lord, what sweet words. My next question was about mannish water but drew a blank there. Anyway, I was totally happy to live with mannish waterless jerk pork. I decided to go to the museum first and come back for the jerk pork after, but boy from I got  the ticket I kept thinking of some pork skin and had to just go an get it and postpone the museum tour for a bit.

It turns out the guy's name is Glen and he lives in Colorado Springs. But guess what, he is from Rocky Point in Clarendon. He laughed when I told him Rocky Point people only know to cook fish not pork, but I was perfectly correct for it was not certainly up not up to any quality jerk pork that I know of. Anyway, it had skin and it was crispy so all was immediately forgiven. After all, I have not had a decent piece of pork  (ie.pork with skin!) for almost two months so anything goes at this point.
So I sat down in the park and listened to one of the many bands performing. They weren't too bad and there was a dance area which lots of people were using, so I simply enjoyed the ambiance and the food.

The art  museum is huge with eleven levels of displays ranging from American Indian art to the African experience. This is the second time I have been there and each time it is almost a totally different scenario. I don't think I will ever come back to Denver and not visit that museum.

Designs at the Chalk Art Fair

The artists get down on the pavement at chalk Art fair

So now, finally, I am looking forward to wonderful summer days for the rest of my stay here for although the Denver weather is miserable most of the time, when the summer days come, downtown always has some excellent surprises.

Of Balls and Women!

According to city-data.com," Medieval eyewitness accounts give no doubt that at one time, this chair and others like it were indeed an important part of the papal coronation ritual. But why should the cardinals be so concerned that they would go through the embarrassment of publicly probing their new boss to demonstrate that the pope is indeed a male? (It wasn't done quietly, either."


This is in  reference to something called a "Dung Chair". It is supposed to have been specially built so that when a potential pope sat down, his balls hung through so it could be verified that he was indeed a man.( He has two balls, and they are well hung!)


All this rigmarole  arose because in the 13th century, a female pope named Joan reigned for a few years. She only became pope however, because he she had gone through the system pretending to be a man! 


So obviously the male chauvinist stance of the the Roman catholic church is nothing new.


How is the Roman Catholic Church going to survive in the future when women dominate the world? It may seem far off to them, but when one looks at enrollment and graduation from colleges worldwide, it will only be a matter of time before this happens.


Will the Catholics then bring back the dung chair  as part of the coronation process.....not to prove that the pope indeed has balls but to ensure that it is not a man pretending to be a woman, since at that time, only women will have the necessary qualifications for that high office!(lol) 


Oh how I hope I will have reincarnated as a fly on the Vatican wall during that period!

The Rockies and all that.

Whoopie...the sun is finally here and hopefully, winter, snow and the rains will stay away until I leave Colorado. It is not at all insignificant that the sunniest day I have enjoyed was on May 26th, my grandson Sharach's birthday.

Such a lovely day it was that I was ready to start exploring the Rockies, starting with Pikes Peak. Luckily for me, my son in law Devin is more conscious than I am and he had the presence of mind to call the park centre to enquire about the weather. Well it was not snowing we heard, but wind speed was 80 miles per hour. Brr, can you imagine me surviving that type of wind chill factor? 

Horrors.

Clear Creek Canyon

So off we went instead to explore the casinos at Black Hawk and Central City. I had been in the area before but it was still a pleasant drive through the huge gorge called Clear Creek Canyon. It makes poor little Bog Walk gorge appear insignificant. There can be no doubt why that area is part of the Rocky Mountain range for rocks there were of ever shape and size, jutting our of the beautiful hills. It is significant how they prevent disasters in the area for the rocks look like they could come rolling down at any time and smash the insignificant vehicles below. However the practice is to use steel mesh in vulnerable areas so when the rocks roll downwards they are caught in the mesh at the bottom and do not endanger road users. Those areas are popular with hikers, white river rafters and mountain climbers. The gorge has an elevation of over 8000 feet above sea level.

The Central City/Black Hawk area is quite a historical area having been from the 1800's rich mining areas. Central City became quite a prosperous town but when  mining died out, it became a casino town. Casinos sprung up left right and centre in the exotic and interesting buildings left behind by the miners. Then the newer and larger commercial casinos and hotels moved into Black Hawk, just a mile below and that effectively killed the economy of Central city.

As we strolled through the shops at Central city I couldn't help noticing that they were mostly manned by weary looking golden agers and every one had one thing in common, there were no customers..... as was the the casinos.

At Black Hawk below there was definitely more activity. After a short tour of the area, we decided to visit the casinos and lose a few dollars. I say lose a few dollars as this is something I do quite consciously...I never go to win. What I do is put a $10 or $20 in my pocket and leave only when it is finished. I love black jack and sometimes It takes me half an hour to contribute to the casinos' wealth, at other times it takes me hours.

Oh no I have not always been this conscious about gambling and learning how to save myself from bankruptcy was an expensive lesson. This happened many decades ago as we set out to explore North, Central and South America and unfortunately ended up in Las Vegas. Seeing the bright lights and hearing the jingle of money for the first time was just too much for us so into the casinos we went and as our money evaporated, we headed to our stash at our camp and emptied our entire savings in slot machines there. It  took us about six weeks of working at menial jobs and living hand to mouth in California before we earned enough to continue touring. So now I never put money in slot machines and never take to to the black jack table more than I plan to lose.

Unfortunately in Black Hawk, their 'no children under 21 ' policy was so severe that we were not even enter the casino with my one month old granddaughter. We were  even accompanied by security to and from the restaurant as we had to walk through the casino to get there. When I enquired why such a stringent policy, seeing she was only a baby, I learnt that the problem was not the baby but bad parents. For experience had shown that parents leave their babies in elevators, bathrooms, parking garages to fulfill their lust to gamble so now Colorado has a policy whereby security must see that the babies are not separated from their parents in casino areas.

So not being able to gamble after lunch we headed for a pleasant drive through Golden Gate National Park which ascends to 15,000 feet. You could actually see snow still unmelted on the ground in some areas but that did not stop some adventurous persons who were camping, fishing, riding and hiking there quite happily. We just drove through with windows tightly shut. It is an extraordinarily beautiful area and this has attracted some obvious billionaires who have constructed fabulous country homes with hundreds of acres of billowing ranges where cattle and horses roamed and where the barns could be mistaken for beautiful suburban homes.

Oh how I hated the rain, snow and cold as spring sprung its way though Colorado. Now (I am crossing my fingers) that summer is here, I am in my element as I prepare to explore the great outdoors.

For more photographs, see; http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150258447701823.368373.763366822

DENVER'S BORING ELECTION

I couldn't believe my eyes. This morning I actually saw two exuberant women at the corner of Martin Luther King and Colorado boulevards holding up "Hancock" signs. Wow, what excitement!

Let me state up front that I have over the years, officially and unofficially observed elections from Guatemala to Trinidad, Canada and not to mention Jamaica and even in Canada, the elections had spirit. 

In Denver though, blah!

Of course the only election campaign I have ever been exposed to in Denver is the 2011 mayoral election, but if this is any example of how elections are run here, then I have only one word for them; boring. Of course I was not in Denver as an election observer or even present by design, but just happened to be here between April and June while the election raged (for want of a better word) and being an avid political watcher, couldn't help but pay attention.

These elections had become necessary as the previous mayor resigned in January to become governor of Colorado. The preliminary election was held on May 3, 2011 and the final election to see who is to become mayor will be held on June 7th 2011 between Senator Chris Romer and Councilor Michael B. Hancock

The May 3rd run off had 10 candidates but only 3 had a decent showing; they were Chris Romer with over 38%, Michael Hancock with over 27% and James Mejia with just over 25%. The run off on the 7th June is between Romer and Hancock (both democrats) with Mejia throwing his support behind Romer.

When I arrived in Denver and heard there was to be an election, my interest perked up but if I was waiting for exciting street meetings and parades, I was  sorely disappointed. This election has been dominated by television debates, media ads and placards placed on the lawns of their supporters only. Even on election day on the 3rd May, I saw little outside activity. I  guess this is  because mail in balloting is the order of the day here. And it might as well be so for with this  lousy weather I guess people are not too excited to go outside.

 I admit the issues during the debate are quite interesting but the zest is missing. So boring is the campaign that when Romer put out a tv ad condemning Hancock for voting a pay increase for himself while he was a member of the city council while not supporting increases for city employees, it was condemned immediately by the Hancock team for being unfair and when it was withdrawn, they claimed it was because the governor had intervened and told them to withdraw it. The governor denied this....... yawn. Now when is an ad that is so true and relevant, distasteful, I ask?  

See what I mean by boring?

 So yes, that is why I got so excited at seeing two women with placards that I even bothered to do a blog on these elections for that's the only election type thing I saw!

have seen or heard so far!

Colorado is depressing.

I am convinced. the worse thing that can happen to you is to wake up and not see any sun. That's what i have had to put up with for the last three days Rain, hail and freezing weather, no sun. In fact, suicide statistics show that it is highest in places with depressing weather and now I understand why.

You know, everyone warned me about the wicked Colorado weather. Everyone except my daughter Michele who kept insisting that Colorado has more sun than Florida. ....that's the joke of the century.

At first, I tried hard to agree with her for despite the temperature being in the forties, the sun kept the place warm and tolerable.Then the sun left, permanently I thought for while the thermometer and weather reports kept saying it was the same as those first days, it started to feel like I was in Siberia each time I went outside!
So I stopped going outside until I had to drop off or pick up my grandson at school....no cycling, no shopping, no walking. yuk

Then came my birthday and guess what, beautiful sunshine. But wait, according to some nuts in California and their adherents worldwide, the world is supposed to end tomorrow. Hmm. I will wait till then to publish this post since they will prove to be to be total liars.

 In the meantime, we are heading off to  Colorado Springs to spend the day then my grandson is taking me for dinner.

Well I deliberately refused to finish this blog until I was certain where I would be when the world ended.


Here I am back in Denver and today was tolerable up to noon . In fact, I went walking to City Park......, a good hour to and from and now it has again become overcast but tolerable I guess.At least I am not in hell which is probably where I could have ended up had that idiot known what he was talking about.

Actually, I don't believe in  heaven and hell at all or even  the devil. I strictly believe in  reincarnation, the concept that I will be returning to some other part of this over billion year old earth or even somewhere else in  the universe really excites me. After all, I have not met anyone who came back and since we  can't be exactly sure,why not adopt the nicest theory? Hopefully though, I wont reincarnate in Colorado!


Anyway my birthday yesterday was quite nice. Devin, (my new son in law) took us to visit his brother who lives in a huge movie style house with two acres of land, horses dogs etc, in Colorado Springs. Its 2000 feet higher than mile high Denver so obviously colder. Luckily we when we got there it was sunny but we still stayed inside as it had snowed the night before so we stayed where we would be kept warm by the blazing fireplace.

They are a nice couple and it was great hanging out with them. Then we picked up Shadrach at school and he treated me to my birthday dinner. Lovely to have a rich grandson!

Even better to be one day older and not see this beautiful world disappear into nothingness!












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TRIBUTE TO CHULLY WILLIAMS SNR.

We regret that we are unable to be with the rest of the family on this sad but special day as we say a final farewell to our dear father- in- law,  grandpa and great grandpa, Chully Williams. 

As much as we are greatly saddened by his passing, we are comforted by the words of the famous comedian Dick Van Dyke who observed "Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live. " We know, no one could say that about Grandpa Williams as he lived a very full, productive  and caring life, and one always got the impression that he was afraid of nothing and was up to every challenge that presented itself. In fact, we cannot recall an instant when we saw Grandpa when he was not very pleasant and calm. 

Grandpa was always friendly and loving with his grandchildren. We remember when we would visit him at East Queen Street. He would always stop what he was doing to find out how we were and what was going on in our lives. He listened, cared and always had a smile on his face.  Grandpa was someone who we could always talk to about any matter and he always had a wise answer and positive attitude to whatever we initially thought  was a difficult situation.

His pleasant demeanor has left so lasting an impression on us that we too want to emulate it. 

Even when all around him people were losing their heads, he always exuded a quiet calm, and it is probably that uncanny ability that he had to remain unruffled that led to him having a relatively long, healthy life.

When Grandpa started to lose his memory, we were all very worried. At some point he must have made a decision to be kind, inviting and friendly regardless of whether he remembered us or not. We say this because whenever we visited him, he treated us as if he knew exactly with whom he was speaking. We could tell that he didn't exactly know it was us because his witty banter and generic statements could have been relevant anyone. Yet he made us feel welcome and comfortable. He knew and we knew. It was a conspiracy of sorts. Grandpa was a great performer and if he was feeling any pain, there was absolutely no indication of this from him.  

We are saddened that we were unable to be with him in his final days and especially regret that he did not have the opportunity to see his new great granddaughter, Madelynn, who was born in Denver , Colorado on the 23rd April,  a week before he died, but  we are assured that he was perfectly aware of this latest addition to his large loving family. 

Around 20 Ad, the great Roman philosopher  Seneca observed that .......The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity; as much as we will miss grandpa, we are comforted by the thought  that he is at peace now in eternity.

Walk good grandpa.

And to Grandma Williams: cheer upand be strong and we will see you soon.

Much love,

 Joan, Michele and Shadrach

-

SHADRACH THOR WILLIAMS, THE WRESTLER.

Yesterday  I was so proud when I picked up my grandson Shadrach Thor Williams at Cherokee Trail High school and he told me how at wrestling, he had challenged a 195 lb guy who ranked 4th in the nation, and the guy could not pin him down because he was too slippery, fast and strong. Wanna know who that guy was? It was Keith Johnson and if you want to know about him, see ;http://www.berecruited.com/high-schools/colorado/aurora/cherokee-trail-high-school/boys-wrestling.

As Shadrach is only 135 lbs and strength and size matter so much in wrestling, that was a great achievement  in my book. What is even more amazing is the fact that he has only been exposed to wrestling since November 2010 when he came to Colorado to attend school.

According to Shadrach, on his first day in a wrestling, he got pinned by a guy six times, a guy who only weighed 106 lbs. That young man had however been wrestling from he was 5 years old and was ranked fourth in the nation in his weight class. After that he got only one month's wrestling experience as his academic performance was not up to scratch and his aunt Michele insisted that he drop wrestling to work on improving his grades.

However during that month his performance improved rapidly leading him to become the best on the Junior Varsity team. He was due to be selected for the Varsity team which represents the school nationwide and was scheduled to go to Kansas for a tournament, but his poor academic performance made this impossible.

It was not until the off season that we was allowed to start wrestling again, but in the meantime he had concentrated at home on body building and reduced his body weight to 135 lbs of solid muscles, bench pressing 210 lbs and squatting at 250 lbs. He will shortly be qualified to become a member of the 600 club.

This has enhanced his wrestling performance greatly to the point where he shocked a  Brazilian Jujitsu expert by nearly pinning him in a recent challenge. He even wrestled a kung fu fighter who had been at the sport for some11 years but whom he knocked unconscious within the first 20 seconds of their match. The poor guy remained out for a good five seconds. Shadrach boasts that although he has knocked two other persons unconscious during his short stint at the sport, he has never been knocked out by  anyone and according to him, he never will!

Do we see  a great wrestler developing here? Maybe, if his brain development keeps pace with his brawn development!