Denver and Kaye.
Okay, up and at ’em. It’s actually Saturday morning now, but Ken has sent me an email telling me to get on with the job, so here I am blogging yesterday. I started out the day by joining Big Tom Leversee (he really is big, at 6′ 9″) and another friend in the area, Chris Lobonov-Rostovsky, for breakfast at 7:30 (even for me nowadays, that’s a little early), and it was really good to see him also. But, unlike we who don’t work, Chris had to go to work, as was humorously observed by a fellow (older) diner who came over to Tom and me after Chris had to leave for work. Unlike Chris, who was was wearing a shirt and tie (a dead give away he was going to work), Tom and I were wearing jeans and t-shirts, which is the first time in a while that I haven’t worn shorts, a tank top, and sandals, because the weather has taken a dip in temperatures, and at that point was relatively cool, in the high 60’s with the likelihood of rain.
This is good, of course, for the area, as the temps have been high, like everywhere else, and they need the rain. It has rained for the past couple of days, sometimes heavily, like Thursday, and it did rain again later in the day.
Tom and I headed over to his home, and got ourselves together before heading to Golden Gate Canyon Park for the great outdoors and a hike.
Then onto Golden Gate Canyon park, to which Kaye noted “that’s here,” meaning Golden Gate park in San Francisco, except, as I pointed out, without the “Canyon” part. 😊
The park is of course (how could it be any other way in this part of the world?) beautiful.
We took a moderately strenuous (at times) 3 miles hike, which got me pooped on those uphill parts, and had a good time time talking and walking and admiring the scenery. For Tom, of course, it’s old hat as a native to the area, and he used to work up here many years ago, near the park, in a treatment program for kids in these mountains. For me, also, I suppose it’s old hat, as I’ve seen and been in, on my own and with Bev, sights and regions like this many times over the years, but, nevertheless, it’s always refreshing and wonderful to be in landscapes like this, no matter how many times.
We stopped to record the gentle sound of the breeze in the meadows at some point. There’s a video clip below. Very serene out here.
We had good timing it turns out, as it started to rain during our last half mile, and we got back to the car just as it started coming down more heavily. Back to Tom and Jan’s, where I stayed for a while, and then I headed back to the hotel to clean up before going to visit Shikha again.
Shikha was again very coherent, and was clearly in the moment and able to participate, although with difficulty, in the conversation, and showed both good recollection of the past and orientation to the present. I asked about that newspaper clip of the visit to Mother Theresa, and Indrina started to fill me in, telling me Shikha worked for Mother Theresa, Sister Theresa at that time, in Kolkata (then Calcutta) after she graduated from high school at age 16, and Shikha was able to talk fairly clearly about it, with some detail.
That level of coherence continued, even after Indrina, Eric, and Dev went out to eat, and Dulce arrived for the evening, and we sat outside for a while. Like, Indrina, Dulce commented that my visit seemed to have sparked more focus for Shikha, who was more capable and able to converse than usual. Alan and Marilyn will be here to visit in a little over a week, which Shikha seemed aware of, and that will hopefully also lead to Shikha being more aware and capable, at least for a couple of days.
I said goodbye, saying I hoped I might be back in early September, as I think I may pass through this way again, and Shikha said she hoped so (so do I). It’s very sad to say goodbye, especially in this case, where I may never see Shikha again, and the possibility of being back in a few weeks definitely softened that for me, and perhaps Shikha as well.
On to Denver airport, where I picked Kaye up right on time.
We went out for a steak dinner. I’ve been on my Phil Rich Lifetime Diet, and haven’t been eating much, and definitely ate too much, and neither of us could finish our meals at Mickey’s Top Sirloin, which was a decent place to eat. Then, back to the hotel and to sleep. Kaye would like to visit Shikha tomorrow, but after texting Indrina, we’d have to be there before 10:30, as Shikha has an appointment at that time, and it will be getting too late after as we want to head up to Boulder. We’ll play visiting by ear.