Friday evening I had Shari, Elisabeth, and Alyssa over for a “Last Friday Art Evening” (instead of First Friday Art Walk, get it? 😉 ). We had dinner and then painted a little bit. Well, I painted a little bit. Shari and Alyssa did a much better job at painting than I did, although I have no regrets. Shari painted another cactus for her current cactus series. Alyssa started work on a copy of a Van Gogh painting and Elisabeth painted a cute little rainbow mushroom. It was a fun evening and exactly the kind of chill night I desired and wanted. I am learning that having a larger table would be nice though. My space doesn’t really allow for one and the card table I attempted to buy fell through when the lady from Facebook was a no show. I’ll get myself a card table some other time so I can have more get togethers in the future.
Saturday was a mixed bag of relaxing and also being very busy. Shari and I finished the puzzle we had started at her place and then we each got in a Supernatural boxing workout before heading back to my place to bake and prep for the Pride Parade. I envisioned a bunch of my friends would meet up with me for the parade so I wanted to have some snacks ready. I like baking and being prepared, what can I say. The one time Elisabeth and I sat watching the parade many years ago, we were very under prepared – no sunscreen, no water, no snacks – so I didn’t want that to happen again. With that said, maybe I was a bit over zealous when I told Shari we were gonna make breakfast sandwiches, sticky buns, and blondies. And we’d have trail mix and grapes too. Shari was a great sport as always and helped me make all of those things even though she knew it probably was unnecessary. After making all the food we hopped in the car and looked at a few townhouses to determine if we liked their look and the neighborhood. It was a non stop day but a good day.
Then Sunday came around and it was parade time. Shari, Elisabeth, and I headed over to the parade area at 8am to get a good seat. It filled up quickly and by 8:45, if not earlier, the area was pretty dang crowded. It meant it was almost impossible for anyone to come find us but thankfully Mel made her way over and was able to spend a good portion of the parade with us. That meant almost none of the sticky buns or blondies were eaten though and we didn’t even open the trail mix. Guess we didn’t have to bake all of that. Oh well, leftovers for days. Maybe next time I’ll remember this moment though. When I want to make something for a group, I don’t have to make 3 things perhaps. Two, or maybe even one, will suffice.
The parade itself was fantastic and while I didn’t love being around so many people, it was also great to know so many people came out to celebrate themselves and to be allies to their LGBTQIA+ family and friends. I cheered so loudly and so often that my voice started going a bit. I got super excited for the Botanic Gardens group and sang their praises so thunderously that two of the team came over and gave me free tickets and free seeds. Um, hell yeah! I love you Denver Botanic Gardens!
After the parade we wandered around the vendor grounds for a bit but that was even more crowded that none of us were enjoying ourselves so we said goodbye to downtown and went off and had a late lunch together. I think we were all very tired but happy.
Today I got my first pottery pieces back from class. They’re definitely rustic but I’m proud and will attempt to use these pieces. I watched a couple of youtube videos today and tried my hand at a few more pieces in class so we’ll see how those turn out. It’s nice having something to do and getting to try something new.
Just Lauren 