the bedford

this is the bedford. it's a neat little bar housed in the basement vault of the former mb bank on ashland and division.

i love the mystery and grand fantasy of what used to be, decades ago, living inside all these little boxes - and who came to visit them.

now, there are places to snoop, stories untold and a small menu of well-made drinks. my favorite is the cucumber cooler: gin, muddled cucumber, aperol, simple syrup and lime. it's just the right amount of kick, sweet, refreshing: heaven.

i'm not so into the hip bar of the moment, but i do like old places full of beautiful things and memories i can pretend are mine.

looking down

i remember now, looking down, passing by, secret smile, why i left the city and its averted eyes and resistance to touch and unoffered smiles and impersonal encounters; commuters with headphones, with computers, on phones, looking in and at and down and through. i forget sometimes that i came back to small town for instant welcome smiles and eye contact and feeling like a person instead of a machine.

gilman, co

i was lucky enough to not only pass by gilman on my road trip through colorado, but especially happy to have my friend, dustin, in the car to tell me why i wanted to look longer. cool!

there's something so magical, foreign, curious, foreboding, inviting about little towns with no one in them, don't ya think?

valley girl!

well look what i found whilst flipping through marriott's sub-standard tv channels tonight. glory!

(image via: coolchaser.com)

nbb

one of my favorite stops on our trip west was our tour of new belgium brewing. in fact, i've added 'becoming an employee owner' to my five-year plan ... well, i envision a five-year plan with this lone goal in mind (i figure owning a 10-plus-year-old fat tire bike propels me even closer to said goal).

(that's their 1554 beer, our first sampler - and my personal favorite.)

missed

like a familiar spot, a campground, a hidden nook nestled and tucked and beckoning, with all those lives inside it, unvisited spaces along our path, passed, these moments and memories fade and blur; ghosts.

changes

i'm back in the city again, temporarily, for a little school and a little work. excitement for this time of year, routine: coffee studies, city commutes, brisk air and changing leaves on campus.
with that will come new goals, which also excites me. i've been feeling compelled to write more. anticipation.