Getting to Know You

236.365 20mm f3.8 1/250 ISO 200I had a great idea yesterday, that after Ezra's nap we would ride our bikes downtown to the Chalk Art Festival in Larimer Square.  Ez likes bike rides and chalk and sidewalks so I figured it would be perfect.  It was a beautiful afternoon and trailing Will and Ez on the Cherry Creek bike path is just one of those excellent Denver experiences that fills my heart up.  As we locked up our bikes and headed toward the smell of funnel cakes I allowed myself a moment of oh yay!  Look how much fun this is for a 2-year old!

And then we encountered this:

Now this is the kind of scene that makes me want to dive in.  But soon I was reminded that for Ez it has the opposite effect.  He didn't cry or whine.  Instead he just completely withdrew.  I could see his face become impassive.  Even the crocodile chalk art couldn't elicit an enthusiastic point or grin.  It was like he was willing himself to disappear from the crowd completely.

Oh right, my kid is an introvert.  For a moment there I forgot.  So we got back on our bikes and rode home, where he became delighted again very quickly.  But not before I had a chance to snap these.

Forever Young

155.365 55mm f4 1/320 ISO 200Ezra is at that golden age, two and a half, where it seems like every day he becomes more like a real person.  He climbs the stairs on this own (and usually doesn't fall), he stashes screwdrivers all over the house so he can always fix it!, he has his favorite books and clothes and toys.  As it turns out he is also extremely hard-headed.  The level of commitment he demonstrates to his opinions would make Rush Limbaugh proud.  (Though please god, not the opinions themselves.) 

There are certain things I will not miss about this age, though I try not to wish away this moment, no matter how frustrating it might be at times.  But there are certain things I wish he would never outgrow.  I'll cry the day he trades I wanna do my byself for I want to do it by myself.  Or I carry you for Carry me.  Also, the day I look down and actually see a wrist bone where this little stuffed sausage currently resides, well, I'll just stay in bed that day.

Busking

152.365 50mm f4 1/125 ISO 400Another street scene is probably another sign that Spring is coming to BWW.  I found myself downtown yesterday afternoon on a trip to the camera store and glad I had my camera.  Even though I live quite near downtown I rarely spend time there.   I was surprised at how lively the street was, though to be fair I think the St. Patrick's Day parade was yesterday morning so it might have been exceptionally festive.  There were still a lot of green-clad people looking overserved and wobbly by mid-afternoon.

More interesting than the overgrown leprechauns are the artists on the street, musicians, dancers, painters.  This woman, with her well-used cans of spray paint and her iPod blaring techno, attracted a crowd mezmerized by her on-the-spot artwork (and perhaps the fumes). 

Street Art

82.365 55mm f6.3 1/160 ISO 200I took some of the flotsam and jetsam of Christmas out to the recycling bin early yesterday morning and saw the most glorious cotton-candy-pink clouds hovering above my back yard.  If I had been smart I would have shot that, but since my husband was just coming downstairs that very minute we tag teamed on the toddler and I grabbed my camera bag and dashed out into the 11 degree morning.

Naturally by the time I positioned myself where I thought I wanted to be the sunrise was over.  I was on the east end of downtown, thinking I now had to brave the cold for long enough to transition from that frothy pink sunrise-colored atmosphere to the part of the morning where the sun is actually hitting something.  A building.  A passerby.  (But who is out downtown on a frigid Sunday morning at 7:00?)  I would have settled for just about anything.

My fingertips were in full revolt when I noticed these small benches on the plaza I had staked out.  Maybe I was charmed by them because I just watched Exit Through the Gift Shop and I'm ready for Banksy to hit up Denver.  Or maybe it's because I'm a sucker for environmental art and its inherent impermanence.  Anyway, even in the biting cold I got a kick out of them and wanted to say thank you to whoever thought of leaving this mark.

I couldn't frame them how I would have liked because a) no one has shown me where to order my elevator boots yet and b) there was some permanent structure blocking the view between the second and third face.  So maybe there's no light here.  And maybe there's no composition.  But I love the fact that I got to glimpse somebody's cheeky little moment of expression before it melted.