For years, Connie has been raving about the annual music festival and how fantastic and creative the faculty and students are. “You’d love it! You need to come out to see it.” I thought she might be exaggerating a tad, but I decided to join her for a week of the three-week festival. We talked to our other buddy, Shirley Porter, (We were cohorts at Fremont Junior High, our first school in Anaheim) and she joined us for the last week of the festival. Connie was NOT exaggerating. It was stimulating, intense, exciting and a bit exhausting. In four days, we attended seven concerts, counting one pre-concert lecture
The “Colorado College Summer Music Festival is dedicated to educating pre-professional musicians, uniting the foremost classical and contemporary faculty and fellows to provide a vibrant concert series developing an inclusive community around chamber music.” (SMF program). It is a well-structured program and I cannot imagine all the hours the students learned, practiced, and rehearsed to present such wonderful concerts.
Getting to Colorado Springs was a bit of a chore for both Shirley and me. I was supposed to have a layover in Denver before flying to Colorado Springs, but the weather shut down Denver and after circling for a while, we had to land in Colorado Springs to refill the fuel tanks. They weren’t going to let me off the plane (along with 9 other people) but then relented when they realized there was no sure eta back to Denver. Shirley’s issues involved heavy rain and poor visibility coming over the Divide from Grand Junction. We were both fatigued before we even got to the fun part of the adventure.
Before Shirley arrived, Connie and
I hiked in the Garden of the Gods, a beautiful, spiritual area near her house.
The twins between the Siamese Twins.
Due to a wet spring, there were many wild flowers out in the area.
A young yucca getting started in the Garden of the Gods.
Goat’s Beard
Pinyon pine blossoms/pine cones
Many people throughout the ages have had their picture taken by the Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods.
The Symphony Babes – Connie’s dear friend, Marti, joined us for the concerts. What a delight she is. 91 years young and sharp as a tack. She helped me to learn more about the ins and outs of the music we heard and saw performed.
We also attended the “Music at Midday,” lunchtime concerts each day we were in Colorado Springs.
Many different orchestral instruments were featured that had rich texture and created different moods.
An after concert luncheon. Marti, Connie, Cora, Shirley, Mark
Between concerts, we zoomed around Colorado Springs to see several sights. One was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Such fun there!
The peacocks love to get up in trees and make their harsh calls.
Meerkats are one of my faves.
I could watch them for hours as they could us, I suppose.
Shirley and her giraffe
They love to get up close and personal
Connie doesn’t care where she takes a nap.
Porcupine taking a stroll
it’s easy to get pictures of a sloth.
The sloth crawled into his hammock and now all you can see are two toenails.
A wallaby
“You can see clear to Kansas!” from the Zoo Tram.
We had never seen blue spruce cones so blue and growing upright rather than hanging down
We celebrated Connie’s birthday at the Taverne Restaurant at the Broadmoor. An excellent dinner!
The fire brigade
The shoes discussion
Show off
Laughter in the twilight
We also visited the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.
I wish we could have spent more time there as it had lots of history that I would have liked to explore.
Entering a very old Otis elevator
At one time, the museum was a courthouse. Shirley is in a restored courtroom.
We also found time to hike on some of Richard’s trails that he built in the first decade of the 21st century.
Penstamon
Shirley on the trail
Connie took us to the bench she had made in memory of her husband, Richard.
Where’s a tripod when you need one?
Goddesses on the bench
Shirley and Cora on the trail
Petite Symphonie in B-flat Major, an opus during the last concert we attended.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the music and the performers were amazing and epic. I found the performances to be so superlative that I cannot think of enough adjectives to describe my feelings. Suffice to say that I would like to go back next year to learn more and enjoy more of these performances.
The performances were but a part of Shirley, Connie’s and my time together. It was a continuation of a great friendship formed so many years ago at Fremont Junior High. It was fun to meet new friends like Marti and Mark who also enrich our lives. Life is good and it is great to have friends like these folks.
buzzardnotes 