Denver Botanic Gardens Festival of Lights

This is what the street outside looks like right now!

Denver Street in December

Brrrr ! It's very cold outside with temperatures ranging from minus 19 to minus 12 during the day. The snow came down so softly and silently  - like bits of broken petals floating from the white skies. For me, it is a novel and beautiful sight with the sparkling kaleidoscope of the Christmas lights that decorate the houses and the gardens in the neighbourhood, creating a fairyland in the city.

The Denver Botanic Gardens, which are located just a block away from the house, contribute to the wintry Christmas scene with its Blossoms of Light Festival which runs from 5.30pm daily for most of December. I decided to brave the icy conditions to visit this famous event so I borrowed some Arctic gear and carefully walked along the partly cleared footpath [ sidewalk!] avoiding the treacherous glassy spots by crunching along the snowy edge. Great fun!

Ready for the night cold

 I had chosen a good night for my excursion, clear, crisp and not many other people with the same idea. While here in Denver I have had a relaxing time with nothing much to do except cuddle my new grandson so I have had time to read up on how to operate my camera, a Canon Powershot G12 which I have owned for several months. While here in America, amazon.com has joined google as my friend and one of the great buys via this site has been two books: Canon Powershot G12 From Snapshots to Great Shots by Jeff Carlson and the other one David Busch's Canon Powershot G12. I was now keen to see if I could apply my newfound knowledge in the very tricky combination of night, snow and sparkling, coloured lights.

When I visited in Summer, this was the Water Smart Garden. How different it looked with more than a million lights twinkling and sparkling against a carpet of white.

O'Fallon Perennial Walk

EL Pomar Waterway

Romantic Gardens

I just liked this one!

A great deal of thought had been put into creating the displays with some of the trees being dressed in single colours while others shimmered in a range of colours.

The moon added it's own magic to the night.

Monet's Garden

 How different is this scene to the water lillies I photographed on this pond in the foreground in June! They have apparently been removed indoors to ensure their survival. The lake was mostly frozen solid and someone had even ignored warning signs and walked on it. Not me!

Ice Sculptures

A photography class was learning how to take great photographs of this ice sculpture. They had amazing gear - huge lenses, lights, tripods. I managed to squeeze in the group to take this shot - minus all the gear. In consideration I am quite happy with my effort.

The stream had mostly frozen over however there was still a little water to highlight the light reflections.

After an hour and a half of enjoying this novel experience, I wrapped my numbed fingertips around a final glass of warmed apple cider and my walk in Denver's Blossoms of Light Festival was over. 

In terms of a photographic learning experience, I am well pleased. In all I took a hundred photos of which I like just 10 with some more perhaps worthy of editing when I get home. It's back to my bargain books for more tips!

Thanksgiving in Denver

Here we area again in Denver!

 Another great flight with Virgin Australia with happy landings at Terminal 5 LAX -  in contrast to our Terminal 3 experience a few months ago. 

We then take a familiar route to Frontier Airlines at Terminal 6 and we are soon winging over California, Arizona and Utah until we see the thickly clad snowy  Rockies below us. 

The flight ends with a perfect landing at the lovely, traveller friendly Denver airport and then we are into the arms of our waiting family.

 Out we go to the car park, gasping at the sudden intake of crisp, cold, dry air. Next comes  a quick drive home where our new, cute, adorable, placid baby grandson sleeps in his crib, unaware of the adoration that was coming his way from somewhat tired and very thankful grandparents.

Thanksgiving is a North American festival that we have often heard about and this time we are here to observe the celebrations and participate in our own way. This means getting together with other Aussies whom we have not previously met, sharing stories of our travel experiences, observations of cultures other than out own familiar ones, eating American and Aussie foods, talk, laughter and so on. I think we entered into the true spirit of thanksgiving pretty well.

Australian food !  Well, that was a bit of a disaster although an enjoyably  edible one! Making a pavlova at high altitude is not to be recommended.  My carefully created white puff collapsed in front of my dismayed eyes, as did the whipped cream thirty minutes after being whipped to perfection. There were no complaints about the taste though.

First pavlova failure. I blame the mile high altitude

I always like to know something about festivals I come across when travelling so google is my friend.

 

Apparently there is some argument about the exact origins of this start/end of Harvest  celebration but in any case it became an official celebration in 1863 when enshrined in legislation in the United States Declaration of Independence by the Founding Fathers of the United States. These Founding Fathers are described as being statesmen, politicians and military leaders who either signed the Declaration or Framed it, meaning lawyers, I guess. Wider interpretations as to who a Founding Father was include normal people such as soldiers and citizens who contributed to the struggle for Independence. No women though, and American women across all States did not receive the right to vote until 1919. At school many moons ago, I remember my surprise when I learned that New Zealand was the first country to “give’ the vote to all women in 1893 however a woman could not stand for Parliament until 1919. Victoria was the last Australian State to honour their women with that right in 1908 with the exception of Aboriginal women who did not receive the same rights until 1967.   [ Shocking delay, in my opinion]

William G Harding, 29th President of the United States of America

Back to these Founding Fathers! The term “Founding Fathers” is attributed to a newspaper publisher Republican Senator from Ohio, one Warren G Harding who used it repeatedly in his address to the Republican Convention in 1916 and again in his Inaugural Address as 29^th President of the United States in 1921. His term was cut short when he collapsed and died in California while returning from a trip to Alaska. Until recently, historians described his term as being corrupt with big money favours going to his friends and political supporters and the worst performance as a President .  In 1998, however, he was described by historian Carl S Anthony, as being a modern President who embraced new technologies, was sensitive to the rights of minorities and women and openly advocated for African American political and economical rights. Depends on the era of assessment perhaps?

 

 The day after Thanksgiving which is always on the fourth Thursday in November, is Black Friday. An intriguing name, I thought, as there was no number 13 in sight so, back to google for an explanation.  Again, more disputes as to the origin of the title but I go with the one that describes it as the first real shopping day for the Christmas, the day that retailers get out of the “red” side of accounts and back into the “black”. 

The shopping hype for Black Friday was in full flow even when we arrived with relentless advertising for massive bargains available from 4am on the day or even earlier for online shopping. On the day itself the news bulletins were gleefully packed with real shopping stories such as the woman who was so determined to get her bargain that she pepper sprayed the people ahead of her  in the line and calmly stepped over them to secure her bargain, then leaving the shop before being apprehended. And the one about the person who fired several shots from his gun to clear the way so that he could obtain his shopping bargain.

We decided to give the shops a miss for a few days, to be safe.