A weekend in Denver and Boulder

We left Saturday morning around 9:45 AM to head up north to Denver. We were meeting up with friends of Aunt Mary and Uncle Pete's at a Chinese restaurant. We all had tickets to go to the Botanic Gardens of Denver for a Japanese Tea Ceremony. We could not have asked for better weather. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze that touched us. The gardens were full of beauty that stretched on and on. At the back of the garden underneath a collage of green and through a small bamboo gate was the tea house. Leading up to the tea house are stepping stones. It is very important in their culture to only step on these stones. Especially when you walk up to take a bath before entering the tea house.

Taking a bath consists of walking up the stone path to a rock that has a puddle of black stones surrounding its base and a bamboo is coming off the top of the rock. The water runs through the bamboo shoot and lands in the top of the rock. From here you take the bamboo ladle and scoop up a cup full of water. First you rinse your right hand, then your left, then pour the water into your right hand, put the water in your mouth to rinse the mouth.

The Bath.

After taking a bath we then were allowed into the tea house. It had a great floor, which I hope to have in my studio one day. It was concrete with polished black stones stuck in it. The tea house had sliding windows for the walls which allowed for a nice and peaceful breeze to flow in. One of the Japanese instructors said that a tea house was suppose to be a place were you felt relaxed and leave refreshed. It certainly does. Everything is jut so peaceful. The tea house was built in Japan and then the builder took it apart and traveled with it to Colorado and reassembled it.

Outside of the tea house.

The door where the host comes in and out of.

The stone is where you sit and take off your shoes.

We had to wear white socks in order not to get the tatami mats dirty.

We were served the best green tea ever in these Japanese bowls. Before we are served the tea and while the host is making the tea we eat sweets. There was a crispy sweet of some sort and then a powdery texture ball sweet.Everything about the tea ceremony is just about enjoying the present of one another. You do don't converse and the guest takes there time to observe the aesthetic work of everything from the scroll, flower arrangement, the pot that holds the tea, and the tea bowls.

After the Tea House, we traveled about 30 minutes or so to Boulder. We stopped at the paper store called Two Hands Paperie. It's a great paper store that has journals of all sorts, stationary, pens, paper, books, wax seals, and so much more. It is hard to not find something you like there.

Then we headed up the street into a great book store. This is how all bookstores should be. Old hardwood floors, wooden book shelves from floor to ceiling just full of books. After getting our fill of books, we needed to fill ourselves up with some food.

We found a great place called The Corner Bar. They had great food and a great patio to sit on. However, our server just did not understand our friendliness.

Aunt Mary picked the best dessert of the night.
A chocolate torte with dark chocolate ice cream accompanied by figs.

A nice big hat

When we got to the hotel Uncle Pete was so excited because they sold great beer at the front desk! You should of seen his face. He was like a 5 year old in a candy store. So, we went down to the desk and got us some brews. The rest of the night we enjoyed the luxury of cable television and watched Independence Day.

We enjoyed a lovely Sunday brunch at a Mexican restaurant. The made the best mojitos and margaritas. We are going to try and duplicate them one day. After eating we had gone into this wonderful art gallery. I struck up a conversation with one of the artists who sells her jewelry there. She has a studio just outside of Boulder and gave me her number and told me to stop by anytime and she would love to show me her work. So sometime in July I plan on going up there to check our her studio!

Strawberry Mojito!

We left Boulder around 3 and stopped by the guitar store so Uncle Pete could check out his dream guitar again. We all just sat and listened to him play and the guys that worked there were just prepping for Uncle Pete to buy the guitar. They grabbed the case from the back and were just waiting to see what the outcome would be. Well, you could tell that Uncle Pete fell in love with the guitar. So we all left Boulder with all sorts of goodies and smiles on our faces.