Today’s my 38th birthday, and I decided to take the day off work to relax doing some of my favorite things. Beth made me breakfast of waffles, melon, and bacon. Once I got things straightened up at home for my birthday party this evening, I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science by bus. Beth will need the truck later today to run some errands and pick up things for my party, so it’s RTD and foot travel for me today.
There’s a traveling exhibition at the museum about Benjamin Franklin. There were lots of school groups, so it was a bit of a mob scene, but the exhibit was enjoyable. I learned a few things about him, like how he suffered from gout, caused by drinking too much beer and eating too much red meat. The exhibition left out a few key elements about his life, I guess in an effort to be politically incorrect for the benefit of the student groups. The only mention of his fondness for drink was with respect to his gout. There was only one sentence about the fact that he owned slaves. I didn’t see anything about his (probable, though not definite) hashish use. And, though the exhibit markets Ben as a “party animal” and “skinny dipper” I didn’t see anything about either of those. I suspect he was a lot bawdier than the exhibit lets on, and I didn’t see anything at all about his sexual fondness for older women.
I’m writing this from one of my favorite spots, in the atrium at the DMNS. The Denver skyline’s pretty, as always. But I see they’re building a huge new skyscraper only a few blocks from the museum. From this angle, it’ll definition dominate the horizon, dwarfing the buildings of downtown and the golden dome on the state capital. The pond in city park is totally drained, and there are a dozen trucks and heavy equipment on the “lake” bed. I guess they’re fixing it up in some way. Hopefully they’ll be done soon so they can refill it before summer. A groundskeeper is raking up around some brown bushes, on the assumption, I guess, that they’ll bloom in another month or two. The grass is mostly yellow and grown, but some of it’s starting to green up. It’s starting to look like spring! And I guess that’s a good thing, since spring starts in about 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Soon I’ll pack up my stuff and walk a few blocks over to Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs, where I’ll get some lunch and probably read a book out on their patio. Then my plan is to walk down the block to Hooked on Colfax, have some sweet drink, and so some writing.