(ATTENTION READER: Recipe at close of text)

Yesterday, in Telluride, while drinking coffee in a book shop reading the steadily unsettling news in the Times, Penny was reading a book collection of Proverbs. She read to me, "The marvelous and astonishing only surprise for a week." (Ethiopian).Then she commented that it was probably good that we would only be on the road for a week. However, since the week isn't over yet, I continue to be astonished.


But I did realize that no photo I take can capture the glorious catastrophes necessary for mountain creation. If only our lives were in geological time.....the sights we would see!!!! I'm cutting down on the macro photos. Only Ansel Adams can do that....and he used real film.

There's only one road into Telluride and the same road out to back track to Durango. Brandy, our waitress at the Blue Jay Inn the night before said there was a dirt road out to the highway but was treacherous, abutting deep jagged ravines. hmmmmmm...should we do it?????

Remember Route #550 when you travel through Colorado. Again, red red red rock coincidently called Redbeds in my Roadside Geology book. Also other colors looking like remains of ruined ancient civilizations and then again like those pre-Druid Megaliths and all those Tertiary Intrusives.

Along one of the "non-treacherous" roads full of sharp mountain curves we saw the Road Service trucks with cranes and winches and chains pulling something up from down deep. We were told that guard rails weren't used because they get in the way of snow clearance. We did notice lots of small road signs with the names of those killed along the way. Either small formal blue plaques or tattered little flags attached to sticks in the ground. Perhaps not unlike those candle and flower and teddy bear mounds in the dangerous parts of cities.

Between the drama of nature's own mountains and high deserts are ....... Golf Courses.....greener than green. Bill Maher said the other night that in one day a golf course uses as much water as a family of four used in four years. I think that's the ratio.....but you know what a complainer Bill is.

Staying at the Durango Lodge right downtown across from the Train Station where the Steam Engine takes tourists and others to Silverton on an old narrow gauge track along the Animas River Gorge. This is all mining territory but Silverton is mined out. Old Western type town, now down to very small population to serve the tourists. So we decided to do one real tourist thing and take the train there (3 1/2 hours) and the bus back (2 hours).

We sat in an open "gondola" car with black soot puffing from the engine, speckling my last pair of clean khaki khakis. Who can tell what we were breathing in but Penny said without this train ride we could have had 5 more years of smoking.

Most places we go to eat/drink have honky/tonk Rag time piano players. The best was tonight at the Diamond Belle Saloon downtown Durango. There was a warm up piano player first about age 12 whose fingers sped madly across the keyboard playing his loop of Scott Joplin favorites. Must be something in the DNA. Hoyle Osborne was the main man and apparently has been famous in the West for many years. All the tunes he played were terribly familiar but we couldn't remember any of the titles. I don't know if that was due to our two Martini dinner or the brain damage from the soot of our day's train adventure.


The Saloon was a the perfect place to see all sorts of people. They seemed to be local as our waitress in her short strapless red and black work clothes knew everyone. One of the customers came over to talk to us.....Cowboy Bruce who told us all about his aneurism. We always know how to attract the guys. The older men here ...really older...have great style. Not always tall but trim with their gray ponytails, neat ample mustaches and wearing fabulous cowboy hats. I don't know if I want a cowboy hat or a cowboy.

Literary Note:
For those Frick readers I see in my Astor book that at the new palatial Astor hotel, Frick along with his friends, Morgan and Carnegie (while they were still talking) would play poker around the clock....in a private room of course. Not sure if this will enhance the 10 minute talk.

RECIPE:
Michael Angelo's Grandmother's Eggplant

Slice Eggplant 1/2 " thick
Dip in flour then Dip in Egg batter (3 eggs plus 1 large tablespoon of Parmesan Cheese)
Oil a frying pan
Over medium high heat, brown the eggplant lightly
Oil bottom of 10" X 13" baking dish
Cover bottom with Tomato Sauce of your choice or use a couple of medium size cans
Lay down Egg Plant in long overlapping layers (like fallen dominoes)
Between each piece put a few pieces of mint and chopped garlic (I like this part)
Pour more tomato sauce over top
Cover lightly with Parmesan
Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes
(If browns too fast cover with foil)
EAT


Off to Mesa Verde