A bit of a photodump, as reality is calling me back to brief-writing and presentation-preparing.

This one is my favorite for some reason:

Separate sunset photodump coming after I make some progress IRL.

When I think of the people I want to remember and thank for the freedom I enjoy, I think of those who devoted, risked, or gave their lives on battlefields, and those, too, who have devoted, risked, or given their lives in the fights for civil rights — at Selma, Stonewall, crawling up courthouse steps, dying in a Birmingham church or on a fence in Wyoming, gathering in a government office until promised regulations became reality, and every day taking on hard cases for difficult causes — as plaintiffs or lawyers or supporters.  Our rights are protected in all these places and I remember and honor those who serve in all of them.

In typical Denver fashion, we started the week with snow and will end in the 80s.

Today’s aspirational to do list:

1. Draft amicus brief.

Today’s actual to do/done list:

1. Facebook.
2. Words with Friends.*
3. Download last night’s photos.
4. Play with last night’s photos.
5. Play with the dog in the snow.
6. Play with the camera in the snow.
7. Play with today’s photos.
8. Blog about all of the above.
9. [possibly, eventually] Draft amicus brief.

As for the title of the post:  Tried a new place for dinner last night – the Black Crown.  It’s in an old house on S. Broadway, and pretty darn accessible for an old house, though the couple of accommodations we requested (table; Kevin’s drink poured into the accessible cup he carries with him) generally required several stages of blank stares (hereinafter, for reasons that made sense last night, the “Roquefort”), bureaucratic explanations that it could not be done, further gentle prodding by us, followed by acquiescence.  But this pattern continued through our request for a side order of bread, so they may just be a generally inflexible bunch.

All that said, the ambiance is wonderful.  Ensconced in décor that can only be described as “Grandma’s House,”** you dine on small plates accompanied by live piano music.

I thought the back of the guy’s head added to the ambiance.

The art on the walls was wonderful.

The small plates were terrific, though not necessarily terrific enough to justify the total bill.

Woke up to snow that is supposed to continue through the day.  Not much compared with what our friends back East are getting, though.

Onward to the amicus brief.  No! Wait!  I need to marinate steak for beef jerky first!  And do laundry!  And… I’m sure there’s something else that requires puttering.

*************

* Just logged back on after a year or so.  I created an account a while back to play with my niece and nephew, but after having my ass handed to me by a couple of kids, gracefully — ok, petulantly — retired from the game.

** If, technically speaking, your Grandma had, in addition to comfy brocade sofas and knick-knacks in glass cases, a life-sized, anatomically-correct statue of the David.

I love it when the algorithms that seem to drive most of the internet get things weirdly wrong.  For example, when Facebook thought I wanted to hear about how Colorado’s governor was wimping out of an execution or when my Google search for a Moroccan restaurant returned California Pizza Kitchen and another California Pizza Kitchen.

Today I was searching on advice in formatting an Excel spreadsheet and found this helpful answer on about.com  . . . along with a sort of unlikely ad:

Song Drink Researcher:

When I marched in Selma, my feet were praying.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sending love to everyone, in Washington and elsewhere, whose feet are praying, today and every day.