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An Attitude Of Gratitude

An Attitude Of Gratitude

by | Oct 18, 2024 | Valley Gadfly

Cranberries, chunky sweaters, and change: November marks the start of the end of the calendar year, the season of pleasin’ turkey and pie, a time for transition, tradition, and family.

The branches of the trees are bare and the smell of burning leaves is in the air. November’s twilight steals across our hearts even though by five o’clock the streets are bare.

After colorful October, here are our choices for shopping, dining, and entertainment to prepare you for November’s prized days before the storms of winter, Christmas, and 2025:

Enjoy tasty Bloody Mary selections from Denver’s finest bars-restaurants at the 8th annual Bloody Mary Festival. Attendees crown “People’s Choice Award” at Real Works & Tracks, Nov. 3, noon-3:30 p.m. Information: 303-468-5443.

Singer Dwayne Carrington — with Martha Yordy on piano — celebrates Nat King Cole by playing renditions at Dazzle Nov. 8, 11 a.m. Information: 303-839-5100.

Honor veterans, see military mementos at the Veterans Day Parade & Festival in City Park Nov. 9, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Information: coloradoveteransproject.org.

Lowry Speaker Series (free) to hear Freedom Memorial’s Rick Crandall honor Veterans in Eisenhower Chapel Nov. 14, 7 p.m. Information: 303-344-0481.

Seeking senior living on your terms? Tour St. Andrew’s Village. Chic apartment homes with resort-style amenities and activities tailored for you. Independent & assisted living, plus rehab, skilled nursing on site. Information: 303-695-8100.

Want to spruce-up your home for the holidays? Dan’s Painting offers interior-exterior painting, plus remodeling. Insured & bonded, with 30 years’ experience. Also providing carpentry, tile and drywall repair. Information: 720-628-1199.

Hear banjo great Bela Fleck and the Symphony redefine Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at Boettcher Hall, Nov. 16-17, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-623-7976.

You’ll love the hard-hitting beat, and soulful vocals of chart-topping singer Don Toliver playing in Ball Arena Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-405-1100.

Attend first Denver Dog Fair at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds on E. Quincy in Aurora, Nov. 23-24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information: denverdogfair.com.

Support the Morgan Adams Foundation’s fundraiser for children and young adults with cancer by attending the Chili, Booze & Brews on N. Wynkoop St. Nov. 9, 6 p.m. Hazel Miller & The Collective perform. Breweries, distillers, and restaurants provide limitless samples to attendees. Information: 303-758-2130.

This month features community suppers, the feast of Thanksgiving, plus Nov. 5 is election day. A month for making memories, giving thanks, and eating incredible food.

Daylight saving time ends Nov. 3 at 2 a.m. Set your clocks back an hour. November sways-creaks like a snow-draped tree. Gloomy, but uplifting. Ill-fated, but filled with hope.

The last full month of the fall season is filled with mixed feelings: shorter days, darker nights, and colder weather. How do turkeys travel on Thanksgiving? By gravy train.

— Glen Richardson

The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.

Am I The Only One Who Hates Christmas?

Am I The Only One Who Hates Christmas?

by | Oct 18, 2024 | Blasting with Boyles

OPINION

Here at the Daily Planet, we publish and print our November issue at the end of October. Even as the soothsayer that I am, I don’t think that anybody can really write about winners and losers in our national elections until, of course, next month. Hopefully. So, consider this the column for the holiday season.

So, you ask what is the holiday season? I hate to break it to you readers but not everyone associates the Christmas holidays with joy and fun. Maybe you remember things you’d rather forget. I believe this is almost like the day I stood up and admitted I had no power over alcohol, some 16-year-old kid telling mom and dad he’s gay, and me proclaiming I hate Christmas. More and more as I grow older.

When I was a little fella I believed in Santa Claus and hope springs eternal. As I’ve said before I was sure that pony was going to be under the tree and, of course, it never was. And then my sister ratted out the whole rotten deceiving thing, I really wasn’t getting squat and at that point it was coming to an end. I think I was 8. Now this gift giving thing, why does it take November and December to make us or inspire us to treat one another with care? The commercial holiday of Christmas really shines alone. The amount of money that gets spent on the most wonderful time of the year, from decking the halls to something I warned everyone about, office parties that now no longer exist, when your boss hands you a drink ticket.

So, beginning right before Halloween the holiday triggers are pulled. Safeguard yourself from all the sadness. And remembering we had a better chance of finding some peace as the Germans and the English coming out of the trenches Christmas Eve of 1914, and standing in no man’s land singing carols and exchanging gifts. I think that night might have been the last true Christmas.

Let’s all go out and fight over parking spots, not really getting that last sale item, pushing past millions of people in aisle 3 where nerves are a lot more frazzled, and think of the German soldier Fritz and Tommy embracing in no man’s land in Belgium.

Merry Christmas.

— Peter Boyles

P.S., We’ll be back next month with a scathing article on the fools who vote in the state of Colorado and the United States of America

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