It is Sunday evening and tomorrow I plan to leave Danielle's at 5 AM and drive to Southlake, Tx., just outside of Dallas, a 12.5 hour drive but, I will take longer with the stops for naps, gas, etc.
      A little history about Denver is its beginnings goes back to 1858 when propectors from Georgia found gold at the base of the Rocky Mountains.  Soon log cabins lined the banks of the South Platte River.  Even though the gold was not plentiful,  wishful settlers continued to come.  Sometime later General William Larimer arrived and claim jumped the land on the eastern side of the Cherry Creek and after laying out plans for a city, named it Denver.  Larimer was hoping for polical favor from Kamsas Territorial Governor, James Denver.  So much for the Denver history lesson.
      It has been a fun 4.5 days with my niece, Danielle Paullin, in Denver. As mentioned in previous blog, we went to botanical garden on Thursday and on Friday I drove us downtown Denver and went to the Denver Art Museum which has an amazing collection of art covering several different centuries, styles and mediums.  They also had a penny pressed machine which of course caught my attention. See picture below.
        Saturday found us at a wonderful nursery, Tagawa Nursery, which was a pure joy!  Danielle is visually impaired and I wanted to find plants for her patio that she would enjoy.  We brought home coconut thyme, lavender, mint, sweet asylum,  dianthus, rosemary, and a rose bush.  Of course then (after a nap!) we had to go to Lowes and pick up potting soil and pots.  I think the results were worth it. See picture below. We felt that after all that work we needed a treat and went to Olive Garden for dinner.
       Today we went to Danielle's Catholic church, Most Precious Blood, and Father Pat had a wonderful message for the children receiving first communion as well as the adults.  It was the meaning behind communion and what "breaking the bread" meant and how brokenness and blessings are connected.  After church we went to Panera for lunch. The rest of the day was spent prepping for tomorrow's trip and also buying a congratulatory card for Danielle's sister, Debbie and her husband, James.  Debbie, a teacher at the catholic school in Sheridan, found out on Friday that she was hired to teach the Gates Program in the Sheridan Public Schools.  The previous week James had been promoted to sargent in the Sheridan Police Department.  Jobs well done Debbie and James!

Picture of Denver Art Museum and THE PRESSED PENNY

Danielle's patio garden

Denver skyline!