Free Friday Nights at Sommers-Bausch Observatory

We enjoyed a free Friday evening at the Sommers-Bausch Observatory. You can go up on the deck about 8:00 and view various heavenly bodies. The University of Colorado staffs the deck with knowedgeable staff to explain what you are viewing and they periodically re-set the telescopes to show different things. Be sure to stop in the Fisk planetarium lobby first to visit all the wonderful photos and displays that they have. After visiting the Fisk lobby you will exit through the back and walk up the hill behind Fisk to the observatory steps on your left. Just keep climbing the steps and then turn to your left at the top. It's right behind Fisk.

Here is the link to their homepage Sommers-Bausch.

Here is a link to other free stuff to do in Boulder.

Glowing Gemstones by Dale Chihuly

This is another Dale Chihuly sculpture called Glowing Gemstones Polyvitro Chandelier. It is a blown polyvinyl sort of material that was created in the Chihuly studio. This one hangs opposite the glass blown one called Inside & Out (photos below). Both are at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. You can visit the Chihuly website to see more information on him as well as some gorgeous pictures of his other work. www.chihuly.com

Dale Chihuly at Joslyn Art Museum

When I went to Omaha I visited the Josyln Art Museum where they had these two really beautiful gigantic Dale Chihuly sculptures. Dale Chihuly creates eye candy! Really I just wanted to lick it but I fear I would have been arrested. This sculpture is nearly 30 feet high and is made of 100's of pieces of blown glass attached to a giant steel trellis.

Macaroni Salad - musings and a recipe

See these guys in this picture? They are frowning because they bit down on something crunchy in their otherwise soft macaroni salad. Either that or they forgot you are supposed to refrigerate things with eggs and mayonnaise and they all got belly aches.

I always loved my mom's macaroni salad. Well that is except I seem to remember that she put in chopped celery which created a horrible dissonance in my mouth. There I would be chewing along on some soft macaroni and hard boiled eggs with a creamy sauce and then out of nowhere CRUNCH.

"What was that?!" my mind would scream to my mouth. "Was that a bug?!"

"I know it was a bug! Yuck spit it out spit it out! Wait - not a bug...maybe it was a VEGETABLE!!!! "

Well I have outgrown that reaction to some degree but I still have it when I bite into a chewy raisin in an otherwise crunchy cookie. (but I digress)

Here is my mom's basic recipe but with my modifications. I know my sisters have all modified it to their own tastes as well.

Mix together the basic three ingredients

• 16oz box of elbow macaroni cooked and drained according to package directions


• 1 qt Miracle Whip


• 1 doz. hardboiled eggs peel and chop all but 3 or 4 which will be for slicing and placing decoratively on the top

The rest is up to you but here is what I put in mine

• Onion minced very fine


• Peeled and chopped cucumber


• Lawry's Seasoned Pepper

Some people like to put these things in their macaroni salad as well

• Olives


• Pimentos


• Celery


• Red and Green Bell Peppers


• Vinegar


• Sugar

I like to stick pretty much to the basics. Sometimes I use a different kind of macaroni such as bowtie macaroni or twisted macaroni or sometimes the little straight tubular shape and sometimes I even get really crazy and go for the tricolor macaroni product that is made with spinach or tomato in the dough.

Check out my Spaghetti Squash recipe.

Salem

I was just reviewing my pictures from our trip and going through some of the souvenirs and my huge collection of random brochures and pamphlets and realized that there was still more to post on my blog. We sorta hit the ground running when we returned to Colorado and this is the first chance I have had to revisit our wonderful memories.

On our way home from New Brunswick we visited Salem Massachusetts. I was reading the House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne and was so excited to visit the house that was the subject of the story. If you haven't read it it is a wonderful story. Just take it slow and savour it. It is definitely not a fast read.