Showing 'colour' in Fox Run Regional Park

"The phrase and the day and the scene harmonized in a chord. Words. Was it their colours? He allowed them to glow and fade, hue after hue: sunrise gold, the russet and green of apple orchards, azure of waves, the greyfringed fleece of clouds. No it was not their colours: it was the poise and balance of the period itself. Did he then love the rhythmic rise and fall of words better than their associations of legend and colour? Or was it that, being as weak of sight as he was shy of mind, he drew less pleasure from the reflection of the glowing sensible world through the prism of a language manycoloured and richly storied than from the contemplation of an inner world of individual emotions mirrored perfectly in a lucid supple periodic prose?”
― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Aspen Gold Rush: Colorado Quakies showing great color recently

Rob Carrigan,  rcarrigan61@msn.com

Local leaf peepers experienced some of the best shows — so far to date— this past week in Teller County, but it is still possible, the best is yet to come.
Color changes in Colorado’s Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) start first in the higher altitudes of subalpine zones, between 9,000 and 11,000 feet, usually in early September, and drop progressively to 8,000 to 9,500 feet in three to four weeks.
Variations in temperature, moisture and light cause the chemical changes to begin. Diminished light and fall temperatures trigger the breakdown of chlorophyll.
As green colors fade, yellow, orange and red pigments — carotenoids and xanthophylls — are left and become more obvious.
Cool, dry weather promotes the longest and best color show and wet weather, especially snow, usually shortens the viewing period.

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Varying degrees of verbosity

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Running a newspaper 120 years ago was the kind of business that required varying degrees of verbosity -- depending mostly on how much advertisement the paper was able to sell.

And it was true also, that even the ads could become long-winded.

Consider the following item appearing in the Pikes Peak Journal of Feb. 16. 1895.

 ‘There is one department of industry, which, by the general admission of those engaged in it, is exempt from the stagnation which so largely prevails. Indeed it is in a remarkably flourishing state, and the men and women employed at it are kept busy from morning to night. It is that which deals with the supply of artificial sinews and muscles in order to give to limbs the plumpness and symmetry which nature has denied. The great demand at the present time is for well shaped calves for the legs, and for some time the purveyors of the embellishments could not make out why so many of them were wanted, because the requirements of the ladies of the ballet and burlesque actresses are pretty much the same all the year around, and there was nothing going on to occasion an unusual request for the articles.          

 “But they have now found out the reason. They are required by lady cyclists who wear knickerbockers, and who, naturally enough, desire to exhibit to mankind the limbs which are not covered by these bulky garments in as shapely and attractive a form as possible. The stuffing required for the purpose must be of the best kind, and it is also necessary that the mold should be well fitting; otherwise the lady cyclist would become a kind of scarecrow on wheels instead of a thing of beauty. The articles, therefore, cost more than the ordinary calves, and it may accordingly be said that the latest fashion among women not only encourages cycle making, but also aids the artistic upholstery of the human figure in the highest form.”

Similarly, the Auburn Daily Advertiser of New York in 1895,  noted an important Anniversary.

“This edition de luxe of the Advertiser is to commemorate the anniversary of its birth,” read the text.

“Fifty years of steady, upward growth in a newspaper plant is the certainly not the common lot of the craft embarked with us on the journalistic sea, but the Advertiser feels just as young as it used to be and indulges the hope of blossoming as a century plant fifty years hence in the new Auburn.”

It continues.

“Fifty years old! But stay gentle reader, it is not our purpose to inflict an endless array of dry historical data upon you, detailing each year’s achievements of the oldest and best newspaper in Central New York.”

But then, it goes on for several, large-format, newspaper pages doing just that.

But requirements for space varied wildly. A week later than the first reference in the local Pikes Peak Journal of 1895, the following entry was more straight-forward and to-the-point.

 “Ralph Aldrich, one of the carrier boys for the Journal was attacked Monday night on Ruxton Avenue by a pointer dog belonging to Henry Mueller, and badly bitten in the shoulder and side. The boy is the son Alderman Aldrich, and was delivering papers when attacked. Mr. Mueller took the boy to Dr. Oglibee, who dressed the wounds. The dog was shot.”

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Teller Guide wins first for both Advertising, Editorial special section at CPA

The Pikes Peak Courier's 2014 Teller County and Ute Pass Community Guide won first place in both Best Advertising Special Section and Best Editorial Special Section in the Colorado Press Association's annual Better Newspaper Contest. Winners were announced last night at the 137th Colorado Press Association Convention at Westin Hotel in Downtown Denver.
"Great cover design. The layout with use of photos, stories, and ad placement are really top of the line. Great consistency throughout. Definitely a section to be proud of," according to comments by the judges.
The Courier competes in the Class 3 weekly newspaper division. The annual Teller County and Ute Pass Community Guide publishes every year at the end of February and this year's edition publishes this week in the Courier.