Telluride Inside... and Out

SMRC's Chocolate Lovers Fling: Chefs all winners

For people adrift at sea in their relationships, the San Miguel Resource Center is a life raft. And it was all hands on deck Saturday night, February 6, at the Telluride Conference Center in the Mountain Village for the 15th annual Chocolate Lovers' Fling, the nonprofit's only major public fundraiser.

The theme of 2010 Fling: "The Love Boat." The rationale: a mass rescue for victims of interpersonal violence. The payoff for months of hard work by the Resource Center's staff and the dedicated Fling committee: a sea of people surrounding an island of chocolate, representing a show of hands from locals and guests and most of all from the professional chefs, who generously offer their talent and time to the cause.

Participating chefs, all winners in the opinion of Telluride Inside... and Out:

Telluride's sister city, the Mountain Village: What's shakin' "uptown" in February

The town of Telluride does not have a monopoly on fun and games. There is plenty happening "uptown" in its sister city, the Mountain Village. Here's a rundown of the action in February, including town business.

Tuesday, February 9
Open Space & Recreation Advisory Board Meeting
Mountain Village Town Hall; 5 p.m.
Meeting Agenda

Telluride Museum presents: "How I Came to Love a Pedestrian Village"

As Telluride looks to a more sustainable future, is every old model new again?

On February 10, 6 p.m., The Telluride Historical Museum presents a lively, invitation only, slide show illustrating the unprecedented 1979 investigation of the gold standard for mountain communities: Zermatt, Switzerland.

In 1978  the Idarado mine, the last dynamic link between the mining town that was and the resort town yet to be, shut down. The ski company had changed hands:  Ron Allred became the new Joe Zoline and the county planning process for Mountain Village got underway.

Telluride was a-changin,' but into what was still blowing in the wind.

Telluride Region from the Air

Regular readers of Telluride Inside... and Out will remember that we have had the pleasure of a winter visit from our young friend, Andres Correa. Andres is from Chile and has been staying with the Demas family in the Ski Ranches. He, Damon Demas and I hiked in Arches National Park near Moab in late January. A few days later our friend Todd Hoffman offered an aerial tour of the Telluride region. Andres, Todd's friend John Fleming and I flew over the San Juan range, then flew above the canyon country just south of Moab. Clouds prevented our seeing Arches from the air, but it was a very good overview, and another example of why we love living in Telluride. Enjoy the video.

Chocolate Lovers Fling at Telluride Conference Center 2/6

[click "Play" to hear Meehan Fee's conversation with Susan]

Experts define abuse as anything from a vague feeling something is wrong to violence. The San Miguel Resource Center is the Telluride region's one-stop shop for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, serving roughly 200 unduplicated clients a year in a population base of about 6,000, spanning the area between southwestern Colorado’s San Miguel County and the western end of Montrose County.

Help for the Center's clients includes a wide range of services in English and Spanish: community outreach/education, crisis intervention, professionally facilitated support groups, advocacy (to help clients with court services, employers, housing, transportation).

Telluride's KOTO radio: winter fundraising continues with cribbage tournament

Telluride's KOTO  Community radio continues its winter fundraising campaign with the 5th annual KOTO Cribbage Tournament. The event takes place at The Cornerhouse Grille, 131 Fir Street, February 10,  starting at 6:30 p.m.

The invention of Cribbage is attributed to the poet Sir John Suckling (1609 - 1642) by his biographer, John Aubrey. According to one online source, Suckling was an equal opportunity scoundrel, an expert at cards, dice and bowls and a womanizer. His most notorious scam involved distributing marked cards to English aristos and then traveling the country challenging the local gentry to Cribbage. In the end, Suckling sucked the suckers dry, earning around £20,000  or about £4 million in today's money. Suckling's wayward lifestyle, however, led to his untimely demise. In 1642, the guy allegedly became involved in a plot to free the Earl of Stafford from the Tower of London. In an effort to escape the consequences of his actions, Suckling fled to Paris, where he committed suicide by poisoning at the age of 32, his only legacy: a card game.

Dog's Best Friend: Socialization of your puppy

Ted Hoff, of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, continues his training discussion with this video about 13 week old Drake, a golden Labrador Retriever. Ted says Drake's socialization with appropriate older dogs is a vital part of his training. Watch young Drake playing and learning with Cabela and Mae.

Flynn's collectible pins: special discount for TIO at Telluride Gallery of Fine Art

Size matters when it comes to Valentine's presents. And small is better. The Telluride Gallery of Fine Art features bling made by some of the finest jewelers in the world, including the work of New York-based goldsmith Pat Flynn.

Flynn's creations are in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Norway to name a few prestigious institutions.

Alacazem 2010.02.04

February 4 to 11, 2010

Visible Planets: Morning: Mercury and Saturn  Evening: Mars and Jupiter

Well, it’s Super Bowl weekend and it’s the last weekend we’ll be staying at Cerro Salado, the magnificent casa we’ve had the pleasure of occupying for the last two months. The Moon is waning, rising later each night above the ocean horizon, shimmering it’s magic upon the Sea of Cortez. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic as the Jan. 15th solar eclipse lunar cycle draws to a close. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the memories and reiterated themes of the Capricorn eclipse in January of 1990, when we were here in Baja at Cabo Pulmo, building a little hacienda of our own. Bush Sr. was bombing Baghdad and I was doing laundry by hand. I had been poignantly aware of being an American gringa in a third world country, concerned about political corruption and the seemingly impossible dream of world peace. 

Telluride's SAF Young People's Theater presents "Job Story"

Telluride's workplaces – The Sweet Life, Zia Sun, Telluride Ski & Golf among them – are the settings for the 33rd full-length musical production mounted by director Jen Julia's Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater. "Job Story," performed by grades 9 – 12, opens Friday night, February 5 at the Sheridan Opera House. Two additional performances are Saturday, February 6, and Monday, February 8. There is no performance on Super Bowl Sunday. Show time is 6 p.m. nightly

In keeping with the populist zeitgeist, Jen's first thought was a musical adaptation of oral historian/radio broadcaster Studs Terkel's "Working," an exploration through monologues and vignettes of what makes work meaningful for people from all walks of life, from Lovin' Al the parking valet, to Dolores the waitress, from the fireman to the business executive. In the end, however, Jen decided the play's 1970s libretto and music were just too dusty for her hip teenage actors.