Labrador retrievers are easy to train, says Ted Hoff, owner of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, near Crawford, Colorado. They pick up skills so easily, he says, because they are eager to please. They are also...
Regular readers of Telluride Inside... and Out will recognize a familiar voice at the helm: Deb Dion has the con while Susan and I are on the road. Thanks for taking control, Deb.
We had a good week in Hackensack, NJ, with Susan's parents, with a few side trips into New York for art, theatre (if you're in New York, don't miss "Little Foxes" at New York Theatre Workshop) and catching up with friends. We had good pass rider karma on Delta Airlines, with seats in Business Class for the 10 hour flight to Athens. That set us up to hit the ground running when we arrived.
Construction and traffic delays related to labor strikes (protesting austerity measures mandated by EU bailouts in Greece) slowed our ride into the city. Our driver, Stevios, had plenty of stories to fill the time. Our first home-away-from-home, the Eridanus Luxury Art Hotel, has proven helpful beyond measure, as well as beautiful. The view of the Acropolis from our patio is also a major benefit.
I believe I have mentioned before: for me there is no good time to leave Telluride. But things are so busy in Telluride during the Winter and Summer, that if one is to get out of town to visit family, the shoulder season is when it's going to happen.
We were in Telluride long enough to be aware of this even-more-beautiful Autumn, but mostly we have been on the road. We were in Pittsburgh in early September with daughter #2, Kjertsin Klein and husband Greg and grandkids Dylan and Anna. That was a great time. We hadn't been together for a year, so there was a lot of catching up to do, and lots of noticing that the kids had shot up in the meantime.
by Tracy Shaffer
As the leaves turn in the high country, Denverites turn out in style. Theatres open their season, ball fields close up shop and a flurry of arty events fills the calendar.
There's a not-to-be-missed show at the Denver Center Theatre as four actors glide through more than fifty characters as fluidly as a flip-book. The 39 Steps is a Hitchcock spoof extraordinaire led by DCTC staple, Sam Gregory as our Everyman caught in a high-stakes international crime caper. Mr. Gregory is always good, but watching him in this film noir frolic opens up the throttle of his comic talent, while Victoria Mack makes an impressive Denver debut as the vixen, victim and vamp. It is by far, the boffo ballet of Rob Nagle and Larry Paulsen that brings this roller-coaster to its vaudevillian knees. My jaw was on my chest in simultaneous awe and laughter. Director, Art Manke, takes the play out of the script's British music hall setting and brilliantly lands it smack in the middle of a black & white movie reel: fast and suspenseful, like Cary Grant running from a crop duster. The result is perfection. Also at the Center, the Caridad Svich adaptation of Isabele Allende's gripping novel, "The House of Spirits", starring the amazing Franca Sofia Barchiesi in the role of Clara, and Thursday's opening of Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Three medium adapted for stage... spooky.
Telluride Inside... and Out immediately called Shlomi Eldar's "Precious Life" one of the most powerful films we saw at the Telluride Film Festival last month.
"Precious Life" is a documentary about a Palestinian family trying to save the life of their infant son in an Israeli hospital. Susan had only a few moments to chat with Shlomi after the screening, as he was being rushed off to another event. Shlomi promised to take some time after the dust settled (he was headed for the Toronto Film Festival immediately after Telluride) to do an interview with Telluride Inside... and Out. This article, conducted by email, is the result of that conversation.
Susan Viebrock: At any point in your life did you imagine yourself directing a major documentary?
Shlomi Eldar: I started this project only because I couldn't get into Gaza Strip after Gilad Shalit has been kidnapped and after the blocked of Gaza by Israel. I had to find new stories so when I have got the e-mail from Dr. Raz Somech I said to myself "let's try and make a piece about it, it might be interesting." Only when one single person donated the whole amount of money I found myself following the process and the journey of saving Muhammad. Something inside me told me that it can become a film. In short I didn’t think or mean to make a major documentary and I didn’t realized that I could take 3 years working on that film.
Telluride locals, Ben Clark and Jon Miller, returned to climb and ski Baruntse, 23,390' in the Himalayas of Nepal. Their attempt in the Spring of 2009 was cut short. In this episode, Spring of 2010, we see them climbing in the 20,000' range, getting acclimated...
We at Telluride Inside... and Out have family on both coasts, and in between. With the busy calendar in Telluride in Summer and Winter, most of our travel gets concentrated in the off seasons. Throw in the occasional glitch, and that off-season travel can get hectic.
The past several weeks serve as an illustration: Susan and I spent a week in Pittsburgh with daughter Kjerstin and family. Some transportation difficulties made it more advantageous to forgo our planned two day stop in Telluride before continuing to the Seattle area to be with Chief Geek Kimm Viebrock and her family. The change meant we had a few extra days with the Northwest contingent, but brought a few difficulties of its own. We had driven to Denver and our car was at the airport. Instead of flying to Rapid City, SD for the annual get-together with fellow retired Northwest Airlines pilots, I flew to Denver, got the car, drove to Rapid City.
Last Spring, Ben Clark and Jon Miller returned to Nepal for a second attempt to ski 23,390' Baruntse. Ben had posted several dispatches to outlets in the US, including Telluride Inside...
Telluride Inside...
If any of you happened to see an outrageous vintage sports car – or two or ten or twenty - cruising over Dallas Divide last Tuesday, you were witnessing the running of the 2010 Colorado Grand, a 1,000 mile, five-day driving tour of pre-1961 sports cars that takes place each year during the third week of September and journeys over some of Colorado’s most spectacular mountain passes and scenic byways. 
