by Mike Rosso
Notes
It’s late June as I write this, and the summer solstice has already come and gone. It’s hard to believe. Seems I was only just cleaning out ashes from the woodstove. Now we’re rushing headlong into the thick of summer, along with the accompanying festivals, tourists and RVs on the highway.
Maybe it’s because each year that passes is a smaller fraction of my life, but it seems the summer season grows shorter while the winters appear just as long, if not longer. Could be the cold is beginning to get to me as I grow older. (I can hear the snickering from our neighbors in Leadville, Gunnison and the San Luis Valley … you think Salida’s cold? Ha!) Summer is certainly a wonderful time of year here. The thermometer never gets too high, nuisance bugs such as mosquitoes aren’t as prevalent as many places in the country, and the blue skies just seem to go on and on.
I guess the key is to take enough breaks from these infernal electronic contraptions and get out and enjoy the beauty of Central Colorado: the singing birds, the return of the swallowtails, creeks still swollen with runoff from this past winter’s heavy snows, and the gorgeous palette of wildflowers found along the waterways and trails.
Speaking of electronic contraptions, we’ve rolled out a new web design this month at coloradocentralmagazine.com. Visitors will find it easier to navigate and cleaner in presentation, with better display on smartphones and tablets. Thanks goes to Salida web wizard Mark Wiard for his countless hours working with us for a seamless transition from the old site. Though our print publication is always our primary focus, we cannot ignore the nearly 500 unique views the website receives on a daily basis. That is a lot of traffic by many standards and has quite a bit to do with the 16,000-plus number of pages residing on the site. Please visit and have a look, and feel free to send us feedback, either on the website or the print publication. We are always interested in what our readers have to say.
Often I’m asked, “What’s your theme for the next month?” which always baffles me, as most of our issues don’t have any particular theme, other than once a year when we devote an entire issue to one topic, such as last month’s food issue. (Speaking of which, did any of our readers notice the small “food” quotes on the bottom of many of the pages? If not, you might like to revisit that issue).
This month’s issue is packed with a variety of content: teenage sisters who play old-time music, ATV use on public lands, efforts to revive an old stagecoach route, a land library in South Park, the model train exhibit at the Buena Vista Heritage Museum and much more. There is no specific theme, only interesting stories about this special place in the middle of the Rockies.
Readers might also take note of an ad we’ve run on page 23. In it, we are sending out calls for essays centered around the theme “20 Minutes From Home,” based on a piece we ran earlier this year by Hayden Mellsop. We look forward to the responses.
Anyone who has an interest in submitting an article idea to us can find all of our submission guidelines on the website as well. We are always seeking out new voices for Colorado Central, so drop us a line!
On a sad note, Salida unexpectedly lost one of its beloved friends in June: Paul Ilecki, co-founder of Bongo Billy’s Salida Café, spiritual teacher, chef, classical musician, former monk and all-around great guy. He was also the founder of Colorado Notes, which offered journaling workshops throughout the U.S. Though I’d met Paul many years back, I was just getting to know him better through family affiliations when he suddenly passed due to complications of a cardiac arrhythmia at the age of 63.
He will be missed.
