Sunday, February 22, 2026

Chinese New Year Party Fun!


We attended a fun Chinese New Year celebration at our friends' home this weekend! 
They have been celebrating this event for many years and have collected quite a few fun decorations.


According to Wikipedia, "Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture and was placed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2024. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, this festival takes place from Chinese New Year's Eve (the evening preceding the first day of the year) to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.

Click on the photo to enlarge it to view the information

A paper placemat our friends had at each place setting described the Chinese Zodiac signs associated with different years.

This year, the New Year was celebrated on February 17, 2026.

The Chinese Zodiac sign for 2026 is: Year of the Horse


According to Chinese astrology, Horses are confident, agreeable, and responsible, although they also tend to dislike being reined in by others. They’re fit and intelligent, adoring physical and mental exertion; they’re decisive but also easily swayed and impatient.



Our hosts had prepared a Pork and Vegetable Egg Roll filling--see the recipe they used on this link.  We all had fun taking turns to fill and roll the egg rolls to bake. We then had fun eating the hot-from-the-oven egg rolls as appetizers, dipping them in assorted sauces.

 

Our hosts prepared some delicious stir-fried entrees buffet-style, along with Hot and Sour Soup brought by one of the guests.

Dessert was fortune cookies!



My two cookie fortunes told me I was going to have an adventure in August and enjoy some culinary delights on my trip. 

That sounds perfect to me!


Thank you to Bekki and Will for a wonderful party!



Happy Year of the Horse

Good Fortune and Prosperity to all!




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Sunday, February 15, 2026

The Blue Mustang of the Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport (DIA) is located 25 miles (40.234 kilometers) east of Denver on the high plains in Aurora. Colorado. Opened in 1995, it replaced the smaller Stapleton International Airport. 
It is the largest airport in North America by area — 53 square miles (137.269 square kilometers) — and one of the world's busiest, serving over 64 million passengers annually.
The Denver International Airport Jeppesen Terminal's internationally recognized peaked roof, designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects, resembles snow-capped mountains and evokes the early history of Colorado when Native American teepees were located across the Great Plains.


 The airport features some of the longest commercial runways in the world, necessary due to its "hot and high" altitude, which affects aircraft performance.
Downtown Denver is less than 40 minutes away via the A Line Commuter Rail.


On trips to the airport, we witnessed the construction of the Westin Hotel, which opened in 2015 and is adjacent to the airport.

The hotel was designed with this description:
 “Building upon imagery of flight and aviation, the sleek form resembles a bird with wings extended, framing and accenting the acclaimed tent-like roof of Jeppesen Terminal.”





Travelers heading to and from Denver International Airport (DIA) along Peña Boulevard have been greeted for 18 years by a blue horse statue called "Blue Mustang." He recently celebrated his birthday!  There is no parking area near the sculpture, so my photos are all "drive-by" ones. 

Weighing 9,000 lbs. and standing 32 feet tall, Blue Mustang is a fiberglass sculpture by Luis Jiménez. It was one of many public art projects at the airport. 

According to the DIA website: "Jiménez’ characteristic style references the grandeur of the Mexican muralists, the energy of the Southwest, and the bright colors he experienced as a youth in his father’s sign-making company. Jiménez’s vivid paint, unique surface treatments, and method of exaggeration have influenced many young artists who are emerging in the galleries of Los Angeles and New York in the styles that are known as Lowbrow and Urban Art."


Most people tend to affectionately refer to the statue as "Blucifer" due to its piercing red neon eyes, but the eyes are actually a tribute to the artist's father, who owned a neon light shop in Mexico

There is also the sad fact that the statue’s creator was killed when a section of the sculpture's three sections came loose in his New Mexico studio, pinning him and severing an artery in his leg in 2006.
After his death, family and friends made the decision to complete the sculpture. Jiménez’s son took over the project to make sure Blue Mustang was finished.



The Blue Mustang is definitely an eye-catching sight when one drives towards the airport terminal!

 I captured this photo of him in the snow a few years ago


Some fun facts about the Blue Mustang: 

The Mustang's eyes are made out of LED lights, and the maintenance team has changed them just once in the airport's lifetime.

The piece was partly modeled on Jiménez's own Appaloosa stallion, Blackjack, a horse that he bought in fulfillment of a childhood desire after becoming a successful artist

A team of professionals helps to perform maintenance on the Mustang's paint as it becomes weathered. Every year, a local art fabrication and conservation company gives him an exam and a cleaning. They check for any cracks or chips caused by the elements. The sculpture is then washed by hand with distilled water, any holes or cracks are filled, it's repainted with an airbrush, and sunblock is applied.

The city ultimately paid $650,000 for the sculpture. A 2007 appraisal valued the work at $2,000,000, and the city has insured it at that value.


Denver International Airport is a busy one, and the Blue Mustang is certainly an iconic sight when one is beginning or ending a travel adventure!


 
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