The rule of thumb for birthday celebrations when it comes to children, I’ve heard, is to invite as many guests as the age of the child.
But Darla Cliff threw that rule out the window when her house went to the dogs on Sept. 29. She was hosting the ninth annual birthday party for her canine companions Gidget and Corey along with their littermates Bentley and Missy (whose humans are Robert Boies and Patsy Carey). Cliff’s third dog, Suri, and the Boies/Carey’s household’s other dog, Kirby, also joined the festivities.
Because apparently that wasn’t enough woofing and wagging, Ed and Jeanne Willems joined the fun with their pooches Ginger and Sammy. Suzie Flake and Jason Payne went all in and brought Derby and PD, while Trina Walker and her son, Eric, decided their dog, Tilli, didn’t want to be left out of the fun. Barbara Dunn and her companion, Moose, saw the guest list and said, “What the heck? What’s a couple more?” And Aurora and George Rose, along with Heidi Burtoni, came along to watch the hijinks but didn’t add any four-legged critters to the fray.
Cliff did it up proud. There were dog hats and noses, balloons, bows for the dogs, lots of play time and a canine snack time featuring Flake’s homemade organic biscuits. The humans feasted on roasted chicken, salad, fruit and some homemade dessert goodies.
The siblings have never lost touch, getting together for regular play dates along with their new buddies.
“It’s a dog’s life,” takes on a whole new meaning at the Cliff residence.
HHH
Not sure whether they’ll be enjoying Indian summer or early winter birthdays are Gail Stern, Jan Harrison, Bill Adams, Polly Morgenstern, Nancy Burpee, Maile King, Geoff Overington, Patti Zink, Brad Cook, Roger Haney, Michelle Schramko, Marcie Bray, Rachael Latham, Natalie Bulen, Lexie Hartman, Alfredo Ontiveros, Chris Goold, Deb Seglund, Katherine Reynolds, Andrea Owen, Kathleen Sayers, Lou Steele, Jonathan Rudolph and Steve Williams.
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It’s a bittersweet farewell to a family that has been of service to our community for decades. The Shanks, Bill, Cindi and their son, Cody, are off to the wilds of Wyoming, where Bill Shank is now the division chief of the Campbell County Fire Department.
A former ranking officer with Durango Fire & Rescue Authority and Upper Pine Fire District, he started in Wyoming in June. Cindi Shank, the executive director of the Southwest Colorado Chapter of the American Red Cross, has been finishing up the whole selling-the-house, packing-everything-up and hitting-the-road-herself routine.
I first got to know the Shanks in my early days of writing Neighbors, when their young daughter, Sarah, was fighting cancer and receiving treatment at Children’s Hospital in Denver. Sarah, now a college graduate and married, saw how hard it was for families to have to travel for treatment, and she came up with Country Kids with Cancer, to help cover those expenses.
You will be missed, but Campbell County, the county seat of whichis Gillette, is lucky to get you.
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When the Reading Club of Durango met at Pine River Valley Bank on Thursday, it was a chance to share summer reading discoveries and get started on this year’s theme of “And the award goes to ... in search of excellence.”
The group kicks off every program year by reading the same book, or in this year’s case, an either/or proposition with Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.
In this group of bright, talented, thoughtful women, the conversation was wide-ranging, with a final conclusion that being an outlier in excellence at the level Gladwell writes about takes an extraordinary combination of luck, opportunity, family heritage and hard work. And the kind of courage Kennedy wrote about seems in short supply these days in Washington, D.C.
It will be interesting to explore excellence in its many guises as the year continues.
By the way, this isn’t the first meeting I’ve attended at the bank’s roomy conference room, and it’s time to thank President and CEO Boyd Hodges and his staff for opening the room to the community like this. Meeting spaces always seem to be in short supply in this town, and the room is comfortable and centrally located.
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One of the true harbingers of fall is the Durango Adaptive Sports Association’s Harvest Gala, which features an evening of outstanding recreation, art and entertainment auction items, a lot of laughter (because this group knows how to have fun) and a superb dining experience.
There are a few seats left for the event, which starts at 6 p.m. Thursday. It’s essentially taking over the Strater, starting with appetizers and silent auction bidding in the Henry Strater Theatre. Guests move to The Mahogany Grille for dinner before ending the evening with dessert and a live auction back in the theater.
Rob Blythe and chef Safari Ngumbao have created two mouth-watering entrées from which guests will select, either pan-seared Skuna Bay salmon with orange-vanilla beurre blanc or petite filet mignon with spiced wine demi-glace. The selections give a whole new meaning to the choice of beef or fish.
This is not a show-up-at-the-door kind of event. Tickets, which are $99, should be purchased by Tuesday if at all possible, as they need a count for the chefs. Call 259-0374 to book your ticket ASAP.
This organization makes such a difference in the world, opening the door to summer and winter recreational activities for people with physical or cognitive disabilities. The Harvest Gala is one of its principal fundraisers of the year, and there is still time to donate auction items as well.
Which reminds me of a mini-rant I’ve been meaning to unleash.
I know how much we all love a good deal, but bidding on items at an auction for an organization that you believe in and support isn’t the place to try to score a bargain. It’s the place to bid early and often, getting something you want, yes, but also remembering where the money is going. I’m just saying.
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Robert and Melanie Mazur will enjoy the fall flavors of apple cider and pumpkin-spiced lattes for their anniversary this week.
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Here’s how to reach me: neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375-4584; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk. Please include contact names and phone numbers for all items.
I am happy to consider photos for Neighbors, but they must be high-quality, high-resolution photos (at least 1 MB of memory) and include no more than three to five people. I need to know who’s who, left to right, and who to credit for the photo. Candid photos are better than posed, and photos should be submitted as .jpg or .tif attachments.
