But this happy car isn’t all about happy.

Nancy, 54, asked me to elaborate on the dark side of art in this blog. She wants people to know she takes art seriously, even though it might look like it’s just wild fun by a woman who whistles while she works. ”There is a message in the madness,” she says. “Life isn’t black- and-white. There is a seriousness behind the whimsy. Some of this stuff comes out of pain. Part of all of this is being different. Coping with injustice and unfairness. It’s my way of deflecting it.”

It’s also about her desire to keep things going. ”This is a throwaway society,” she says.

Her car is functional art. Those braided strips of yarn rimming the windshield? “They are gaskets, actually, because my car was starting to leak,” she says.  “It’s cheaper than buying rubber gaskets.”

And, she says, it’s a statement that you don’t need to have a  Prius or Lexus to ride down the street in style.

There are more Nancies out there. Some cities have big art car shows for people to show off their canvases on wheels.

Check out this site:  www.artcarfest.com/

“On the score of 1-10,” the humble artist says, “my car is a 2.”

Maybe so. But her art  fence is second to none:

Her light switch covers are sold at a shop in Old Colorado City:

And her husband Frank is one cool guy:

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The sale is a big to-do, with spreads of baked goods and junque for cheap. A dollar goes a long way.

There, amid the hubbub, was Aubrey, sitting tall at a display table about her Silver Award Girl Scout project: a community garden. And she was as lonely as the iconic Maytag repairman as shoppers rushed by, scooping up bargains and banana bread. Her sign-up sheet and donation jar was getting a lot less attention that the raffle pots.

 But Aubrey was undaunted.

She told me about her plan for the garden to benefit the school, the food bank and anyone else. Feed the hungry and give kids an alternative to junk food. Veggies for all. Very cool. (Though, I admit, at the time all I could think about were the brownies and chocolate chip cookies calling to me from the nearby baked goods table.)

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Aubrey got the garden started, a 100-by-16-foot patch. But she needs help. As she puts it: “I’m just a 13-year-old kid trying to do this.”

Any volunteers?

Contact me at 636-0253 or andrea.brown@gazette.com and I’ll put you in touch with her.

Read her story at: http://www.gazette.com/sections/yourspace/

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Pam Burton of Colorado Springs is on a Mutual of Omaha commercial sharing her “Aha Moment.”  

What’s an Aha Moment?

A  simple defining moment that can transform a life. Sometimes it takes weeks or years to make that moment happen.

As Pam puts is: “I always wanted to be in an adventure race, but I weighed 400 pounds.  Through exercise and eating right, I lost over 200 pounds and decided to pursue my goal as an adventure racer.”

Pam shared her Aha Moment last August when the insurance company’s 25-city Aha Moment Tour rolled into the Springs. She was among many auditioners stepping inside the mobile studio in a 34-foot Airstream trailer parked at  Garden of the Gods to tell their Aha Moments.

Three people from each city were selected from about 1,000 hopefuls for online vote.  Pam was in the Top 25. She didn’t make the Top Ten, but the company liked her so much it used her moment as a commercial anyway.

Click here to see it or go to: http://www.ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/6804

“It’s just a constant reminder of where I’ve come from, which is good for me. I can easily forget,” Pam told me after the first Aha Moment spot ran in March.  (Please forgive me, I meant to post this blog item then.)

 The final Aha Moment starring Pam will be aired July 16 during the show Ghost Whisperer.

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Now along comes these three guys.

 They are biking 3,328 miles, from California to New York.

Springs native Ryan Rosenhahn, 24, organized the ride, Connect for the CURE.

For love. And for diabetes.

His girlfriend, Laura Kurica, 22, is a type 1 diabetic. 

They’ve been together since high school, but have known each other since childhood. He was her older brother’s best friend as kids. Now he’s her BFF. Ryan, a baseball player, recently graduated from Azusa Pacific University, where Laura is a nursing major. Ryan hopes to raise $100,000 for this disease that, according the American Diabetes Association,  afflicts 23.6 million people in the U.S. Another 57 million are pre-diabetic.

Ryan and the other cyclists left Santa Monica Pier on June 6 and should roll into Colorado Springs on June 24. You can ride with them from here to Denver on June 27.  Go to http://connectforthecure.net/  for details.

Here are the bios of fellow Azusa buddies from the website:

 Christian Gagné: “I played baseball alongside Ryan in the ’08-’09 season for the Cougars and I am very excited to ride alongside him, as well as Matt & Nate. Diabetes hits home for me also. My mother has type 2 diabetes and I know other family members/friends that have the disease as well. I am very passionate about cycling and I am hoping that we can use this ride to help researchers find a cure. I’m dedicating this ride to my mom. Love you mama!”

Matt Kaiser: “There are a few people in my life that have diabetes and a few others who are susceptible to developing it. I would say that many, if not everyone, knows someone with diabetes. Diabetes is huge in the U.S., many people have it, and every day research is coming closer to finding a cure. Thanks for your support; this means a lot to our team, to those who are living with this disease, and to their loved ones. I will be riding for Brandon Ezaki and his family.”

Nate Martinez:  “While working along with Matt and Christian at APU, I heard them talking about the ride they were going to do over the summer. Once I learned they were riding for diabetes, I was immediately drawn to the cause, and made the decision to become their support car driver. Like my teammates, I also have family members who suffer from this disease. My job will be to carry supplies, motivate the riders, and to ensure all preparations go according to plan.

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Is there any hope for this guy?

Leaders of the League of Gentlemen think so.

Pablo Sebastian Quincy, 19, founded the grassroots league to remake the cavemen of Colorado Springs into gentlemen. Perdeep “Deep” Badhesha and Adam Torres, both 17, are his right-hand gents.

The league’s mission: Teach young bucks how to be gentlemen by social, sartorial and physical education. (I had to look up sartorial because I didn’t know what it meant. It basically means dressing sharp.) The league offers free session in  manners, fashion and fitness. Look spiffy. Open doors for women. Buff the bod. It’s basically old-school gentlemen stuff, but with a major twist of cool.  

My son, Quinn, 20,  a film student, put the gents to a test in front of the camcorder: If they could remake his good buddy Maxwell Davis, well,  these gents could remake anyone. (Just kidding, Max.)

In the flick, Max learns how to stand up straight,  do push ups like a man and dress like a gent. (Max has Hollywood star potential. No kidding.)

It worked: Just look at Max now in his sartorial splendor. Max not only acts like a movie star, he looks like one. 

Next step is for Max to learn how to eat hot wings without using his sleeves as a napkin. Though maybe not in the white suit … yet.

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Here’s the video link: http://www.gazette.com/video/?videoId=90640967001&play=now

The video will be posted here later. Sorry for the delay. I am experiencing some technical problems.

Read the story at: http://www.gazette.com/news/dude-99898-space-suit.html

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Look at this face.

Look familiar?

John McClelland might have helped put out your house fire or saved your life.

He was a Woodland Park firefighter and certified EMT. He was a county planning commisioner. He traveled the world as a product manager, closing big contracts for his company. He belonged to Mensa, that group for smart people.

Then, three years ago, he started losing his words and chunks of time. He’d talk to someone for hours and the next day not remember meeting the person. He’d forget how to communicate with comrades at disaster scenes.

He was diagnosed  with Alzheimer’s disease at age 55.

His mission now is educating people about the disease. He trains first reponders how to spot and deal with people afflicted.

He also wants to put a young face on the disease that he says people tend to think only old cranky people get. John is pleasant, charming and articulate.

The Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter’s Memories in the Making Art Auction is Thursday, June 3 at the Marriott, 5580 Tech Center Drive. There will be a Memory Walk at America the Beautiful Park in September. For information: www.alz.org/co/

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Ken Andrews might not seem your ordinary beerologist. 

The Ph.D. professor spent 35 years in colleges, including Harvard.  The last 25 years was teaching micro-molecular-and-cell biology at Colorado College.

 The 62 -year-old beer microbiologist has been minding the barrel at Bristol Brewing Company  for 11 years.  He keeps nasty microbes from polluting the brew.

Here are some of his tools:

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Here are some of the other interesting brains of beer at Bristol Brewing Company. Information comes from the website: bristolbrewing.com:

Robyn Madsen: Beer Ninja/Wellness Facilitator

Yoga instructor by day, Bristol beer ninja by night. She can help you balance your chi by finding just the right hand-crafted Bristol brew for you and she can crush a pint glass with her bare hands.

Derik Gentz: Abominable Driverman

Derik roams the streets disguised as a mild-mannered, multi-lingual beer delivery guy, but if you hang around the east side long enough, perhaps you can spot his alter ego rockin’ the mic as the world’s first Abominable Rapping Snowman

Michelle Majchrzak: Tasting Room Manager

Michelle keeps the tasting room in check and the beer flowing. Don’t bother trying to pronounce her last name…none of us can.

Laura Long: The Bristol Beerocrat

Laura’s duties entail tasting beer, preaching beer, writing beer, talking beer and giving beer away. If you see her around town, ask her about it — she’d love to explain it over a pint.

Tad Davis: Maintenance/Problem Solving

Tad decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer anymore, and came to work for us. He’s tons of fun…just don’t call him Frank.

Bob Archibald: Beertender Extraordinaire.

 Behind that grumpy-bear exterior, he just wants you to love the beer. And, now that he is semi-retired, you can find him lurking behind the bar even more often than before, which is almost any night. Talk to him about home brewing, he loves to share experiences.

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This 80-year-old trumpet player is as good with a horn as he is with a mallet. Bob Jorgensen usually relies on more conventional and tedious methods of fixing the parade of brass and reeds that people bring to the workshop behind the garage of his southeast side home.

But a whack with the mallet did the trick in the case of this tuba which, by the way, plays just fine now.

So, too, does my daughter’s flute. I met Bob when I took him her flute for a fix, after a number of fixes through the years. She’d been after me for a new one, saying she was sure it was beyond repair.

 Bob tinkered around with it and got it blowing. No mallet needed. And it only cost me a few bucks.

It made my day, though maybe not my daughter’s day.

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Bob has been playing since he was 14. Here’s how he looked when he was younger.

And here he is now, still quite the dashing dude.

You should hear Bob play. This guy is good. You can catch him this Sunday at 3 p.m. Colorado Springs Shrine Club. He will perform with Bill Emery and The New Century Big Band. He also plays with the New Horizons band. “I play with a bunch of retired old guys,” he says.

They play Big Band era songs, like “It Had To Be You.”

Click here for a video of him playing: Or go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsKfJC0PRrA

Warning: His songs will get stuck in your head. And you’ll be a better person for it. (I’m glad it had to be me.)

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Georgina Segura’s parents came to Key West from Cuba in search of a better life. It didn’t come easy. Her mom, Rosario, labored long hours as a housekeeper.  Her dad, Victor, worked as a mechanic and fisherman.

After her parent’s divorce, her mom moved Georgina and her brother to the Springs area to be near relatives. (Rosario still cleans at American Furniture Warehouse.)

The cycle of hardship didn’t stop. Georgina got pregnant at age 16 with her first child, Christina, married a soldier and two years later had another baby, Ian. Georgina got divorced, and with two babies to raise as a single mom, moved in with her mom (and never moved out) and went to work. She cleaned houses, baby sat, pet sat as well as did help desk jobs and coordinated the UCCS educational partnership program with South Korea. She also helped Cubans new to the Pikes Peak region settle in. 

It took Georgina so long to graduate that her daughter  joined her on campus two years ago as a student.

After eight years in college, Georgina graduates next week from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with not one but two degrees, in psychology and nursing.

Her plans: Work as an ICU nurse and support her mom.

“I want her to retire so I can take care of her,” Georgina said. “Family is everything.”

Georgina is an unstoppable woman on paper as well. She is a UCCS Karen Possehl Women’s Endowment (KPWE) scholar in the mentoring and funding program known as “Unstoppable Women.” A banquet will be held next week to honor Georgina and the other female scholars who didn’t let age, kids and other things stop them from getting a college diploma.

Georgina’s motto: “My children now see that if a single mom can get a degree, they have no excuses!”

Here are the other Unstoppable Women  graduating from UCCS this year:

Melissa Bailey, health science/forensic science major, motto: “Thanks to KPWE, I have been provided a stepping stone to a better future.”

Jacqueline Bell, psychology major, motto: “Education is not an option; it’s a requirement. My degree has set a foundation for my family and my future.” 

Annette Mullen, economics major, motto: “Every thing I do, every single day, I do to make a better life for me and my kids.”

Fiona Palmer, political science major, motto:  “I only hope some day I can give back to someone the gift that has been given to me.”

Bernadette Shetrone, sociology and psychology major, motto:  “Who would have thought I could be so successful? What can I say, I LOVE school!”

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Here’s the secret to living to the outlandish old age of 109: Eat bacon and read The Gazette every day.

That’s how Jettie Grimes of Calhan starts each day. (She didn’t want me to take her picture because she didn’t have her lipstick on.)

The U.S. Census should have some fun with Jettie. Not that they will, but they should. I couldn’t find anything about centenarians on the Census website. Their charts only go to: Percent of the population 85 and older.

Heck, Jettie is old enough to have kids who are 85 and older. (But she and her husband, Bryan, didn’t have any children.)

Here are the some Census percentage stats of the 85-plus set.

The U.S. average is 1.9 percent of the population in that bracket.

Florida and North Dakota are tied at the top, at 2.8 percent. Florida, sure… but North Dakota – who’d a thunk that!

Even stranger: South Dakota is ahead of Hawaii, 2.6 to 2.5.

Jettie’s homestate of Missouri ranks 13th, with 2.1 percent.

Colorado ranks 46th (tied with Texas) with only  1.4 percent who are 85 and beyond.

Alaska is last, at 0.7 percent. No surprise there. If I make it to 85, I’m moving to North or South Dakota. Or maybe I should move there now to increase my chances of making it to 85.

Most people don’t make it to be a centenarian, 100 years. Of those who do, most don’t make it to be a supercentenarian, the term for a person 110 or more.

“I don’t know if I’ll make it to be a superlady,” Jettie told me.

Sure you can, Jettie.  Keep eating bacon and reading The Gazette.

Click here for the census chart or go to: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=GCT-T5-R&-ds_name=PEP_2008_EST&-format=U-40Sd.

Click here to see state map or go to: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-tm_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_M00624&-ds_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_&-_MapEvent=displayBy&-_dBy=040#?237,265

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