“L’il Darlin'” – an old-fashioned story of love and loss with local ties

ByC. Chrystal DeCoster

There’s a book about to drop, for now in soft cover, sometime in early May. As the cover states, it’s a tale about “peril, loss and love in the Convict Lake backcountry of the High Sierras,” but it has some local connections. Kim Lankford Banker, daughter of the book’s first-time author, Sandy Stacey, lives in rural Lyons in the X Bar 7 Ranch area with her husband John Banker. Kim runs her Living Horsemanship program there, a melding of Pilates with a relational and healing approach to horsemanship.

Planet Bluegrass sheds light: Telluride a no-go

ByC. Chrystal DeCoster

The bright lights of the four-day 47th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival have been fully extinguished for the first time since the festival’s 1974 debut. The festival’s coordinator, Craig Ferguson, enlightened us on Facebook, and The Telluride Daily Planet has confirmed it. Postponements and other options were explored, but sadly, the event’s plans have gone dim due to COVID-19 concerns.

SuperSkyWoman improvises in Italy

ByC. Chrystal DeCoster

Wearing a flowy ensemble she made from deconstructed clothes, the inimitable Coco Gordon recently slipped into the St. Vrain Market with a slightly tipped orange cap that was attempting to contain her silver mane. Although we had been having email conversations about her recent trip and art experience abroad, it was the first time I had seen her in person since her late February return from the small island of Campo del Ghetto Novo, off the coast of Venice, Italy.