Spero Archives

Tulips and hyacinths on racks at the grocery store entrance, brought in for a snowstorm freeze and then forgotten in this emergency.

You guys, I have so many great books coming into the shop soon, these aren't ready yet but I just wanted to give you something not only to scroll past, but to swipe through. Because I know you're both bored and terrified rn.
I don't have any answers but I'm going to be on here and in Stories this week, trying to cheer you up, present you with novelties, facts, a bit of outrage and modicum of comfort. There will probably be a sale of goods at my . If you haven't been, the Armadillo is a wide warehouse of a space and you can wander without too much interaction with others (right now it's still open). Shipping is also available if you spot something you like here. But the important thing is being safe. Support each other as you can. In solidarity, Sarah

Hey, everyone, sorry to be AWOL here. I've been working on personal stuff (everything's fine), & IG has been neglected. This is just to say thanks for following me, & to appease the algorithm gods. There's new stuff in the shop this week but I didn't photograph it. So here's a columnar close-up of a historic funeral home my neighborhood is trying to save.
Denver Northside is mostly residential, made up of single family homes that are older than this modest '60s building w/ its fancy columns, but it's what we have, as far as public architecture--when you don't have much, you fight to preserve what you can, even if it wouldn't be worth saving elsewhere, & especially when there's been a recent onslaught of callous, indiscriminate building-razing to make way for really crappy condos (not to be NIMBY, but ).
The funeral home was owned by a family business that seems to have cornered the death market for a large portion of Denver, and its style references were muddled maybe but its grounds & building were very well-maintained, clean-edged and "formal" (symmetrical), & its flower baskets & wrought-iron electric lamps were "pretty," & its low arched portico was human-scaled instead of imposing, all of which must have added up to a comforting but respectful experience for grieving families. Looking up the funeral home business's family name just now, it is German, & there is something miniscule-gingerbready-and-clean-pretending-to-be-Gothic-French about its building. I remember how bizarre it looked, the first time I saw it.
Next to it is an elementary school, & down the street is the park where my partner grew up climbing on a dinosaur playground sculpture that's still there, cracked, pitted & more like a blobby, deep blue-green Loch Ness monster than any anatomically correct dinosaur species. There are many ways of living with history, whether it's saving buildings or dinosaurs from being knocked down just because they're old & would require thought to repair or repurpose, or choosing to buy quirky housewares from an antiques mall rather than trendy big box goods. I hope you find something quirky this week. I hope you save something.