More Great Quotes

Norman Maclean has a way with words. He has a way of analyzing a story so that you can see it, and as if that wasn't enough, he usually tags some profound philosophical insight onto the end. I usually learn something about myself, or maybe just human nature when I sit down with one of his stories.

"...old enough to know that the problem of identity is always a problem, not just a problem of youth, and even old enough to know that the nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself."

"It is in the world of slow-time that truth and art are found."
Perhaps why I don't like to live quickly. Why I take extreme pleasure in escaping to the mountains on a camping trip, where stripped of the modern world and left only with what does not not need to be plugged in, I can finally contemplate what is needed, what is beautiful, and what is true...

Which Chokecherry photo do you like better?

These two photos were of a nice smelling shrub-like thing. I especially loved the bright colors of the man's running outfit in the last picture. That's why I included 2 photos that are almost duplicates of one another. Let me know which you like best:)

Mesa Trail Part III

 

 

 

Love the pattern of this first wildflower, the way it sprays out from the center. Almost considered doing a focused black and white on this one, but the color is such a shame to throw away. I encountered huge boulders along the trail. Would have liked to try to scale this one if I had my handy spidey shoes with me:)

Mesa Trail: Part Deux

 

 

 

 

The first photo is of the Doudy-Debacker-Dunn House remains. The first inhabitant of this house, Sylvester Doudy, was an original settler of the area. He built a wooden section of the house in 1858 that has since been destroyed. Next came John Debacker in 1869. He purchased the house and surrounding acreage for $500.00. I wonder if that was expensive back in the day. Now, that wouldn't even buy you a month's rent! He built this 2 story stone edition in 1874 that remains standing 'til this day. Must have done a real great job! In 1901, John Debacker retired and handed the property over to his daughter and son-in-law. They occupied the place well until John's death in the 1950's.

'Kay...history lesson over:) More beautiful unknown wildflowers (at least to me). I have to get a book for identifying flowers. I just love it too much not to. I especially love the flowering plant in my last photo. What a gorgeous subject it makes!

Mesa Trail Part I

Woke up this morning to surprisingly clear conditions. At first I was hopeful that the predicted rain had moved out of our area earlier than expected. As it turns out, this morning was just a break in the clouds. So...I did what any sane normal person would do with a beautiful morning. I got out of the house as soon as possible and drove toward the South Mesa Trail in Eldorado Canyon near Boulder Colorado. Ann and I hiked the northern end of this trail on Friday, but I've never explored the southern end.

As you can see, with all of our rain the fire danger is extremely low right now. The second photo shows a map of today's tromp. I didn't complete the whole southern end of the trail this morning, but I made it to the southern end of the Big Bluestem. That doesn't look like much distance on this map, but the whole time I was traveling north, I was going up hill. It was a lot of fun and as you shall see, I saw some beautiful wildflowers. The third picture in this post is of the start of the trail just as it passes over a small creek. Lovely!

By the way, if I weighed 15 tons, I don't think I'd want to move faster than 5mph

Trinity and Boulder Creek

 

Apparently Picasa2 only allows a certain number of pictures to be included in a single post. This photo goes along with the last post.

Trinity on Boulder Creek Trail

 

 

 

 

Went hiking with Trinity this afternoon on the Boulder Creek trail in Boulder Canyon. We parked at the Elephant Butte area and hiked a short distance up the trail before it started to rain on us. Didn't appear to be a passing phenomenom so we turned around. But not before I captured some othe these photos of my beautiful Shepherd. This was also my first attempt at having her stand. I tried to stack her like she would be stacked at a conformation match. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. She did fantastic staying in the pose, but I didn't quite capture her angles in my imperfect stack. I'll keep practicing because this dog strikes beautiful poses in the back yard on a regular basis.

Tried Sushi !!!

 

After our wildflower hike, Ann and I stopped in at HADA in Boulder for some Sushi. Ann guided me through the process, helping me select some things that might be tasty to a beginner. We had the California and Philadelphia rolls along with some Miso soup. I preferred the California roll, but really appreciated the experience of trying something so far out of my comfort zone. I'm not a huge fan of fish, so this was waaay out of my comfort zone, but something I've been wanting to try. Ann did a great job showing me the ropes with Wasabi sauce and ginger (for cleansing the pallet). Great time!

Mesa Trail

Friday I hiked the Mesa Trail with my good friend, Ann. We met at Chataqua around 10 a.m. and hiked between there and the water tower at NCAR. Didn't quite make it to the water tower because the temperatures dropped as we neared. We were getting chilled and decided an "almost made it" was good enough on this particular day. Probably was in the high 40's low 50's by that time with a strong wind. NCAR's Table Mesa Laboratory is the building you see on the ridge in the first picture. Saw and smelled beautiful wildflowers all along this hike. If you can help identify, please feel free. I need to invest in a wildflower book for this area.

P.S. looked it up. The 2nd to last photo is of Praire Goldbanner and the last photo is of a Western Wallflower.

Clouds before the storm

 

 

In weatherspeak, a "...strong Pacific cold front is entering northwest Colorado associated with a fast moving upper level wave." The first cloud is of a huge thunderhead that emerged in the early evening. The second looks like that upper level wave has crashed and the frothy surf was thrown up in the sky just over Lafayette, Colorado.

More Pearl Street Mall

 

 

A few more photos that didn't make it into the last post. I used the focused black and white filter on this "lion" type flower. I'm not familiar with this flower at all, but would love to know what kind it is. I've always loved this sculture of the young woman on the swing. Surrounded by fresh Spring flowers...I'm breathless in awe.

Tulip Garden

 

 

 

 

My tribute to the Spring Tulip Gardens on Pearl Street Mall, Boulder, Colorado. I enjoyed walking the mall last Sunday taking in the beauty of these tulips in late bloom.