Wordless Wednesday

Crafty older brother

Bye-bye Sun

Glorious Columbine

Good Luck

Colorful Bounty

Bye-bye Sun

Full Circle

One of K's Columbines just bloomed - a poignant reminder of all that has happened in the past year. I'll love her forever. As I gazed at it, I remembered how she and I sat next to Columbines last summer, taking life slowly and soaking up the beauty.

There's a new girl, sweet Shyla, who is learning all about the bounties of summertime in the mountains. We mountain biked on Paradise Trail this morning.

I'm so happy to have her to share this beauty with. She's so sweet and so sensitive. I love seeing her with a happy sparkle in her eyes.

And she makes her own rainbows all the time!

Her ears are flapping in the wind in the photo above. We have a hot wind gusting out of the west today. It reminds me of the day when a huge wildfire started near us a few years ago. Today, I took Shyla to town for training but only stayed for a short time because I was scared about R being home alone and a fire breaking out. I hope that sweet Shyla never has to learn about fire.

We've almost come full circle. It's been nearly a year since K died, and now Shyla and I are soaking up similar summer beauty as K did in those last weeks. It's bittersweet but I'm so grateful that I have my Shyla next to me.

Wordless Wednesday

Renewal of Life

Just about a year ago, K was becoming much more sedentary as the end neared. She and I would take short walks in the morning, and then she'd watch my back while I worked on the garden. I was nurturing Columbine seedlings that had just sprouted. One of those Columbines is about to bloom.

As I watch it becoming a delicate flower, it reminds me of the renewal of life, even after a heart-breaking loss. I utter the words "I miss K" almost every day but I am finding happiness again. This girl is certainly helping.

It's only because I am finally emerging from the fog that I realize what a trance I fell into after K's death. Over the past 11 months, I put one foot in front of the other and marched through life but I didn't truly see the beauty or feel the joy that life has to offer.

I'm starting to come back to life, just like that Columbine that K helped me nurture. Although K's Columbines aren't open yet, Columbines are opening on the floors of aspen groves throughout our forest. Ah, the beauty...

My Hero

We seem to be settling in at a new plateau in terms of K's cancer. K seems happy with her life right now so I'm happy too. She and R joined me for a sunset hike yesterday and looked resplendent in the rays of setting sun and the vivid green aspen grove.

Believe it or not, I captured K doing this! I'm not encouraging raucous behavior like this because I'd like to keep her leg pain as quiet as possible (her leg is still very swollen). But, the fact that she chose to bound through the meadow like a puppy speaks a thousand words!

Then, this morning, I captured a photo of the Duo together atop Hug Hill. This is precious... because it may be the last. Or, my girl might keep defying the cancer, and there may be more mornings when she can hike to this small peak. I am absolutely amazed at her strength, tenacity, and happy demeanor. K is my hero.

We're simply taking one day at a time with K. I watch her each day, and we do as much as she seems to want to do. The past two days have been exceptional because, to my surprise, she has rebounded from her low point last week. I am taking nothing for granted... 

Later today, after hiking with the Labraduo, I went for a bike ride by myself. For most of the ride, I had views to the south. Then, I crossed a ridge and look what I saw. I freaked out and called home in a panic. The Runner told me that we weren't in any danger from this wildfire because it was pretty far away. To me, it looked like it was just on the other side of the ridge to the north of our house.

When I took this photo, the fire had ignited about an hour earlier. It was around a 100 acres then, according to the news. Now, it's apparently 5,000 acres. It's a hot and very windy day here, awful conditions for a fire. My thoughts are with everyone who lives in the path of this roaring inferno.

Please do a rain dance for us. This drought is scary.

To end on a happier note, can you believe that our wild Columbines are blooming almost a month early due to the record warm temperatures here? Such delicate beauty...

Summertime beauty

Do you remember this guy?

I captured so many photos of him moving around the area over the course of a week that I made a video of them. You can watch it here or at Youtube.

It was an amazing opportunity to see a mountain lion moving around the area where he/she had made a kill. I haven't found the carcass yet but I suspect that I'll find it before too long because it can't be far from where my camera was.

Meanwhile, my K is seeming a bit better each day. She and I have had short early morning adventures, and her energy seems to be rebounding toward normal with occasional setbacks. She has an ultrasound coming up soon to look at her kidneys and see if they are returning to normal.

Although I'm happy to see K getting better, I deeply miss visiting the aspen groves filled with Columbines with her. Those groves are too far away for K to run to them yet. We've visited them together every year of her life. The peacefulness of this aspen grove matches K's sweet and loving soul.

Each day that K has missed visiting the Columbines with me, I take a photo for her. It feels symbolic, like I'm sharing it with her even though she's not there. Today, the wild strawberries had burst onto the scene among the Columbines. I sat and ate sweet berries while I soaked up the beauty. Tomorrow, I plan to bring a wild strawberry (or two) home for K.

Our world is vibrating with life right now. We're getting daily rain showers, and flowers adorn almost every iota of the forest floor. A veritable forest of Twinflowers covered a riparian corridor within a pine forest this morning. These petite flowers stand only a few inches tall with tiny blossoms nodding from their stalks.

I hope with all my heart that K recovers soon enough to visit the amazing groves of wildflowers with me before their blooming season is over!

I hope that you're all enjoying the summertime beauty!

Beautiful yet finite

I pedaled out into chilly air to start my mountain bike ride with K by my side. We silently glided through a shady pine forest and emerged into an endless verdant green aspen grove. Soon, the floor of this grove will be covered in Columbines. I stopped to search for a bloom but found only buds that were ready to burst.

After winding through the aspens, we ended our ride by visiting my favorite spot with a view of the craggy and snowy high mountains. Today, those mountains looked angry with clouds hugging their contours. Above them, the sky beamed blue down on sweet K.

Later, after I'd left K at home, I pedaled to a secret spot where the first Columbine blooms every year. It's in the middle of an aspen grove next to the almost unrecognizable crumbled foundation of an old mining cabin. There was my jewel, a fully open Columbine.

As I smelled it and reveled in its beauty, a flicker couple chirped back and forth. They have a nest hole in this aspen grove, and they're in the midst of incubating their eggs. As I soaked up this bucolic scene, I thought of our friend Hamlet, who crossed the Bridge today, after bringing his family so much love and happiness during his time on Earth. Life is so beautiful yet so finite.

Later in my ride, I checked a wildlife camera. The bear family had visited - yet another glimpse of the beauty and wonder of this finite life.

First, mama bear (a.k.a. "Mabel" in our family) and her obedient cub walked side-by-side past the camera. The independent cub lagged behind.

It turns out that the independent cub is also inquisitive. He noticed my camera and posed for it while he looked it over.

I'm sure that Mabel noticed my camera but my cameras have literally taken thousands of pictures of her (most of them were outside her den in early 2010). She must believe that cameras on trees with KB scent around them are normal!

I'm trying to come up with names for these cubs... It seems like their strikingly different personalities should be inspiration but I'm having trouble. Any ideas?

I've been surprised not to have captured any photos of this sow's last pair of cubs since their family breakup last spring. Perhaps both of those cubs were males and have left the area to find their own territories. They both had distinctive white patches on their chests (rare around here) so I think that I'd recognize them if I saw them.

The world goes round and round, and we are but specks in the larger universe. But, that universe is miraculous and beautiful. I think that it's worth soaking up every tiny bit of its beauty.