The natural world, life, and dogs.
I love the gentle surprises the forest offers me when I'm paying attention. Even better when it's one of my dogs that alerts me to the surprise. When I see something new, unusual, and/or intriguing, I take photos or record video/audio if I can, and back home, start researching to learn more. A couple days… Continue reading A Dusky Grouse Encounter
Peak wildflower season in the mountains. I could use a little brightness right now so I'm setting the dog photobomb wayback machine to springtime in the mountains. Enjoy! Look at the cute tree swallow! Not technically a dog bomb.... Incoming on the left... ...moving through. My favorite, a Lewis's monkeyflower on my little monkey, Finn.… Continue reading Dog Photobombs VII: Late May through July, 2020.
A forest trail run in the Payette National Forest this morning. A loop on trails maintained for mountain biking with lots of variety in terrain. Remote, at elevations between 6,000 - 7,000 feet. So peaceful. So pretty. My therapy. Maybe yours, too. Enjoy! Near a big aspen grove (the same one with the Basque tree… Continue reading Autumn in the Payette
Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.Albert Camus Change. Adapting. Each day, week, month, season, year, brings something new and evolving, something challenging, a change anticipated or maybe not, but necessary to absorb in order to move forward. My life-long mantra: Change is good. Change may not always feel good at… Continue reading Everything Changes
Over the past several years, in late summer I’ve noticed a tall, leggy plant with big leaves and a brown top. Some are taller than me (I’m 5’4”). Based on the round, conical shape of that brown part, I always figured it was some sort of daisy-type flower that I’d somehow missed earlier and was… Continue reading Rudbeckia
Friday, July 10, 2020. I awoke at 6:30 am to the sound of birds singing, ushering in the day along with the rising sun. I looked outside. Clear skies. A thunderstorm had moved through overnight, waking me up, dropping a bit of rain, but by daybreak the weather was perfect. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday,… Continue reading The Day I Lost – and Found – Conall
My last post was about snow and how one's attitude about snow can make all the difference when living where snow happens. That post - and being snowbound at home most of the day today after a dump of about nine inches of new snow overnight - got me reminiscing about an encounter that happened… Continue reading Snowbound: Stumbling Upon a Lawyer in the Woods
I needed a break from peopling. The only creatures I wanted to talk to were my dogs. I wanted to breathe and be in nature, without interruption, without stress. I also needed to go to a place where I could feel the dogs and I were safe from hunters/killers now that it's rifle season. Knowing… Continue reading Just Breathe
Other than a smattering of aspen trees, the autumn colors brightening the landscape in the nearby forest arrive courtesy of the shrubs that make up the understory. During a recent morning run I found myself stopping repeatedly, stunned by the beauty of the foliage, digging my camera (a Google Pixel 3a phone) out of a… Continue reading Nature on the Run
One of the delights of autumn, in addition to the leaves on the deciduous trees and shrubs turning color, is the abundance of bright berries. Like their earlier counterparts, mountain wildflowers, berries on mountain trees and shrubs come in bright colors, tickling not only our eyes but the mouths of the birds, deer, elk and bear who rely upon them as winter approaches.
Wild Sensibility 