How Quickly It Fades

the men begging to clean my shoes the moose along the trail the hidden hot springs the small children asleep on the sidewalk floating over powder the nirmanakaya buddha in front of my face

Summer Highlights

Well, this summer I have not been to a proper beach (only the beautiful Bear Lake where I wouldn't swim with Keith when he wanted to cause there was garbage about) or hung in a hammock or swum in a pool or gone berry picking in the woods, or camped, as all the parks were full that time. But I have:
1. made and eaten lots of delicious popsicles
2. eaten lots of fresh corn
3. hiked to three glacial lakes surrounded by fields of wildflowers
4. seen a bear
5.stuck my legs in the beautiful iciness of Crazy Creek with Talia
6.watched Jessie wrangle the horses
7.watched Old Faithful geyser it up
8. eaten lots of delicious Farmer's Market melon
9. planted a garden and successfully grown tons of sweetslice cucumbers, basils, lemon verbena, lime thyme (not so successfully) and three different kinds of heirloom tomatoes (which are slowly chugging along--I've yet to eat one)
10. worked on poems and stories and finally submitted a few pieces to journals
11. dunked my head in a waterfall
12. sat inside a tree
13. hiked in snow in June
14. made amazing spearmint ice cream
15. made and eaten two blueberry pies (not eaten all by myself!)
16. picked and eaten lots of strawberries from the yard and mulberries and grapes from sidewalk trees and bushes
17. gone on a ropeswing in Snowbasin
18. swum (is this really a word?) in two amazing swimming holes in Snowbasin
19. covered myself with clay with Meredith
20. roasted marshmallows and eaten smores twice! (once outside with Eleanor and her lovely family. 3 horses wanting to get in on the action).
21. watched fireworks twice
22. gone on bikerides in the canyon by the creek (well, okay, only twice)
23. gone on picnics
24. gone to the DriveIns twice
25. made and drank lots of sun and herb tea
26. waded in beautiful Jenny Lake
27. eaten huckelberry ice cream for the first time (very exciting!)
28. seen the Great Salt Lake in all it's pungent glory
29. visited Boulder twice and gotten over it
30. eaten breakfast outside on the sundeck (but not lately)
31. received two wangs from the Khyentse Yangsi!
32. checked out and read oodles of library books
33. watched huge slow buffalo walk the streets looking like lost snuffleupaguses 

Still To Do:
1. go again to above mentioned glacial lake. this time swim, then lay on huge hot rocks to dry.
2. pick and eat one of my very own homegrown tomatoes
3. picnic again
4. go to water park on a weekday--is it still open?

That's all I can think of. I guess my summer is almost complete!

Oh The Sidewalk Bounty

Yay For Summer!

An eensy-weensy cucumber!

Tasting:

Ripe apricots

Gooseberries!

Seeing:

A pony coming down the sidewalk!

Perfect peas in their pod

"Karate Kid Puts Himself in Danger," says Keith

The other day Keith was supposed to go riding with Andy, one of his fellow interns. Andy was going to take him on a trail he'd never been on. Well, it turned out Andy couldn't go and so Keith took it upon himself to try and find the way himself, ending up on the wrong path and ultimately falling off his bike (almost down the side of a mountain). He ended up seriously gouging his knee and limping in the back gate all bloodied up. I almost had to take him to the hospital for stitches.

Then today Keith told me he really needed to get himself in shape and so was going on a more than thirty mile long mountain bike ride up "Puke Mountain" or some other such nonsense (because it's such a hard climb you want to puke) with some guys from work. He said he'd be home by six.

Well, 9:30 rolls around and still no Keith. "Maybe he got hurt?" I fleetingly thought to myself, then, "Nah."

No sooner had I thought that, then Keith staggered into the kitchen looking like Homer Simpson with a five o'clock shadow. "Geeze, how did you grow that beard in just one afternoon!" I exclaimed (it turned out to be dirt)!

Keith then proceeded to laughingly tell me how he was flying down the mountain at 35 mph and flew over his handlebars doing two flips and twists and flying fifteen feet down a cliff where he landed on a pile of twigs supposedly unscathed. "But I was totally fine," he protested when I fixed him with my evil eye. "No, but wait," he said. "I can't move my arm. Right after I got back on my bike I was going really slow and ran into a tree and hit my arm. Help me take my shirt off," he begged.

I then told Keith that I really don't want him going on any more crazy mountain bike rides and he said, "But the Karate Kid puts himself in danger!" You're no Karate Kid, Keith.

This Just In!

It's official--I've started work on my book! Seal Press book proposal here I come!

This Is My Summer Of...

-strawberries from the yard!
-cooking and cooking and cooking
-mandala
-brown sugar balsamic ice cream with peaches and maple glazed pecans
-homegrown herbs (of the cooking variety!): lavender, lemon verbena, rosemary, thai basil, spearmint
-library books
-jobless-ness
-blue skies
-hikes
-peace

More Views From the House, and a window

I can't stop taking window pictures!

Snowbasin--Backing Up

The "watering hole"

I read in dappled light

July Already?

new poems, sweet slice cucumber tendrils, a tiny brown cricket munching holes in basil, lettuce that won't germinate. a lack of money!! photos and yes, a cell phone. clouds and tuck everlasting. can't find a job and books behind glass. The Disappeared, the most beautiful book ever...

33 in Utah!

the waterfall picnic!

these flowers might not look like much--but they smell exactly like honey!

wildflowers, raindrops, waterfalls, a picnic--what more could i ask for?

Happy Summer Solstice

Yellow butterflies against a blue blue sky. The rushing water as I ride through City Creek Canyon! Tonight's picnic...

You're Not In Baltimore Anymore

Despite This Cloudless Crystal-Blue-Sky-Day,

I must admit I was a little grumpy earlier--samsara swirling me up. But then Keith whisked me off to the mountains where we proceeded to hike in the snow and throw snowballs and slide down a mountain in our shoes while the sun dazzled us. Our excursion ended with a chocolate malt complete with whipped cream and cherry on top that we shared at the Blue Plate diner. Am I making you gag yet?

Also...

I also failed to mention the strawberries. Strawberries and especially strawberry picking are two of my favorite things. And what just happens to be growing in my new backyard?

PS

I just read the best book: The Girl With Glass Feet, by Ali Shaw. So sweet. I got it from my neighborhood library (mere blocks from my house)--the Sweet library--how's that for a name? So apropos. Anyway, the book is also so sweet.

Salt Lake!!

Have I failed to mention I am in love with Salt Lake?

Back in Baltimore before we moved, I had a list. A list of certain things our home in Salt Lake needed: giant clawfoot bathtub, fireplace, windowseat, garden. Check check and check!

And so here we are in Salt Lake, surrounded by mountains and roses in our little home on a hill.