Change is in the air

I love how busy-in-a-good-way this past month has been for us. So much to do, to see, to soak in... As soon as temperatures drop just a few degrees, and I can sense the sun shining just a little different, the instinct of enjoying warm days and good weather kicks in, and I can't help but want to spend more time outside, pack as much living into these days as possible.
(photos were taken either with iPhone or my manual-focus-only D200. I'm loving unintentional blur of some photos, and find myself doing it on purpose occasionally)

Inspiration from friend's garden...


Labor Day weekend. Sheepdog competition. We had a blast...




Visiting family at the farm. Moody skies. Smell of hay...










After a looooong break, knitting again, gifts (this one is for my mom) and such...


Hiking again. This time we reached the lake! But on a different hike, Twin Lakes Reservoir...






















Drawn to simple comfort foods at the first hint of autumn. It really is in the air...

Hiking in the rain

We did it again, braved beautiful rocky Mill B South trail, in the rain. Almost every time we hit this particular trail, it rains on us. I can't complain, I love rain. And rain on this hike is quite a treat, the colors of leaves get so brilliant.

Kids weren't too thrilled with rain at first (I guess bringing rain jackets would've helped), but after a while they perked up and took off. Ivy was quite a hiker too, wanted to do it on her own terms, no hand holding, climbing on every rock (did I mention that the trail was *rocky*?), touching them with her 'hiking' stick, and yelling 'a bug! a bug!' every time she saw an ant. Needless to say, we didn't get to reach Lake Blanche as we hoped to, but we had good time nonetheless. We will most certainly get back on that trail again, and some day, hopefully in not-so-distant future, we'll reach the elusive lake.

Girls camp

I recently got back from girls' camp. I'm not even going to try and recount all the wonderful experiences I had there, such task would require too much uninterrupted time. But I will write down a few random thoughts:

:: being gone for days for the first time in Ivy's life was... interesting. She didn't wean, and she got really clingy. When she sees me by the mirror getting ready, or putting my shoes on, she gets a bit hysterical. Poor girl...

:: backpacking night was wonderful. Hike was beautiful, and food from the fire pit was especially good. Bringing my own piece of wild salmon was worth it. My body was not happy with all the beef I was having that week at the camp...

:: bringing home my lifeless camera *body* was depressing, but at that point I was just happy to be home and with my family again (because I did miss them). It's still dead with no signs of life and who knows when I'll get to replace it. Could be next year. A tip to myself - don't flood my tent next time and don't set the camera down into 1" deep puddle of water.

:: realizing just how terrified I am of heights all of the sudden was not fun. And no talking to myself could convince me otherwise. I used to be a natural tree climber, up until I started having kids and felt like I needed to keep myself alive for their sake. Hopefully one day I can slowly get myself to the point where I can be comfortable with climbing up to my own height.

Well, my time is up, kids are making sure to let me know that they can't live without me about every 30 seconds...