It is homemade and frightening.

I have been getting up early every weekend to shoot the sunrise and hands down it has been an unforgettable experience every time.  It beats sleeping in. 

The light, color and beauty that unfold before your eyes is simply spectacular.  It is the perfect way to start a day.

And it always makes me think of this saying “This is the beginning of a new day…what you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind…let it be something good.”

I enjoy trout. They are never disappointing company. They like the things I like–clear mountain streams, swift moving water, wildness.    Harry Middleton

A bewitching evening of pumpkin carving!

I have been living and breathing van Gogh all summer long and I still enjoy painting his work.

You hike a path of yellow petals. What you see is a palette of gold, yellow and red hues.  What you hear is the “quakees” in symphony with the spruce and pine forest and what you smell is the medley.  It is Oz.  It is Aspen, CO in September.  It is the one year anniversary of my blog (I thank my readers) and my birthday (I set new goals).  My blessings to all.

Though the land crab is mostly terrestrial,  they do rely on the ocean for part of their early life cycle. Spawning occurs from June–November or when the spring rains begin. Once the eggs are fertilized, the crabs migrate to the coast, sometimes up to 3 miles, to deposit their eggs in the ocean. Migrating crabs must avoid natural predators and automobiles as they cross roadways. If you live in a coastal community, you cannot miss them. They are one of the funkier sightings when you live by the beach.

During a full moon, these large burrowing crabs return to the ocean to deposit their eggs. The egg-bearing females migrate to the water’s edge and release over 250,000 eggs. A full moon is tomorrow so we have seen them diligently making their crawl over the past week.

One of the most famous stories in American history involves the trading of beads. Legend has it that Peter Minuit and the Dutch settlers purchased Manhattan in 1625 for $24 in beads.  Although, they now say our history books have it wrong and the Dutch bought Manhattan in 1636 for “trade goods” worth (at the time) about 24 gold dollars.  

However, a true bead story involves the first war the English fought against the Native Americans.  It was the Pequot War of 1637.  What did they fight over? A bead.

Our bead story is far less glamorous.  It involves a jewelry making class– another item on my Summer Bucket List.  After a 2.5 hour instruction, we walked away with our beaded necklaces and the ability “to crimp”.