Sweet Summer Nights...Early Summer Mornings

Summer nights are so sweet.  Last night was especially so.  It was Monday Night Football on TV for Mark.  Bridger was playing his guitar on the porch, so Marley and I joined him.  The hummingbirds were swarming the feeder, dive bombing each other and jockeying into position for one of the four available feeding tubes.  We had had a thunderstorm earlier, so the air was not so hot.  To keep Marley entertained, and from running to the neighbor's, I kept throwing his tennis ball.  Everyone was happy.

Earlier in the day, Mark and Bridger invited me to go four-wheeler riding with them.  A thunderstorm was brewing to the south, but we took off toward it anyway.  It was so refreshing to smell the fresh canyon air mingled with the earthy smells in the aspens and pines.  We drove up to the Miners' Park where there used to be a gold mine.  (Yes, I live on BULLION Canyon Road.)  The shacks and mill are really showing their age.

This morning I had a rude awakening when a swift foot kicked me awake.  Mark moves a lot during his dreams, and this time he kicked me in the shin. The clock told me it was 3:39.  Perfect.  My old waking hour was revisiting me.  It's only appropriate.  I imagine many of my friends will be up early on this their last day of preparation for the first day of school.  They probably won't be up before FOUR...but they have much to do today.

A friend asked me yesterday if I missed teaching already.  The truth is, I don't miss going to work.  I don't miss having to hurry back to Marysvale so I can leave before the sun is up to prepare for a day of work.  No, I do not miss that.  I miss my school children.  I miss the people at school.  You see, they're not just the secretary, the librarian, and the teachers to me.  They became my friends.  I will miss passing them in the hallways, and visiting during our brief lunch time in the faculty room. I will miss the inside jokes, the funny emails, the quick texts, and even recess duty.

Yes, our team was weird about recess.  We ALL went out to watch the kids.  We didn't rotate the duty to allow some of us to be inside working while the others stood outside.  We all went out for a break of our own, to reconnect, and catch up on each other's lives.  It has been that way ever since I came to fifth grade 16 years ago, whether there were three of us or five of us, we all went out.  I loved that about our team.  We were close and wanted to be together.  Not many grade level teams can say that.

This morning I wrapped myself in my soft blanket and went outside to stand on our porch.  The crickets were chirping, and I could only see two stars.  The moon had already dropped behind the mountain, but it was illuminating the clouds in the southern sky.  The clouds were still hanging around, so maybe we'll be treated to another thunderstorm later today.  I love this time to have the house to myself, to reflect and to write.

I am wishing my friends well.  This is such an exciting time, getting ready for a new school year.  I don't envy them their work, but I am jealous of the time they will spend together.  We have a flurry of a appointments today to get my sophomore ready for HIS school year.  We get to buy school supplies today.  YAY! I LOVE school supplies.  I always will.

Okay, before I close, I have to share a picture with my fall-loving friends.  It's a little blurry, taken from the back of a speeding four-wheeler, but it is EVIDENCE.  The leaves are already starting to turn in the canyon.  I love autumn the very most.  I know; I know.  Take each moment as it comes.  It's still summer.  Enjoy summer.  I will.  But in the MOMENT that I took that picture, my heart knew that fall is waiting in the wings.  That thought makes me so very happy.

First Sign of Fall.  *sigh*

Webster City (old mining town)

Remains of the Bullion Canyon Mine

The old mill

Marysvale: Up Close and Natural

Rustic, Rural, and Real...

That's Marysvale!

Welcome to Marysvale.  See that green roof just beyond the yellow flowers in the distance?  It is our privilege to call that house our home.  Marysvale is a sleepy little town nestled at the mouth of Bullion Canyon.  I love the dark night sky here that doesn't compete with neon or city lights.  I love the pastoral scenes, and the good people.  I love the sagebrush, flowers, trees, and even the weeds.  I love the deer, the turkeys, the rabbits, the fox, and the owl that visit our home.

This old building is my ONE MILE turnaround spot.

Today, I just want to share some of the pictures I have captured trying to "live in the moment" here.  You may laugh at my weeds and "my" shack, but it's all good.  This place feels like home to me, even the wild, unkempt parts.  Every season captivates me.  I love the sunshine, the rain, the snow, the fog, the sunsets, and the sunrises.  Everything feels so fresh and clean here.  It is a good life.  A good life indeed.

(The pictures are in no particular order, and
some of the captions were written when the
pictures were taken.)

Several metal crafters live nearby.
Margaret, this one's for you!

Even the weeds capture my curiosity.

How can you not fall in love with this place?

"Grandma" lives on my friend Pam's porch.  She seemed quite perturbed
when I interrupted her nap to take her picture.

Wish I could identify all of the flora and fauna.  Queen
Anne's Lace?

Hiking to Bullion Falls is a favorite activity.

My goal is to capture the beauty of the Rocky
Mountain Bluebird.  This picture fails at that miserably.

When the fog settles over our mountain like a soft, white, winter shawl, I'm glad to be indoors, enjoying the view where it's warm.

It's not the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, but it has a beauty of its own.

The remnants of yesterday's raindrops are dripping off the eaves The sun slips in and out of the clouds as the thick fog that had settled over the valley floor and wrapped around the base of the mountains slowly rises toward the light blue sky. The trees have the open pasture surrounded in a halo of golden leaves. If only autumn could linger in the canyon a little longer.

Quaking aspens...the gold mines may lie empty and dormant, but Bullion Canyon is still full of gold in the fall.

Happy Fall, y'all! Everything I love is here...the golden aspens, the reddening Rocky Mountain maples, the cool mornings, the perfect days. I look forward to wearing sweaters with my jeans, sitting on the deck in the predawn hour, listening to the aspens flutter in the breeze, and taking pictures of all that makes me happy. Of all the seasons, I fall in love the hardest for fall.

When our owl came back, it felt like a blessing from nature that all was right with the world.