Shadow Shot Sunday -

A snake in the grass.

I like the way the shadow frames the light coming through the hole in the log. I also liked the puzzled looks the orienteering folks gave me as they walked by while I was taking it.

Random thoughts, Wildlife, and a Very Happy Dog

If it weren't for the park, manual labor and morning pages, I might have gone crazy this week. I am having a bad time with chocolate this week. So much so that scientific explanations mean nothing, and it just boils down to ...SHE HATES ME! IT'S PERSONAL! I'm more kinesthetic than visual or auditory, so movement is soothing. Walking, writing, weeding, kneading, rolling dough - it's all good.

On Wednesday's walk, snakes posed for me, rather than slithering off as they normally do.

I like snakes, when they aren't venomous, and are outside where they belong.

Same goes for spiders, like this one. I was off the trail at Chatfield State Park when I saw him. I went there for my first weekly artist date (part of the Artist's Way thing I'm doing). At one point, I came across a lot of people with maps and compasses. Was this a scavenger hunt? No. It was an orienteering class. Oh. My explanation was more fun. Although if one wants to test one's orienteering skills safely, Chatfield's a good place to do it. It's big, but bordered on all sides by roads.

Yesterday, my sister came with us for walkies. She is a more focused walker than Puppy and me, so we kept a brisk pace, and walked the entire loop of the park. The sun was setting as we headed back toward the car. Just as we reached Tabor Lake, an owl called. It called again, and I spotted him in the bare branches of a tree. He called again, and then flew off into the sunset. This is not that owl. He was at the Highlands Festival. My camera is not capable of long distance twilight photos.

Here is Puppy, at the beginning of the walk. She was still this happy two miles later.

Today was massive yardwork, after the artist date at Chatfield.

Then up to Prospect Park, with tarp and body bag to load up on free mulch. Yes, we have a body bag. Bevin got it from work. It's not used. It's new. It's 'FEMA blue', has handles, and is very good for hauling mulch.

I am making a new batch of sourdough starter tonight. Baking bread makes me happy in a way that is physically and spiritually fulfilling.

Am still not sure I want to go to the Witches' Ball this year, but I'm having fun planning costumes. I haven't made one, but the planning is fun. It's next Saturday. I love Project Runway. It's so inspiring. I loved the week they made clothes from paper. And the costume week was fun.

Broken Thought Process Day, Days, ok, a week or so....

Or maybe it's shattered thought process. Or melted though process. Anything but coherent, lucid thought process.

Yesterday was one of those cursed days in the kitchen, the kind of day that makes me want to fall upon my whisk. (It's like falling on one's sword, without the messy consequences). The kind of day where I think perhaps I went down the wrong path. Today went much better, and ended around 11:30 or so.

We've been starting at 6am, and leaving around 1-2pm, because of the heat. I put foil on all the windows to deflect some of the sun, so now it looks like a white trash meth lab. But clean.

I haven't been to Facebook or Twitter in over a week. Nothing to say worth reporting on a daily basis.

Went to see Celtic Woman at Red Rocks Wednesday night - first time I have been to a concert there. OMG - the climb! Next time will wear walking shoes. Wondering why no outside beverages are allowed in, even more wondering why the concession stand takes the caps off the bottled water & wine, and why the soft drink cups don't have lids, or straws. Do they think they are being invaded by deadly ninjas who can hijack the amphitheatre with a small platic cap and a straw?

The drummers and the fiddler were fantastic. The fiddler actually danced while playing, in her long, floaty white dress and high heels.

The acoustics ARE really great - I can see what the fuss is about. It started raining during the last ten minutes or so, complete with thunder and lightning. People started leaving, which seemed rather pointless, as it was a good quartermile or so to the parking lots. Stay or leave, you'll get just as wet.

Discovered that Najah and I have rather disparate tastes in music - she really likes falsetto, like Don Henley and (shudder, ick) Michael McDonald. I, on the other hand, think that Michael McDonald's voice is as close as I ever want to get to having redhot needles shoved into my ears.

I'm having a lot of encounters with snakes this week, mostly live snakes, but one perfectly shed skin. Which is out in the garage curing in borax. I really like snakes, although they startle me a bit when we meet each other in the park. I'm sure it's mutual. They are not suited for pets, though. Some creatures should just be left wild.

My current passion is belly dance, aka oriental danse, aka raks sharki, aka beledi. Next session I am adding the intermediate class , so Monday evenings will be 2 back-to-back hours of dance. Someone else(s) is also in the grip of passion, as every one of some 20 or so belly dance music cd's are checked out of the library. I have holds on a few of them. In the meantime, there's always Pandora.