Really?

I know, I know.  I suddenly stopped blogging on April 30th.  Here is what happened: I went home to North Carolina for a family beach trip and upon my return I simply fell out of practice.  I was suddenly also consumed with the notion that my blogging can come across as self-absorbed, which left me somewhat paralyzed by this notion and stricken by self-consciousness.  The good news (depending on your definition of self-absorption): I got over it.

Bizarrely enough, on that vacation I read an entire book on the nature of habits.  Turns out we can't ever truly stop a behavior that is a habit, we can only replace it.  Preferably with a healthy one.  Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.  That little concept really gets the gray matter squashing around, doesn't it?

Our summer has been rolling along swimmingly (to quote my friend Jane).  Yes, we are in a drought so we are supposed to say "we really need some rain" but just between you and me, I am loving these long, dry days.  I could do with a few less sneezes and nosebleeds and I certainly don't want any more forest fires, and Telluride is pretty close to running out of water, but the monsoon season always comes and this window of hot weather is so short, I an embracing it.

All the snow is gone, all the peaks are accessible, the wildflowers and flourishing for no one's benefits except ours, it feels at times, summer is underway.  We had Kitty and Bucky visit us from the South, and we got to show off the waterfall and the history of the area and of course the charm of the town and the incredible scenery.  And, of course, eat ice cream and people-watch on Main Street.

Kelly came last week from Boulder and we dug into some giant hikes over the Independence week: Wilson Peak, Lena Basin, Blackhawk Peak and upper upper Deep Creek:

Our few exciting moments were: finding an arrowhead in upper Wasatch Basin, summiting Wilson Peak and discovering that Class 3 climbs are no longer paralyzing to me, seeing a bear lounging in the clear pool of a cool mountain stream, getting dive-bombed by two pissed off red-tailed hawks when we were too close to their nest:

You can just make out the hawk on the left and the nest in the upper crook of the branches.

I have also started making homemade ice creams and sorbets and so far the most spectacular creation was homemade vanilla ice cream, frozen into popsicles, with a homemade chocolate sauce that hardens into a shell when drizzled on the pops.  Anthony proclaimed that I had outdone my outdone-ness.

Well, that's enough for now.  Just getting back in the swing of things.