September???

So I woke up, rolled over and looked at the clock this morning and was completely floored to discover that it's September. I feel like Ripina van Winkle. Where did August go? Between having kids arrive home from their globetrotting and starting back to school and work, somehow the month disappeared. Never fear, I'm back. Or should that be, I'm ba-ack?

Whatever.


Of course there's still lots going on outside, but today I'm going to indulge myself and talk about our little vacation in the hills.

Phil and I spent a week in the Black Hills of South Dakota recently. It was in celebration of our 10th anniversary. (I'll pause here for general expressions of amazement and unbelief.) He found a little place on a quiet road back in the hills about 20 minutes from Sturgis. The cabin was wonderful, all open ceilings, polished hardwood floors, trees and deer in the back yard and a hot tub on the deck.

We spent an unbelievable amount of time at the cabin, tanning and hot tubbing and relaxing, but did manage to tear ourselves away most days. While we were away, we hiked. We hiked around Sylvan Lake; we hiked around Dalton Lake; we hiked the Centennial Trail, we hiked the Mikkelson Trail; we hiked from Deadwood to Lead and back again. Of course the upside was that even with lovely meals and bottles of wine, my jeans still fit when we got home again.


The point, however, is that we saw some lovely wild things while we were hiking. Some I've identified, and some I have not. If you recognize any of the beauties scattered throughout today's post, please let me know what they are.

Thanks.


This one should have reproduced as a MUCH deeper purple -- think royal purple.

Later,
b