White Pine Lake

Kevin and I gave ourselves this Saturday off to run up to White Pine Lake with my dad and brothers. And thanks to everyone who asks about my dad. He's still doing great (as you will see). Keep your prayers, good thoughts, and sun salutations coming.

All of the June rain obviously did the canyon good because I was absolutely stunned by how green everything was. The wildflowers are just coming out.

Here's looking across to the twin peaks area.

And, speaking of all that rain, it rained on us too. Yes, that is a garbage bag over my dad's head and sticking out asymmetrically over one shoulder. While we took this picture he was saying, "And this is my daughter, Alisa. We're related." Very funny, Dad. Maybe that's why I'm making a fist. That or the cold.

And speaking of cold, it's always fun to cross a snowy moonscape just after the rain has made it all nice and slippery.

And at last the lake, 10,100 feet. And another appearance of the garbage bag poncho.

I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world

Today I am thankful for beautiful music, warm days, and loving friends. I've been thinking of this primary children's song lately, and I think its message is beautiful and simple with the merging of nature, the senses, and God's love. I should have sung this more when I was the primary chorister last year. I think if I could give one message to children that they could internalize, this would be it.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by a lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, mind, my heart;
I thank Him rev’rently
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

"My Heavenly Father Loves Me," The Children’s Songbook, p. 228

Life is Dancing the Twilight Blues

Consider this thesis, that we are drawn to nature because nature has a way of being. Nature doesn't do so much as it is, and this is this peace that results from being congruent with one's divine nature. While we run around half asleep and in conflict, it's this peace that appeals to us on a higher plane.

I recently read a book that reminded of some of the spiritual awakening I had when I was a college student reading the Tao Te Ching. All the doing we have in our lives actually distracts us from being who we are meant to be. Eckhart Tolle says, "Life is the dancer, and we are the dance." Life plays us; life interprets us. The best I can be is mindful of the present moment. I certainly can use the practice of being more in tune with the present moment, and I think nature is one path that can teach me how to be.

This is the birth day of life and love and wings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

- e. e. cummings

August at Albion Basin

Today Kevin and I took our annual wildflower walk through Albion Basin. The wildflowers this weekend are strong and amazing, and there are hints that more are to come through August.

The one thing I wish I could document for myself is the fresh, clean smell. As I'm up there, I know I'm getting sweaty and dirty from the trail, but I can't help feeling like I want to bring my entire wardrobe up here and just let the fresh breeze clean my clothes straight through with the mountain air.

I wish I had that smell, that coolness, the overall feeling of mountain air to go back to whenever I wanted.

Outtakes: Oh no! It's on Video

I was sorting through all the pictures we have stored on our camera and found these three random videos that have been taken on accident. The video setting is only a couple of clicks away from the still photo setting, and I think it often gets set there when the camera's being handled. I've noticed that this only happens when I'm behind the camera. Apparently Kevin always checks the settings first, smart guy.

First, there's Aja.

Then, there's Christmas morning at the in-law's.

And lastly, there's Kevin on a hike up at Albion Basin.

Wildflowers at Devil's Castle Peak

Kevin and Dad with summer wildflowers in front of Devil's Castle Peak at Albion Basin. We invented our own hike up toward the mountain and back toward Cecret Lake. My dad says this is his new favorite hike.

Lake Mary, Pass Lake, and Albion Basin: Two short hikes and a stroll through wildflowers

In the last month or so, I haven't had much chance to go far away to hike, and July is not necessarily my favorite time to hike my favorite places in the Southern Utah desert, but I have been able to get away for an hour or two to the nearby canyons.

Near the end of June, I went with a neighbor and some of her friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Lake Mary. It's a supposedly short hike, and I'd done it before years ago, but the beginning of the trail had changed, and there was a lot of snow and flodded meadows, so things looked different. We overshot the trail a little bit and ended up approaching the lake from the east, but it was beautiful. The shutters of my camera weren't open all the way, hence the blocked view.

The weekend before the 4th of July holiday Kevin and I went up to the Uintas with my dad to go on a trail past Scout and Pass lakes. I love this hike. It was perfect for a July afternoon--short enough and high enough to produce pleasant temperatures. In just 3.5 miles, this loop trail takes hikers through forests, past several lakes and streams, above the timberline (where there were still plenty of ice fields), through high wildflower meadows, and through lower grassy meadows. It's a great way for me to enjoy most of the things I love about the Uintas in an afternoon, and it doesn't have switchbacks, of which I've become less fond during my mountain backbacking trips.

This weekend Kevin and I went to Albion Basin to see the wildflowers in bloom. This is where I learned to ski, and it still takes me back to my childhood to go up there and see the lift to Sugar Loaf, my favorite ski run, and the way to Cecret Lake. There are so many beautiful wildflowers this time of year.