güle güle

I'm so excited for our trip to Turkey! Looking forward to beautiful mosques, Turkish baths, a little shopping at the Grand Bazaar, museums, the Black Sea, tons of good eating! Time to start packing. See you soon with lots of photos to share.

Start singing: Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople... 

summer love

Today was the last official day of summer. This time of year is my favorite, it has all the summer fun, but with immediacy... each day could be the last warm day, so catch the sun while we can. The days are growing shorter and the nights are cooler. We can still sleep with the windows open, but have just added a second blanket. Daylight doesn't linger the way I wish it would, but the sky is clearer and more colorful.  Reddening trees and softer shadows already have me longing for another summer season of bare feet, lemonade, swimming, staying out until the very last bit of sun. Summer's end leaves me full of sweet fruits, good-tired from long walks, and somewhat saddened by a sense of loss. But a calm sadness, a sadness felt in the shifting light and the rustling branches. We are only beginning to lose the warmth, the daytime, the laughter, and the bird songs. No, not quite ready for hibernation yet, but we start to feel it in the later sunrise, cold floors, and desire for hot beverages.

Before all that happens, the decadence of autumn color, hiking, apples, dew, blue jeans, vegetable soup. 

Remembering (and basking in the last bit of) the glow of summer days by the lake, watching sailboats, parades, rainbows, grilling, bicycling, sundresses, sunflowers, and playing outdoors.

what goes up...

Today was an nice day to do a little exploring, trying a new trial to see where it goes. A sunny morning glinting through the trees overhead and lots of bird songs.

A few of the mushroom varieties along the trail.

At some point I must have lost the trail, but I figured "I'm going up, so I ll hopefully meet up with a marker a little higher." Eventually I found my missing trail markers and the trail. You can see the trail there, right (?), overgrown up to about my knees.

Even though I wanted to go up, this trail seemed to only angled down to my left or right. Being sensible and remembering Derek asking me to know my limits, I decided I should stick to the trail now that I found it rather than continuing up by my own.

Maybe that wasn't the right choice. Although overly-marked, this trail was just a wee-bit steep...

and interrupted by giant ant mounds...

and did I mention - steep. This was an interesting route, but I don't think I'll try this one again. The trail was steep, overgrown in places, soft with decay, lacking in any traction. I made my way down  - lowering myself from exposed limestone, lunging between trees, testing each step to see how far I would slide, and grasping at roots or branches that were usually dead and unable to support any weight. With only a few ant bites, minor cuts, and near avalanche ranking fall, I eventually reached the road and an hour walk later, found myself on a familiar trail to get home. I didn't see another person until just outside town, and luckily, met my goal of not seeing any boar either, only their dirt-beds worn in the trail.