A week in nature

Now that all of the kittens have been adopted and I'm playing the waiting game with the garden, I took a week to reconnect with the mountains. I'm feeling like myself again but my apartment is a mess of dirty clothes and backpacking gear. While I was gone, my garlic, shallots and cover crop seeds arrived so I will be ready to plant all of those things this month after I rip the tomatoes out of the ground. My tomato seed saving experiment came to completion and no matter how foul smelling it was, it was a success and I can recommend it! 
The weather was unseasonally warm in the high sierras and I couldn't help but wonder if my tomatoes were ripening down in the hot valley. When I returned from my mountain air escape, I found that the tomato plants had not only spouted new flowers but some of the plants that I thought were petering out, jutted up and now look like real plants. I'm sad that soon the freezing cold will break the bad news to them.

Here are some pictures from my trip - pictures just can't do it justice but I hope you can see just how majestic and phenomenally beautiful it is. How could I not be renewed?

Going over the 8,800 ft. ridge - running a bit late and chasing the sun.

Here at Lake Lucille. The hill in the background is Keith's

Dome - only a little over 8,600 ft but has a mighty view.

Here is the view! Lake Tahoe in the far back and Fallen Leaf Lake in the front.

That was the next mountain that we tackled. Looks

impossible from here but everything is possible if you just do it.

 The huge but little looking lake way in the background

(you can barely see it) was the next day's adventure.

This is that "little" lake that made us feel so small and insignificant.

Pyramid Peak in the background. The lake is a couple miles long.

View from the top of Mt. Ralston (over 9,200 feet).

One of our campsites.

And here we are!

It was a trip of renewal, adventure, inspiration and of course exhaustion. Now that things are slowing down in the garden, you should consider doing whatever it is that inspires you. Take the time to just do it.

Daphne