ArtFest and the Rites of Spring

While some rites of Spring are Universal, others are definitely personal. Last weekend we witnessed the spring migration of the snow geese and the trumpeter swans. As one of my favorite ecologists once observed,

"One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the Spring."
Aldo Leopold
Definitely Universal!

This week, Jenn joined her friends to participate in ArtFest . Definitely personal, but no less important. It is talked about, called about, emailed and prepared for as soon as the packets arrive for next year's festival. She left Tuesday and will return Monday night.

Tiika and I do our own spring ritual. Her idea of spring is to run through the woods and discover all the wonderful goodies that the melting snow reveals. I follow along and try to keep her from rolling in the worst of it. If not, there's a stop at the river on the way home and she swims with the ice floes. However, this is Springtime in the Rockies, which brings up another quote:

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."
- Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman's Luck, 1899

One day we went out and the weather looked like this . It was nice hiking in shorts and a t-shirt.


Tiika always likes to stay in front, but I'm not sure if she ever notices the sky.




I do and thought we might have a different hike today. Sure enough,
this is what it looked like when we opened the door this morning.













I hiked in fleece pants and a pair of gaiters. It will be like this through April and I've been snowed on in July, which brings up the last quote:


"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
- Robert Frost

This is why you'll find both fleece pants and a pair of shorts in my pack. Oh, to be Tiika, who seems to be perfectly dressed all year long and can swim any time she likes! This is fun, but we both really miss Jenn. The last picture is of, in my humble opinion, the two best hiking partners on the planet!

nothing terribly noteworthy

I don't have anything terribly noteworthy to report these days, hence, the lack of posts and pictures.

The weather has been quite cold (7 below the other morning!) and not snowy. The result is not conducive to getting out. Poor Tiika is getting a little bit stir crazy. I'll be taking her out to play ball here in a little bit so it ought to relieve her of some of her pent up energy.

We have been cleaning like crazy the last two weekends. My Mom is coming out this weekend for a visit so we want our place looking as good as it can. We really ought to do this more often for ourselves, too. If there's not a guest looming on the horizon though, it just doesn't happen.

Well, like I said at the beginning, not much to talk about right now so that'll be all for now. Just wanted y'all to know we are still alive out here. Ciao.

the picture I alluded to

I am finally getting a minute where everything comes together so I can post this picture:

I think this is his "come hither with more crackers" look. So perfect with his new hat. (Thanks, Cassie for sending this to me.)

Today is only Day 2 of our three day weekend...the weather is cold and windy though so it looks like it will be a mostly indoor kind of day. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, down to single digits if I recall correctly. Brrrr!!

My moment on the computer is already coming to an end. I hear the stirrings of breakfast in the kitchen. Yum!

bright moon

Tonight's moon is a full one and is supposed to be the brightest one of the year. If this morning's glow is any indication, it ought to be awesome. When Tiika and I took our morning stroll I couldn't even see the beam of my headlamp it was so bright out. I say, if you have a chance to view the moon tonight, do it!

Here we even had a ring around the moon. It was a huge ring. Rob and I both remember that a ring is supposed to signify a change in the weather but we don't recall if it's an improvement or a deterioration. Anyone else know?

Have a great weekend all!