Travel

Return to Wheeler Peak

October 3, 2015October 3, 2015 Georgia2 Comments

We return two years later to find our campsite waiting for us.Campsite #23–a heavenly spot surrounded by towering pines and (this time) golden aspens–backs up to a lovely open area that is perfect for cloud watching and stargazing. Beyond the meadow rises the mountain, Wheeler Peak.At a little over 13,000 ft., it towers impressively in the background of our camp’s viewshed. It’s not close enough to be intimidating, just near enough to invite us onward and upward towards the sky. We cannot forget that it is there.

Our camp site sits at an elevation of 9,000 feet or so. After a scenic drive up from the Visitors’ Center, and a quick stop to buy firewood–thank you, Chuck–we have set up the tent on a soft bed of dirt and pine needles

and are now proceeding to sort the rest of the gear. The solitary peacefulness of the places settles upon us at once. Soft, distant voices of other campers float our way on the breeze, but we are effectively alone.

The voice-carrying breeze also rustles the leaves of the aspens, providing the perfect soundtrack for our stay. Rustling aspen leaves rival ocean waves for producing a great sense of calm and restfulness. As I sit writing this, I feel like I could be happy here forever.

Soon, I notice other noises accompanying the aspens. A large curious fly buzzes around and around our site, apparently searching for something. Whatever it is, I seem to have it. In the pine trees, a nuthatch calls to another more-distant nuthatch. He (or she) has a beautiful reddish breast, unlike the white-breasted variety back home. After finishing their conversation, “our” nuthatch proceeds to run down the tree, head-first, as they do, and then up again, stopping briefly along the way to peck at the bark in search of insects. Other birds fly in and flit and sing among the branches. I can’t identify these, but I certainly appreciate their welcome!

Soon after getting things set up, another visitor arrived to check us out. Similar to our chipmunks, this cute little golden-mantled ground squirrel emerged from under the log “bench” and quickly surveyed the entire camp, scouting for trail mix, no doubt. Not having any luck, he scampered away, probably muttering to himself about visitors that just drop in uninvited without bringing food.

Speaking of food, here’s Joe getting the stove fired up to cook dinner. Our camp site is now truly our “home away from home” complete with clothesline, kitchen, and dining/writing area. Spongebob and Patrick? Oh, they’ve been my traveling companions for many years. 🙂

Gardens

Garden Tour – September

September 19, 2015 GeorgiaLeave a comment

You never know with gardens. Here we are at the end of the summer and moving into “harvest time,” yet our gardens will insist on going their own way. I’ve seen pictures in magazines and on websites of huge wicker baskets full of colorful vegetables, but for some reason, this year, our garden has not been productive in that way. I suppose we can blame it on the weather–we did have that incredibly wet June–but who really knows? But the thing with gardens–and with nature–is that you need to appreciate what you get. So, looking at ours in late September, I do see a “harvest” of many wonderful things.

First, our wild begonias in the back corner garden are looking better than ever. They share quarters with hosta and other shade-loving plants that seem to wander in. We planted these years back, and they’ve struggled, but now their deep green leaves and graceful pink flowers really catch the eye.

What would a garden be without a bit of mystery? We think these plants may be tomatillos, but we’re really not sure. This is what happens when you dump a mixture of seeds out to fill in a bare spot. We had cilantro growing here earlier in the summer, but it died off. Now, we have a strange mixture of plants sprouting up. And although they do look a bit like tomatillo plants, we didn’t think we had any tomatillo seeds. Surprise!?

This pot of impatiens (although you can’t really see the pot) adds a bit of color to another back corner shady garden. The impatiens are surrounded by one of my favorite herbs–lemon balm. Nothing smells as good!

And since I can’t bear to be without cilantro, we planted another round of it in the corner of the backyard next to the wild begonias. It’s probably not quite sunny enough for it there, but so far it’s surviving.

Our confirmed tomatillos continue to produce like crazy.

Then finally we come to the basil and peppers. These guys used to be shadowed and crowded by some huge tomato plants that never really produced anything but green tomatoes that then split and rotted. So, we cleared those out and let the other plants spread out a bit.

Well, to wrap up this month’s tour, let’s check in on the compass plant. Still standing tall, but the blooms are finished. I can’t wait to see what it does next year.

And in the front yard? Here’s brick pig in a beautiful blanket of white alyssum. A few gerbera daisies add some nice contrast on the tail end! 🙂

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