I haven’t posted for a little while cuz I’ve been doing a lot of camping. I love camping. It’s my favorite thing to do in the world. It has been since I was a little kid. I don’t know what it is that is so pleasing to me. I don’t think it’s any one thing. It’s gotta be the whole experience. Being out there in the mountains, outside all day and all night (sleeping under the stars is the best), listening to the wind blowing through the trees, the smell of the campfire mixed with sage and pine, the sound of the river lulling you to sleep at night, mountains towering all around you. It’s just the best. We’re going again the day after tomorrow. I can’t wait!

My husband Mark and I love to take walks, especially up the side of a mountain. We spent this afternoon wandering around the base of the mountains by our house. It was a beautiful spring day, a little cool but beautiful none the less. We had a great time. Here are some photos from our adventures.

Here is the other oil painting that I recently finished. It’s a painting of some deer that often wander through my yard. My husband and I love to watch them and think about their lives. There home is the mountains. They don’t have a regular place to go for shelter. They just wander and use whatever resources they can find. Many of them starve in the winter time but many of them do fine. I think their happy in their freedom and I’m glad that my yard can serve them now and then. They’re welcome always.

I just drove down an absolutely beautiful highway at 2:00 in the morning. It’s been rainy all day and as I was driving home these massive clouds were just rolling across the road. The moon was shining through them and every now and then I could see glimpses of clear sparkling stars shimmering in the sky. It was breathtaking. Because the moon was so bright I could see the mountains through which the road passes and great masses of clouds were just resting all over them. The clouds almost looked like they were tired and decided to take a break from the efforts of hovering in the sky.

I think sometimes that the reason nature is so fascinating is that it’s beauty is transitory. It shares with us these moments of stunning asthetic perfection and then in almost the blink of an eye it changes and we are left only with the memory and the sensation that we are part of something amazing.

Sometimes the mountains sing my name.

Sometimes I look up at the rolling horizons that push their jagged snow covered peaks towards the endless skies of fathomless blue and I can hear the mountains singing my name.

Sometimes the wind sings my name.

Sometimes I stand on grassy hills and breath the restless wind into my restless lungs and I feel that we are the same. It stirs my hair and pulls at my clothes and I hear the wind singing my name.

Sometimes the sun sings my name.

Sometimes I follow the mighty burning sun and let it’s heat make me loose, strong, and clean. I feel it’s fingers of warmth on my shoulders, on my head and I hear the sun singing my name.

The song of life is in the mountains, in the wind, and in the sun. It sings with every glance, every breath, every step taken. It sings my name into nature and makes a home for me.

It sings your name.

Can you hear it?

Okay, I just had the most amazing experience. I was sneaking around outside trying to take pictures of the birds that come into our yard all the time to feed from the birdfeeder. I was doing great, sneaking closer and closer. They were really starting to get used to me and let me get some great pictures when all of a sudden this gorgeous bird of prey swoops down and scares them all away! It’s wings were so loud, almost like the sound of  a blanket shaking in the wind. It just swooped right past me and through the little flock of birds then took off into the sky. I was able to get a couple of shots of it as it soared away but nothing very good or clear. It was just so great to be there and be surrounded by nature as it did it’s thing, you know? I don’t know what kind of bird it was. It wasn’t all that big but it wasn’t small either. I’ll post some photos as soon as I get them ready so you can see what it looked like. I’ll also post some pics of the cute little bird I was photographing.

I started a new painting last night and have been working on it all day today. This is what I have so far. I’m really close to being finished actually. All have to do is finish the rock in the forground and I’ll be done. I need to take a break for a few minutes and go eat some food so I figured I’d post my progress. Here it is.

I just got back from running. I had a wonderful time. It was the best run I’ve had in quite awhile. I decided to not think about how fast I was going or how far I would get. I just let myself fall into a rythm that felt good. I let my muscles do what they wanted to do and I let my mind go where it wanted to go. I found myself gazing up at the beautiful mountains. I breathed in the cool air that wafted down over their slopes and felt it move through my hair. I watched the clouds move across the sky and it felt as though my legs were doing exactly what they were built to do. It was as though they had a mind of their own and they knew exactly what to do without any help from me. It was awesome.

Sometimes I feel like I can fly. When I’m out alone in a beautiful field of grass or at the top of a great mountain that I just spent hours climbing I feel like I could just spread my arms and soar to the clouds.

Maybe I do fly. When I’m running down the mountain as fast as I can go I swear I’m flying. It’s like I don’t even have feet, like I’m just part of the wind. Ya, maybe I do fly. Cool.