Still hanging on

Resisting the urge to rake leaves.
Camera play is much more fun.

Autumn Dreams

Autumn Dreams

I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind's plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.

Ah, 'tis then I love to wander.
Wander idly and alone,
Listening to the solemn music
Of sweet nature's undertone;
Wrapt in thoughts I cannot utter,
Dreams my tongue cannot express,
Dreams that match the autumn's sadness
In their longing tenderness.

~ Mortimer Crane Brown

All photos in this post were taken yesterday as I wandered Route 20 between Arco and Carey.

The old dilapidated house is west of Arco and it sits behind a fence marked 'No Trespassing'. The house looks like it is constructed of very thin pieces of stacked slate and I really would like to get a closer look. It is a piece of art.

The car is east of Carey just sitting in a swampy field. It too is a piece of art although it changes quite regularly as different people tag it.

Both the house and the car I believe to be Route 20 icons.

As for the faded flowers I don't know what they are. Dog and I took a walk east of Craters of the Moon (Dog can't walk Craters of the Moon the rocks hurt his feet) and that's where the flowers were found. Yesterday, although blustery cold and grey was a fantastic fall day just right for wandering, by car and on foot, and for dreaming.

A Fall fade

Our Fall so far has been cold, hard, and lacking it's usual luster. The colors this year are very subtle with most of the aspen skipping any glorious display and instead just slowly fading to brown. So with photos of fabulous fall foliage lacking a few photos south of the valley in the middle of farm country on the way to Twin. It's still one of my favorite drives. You can see forever and when driving north you have a view of the mountains that never ceases to take my breath away. No mountains here though just some shots from the side of the road next to a now abandoned corn stand and some pretty busy looking power station equipment.

The power and the beauty of Mother Nature

Over the weekend we received our first snow here in the Wood River Valley with the majority of it dumping on Sunday night and Monday morning. And what a dump it was. The following is a photo from my backyard early Monday. My little house is hiding in there.

Unfortunately the snow was so wet and heavy and all our trees still had their leaves that there was a lot of tree limb loss throughout the valley. One of the trees in my backyard split right in half. Luckily it was the back half of the tree and not the front. Had it been the front it would have landed right on top of the house. It didn't even take out any part of the fence. Phew!








Just missed the fence.



























More in our local paper the Idaho Mountain Express.


The following two photos I took Sunday night as the snow was gently falling and I was excited to see it. (I was also trying to practice with the camera at night. Hence the weird photo of the chair.)




The first snow is always so special.

























Little did I know...

The only thing I've ever seen that comes close to the destruction of the trees over the weekend is the same type of destruction to trees due to an ice storm in Vermont in the 90s. I've never lived on either coast here in the U.S. or on the plains so I've never experienced a tornado or a hurricane. I can't imagine.

And although the loss of trees and the damage done to property is sad this world never ceases to amaze as I still find so much beauty in the snow and ice.

Simple Super Yum!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me,
Millions of peaches, peaches for me...

These peaches, however, did not come from a can...

Fresh, ripe Idaho peaches

I put together a fruit salad this weekend that turned out to be just fabulous and sooo simple I thought I would share. Typically, when I make a fruit salad it's pretty generic. I tend to use cantaloupe, melon, strawberries and grapes. This time though I thought I would try to be a little inventive with some help of course from Google.

I was going to a potluck where the main course was marinated grilled pork tenderloin so I let that be my starting point. And what doesn't go better with pork than peaches? Well, apples do too but since Idaho peaches are really just perfect right now that's what I went with.

And here it is:

5 peaches
1 pint strawberries
a couple handfuls of baby spinach
1 lime
a stem or two of cilantro

Cube the peaches, quarter the strawberries, toss together in a bowl (separate from the bowl the salad is to be served in). Squeeze the lime all over the peaches and strawberries, chop up the cilantro and sprinkle over fruit mixture and toss all over again. Line the bottom of the salad bowl with the spinach and dump the fruit on top.

Very simple and super yum! And...it presents great too!

I also created a lime cilantro vinaigrette which is where Google came in. I used the first recipe that popped up when I googled 'lime cilantro vinaigrette' which was courtesy of About.com in their home cooking section. I modified it slightly and it turned out to be the best dressing I've ever made. Following is the ingredient list that they provided with my modifications listed in parentheses.

Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/8 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, no stems

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon brown sugar (Nebraska Knoll Maple Snow, pure Vermont maple sugar, the only sugar I use)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (medium grain sea salt)

1 teaspoon fresh chopped garlic

2-1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (Sun Valley Spicy Sweet Mustard)

3/4 cup light olive oil (organic, extra virgin, expeller pressed, a little more aromatic)

About.com directs all ingredients to be mixed in a blender but I always make my dressings in a pint jar and shake, shake, shake, shake that boooty, allows for the textures and various colors to still shine on their own.

I did not add the dressing to the salad (you can completely skip the dressing if you want, the lime and cilantro alone are enough) but provided it on the side, along with some chopped pecans. Everybody loved the salad and the dressing and not only did they use the dressing for the salad but they also put it on the pork and used it for dipping their bread into. (All ingredients used were organic and the maple sugar is shipped regularly from Mom in Vermont.)

Mountain Mushrooms

Fall is fast upon us and the wild flowers are wilting.

It has been an amazingly wet summer though and the fungi are out in abundance; pink, purple, red, brown, black, striped, big and small, flat and fat, wrinkly and crinkly. They are all out there.

Makes me wish I knew my mycology. I never knew there were so many different varieties. My knowledge of any type of exotic mushroom is limited to picking morels for saute in the spring and purchasing portobellos for grilling in the summer.

A little garlic, a little butter...aahhhh for now, just a thought.
































































































More mushrooms here.

B is for baby

This weekend I attended a party which was in honor of two of my best friends' first child (party photos). He is due any moment and the following is in celebration of baby Theobald a.k.a. 'the bump' (great maternity photos taken by another friend of theirs, Kristin Cheatwood, Cheatwood Photography, Ketchum, Idaho).


B
is
for
baby

and bike and bat and ball

and boarding on Baldy (be it one board or two)

and the big, big, fish in the Big Wood

and bananas and bongos
and bubbles and butterflies

and burritos and beer

and Buddha

and books,
lots and lots of books

and lets not forget frisbee

big, brother 'Boose (the best mountain basset ever)

and

being
best of friends.