Nighty Night, Deer

The deer here look a little mangy and they wander everywhere, sauntering past the writing group at Fishtrap as we sit outside in the crotch of the rocky peaks, eating our pork and applesauce as the sun leaves the area. The thing about meadows nestled between mountain peaks is when the sun goes, it's gone and then it turns cold. The weather is hot, especially noticeable as we hiked into Eagle Cap Wilderness yesterday, and cold by the river at night. Which has made for two good night sleep, cold room, piles of blankets, the river crashing past.

Abbe, Brenda's dog is happy as a clam, and on our hike yesterday, she lead away, scampering up the horse trail. I was happy as a clam, too, discovering wild strawberry plants and columbine and gooseberries, and a grove of aspen with leaves shivering in the wind. What I discovered about myself up there wandering over the Wallowa River where it crashes between the narrow rock canyon, is I so miss the out of doors. I feel good outside, different than inside my noisy condo. And all the plants brought back my desire to write an herb book when I was in my twenties. Jack and I (first hubby) did a lot of camping in the mountains outside of Priest River. The terrain here reminds me of that area, the pine, the tamarack, the smell of warm pitch, spicey. And the sweet smell of blooming bushes. And a orchard in a meadow that looked like old gnarled fruit trees, they weren't, but what they where escaped my plant identification skill.

Today, we will swim in the Wallowa Lake, which I think is a caldera, but I haven't read up on this area, so I'm not sure. I'm in Joseph right now, named after Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce—the natives that roamed this land. I'll find out more about that on a field trip tomorrow. So for now, that's about all. Happy summer days and gardening. I'll be watching for the wild strawberries and anything else edible in the woods.

Flower