Wildflowers

Yesterday, Brenda and I drove up Crow Creek Road, 3 miles north of Joseph, heading north for Buckhorn Springs to a viewpoint overlooking Hell's Canyon. And we got lost. We ended up at a lookout tower overlooking vast timbered land. In the distance, far to the east, there appeared to be a dark area that was most likely the canyon. It was the back windy dirt roads through the state park that were confusing and the map that we had did little good. And the directions (a local) were somewhat vague. By the time we'd driven 35 miles to Red Hill L.O. we were tired and hungry and could see we'd gone the wrong way, for the canyon. But I climbed the tower and reminisced my lookout tower attendant days and Brenda feed and watered Abbe. We ate a snack and headed back.

The good part about the trip: we saw a herd of elk. Man-o-man! And we saw several deer. We saw fields of wildflowers, cattle, horses, and smaller canyons and buttes. It was lovely really, and we traveled with music blaring, like teenagers, only listening to Penguin Café Orchestra. The horns and violins somehow went with the pines and dashing ground squirrels, the magpies, the deer, the broken down barns, and sparsely covered hills in sturdy bull pine, and the herd of elk coming down from the left side of the road and crossing in front of us.

This a.m. I'm back to revision, sitting in Wallowa Lake Lodge, a beautiful lodge with Craftsman wainscoting and boxy chandeliers, wallpaper with graphic linear designs edging the dining room near the ceiling and throw rugs set up in a big open room making private sitting areas decorated with antique furniture and lamps. Lovely a quiet. Outside a vast yard edges Wallowa lake, where yesterday a mother deer and her two fawns crossed the lawn before me as I wrote. There is also an eagles' nest near the mouth of the river to the left of the lawn, where adults feed their children. The mom or pop? eagle dive-bombed us as we peeped on their evening ritual, feeding the children, bringing new sticks to mend the nest, etc. Abbe was with us, so I assumed it was the dog that was the threat, not us. And we did appear to be threatening, as the eagle landed in a tree close to where we stood and tossed things down to the ground just 20 ft. from where we stood next to the river. We left, giving them their peace and quiet, being non-threatening. It's always a good practice.

Another beautiful place to retreat is the Bronze Antler B & B--although we didn't stop in to visit the place, the inn keeper is delightful and knowlegeable about the surroundings. Give her a shout if you want first hand knowlege of the area http://www.bronzeantler.com/

Okay, thanks to this retreat, I'll be working on my revision for the next several hours. I'm thinking of my garden and wishing I could inform you about it, but alas, I will not know how it is doing until Sunday morning. I'm imagining not much different than when I left. Hopefully I'll be happily surprised.

Ciao!

Nancy, aka Flower