Yes, I guess it has. My how time flies when your word is filled with multiple jobs and tasks that need to get handled.

And tomorrow I flip the calendar from the fun picture of a Blue-Footed Booby to Snow Leopard. Time to get serious about my publishing business.

Wednesday I was ready to go on a hike at Lovell Gulch. My hiking partner called to say she wuld be early, a first for her. And then she asked if I wanted to go to Deckers? I had given up on seeing Deckers and the S. Platte River this year. So I joyfully said YES! I was almost ready when she arrived and off we went. It was a really beautiful day.

We were pleasantly surprised by all the different stages of plants up there. Some brilliantly in bloom, others changing colors and some gone to seed in a beautiful way.

We hiked as far back as we could, until we reached a rather tricky section of the trail and decided to turn around and find a place to stop and eat lunch. My hiking partner took off her shoes and waded to a rock a bit off the shore of the river. I walked up a bit and took more photos. 

The sun made the river sparkle and the colors of everything seemed almost surreal in some areas. The sumac was particularly brilliantly colorful red.

That brought back memories of my childhood in Illinois and the colorful leaves turning colors each autumn. I love autumn colors and miss the oaks and maples a bit. But this day I totally enjoyed the colors surrounding us.

The hike back always takes less time than going in, as we usually hike up going in on most hikes. We saw lizards and ducks and many birds in the air. All in all, a wonderful time out in nature.

And someday I need to get back to posting my full hikes on my Spirit Renewing Hikes blog . . .

I had to be back for an MSAC meeting, but that was at 6pm, and I made it time to change shoes and even walked there after our 6+ mile hike that day. I almost didn’t, but was glad I did, as it was a lovely night in Manitou Springs also.

I did miss a training by Tony for Adobe Illustrator that night, but I had decided with those trainings being on Wednesday nights, I would just have to listen to the replays.

The next day I worked all day at the Commonwheel Co-op. So glad for the shorter hours now. Maria Battista and Roger were hanging her one-woman show: “Renaissance: Sculpture as Poetic Pilgrimage” that had bronzes, sketches and jewelry. It took them all day to get it how she wanted it to look. It is a fantastic show! She is such a talented artist and a beautiful person in all ways. I took some photos to do the blog posts on the Commonwheel Facebook page. I did have some fun with people who bought a couple of my FantaFaces Masks that day.

My roommate had left for a music festival for the week, so Little One and I had the house to ourselves. I came home, fed the kitty and went to bed early.

I got a lot of work done Friday, then headed out for 3rd Friday Art Walk. This is always a fun time to connect with other artists and enjoy the food and drink offered at the various galleries. A couple of guys were playing the trumpet and the electric piano in front of Green Horse Gallery, making a beautiful noise in the night. I actually made it to the MAC for a friend’s opening there, then back up to Mountain Living Studio where she was serving very potent Margaritas. I staggered home, fed the kitty and fell into bed.

I asked my tenant again if she had made any decisions about staying or moving. It was a hard decision, but she will be moving out. That said, I had to post it on Craig’s List. I was going to get some signs made, but that never happened for various distractions came about before I got to doing that. A few days later, I also posted it on Postalets. I had decided to raise this rent by $75. I had never made that much of a leap in rent, but thought since I had a month and the cottage had so many people wanting it, I’d try the new rate for a week and see if I got responses.

I had so much to do that I decided to skip the Artist Studio Tour this year. Just wasn’t into driving around town to visit and enjoy art and food offerings at many friends’ studios. Mostly wasn’t into driving and felt I would rather spend time off hiking among the Aspens, which was my next scheduled hike.

And then there was Manifest happening on Sunday. I had volunteered to help with the demo booth set-up for Commonwheel members to do demonstrations. I got that done, then walked down to Memorial Park in time to join the Aqua Luz Yoga Spiral and ran into my hiking friend. We spiraled in and out, blessing some crystals that were then tossed into Fountain Creek. All over the country people were joining in to do a blessing of the waters like this. I wandered around to other groups, then went to dance to Mo Mungus. The music got moved indoors as the weather looked threatening, but it never did rain that day. Danced to the Reggae sounds, then got back with my car in time to take down the demo booth set-up, which is still in my car . . .

Monday, I worked hard to get some reports done for the Board meeting and did some work outside. I cleared out lots of things from under the front porch. There were dozens of empty plastic plant containers! I was very wary of the possibility of spiders after hearing of one of my Festival committee members 2nd encounter with a Brown Recluse. What to do with all these empty planters? I hate to send them to the landfill, not very sustainable of me. So I emailed a gardener friend and she said I should bring them to Green Drinks on Thursday, and if no one else wanted them, she would take them. So into my car they went.

The Manifest review meeting was canceled, as someone in the community had died in a car accident and others were not up for a meeting. So my car was still filled with items to return and that needed to go to the storage unit or get on my porch. And many plastic containers.

I had suggested to my hiking partner that we could go out east to visit a friend with a Clydesdale pony that was heading to a new home Oct. 6th, but with the weather predicted to be still very warm and the Aspens were calling us, she wanted to drive the Golden Tour Route and I wanted to go on a hike. We decided to do both on Wednesday.

I worked hard to get my book finalized, but just too much to do and I kept wanting to add more photos. I was also cross referencing the Kindle Book and making corrections there. I attended the Expert Media Show and got pretty far on the book, but had to quit so I would be well rested for the journey into Aspen Country.

I think this was the most beautiful Aspen trip, or one of the top three in my memory. Hiking with another friend for her 60th birthday 4 years ago to Pancake Rocks was pretty spectacular and the view up there was awesome.

I did get some very excellent images including this one with the barn in it. I was snapping photos while my friend was driving and even some of those came out really beautiful. But for this one, she had pulled off for the view and I got out and took a series of photos, including this one.

I think this is my new favorite image.

After the drive which we took the opposite direction than most of the traffic was going, as we started in Florissant and went to Cripple Creek and Victor, so that we could easily catch the road to Dome Rock and do our hike there.

The colors this year were brilliantly golden with more reds and oranges than I have seen in many years. We hiked for 5 hours! I took dozens of pictures, my friend rested and enjoyed herself immensely being out in this incredible beauty.

I believe in always looking up in life and I have tried for many an aspen season to capture a photo or more that fits that concept. Some came close on this trip.

But the sky didn’t totally cooperate and was filled with clouds when I found the group of trees I wanted to stand under and take photos looking up to the sky. A fun exercise and a different way of viewing the Aspens.

I gave us both a NingiaNitro as we were approaching the final uphill climb we both wanted to surmount. It really did give us a good boost of energy and we got to a lovely view point. I went a little farther as my friend rested and enjoyed the view. There were incredible driftwood logs and I was almost lured to go further, but remembered the last time I did that and how how the the uphill climb was to get back to my friend’s resting area. So headed back myself. We ate lunch and there was this ant who had to have piece of cheese to take back home. It was almost as big as he was, but he carried it away and hopefully to his nest.

We headed back and the aspens were glowing in the setting sun.

And now I haven’t caught up, but it is time for me to get some sleep . . . and my leg is swelling up from sitting too long so will do some oils and elevate it . . . until next time.