July! July!

and the living is easy...Went hiking up by Blue Lake and Mitchell Lake this weekend, and had the pleasure of being pelted with rain, snow and hail. Since we were a little ways below the tree line, we did have some trees to take cover under (I know, I know, lightning strikes trees! but what was our choice?) sort of...if we wanted to scrunch down under the not so tall spruce and fir. But then the sun came out...and all was well until the next stormling.

The flowers were beyond wonderful. I did not take that may photos, due to the distraction of the DOG. He tends to want to sniff things as we go along, and I may practice my best Cesar Millan dog whispering, but that DOG is so obstinate! So he will yank on me at the worst moment.

Meanwhile my spousal unit is off taking landscape photos, and trying to catch a shot of flying birds.

Just as an aside, there were tons of flowers (well, lots of flowers) on the mountain blueberries. Bodes well for this fall. It has been a long time since I have them covered with blooms like that. The bog laurel was magnificent too. Violets were everywhere. Parry's primroses lined all the streams. Virginia bluebells joined them, along with marsh marigolds. It was enough to make one forget about the steepness of the hills, the angularity of the rocks on the path and the streams to cross.