Sven Loves Danger Girl

Aspen leaves on a red picnic table, Durango Colorado. Beautifully art directed by nature.

Seen in Pagosa Spring, Colorado at a roadside farm stand.

This week our travels took us from Creede CO to Pagosa Springs CO. That meant that we had to go over Wolf Creek Pass. I admit to a fair amount of anxiety on mountain roads and passes. But Paul knew all about Wolf Creek Pass (10,857 feet).  He had prepared me and built my confidence.

I was a little bit rattled when the Colorado State Trooper pulled us over at the summit (10,857 feet!) and gave us this warning handout:

The State Trooper was pulling over all large vehicles, not just us. Our RV weighs in at 25,000 pounds and with our tow car we’re about 55’ long. Extra caution just makes sense.

Here’s the scary map posted above our route (note the dangerous! hairpin turn at 6.5 miles):

And here’s one of the two Runaway Truck Ramps – just in case:

The drive down the west slope of the pass was about 8 miles and we dropped about 3700 feet. It was exciting?

The good news is that we lived! Paul is a very experienced driver and I’m sure there was never any need to worry. But worry I did, it’s my job. Somebody has to keep the plane in the air (metaphorically). Of course, in this case being airborne would have been less than ideal.

Still on our extended RV trip, we have spent the last few days in Creede, CO. Creede is an old mining town in south central Colorado. It is at a very high elevation; 8852 feet. The air is very thin up here! The town is just as cute as can be. The surrounding area is mountainous and beautiful.

We are visiting just after their tourist season. Many of the restaurants and retail shops are getting ready to close – or already have closed. I think it’s nice that we don’t have to fight the crowds.

There are parts of the town that seem a bit hard scrabble. But there are also parts of the town that are very artistic and whimsical.

And then we found ourselves at the corner of Zen and Nirvana….

My Luck

My luck
lay in the road
copper side up
and copper side down
It shone
I passed it by
I turned around
I picked it up
I shook
my beggar’s cup
quite full
I left it there
to be refound
I bent down and
I unbent up
copper side down
copper side up
between the air
and ground
left there picked up
My luck

  ~ Poem by Jane Hirshfield

An item frequently seen on South Texas restaurant menus these days is Prickly Pear Lemonade. I have ordered this drink a few times. I’ve not noticed the prickly pear adds much flavor but it certainly seems to add a beautiful pink color. Something like this…

Last September we were in Junction TX at the South Llano River State Park just as the prickly pears were ripe. Prickly pear cactus grows thick all over this part of Texas. Anyway, I had the clever idea to harvest a few prickly pears and make some  lemonade. I read that when the fruit is ripe it no longer has thorns. Nevertheless you are cautioned to wear leather gloves and pick the fruit with tongs. Afterwards you clean the fruit and freeze it. Freezing changes the texture of the fruit so that it can be easily scooped out of it’s shell, in a soft, seedy pulp. I harvested 8 or 10 of the fruit, froze them, collected the pulp in a fine seive and ended up with about an eighth of a teaspoon of prickly pear juice! How many hundreds of prickly pears would you need to make a pitcher of lemonade??

Last night we were again in Junction TX. The prickly pears were ripening. This time I just harvested some photos. Much easier.

I love this time of year when I start seeing all the beautiful pumpkins at the market. The colors and shapes are so appealing!

It is surprisingly hard to get a good picture of a butterfly, especially on a windy day. They don’t sit still for very long. This butterfly didn’t have the least interest in letting me art direct the shot. The photo isn’t great but the beauty of the butterfly can’t be disputed.

This big, beautiful dragonfly was seen in our backyard. A testament to late summer. I was lucky that he was willing to alight so close by.

A haiku by Kobayashi Issa, one of the four haiku masters.

Ready for the festival
dressed to the nines!
Red dragonfly

~ Translated from the Japanese by Scott King

Though my dragonfly is green, I think he looks festival ready.

The little farm stand near is us pretty picked over at this time of year. It’s so hot and dry. We did find some nice peppers and tomatoes. That made it worth the drive. Summer tomatoes are always worth the drive!