on a recent errand i got lost,  i told the woman helping me that i was from the midwest.  she asked me if i still audibly gasp when I see the mountains and I exclaimed yes!!! because it's true!! I pinch myself that i am near so much astounding natural beauty. she said that she too was a "flatlander" and that 10 years later, she still gasps!! i love that!! i still feel like a stranger in a strange land especially in relationship to the seasons.  winter this past year was nothing but wet, and a single dusting of snow,  certainly nothing like what i grew up with. summer back in IL this year was wicked hot - where here, the weather was a cross between heaven and a need for a light sweater.  each and every night the summer temperature drops into the 50's - the most profound sleeping weather ever. i realize i am babbling about the weather, but the truth is - it's different here for me. another truth is it feels that as quickly as summer arrived, it is seemingly ending.  

below a small image essay to share a bit of the beauty around me.

the full album is here.