Sea and Sky: Camping Binge

Can anything be a "binge"? If you "binge eat" don't you typically puke it up afterwards? Oh wait, I guess that would just make you bulimic...not a pretty problem to have.

It's no big secret how badly I hate living in "The Valley of the Sun". I can't handle the heat. It messes with my mind. I refuse to make long last connections here so that no bonds tie me (of course this automatically excludes my family) Basically I literally go nuts and lose myself when I'm here - especially in the summer. So this year I was lucky enough to go camping for 3 consecutive weekends in a row. I only went for the weekends, determined to find a job during the weekdays, but Mom was up there non-stop. Anyway, those three weekends has given me enough fuel to survive for another month I think....we'll see.

WEEKEND 1

Basically this was time to mentally let down. I haven't been in a very good place lately so feeling the beauty of the mountains and the relaxing peace that they can offer took awhile to truly open up to and accept. Once I found that peace I crawled within myself, forced my body to move like a machine, and found fabulous treasures in the process. I basically went on a scavenger hunt for myself, only I had no goal in mind, I simply knew I wanted to find anything beautiful that I could and try to capture it the best I could. This inspired me in a very familiar way. The last time I was inspired in this sense was when I found a new appreciation of birds. I've since become a bird nerd and try to identify as many of these unbelievable creatures as I can. Now my purpose is plants, mainly wildflowers. Our camp site was right next to an incredible meadow that turned into a faerie land, laboratory, Garden of Eden, thought-provoking dreamland for me. It was perfect for my mental state. Here is a sample of my drug of choice:

My one, pure sanctuary lately.

Doin my thing

Seeding grasses

Ladybug hotel

A strawberry in the making

Another Strawberry Shortcake fetus

I thought I discovered a new species. It was too fascinating not to be familiar. It was going to be dubbed the Tyia Lilly. Turns out it's a Sego Lilly (Utah's state flower...I suck haha)

Fleabane...does it really piss off the fleas?

Foggy mountain morning - day 2

glistening sap on a pine cone

Mullein

Blue-eyed Grass

Richardson's Geranium

Oak

Narrowleaf Penstemon

Sego Lily

Mogollon Rim

Arizona Thistle

Wild Blackberries...all stages of ripeness

Mullein

Yellow Columbine

WEEKEND 2

This weekend started out on a much better note. I was getting my mother nature groove on. I had spent the week looking at all my lovely pictures from the previous weekend. That does a heart good. So I continued on with my zen photo opp and added to my collection of peace keys.

Stacking Stones for Sanity

Bergamot

Baby Bergamot

I think this is a Purplish Fritillary (Boloria montinus)

In addition to all the magical wonder I was able to see, it was also time to start harvesting the wild blackberries. This is one of my most favorite things to do. There's something so satisfying and addicting to getting the crap cut out of your arms just to get that plumpest, sweetest berry on the bush. This is something we've done since we were kids. I have so many great memories of picking berries all day and getting to eat pies at night. Then we'd bottle dozens of jars of jam. There is nothing more delicious on homemade bread.

Dad

Mom

We also got a visit from Oliver and a couple of his friends - Pat and Stevens. They stopped by for breakfast and spent most of the day hanging out. It was a good day. Lots of good conversation. I got to stretch my mental muscles a little and those muscles actually liked it.

WEEKEND 3

This weekend got a little spicier. Kattie and the Ritters came up to spend their weekends up there too. (Kattie and the Ritters...haha...sounds like a band)

We did a whole lot of eating (courtesy of Dad)