use real butter

I haven’t been cooking much lately because we’ve spent the weekend polishing off leftovers, planning our summer, enjoying my return to normalcy, and taking it easy (not really in my vocabulary, but sometimes it is worse to fight it). This morning we packed up the dog and camera and set off down the canyon for a stab at the blooms in Boulder.

a lesson in geography, weather
I realize there may be some climate confusion for folks who see pictures of snowy mountain ridges posted alongside beautiful wildflowers in my entries. For clarification: we live in the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 8500 feet. Don’t try looking anywhere on the US East Coast for a point that is 8500 feet, because there isn’t one. Our bathroom is higher than their highest peak Mount Mitchell (6684 ft.) in North Carolina. [That’s right, the highest peak on the East Coast is not Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, even though many New Englanders would like you to think as much.] The town of Boulder, Colorado lies to the East of us by 18 miles and is nestled against the Front Range at 5430 feet.

Recipe: chicken diablo sandwich

I feel like I’m in pole position, revving my engine, ready to bolt across the starting line. I began to sense a slight increase in energy this afternoon and endeavored to take a short 2-mile jaunt on one of our backyard hikes. The smells of pine forests and damp earth (the snow is melting out in earnest) trigger the urge to run for me. I like the soft feel of the pine litter under my feet as my eyes search for what is around the next turn. That’s the beauty of trail running for me – I don’t get bored. But my body wasn’t ready for that today, so we hiked and had time to spy the very earliest of our local high-elevation wildflowers like the lavender-colored pasque, violet astragalus, and pretty white draba. I have a hard time running with my camera (unless I want to take out several ribs in the process), so it was just as well :)

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: greek beef/chicken salad with tahini-yogurt dressing

My favorite weather to hike in is overcast and cool (50s F). That was the forecast for Boulder this morning, my last “good” morning before my body is overrun with side effects from: my primary drugs, my secondary drugs (to treat side-effects), and my tertiary drugs (to treat side-effects from the secondary drug side-effects). Even so, round #5 wasn’t quite done with me and I’ve gained 10 pounds of fluid in the form of swelling over the last 2 days. Uncomfortable, painful… annoying as hell.

But I wasn’t to be deterred because I knew if I didn’t go wildflower peeping, they might up and bloom and wither away before I am well enough to see them after chemo #6. Jeremy knows how important this is to me – to get out right before I go down for the count. He offered to spend the morning with me and chaperone the pup (deprived of her rightful hiking all winter and spring) while I got my fix.