use real butter

Hi folks. After that flurry of posts I went dreadfully silent. Sorry. I have been really ill with a capital P for Pain. You don’t know weight loss until you’ve been on this program. I blame that Saturday afternoon buffet…

I’ll get to your emails in due time. I shall reply to all comments as well. Meanwhile, Kaweah is sad that no one has taken her for a crazy hike lately, but seems rather content to snuggle with the sicko (me).

how could you not feel better with a cuddly pup like this around?

My wisdom to you: stay away from Asian buffets with smudgy sneeze guards in small mountain towns.

Recipe: barbecue chicken

I have been posting daily since the calendar flipped to July because there is just so much going on that if I don’t write them up – posts will get buried! Not to mention, I’m on my steroid regimen again and I am running with the overflow of energy. I’ll probably crash and burn in 24 hours, but I’m okay with that. After feeling like complete crap for several months, it’s hard to take for granted the improvements I now feel. I can finally get out to see the mountains I love, find energy to cook wonderful food (and even taste and digest them!), and have the patience to capture the beauty of our summer season with my camera. These are happy times. I’m also wired and exhausted, but I relish it – I really do.

This morning we took another hike up to a lovely lake nestled in an alpine basin at roughly 11,300 feet. Invigorating! There was still plenty of snow, which is a good thing because it has been so hot here lately. Several more varieties of wildflowers were beginning to bloom, but the lake is still under a lot of ice and snow. I’m crazy for the mountains.

marmots out and basking in the sun

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: mini pavlovas

I need to get to bed asap, so this is going to be big on pics and short on words…

A jam-packed, fun-filled day today! We hiked to the Continental Divide (Arapaho Pass and almost Caribou Pass) out of the Fourth of July trailhead – appropriately enough. We couldn’t cross the last snowfield to Caribou because it was too steep for Kaweah to cross safely, while Jeremy and I were perfectly fine with our ice axes. I got a lot of wildflower shots as this hike has just about the greatest variety locally, but haven’t had a chance to process any. I do want to toss up a handful of nice pics from the hike including my two favorite housemates:

the cascading streams are lovely right now

**Jump for more butter**