as usual i'm loading way too many pictures in here. i get insane with the pictures. this is fast becoming my photo album. i'm guessing one day soon they will just stop selling photo albums all together. i still do enjoy cruising through old albums, but i can see how they take up space and computers will soon just take that need away. the other bonus is that in the event of a fire...you don't actually have to lose your pictures as they will be stored in never never land. there were some large patches of blue sky so i followed it. first i went to north bivouac trail for a few hours with both dogs, then blossom and i headed up arctic valley road to the ski place for a second hike. these signs are posted on the 7 mile road leading up to the ski place. it is on military land and used to be run for military personel by military. now i believe it's run by volunteers and more accesible. we pay a $5 fee to park there in the summers and play on the trails. only once have i ran into troops on the road, but cool sign.
at the top of the ridge you can look back onto eagle and symphony lakes. 
loads of wildflowers out there still. i didn't notice any berries popping out yet, but this is a great place for berry picking from what i've heard.
the air show is running this weekend. several cars avoided the crowds on base and just parked on arctic valley road. not sure what they were doing here but obviously part of the show. the show was tempered by a training accident the other day which took the lives of the 4 crew on board. very sad. it was one of those big cargo planes.
the ski lifts are always make for fun pictures. just had to capture a bit of that blue sky.
loved how the one below was disappearing into the clouds.
i even managed to get my swim in this evening. felt good after all the bug spray and sweat of the day. 4 russian dudes, probably late teens or early 20's, didn't seem to understand that free swim was over and were just ducking under the lane dividers and swimming, jumping where ever they wanted. i had to set them straight. makes me feel like such an old lady. they headed to the jacuzzi and the rest of my swim was uneventful.
not sure what this is. at least the flower book is divided by colours of flowers which makes it easier overall. ended up meeting up with sandra after the swim for dinner. we ate at tgif's. it was good. seems like everyone always goes to either bear tooth or mooses tooth. those are both great, but it was nice to change it up for once.
star gentian. thought this a rather pretty flower.
some sort of hawk flying around over heard. was chatting with a biker, who had biked from downtown anchorage to the ridgeline here up arctic valley road, and he said the dog of a few other trail uses flushed out a few ptarmigan. a hawk flew out of nowhere and snagged one of those ptarmigan. i heard the noise, but had no idea what had happened. that is a pretty impressive ride as that drive up here is 7 miles of uphill on dirt road. 
also spotted a bald eagle flying around out there.
thought i'd get a picture of the bike with the background. that valley is the bear lake valley off of hiland road that i hiked with maureen a week or so ago. probably the last time we saw the sun here.
coastal fleabane, some sort of wild daisy like flower. pretty.
i believe these are just yellow paintbrush?
thinking this is a bee enjoying some sort of valerian? i'm trying and i have the books, but flowers and mushrooms do tend to look similar to me. thought the bee turned out pretty cool. i was a bit tortured by biting flies up on the mountain today. the mosquito's got me at bivouac. no breeze. i did once again hear the call of those sandhill cranes today while i was walking in n.bivouac. i veered off to look but never saw em.
looking back down towards anchorage. 
took a few snapshots of blossom and i. thought they turned out decent. i like that the new cameras shoot 3 or more pictures in a row, depending on how you program it. just gives you a few tries to get it right. could be a nice christmas card shot. 
blossom has her tennis ball. rio is very tough for me to get pictures of. she will not sit for pose or wait for me to set up camera. goofy dogs.
nice to finally get a light breeze at the top. you can take the trail left of right. i wandered around and then headed back to car. it only takes around 1/2 hour to get to this viewpoint from where car is parked. 
pics from n. bivouac trails.
blossom takes a break for some stagnant water.
let the mushrooms begin. id if able. i give up. gotta get to bed. hoping weather is decent enough for a trek to seward tomorrow. want to hike ptarmigan lake trail. 
possibly a mushroom called sickener. i'm guessing with a name like that this would be one to avoid. enjoy the shrooms. they are very cool to look at and i'm amazed at the variety of them when you really look around for them. 
okay so a flower slipped in there again. these are monkshood. 
back to shrooms.
so first i bore with sandhill cranes now flowers and mushrooms...no wonder my blog is so unread. of course, i do still get those spam notes from a variety of minimally clothed asians. hmm. 
of course, it could be those scantily clad women are saying very nice things on my blog comments. i can't understand a word of it though so i believe i'll continue to just delete those,so my apologies if there are some scantily clad women really enjoying the blog. haha. 
okay...i think this is the last of them today. 
this is the fly agaric. more hallucinogenic than toxic, the book says rare fatalities. they sure are pretty and the tops can measure 8-10 inches. pretty impressive.they are the kings of the forest floor as far as mushrooms go i'm thinking.
it was great to enjoy an almost sunny day. lots of sucker holes of blue skies. i probably got carried away. 
can you see the sun on the ground and the blue skies through the tree's. i'm hoping for a sunny august!!
poor mufasa really is a flat cat. he almost disappears sleeping on the down comforter.
who knows how many pictures he has left in him so thought i'd get a few today.
a final picture...definitly demonstrates my lack of gardening skills. my neighbor planted raspberry bushes on her side of the fence, see right and they grew rapidly onto my side, see left. so i put a little fence around them and some fertilized soil. look at the bushes...note that there are only berries growing on the right side??? what is up with that??? this makes me officially a disgruntled gardener!!
-
old poem
-the brave young man
i died today,
a brave young man,
who gave his life,
for what?
for freedom.
and who will get,
to ahve this freedom,
no longer am i,
free to live,
my family too,
is free no more,
they're trapped,
in pain and torment,
from the loss,
of a child bore.
there's many more,
who've died in vain,
for some unknown,
freedom,
this worlds small gain.
and my children,
what child,
i shant have one,
will never be proud,
or happy i'm dead,
a world of men,
has slipped away,
because a few,
were brave today. 4/83
-
new poem...
moments often pass,
before i've thought them through,
and once i know the words to say,
there's nothing i can do,
so in silence,
i say my words,
all organized and clear,
and though they're perfect and concise,
they never will be heard.
-
it is fun to be writing again. just think what i could do if i spent more than a few minutes a day writing. well...just on blog days. but i've always thought it would be cool to have a book published of my poetry mixed with pictures i've taken. i've always had such aspirations...to bad i've always been too lazy to get it together. good night....
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