much more fun day on the trails!!

 Tusker just gets more and more beautiful.  Ivy is all personality.  i'm afraid she may not be the curly girl...happy i have Tusker to get my curls..takes the pressure off of Ivy. you fall in love with her because she is a bundle of love. she makes you smile.  it can be crazy with the two pups and Blossom, but i'm quite happy with my current fur family.  does seem to take two dogs to begin to fill the hole left behind when Rio left us. i've had some great dogs over the years. i am always grateful for that. life would have had potential for a great deal of loneliness but the pets have always kept me loved and sane.

 today i headed with all the pups to Hatchers Pass. ended up taking Arc Angel Road and hitting the trail to Reed Lakes.  we only cruised in a few miles before turning around.  i let the pups run a bit and then we headed up to Independence mine...so many miles total.  the pups were pooped.

 they did have one play session at home before crawling in their crates but it was pretty short.

 most of these are from Mondays' walk and tuesdays walk.

 need to prep for the bear trip.  pack light i guess.  we shall see.  hope we have decent weather and amazing scenery and some cool bear sightings.  should be fun.

 loved the alaska cotten in the foreground on this.

 Ivy breaks free...haha.

 meeting another doodle pup.  a bit older and more trained.  we still need to work on the meet and greets more.  they are leapers.

 always enjoy being out with friends.

 flowers today were great...teaching the dogs "hold up" so i can stop and take pictures.

 trail today was fairly brushy...no signs of bears and there were quite a few folks on the trail.  great that they improved the road out there a few years back. so much nicer.

 i tend to hit a different trail in Hatchers, Gold Mint, but the clouds looked better up here and i'm happy for a change. needed to feel like i'm out hiking for real again.  the pups for sure have impacted the trails i've taken this summer and distance.  Blossom has slowed down these past years.  will be depressing the day i have to leave her at home. guilt inducing. she's managing well for now though so hopefully, that is much further out in our future.

 TO getting some Tusker love.  she for sure is smitten with this guy.

 thought this turned out beautiful of my other friends daughter!!  some times you get lucky with a shot.

 creek time means cooling and relaxation.  need to make a follow up appointment for Blossom at the vets and probably get these guys in for introductions...it will soon be time for their surgeries.  don't want any accidental puppies making puppies going on.

 their incisors all looking to be all adult teeth now.  today my beautiful sunglasses got snagged and destroyed while i was out mowing or prepping to mow.  just that age...if you aren't careful stuff gets destroyed.

 i was sleepy as well when i got home tonight so i chilled on the couch to watch something on netflix.  "the letters".  it was about Mother Theresa.  she wrote letters to her spiritual guide i guess it would be in a way in the Catholic church.  she had actually asked him to destroy them but after she died he felt they would help with the process of sainting her. she just needed one more miracle...i kind of think that may have happened already.

 anyway, it was interesting as it was telling how she had begun as a teacher in an order of nuns in India.  it was distressing to her to look out at the poor people suffering and to nothing.  she felt that after much prayer she was told by God to help the poor people.  the Mother in her order wasn't overly supportive of her desire to do this service and later to create her own order.  sounds like new orders of nuns are not created very often, but she was granted the permission to do so.

 it is apparently one of the few orders in the church that grows in numbers.  tough to find as many folks willing to give up their lives to become nuns and priests.

 in the letters Mother Theresa shows how vulnerable she is spiritually. always filled with doubt in regards to her faith while living her life every day to serve the poorest and most vulnerable in India.

 pretty amazing to think of someone so dedicated to the path that she felt she was directed to follow by God, still having doubts and concerns. she lived humbly to serve.  she did get a Nobel Peace Prize, but only accepted it knowing that by accepting it she would bring light to the plight of others.

 always interesting and amazing to learn more about someone like this.  so dedicated to others, so self less.  seems so rare to find such persons in this world..but they are out there.  perhaps not to the level that she was, but there are so many really lovely people who think of others and serve without complaint.

 can't believe June is almost over.  crazy how fast this summer is flying by.

 there was a car wreck in town, but they discovered the victim in the wreck was dead before the wreck. not sure what his relationship was with her or if there was one.  the paper this morning makes it sound like her death was brutal and violent and his family was also going to be charged with attempts to cover it up.  he was headed to dump her body.  are there more?  there are some terrible people out there.  be careful.  lucky, for potential future victims that this guy wrecked the car and his crime was discovered.

 always love these purple pine cones

 still lots of pictures from Holgate..i will load more just thought i'd mix in some new stuff.  keep it exciting, like my life. haha!! actually, my life is not very exciting at all.  i walk every day, i  am lazy much of the rest of the day. then there is work.

 chocolate lily. guess they can be stinky.

 more columbine

 the daisies are out.  i love these guys. simple and beautiful

 sunset almost over downtown Anchorage

 these are from Reflection Lake walk.

 the flowers are still there a bit but the peak of those flowers passed a few weeks ago.  amazing how quickly we move through these seasons here.

 beautiful skies yesterday...even if the pups were dragging me all over.

 they were better today or i was, not sure.  some days you just are more patient than others too i guess.  i'm not perfect.

 not sure what bird these came from but there were several of these out there...didn't see a body though.

 just enjoyed the big sky

 have a few more things to do before i turn in for the night.  i am beat though.

 dogs in silty water.

 another feather and a pretty butterfly

 and one from today.  Blossom looking out the window. liked that her face is in the rear view mirror. thought it was cool.

grateful for:  A.  days that look like rain, but don't rain while you are hiking. it did rain after i got home.  B. flowers so pretty, so much variety  C. the inspiration of others who are way kinder and more giving....i will never reach the level of Mother Theresa but we can all give of our selves more and be kind.