Cascade Springs

On Thursday I took Ammon and Clarissa on the Cascade Springs hike. I pulled over en route to take a picture. My camera card was full, so I tried to practice the composition techniques I’ve been reading about using just my iPhone.

This next picture I took when we were close to Cascade Springs. I stepped out of the car and for the first time in forever heard nothing but beautiful, sweet silence. There was no one around for miles. It was sort of ominous at first, but after I gave myself a pep talk (“No one is going to jump out of the bushes and murder you and your children”, etc.) I was able to sink into the gorgeous aural sensation of SILENCE.

Also, in the morning I studied a photo of sunflowers in front of Mt. Fuji, and when I was trying to figure out how to capture the beautiful vista in front of me, I used it as a reference.  It’s amazing what reading and studying do!! I am seriously kicking myself for not doing this years ago.

I was a little nervous to hike Cascade Springs because, as I said before, not a soul was in sight. But it turned out to be the most glorious, sweet experience. I loved every minute of this time in nature with my kids. I kept feeling overwhelmed with wonder that this is my life. It was so beautiful.

I was terrified Ammon would jump into the river so I coached him continuously to STAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BRIDGE. To my delight, he happily complied.
The greens in the springs were SO GREEN. We were all enamored.

Getting here was a little scary. The path was narrow and the stroller kept tilting to the side. On top of that, Clarissa tried to climb out whenever the stroller tipped, so I had to somehow keep pushing her back in and push the stroller forward. I was relieved when we made it.
In the still parts of the springs, the water was so clear!!
Ammon and I raced up the hills back to our car. Clarissa pointed the way.
On the way home, I pulled over many times to enjoy the beauty of the Aspen groves. In this shot, I was enjoying the sweet sounds of nature when an ATV roared in the distance. I felt a moment of irritation knowing that we have to share the earth with boorish ATV riders. Then nature intervened and helped me get back to a good place of kum ba yah.
The aspen leaves made a magical yellow carpet in the aspen groves.
Standing on the bright yellow forest floor.

It was an absolutely amazing morning and afternoon, and I felt so grateful to be alive and in my own life.

With all of that beauty and goodness from the morning, you would think I would have stored up some sort of emotional reserve so that I could behave well when I thought I saw a mouse in the basement. But, sigh, no. I am not at that point yet. I was a totally crazy b*&$! for the next three hours after that–all the way until Abe ascertained that there was no mouse. It must have been my imagination.

Then I felt really bad and guilty for the rest of the evening. I did go to yoga and got back to a good place, but I am hoping that I can figure out how to BE NICE EVEN WHEN I AM STRESSED OUT. This is a very difficult project for me. I hope I can figure this out before my kids all grow up.