exercise notes, mmxv-viii-xxxi

180.1 miles for August, as follows:

Alone - 62.79 miles (22 walks)
Ondine - 56.58 miles (26 walks)
Pan - 41.7 miles (25 walks)
Cú - 22.96 miles (19 walks)

Spiritual meltdowns and the loss of a friend earlier this month had me struggling with some difficult questions; I thought I might find some answers by doubling my usual mileage. Call it a pilgrimage-in-place. It was hot.

I don't like taking the dogs out when it's much more than 90 degrees, so I walked alone more often than usual. We've been going easy with Cú because his foot has been slow to mend; he had a minor surgery this month and is now on a third round of antibiotics. When we get that under control his mileage will be up there with the others: he takes great joy in walking.

garden notes, mmxv-viii-xxx

garden notes, mmxv-viii-xxix

field notes, mmxv-viii-xxix

field notes, mmxv-viii-xxviii

Saw a large and awfully beautiful eastern yellow-bellied racer on the trail this afternoon, olive above and bright yellow below, perfect for this time of year. A mockingbird tagged politely along behind, hoping, maybe, to see what the snake might scare up?

On my way out with Pan we saw the bright orange-pink ball of sun sink and dissolve into heat shimmers, and on our way back we saw the full, bright purple-pink ball of moon floating up over the park like a balloon; a dozen whistling ducks flew over west to east to meet its rising.

Later, after dusk, a pair of late-season fireflies flashed as Cú and I passed.

field notes, mmxv-viii-xxvii

yeehaw

 

split-tone sky

snippets, mmxv-viii-xxvi

Brume apres la Pluie, Gustave Marissiaux, Visons D'Artiste, 1906 (h/t wood s lot).

field notes, mmxv-viii-xiv

little bites

snippets, mmxv-viii-xxiv

The end of walking.

blue jay, mmxv-viii-xxiii

garden notes, mmxv-viii-xxiii

pj & e, mmxv-viii-xxii

field notes, mmxv-viii-xxi

they grow up so fast, sniffle

right on

Last night on our way home through the park Pan and I caught sight of a beautiful woman walking a beautiful border collie. . .we both laughed aloud a few steps later when we realized it was Bren and Cú coming to meet us. :)

field notes, mmxv-viii-xix

garden notes, mmxv-viii-xvii

white-winged dove

field notes, mmxv-viii-xvii

a little summer rain

field notes, mmxv-viii-xvi

field notes, mmxv-viii-xv

Nice little corn snake - about four feet long. Wish we had more of these around. Ondine seemed barely interested, but she might have been being respectful. She's like that with wild things. (Cars, bikes, dogs, not so much.)

field notes, mmxv-viii-xiv

These guys have the worst camouflage. You can see them from 40 yards away. It's like they don't even care.

I've been having problems lately with my autofocus in low light situations, along with a few weird lens flares in bright light, but I figured it out. I had a big ol' dog noseprint on my lens. 

pj & cú, mmxv-viii-xiii

field notes, mmxv-viii-xiii

snippets, 8-13-2015

...a car (yes, even a truck) is about the least safe place to be in the event of a tornado. But when a person is caught out on the road...abandon the vehicle, hunker down in the nearest ditch or ravine, and hope for the best. The Texanist will not quibble with the safety advice of the experts, but he would add that it also couldn’t hurt, at such a harrowing point, to let loose with a long string of expletives or a heartfelt prayer to the higher power of your choice.

- The Texanist, August 2015

Try not to get the two mixed up.

ne corner of mlk and guadalupe

thumper!

critter notes, mmxv-viii-ix

ondine, mmxv-viii-ix

a little wizarding

field notes, mmxv-viii-ix

amy & pj, mmxv-viii-viii

field notes, mmxv-viii-viii

We saw a grey fox, a crow, a cottontail, a hummingbird, and several deer along the trail this morning. 

field notes, mmxv-viii-vi

snippets, 8-6-2015

'Thou wandrest in this fals world' (via A Clerk of Oxford)

garden notes, mmxv-viii-v

lawn's a little dry

mornin' y'all

muggy

field notes, mmxv-viii-iii

erin, mmxv-viii-ii

field notes, mmxv-viii-ii