June 4…. a peek into my world lately

Summer time heat has hit us hard ,and earlier then usual,over Memorial Day week end ,it set a new record in Augusta with temperatures at 101*. We decided to go camping to enjoy the water!

I did a little hiking and come across a lonely grave. It was hard to read but with some finger tracing ,I finally figured out what was in graved in the head stone. It read… Willis Craft born July 1809 died March 21 1874 . After doing some google search ,I learned that he was very active in the community of Elberton,Ga. It was his dying wish to be buried out on his farm,which is now a lovely wooded area. His family was buried in Elberton.

Caroline enjoying a little water herself on a hot day!

The lilies haven’t minded the heat.

My guava tree is blooming for the first year.

And we will have Kiwi this fall!

And all the hard work of mowing,weed whacking,and weed pulling pay off!

How old this century plant is ,I don’t know but I do believe it’s getting some age to it . I’m looking forward to it blooming!

And of course there’s time to notice a little toad!

Hope you are enjoying your soon to be summertime!

May 19… Castlewood Canyon State Park,and the dam

Last posting on our trip to Colorado Springs…

There were two places in the park that were very interesting,the first was the homestead of the Lucas’s.

Here’s the old homestead…. back of house

Inside of house…

The thickness of the walls..

A side entrance…

I still amazed that the house was make out of concrete! Also their barn floor with one trough for feed and the ditch for manure.

Fencing…

Looking out over the valley

More pictures of the trail that we walked with trail was only 5.6 miles, with not as much up and downs!

Also we saw a deer ,a mule deer,… I think

Coming within view of the dam…

Steps going down to cross from one side of the dam ..

Views of the dam..

Information on the dam

The little creek that flows through the valley now…

One can see the sand that was the cause of the dam breaking…

Some items that caught my attention

When we flew out of Colorado Springs it was snowing and cold

A few hours later.. we walked out of the plane to 85* weather.

Atlanta,Ga

Looking out the small plane window as we approached August , Ga which is an hour from our home.

Now we are back home to duties once again.. as the grass continued to grow ,as the weeds did while we were gone,but it felt good to be back !

May 10…. cliff dwellers ,and Pikes Peak

There were so many great places to go see that we didn’t have the chance to see but the Manitou Cliff dwellers was a must for me . I just love places with a history like this.

Some History on these very creative people…. The Anasazi also known as ancient ones lived here 1100 AD to 1300 A.D. They were very skillful in building their homes. Let’s take a look…

There were carvings in stone…

Inside one of the houses,this one housed 9 people…

This oven would be so fun to try out!!

The watch tower…

Their bread flour plant….

And this is amazingly made with horse hair to add a unique design to their pieces… truly made by Indians.

There was a lovely museum,but I was so busy looking at the tomahawks,arrows ,dream makers,and beadwork I forgot to take pictures! The museum was in the Pueblo dwellings ,they lived there after the ancient ones left, they added more buildings but were somewhat different.

Now on to Pikes Peak which has an elevation of 14,115 feet.

The road was very twisted or switched back with a lot of steep ups or down on the way back down,and trust me when I say you don’t want to be on your phone or inattentive while driving for if you went over the edge you would be no more!

It was so cold ,windy but beautifully rugged!

At the top looking over the valley… there was more snow coming so the road was closed shorty after we went down.

On break time… I did a pastel drawing…. my paper was regular tablet paper ,so I had a little harder time getting the pastels to stick to the paper.

Next post Castlewood Canyon state park…..

May 8… Colorado Springs,Colorado… part 1

Come along ,folks, and see some of Colorado’s rugged beautiful countryside. Grab a coat it’s still a little chilly out!

We flew out from Ga on the 3rd of May ,having perfect flying conditions as there were only a few bumps the whole time of flying without long layovers.

Flying over Atlanta,Ga

Window views…

The next morning we were up bright and early for we were in a different time zone,with time in Colorado two hours behind what we were used too.

We decided to hit the hiking trails in Divide for most places were not open yet.

We hiked a good 10 miles that day enjoying nature to the fullest.

Views while driving to Divide.

Driving up the dirt road to find the trail..

The trail…

And where did the trail go…. and this southern girl only brought sandals along for I was used to 90* days not 40* ones.

Some of those snowdrifts that we had to walk through were up to my knees…. yes my feet and legs got cold but soon warmed back up from the walking and climbing.

The weathered old fallen tree stumps fascinated me.

As did this TP ,we found along the way…

We also visited a place called Helen Hunt Falls ,a local person told us to drive up the back way for there were old train tunnels from gold mining days . That just what we did and were well rewarded! Helen Hunt was a poet and writer who was a activist for better treatment for the native Americans.

More on next post on the cliff dwellers and a dam…..