The family had a splendid afternoon up Hell Hole on Sunday afternoon, taking a five mile hike and a picnic spot by storm.
The fall is beautiful and the maple leaves are falling fast, this whole seasonal change thing looks pretty serious.
Happy fall to you.

Today's political carton from Pat Bagley at the Salt Lake Trib.
If this one doesn't get nationwide print, I'll be a monkey's uncle.
Or a mouse's.
OH, my heart hurts...

Much to be seen and done on this final day of the summer.
Ryan and I wound our way up the canyon to the other side of the range early this morning, finding a sunrise, a hawk, and running close to at least a couple of elk bugling back and forth across a ridge line.
We took Drie and Amy over the mountain in the afternoon to eat in Helper at the Balancing Rock Pub, taking the scenic route both ways. Things are coloring up and the grass dying back as the frost of winter comes down the mountains with the retreating sun's advance southward.
That's what makes the fall a time of deep magic, the interplay that can be found between heaven and earth and between the inhabitants of the ground feeling that change happening.

Mother Nana was over on Sundee and took time for some reading and conversation. It's a good, rare thing to to have her here, and we appreciate it dearly.

My Uncle Kelly came by this morning to say hi and drop off a few bags of much appreciated intra-family hand-me-downs, and in the process, made the whole family happy.
He hung out for a while and Jesse and I showed him the local cafe.
Jesse thinks he had fun down there, and we're glad he came by.

The air was clear and the fish out in the middle of the lake. Not much action from the shore as I halfheartedly tied a few different artifacts to the end of the line. I really just enjoyed the sights and cool temperature, and had fun just being there.
The days are getting shorter, though, and that means that the time for autumn fishing is coming on.

We couldn't get any coal at the mine today, so we wasted gas going around the mountain this afternoon.
Shoulda gotten more wood, but sure enjoyed the fish and moose.
Good fishing and moose watching.

Yup. That's ice, from the tarp on top of my truck.
Ice. This morning.

School started a couple of weeks ago, and I've had a time of it rebalancing myself to having the two jobs at once after a relatively unconfined summer. My children, blog, relationships and soul have suffered for the process. I can tend toward the manic-depressive side, especially at these junctures.
I realized that I've not written in a long time this evening, in part because a dear friend from the other side of the world sent me a kind word and wish yestereve. That had the effect of bringing me to reflect upon my tendency to wrap up into a ball and disappear from the world at different levels sometimes.
For those who don't know me in realtime, or have had no contact for a while, I am an English teacher at a rural alternative high school and spend my evenings responding to the English homwork of students at the Utah Electronic High School, an online highschool sponsored by the state of Utah. There is much patience required in both jobs, and energy by the gobs is spent just keeping my wits and cool at levels capable of keeping my keel from toppling over much of the time.
I have worked in the field of 'at-risk' education for most of the past fifteen years, and I love it. I have enjoyed the interaction of good human beings who have been, for the most part, mislabled. I have benefitted from their talents and wisdom much more than I have taught them, at times.
It's hard work, though. Teaching involves much more than just teaching. Especially in the case of my dear students.
At any rate, I do withdraw sometimes, and most of the time, I have a hard time even recognizing that act.
So if I don't post for a while, that might be at least some of what's going on. I'm sure glad I have such good friends and that person above all people, Diedre, to keep me moored to a good port.
I'll have put up a couple other posts tonight before I go horizontal. I really am grateful for all I have, and I'm really glad that I have this little blog. It's a good place to connect, from time to time. I think that's good for me.

We had a wee family party anoche, and here're the great grand children of my dear Mimi, all bunched together and missing only four or five unable to attend.
Though the rain and recent cold front left all a little chilled, the visitations went well.
It was nice to see everyone and much sugar was consumed upon childlike cravings.