Odds & Ends: May 2014 Edition

We've been busy.  Now that we have our beloved and cherished fence, we're trying to get the yard and property up to a nice starting point.  So far I have 7 hours of racking pine needles under my belt and I bet I have about that many more to go, but that's a story for a different post.  We also had the 1-year anniversary of Eric's 40th birthday, some other friend and family birthdays, Mothers Day, and me traveling to Bend, Oregon to do some decorative painting.  When I returned home early last week, I found that the forest had really "greened up" and the Arrowleaf Balsamroot had started its big spring show!

I wish I had the skills to make any of my cameras do justice to how pretty the forest floor looks covered in wildflowers.  Not just the yellow Balsamroots, but probably about a dozen other kinds, too.  I was, however, able to get a pretty flattering shot of our fence bordering, and gate leading to, the forest.

What a treat to share with longtime friends from Portland, Jeff & Becky and their girls, Megan and Sydney who made a quick visit on their vacation road trip between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks!

While I do wish I'd gotten more photos of the visit, I'm really just so happy that it was such fun that we didn't really didn't think to take them.  Also, Betty is not the first of my pets to fall hard for Jeff.  I should also note that Betty spent just as much time trying to make Becky and the girls feel welcome; she's just that good at her job.

And we finally got a chance to take a little local road trip ourselves... to Georgetown Lake with new friends to celebrate a 40th birthday!

If you squint and use the power of your imagination you can see the lake (still frozen over) in the bottom of that space between the trees.  Mostly use the power of your imagination for this.

Can you believe that the photo "of" Georgetown Lake was taken just a few hours before the photo of the Balsamroots?  Springtime in the Rockies!