SOME HERONS... and some Colorado pictures!

My good friend Rena flew in the other day to visit from Atlanta, where I met her almost two years ago. (We worked together as vet techs at the East Atlanta Animal Clinic, which I'm including a link for, should any of you be in that area and need to adopt a pet! They're a great group of people, with smarts and compassion for lost, sick, and injured pets.) Anyway, I picked Rena up in Denver late last week, and we commenced a fantastic couple of days exploring Colorado.

We drove up the mostly-unpaved road to the summit of Pikes Peak, where it was a good thirty degrees colder than the downtown Colorado Springs area. It was pretty fun. I was surprised that the altitude didn't really affect me at the top; Rena, however, was slightly nauseated, so we didn't hang out too long on the peak. (Um, by the way, I'm kind of proud of the fact that my brakes were considerably cooler than those of other drivers at the halfway checkpoint downhill. See, Tom? I'm taking care of the car. Now, come home and fix the coffee pot, the garage door, and the top kitchen cupboard, which I can't seem to handle.)

Rena and I also spent most of one morning/afternoon walking, hiking, and sprinting around Garden of the Gods with Flynn, the wonderdog (who is currently awaiting obedience training, FYI). We were surprised to crest one hill and find two hikers whispering to us "There are bighorn sheep right around the corner! Go see!" How awesome! There were actually five bighorns: two curled up together in the shade of one shrub, and three picking their way carefully through the sticks and rocks, eyeing us suspiciously while they snacked. It was pretty fantastic. Thankfully, Flynn didn't appear to notice them and used it as an opportunity to rest with her doggie backpack.

I also took my bike out for the first time in months. I rode to Audrey's house, then tooled around downtown, where I did my best not to get smooshed by an SUV. I found this great mural under an overpass, on the side of the Smokebrush gallery:

Rena caught up with me on Colorado Avenue. Here's a (sort of fuzzy) shot of me with my trusty steed:

After all the running around, Rena and I spent some quality time baking and making peach preserves. Here are some of our lovely accomplishments:

Blueberry muffins with streusel topping for breakfast!

Peach-Blueberry pie for dessert!

A dozen peach pits...

Peach preserves being boiled down to a golden translucence.

Needless to say, it was a fun couple of days. I was sad to drop Rena off at the Denver airport, but I know she's got cats and dogs at the clinic to love on. I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me as well, with the Colorado Springs Writers Reading Series event this Friday (tomorrow!) and fall semester kicking off on Monday. Lots of writing and reading to do!

Want me to leave you with a poem? You do? Great. It's short because I wrote three poems last night, two of which were long, rambling flops, and this one came in last. The most concise.

SOME HERONS


There are some herons
that gulp down rabbits
in marshy areas of the country
where fish are scarce
although it could be argued
that the photographs
in magazines are presented
with a bias that does not
take into consideration
maybe the herons are
just picking the rabbits up
and returning them
to their hutch somewhere.

...

Thank you all for reading!

-Abby