i want to be a river gypsy

So, wow, after 6 days and 6 nights of being on the river…phew, it's a lot of work being back here in the world of land conservation. A- lot. I'm tuckered out already. It was a sweet 6 days of not having an idea as to the time of day, floating down the river, stopping to eat when we felt like it, finding a good campsite, setting up camp, sitting in the occasional rainstorm, eating dinner with my feet in the sand, swimming naked in the river in the early morning, sleeping under the stars, laughing at crude jokes, learning to paddle and steer a canoe, learning to row a raft efficiently, swimming some more, wearing the same bikini and long sleeved shirt and hat for 6 days, eating lots of Pringles, having an excellent mud bath-spa treatment, changing into my sarong for dinner each night, swimming in clear pools in a side anyon, reading, making drip sand castles, and just enjoying life as it came and went. I felt like a river gypsy. These river people like to call themselves river rats, but I much prefer the phrase river gypsy, sounds elusive and transient and mystical and fun. It was fun!

I was very sad to come back last night. We had a late dinner in Moab and there was something so comfortable about being crammed into a big diesel truck pulling a ginormous trailer with 2 rafts and 2 canoes, couple sleeping in the backseat and B, J
and me listening to songs and chatting as we drove across the midnight dark desert. And I was very sad about comming back home. But, when I got my cell phone working I had a message my boss' wife had her baby this weekend! Yay, I am so excited, and everyone in the office has been over to see her…now I'm just waiting to hear back so I too can pop over for a visit. Finally a baby around these parts!

(hmm, my last post seemed to sit there for quite awhile)

why i love summer

1. it's warm and so i am not cold

2. best friends from school come out for visits

3. backpacking trips are amazing, i went backpacking this weekend
with girlfriends from grad school this past weekend. we went outside of
aspen and it was perfectly beautiful. gorgeous weather, the
wildflowers were perfect. the pictures in this post are from then.

4. happy music is very appropriate for summer and it puts me in a
good mood

5. free riverfront concert series at the state park. saw dirty
dozen brass band playing last week...outdoors with teh red sandstone
cliffs and the colorado river in teh background.

6. speaking of rivers...it's warm enough for rat trips and this
afternoon i head off on a 5 day rafting trip on the San Juan river
in far southeastern utah. 5 days of no showers, too much heat, camping,
no cars/technology, good company and hopefully lots of swimming. i
packed two t-shirts and 1 skirt and 1 pair of shorts and two
bikinis..i hope that's sufficient. i will be dirty and stinky and
am kind of looking forward to it.

7. cherries, apricots, plums and peaches. all fresh, all local.

8. the days are long.

9. two of my favorite baby girls were born...happy birthday sonya
and penny!

10. the possibilities are endless in summer.

little video

here's an intersting and artsy video with a definite enviornmental point. sorry, i just can't tell you what it's about, you'll have to watch it for yourself!

here it is:

Vivacious Vegan

in the afternoons i start to get kind of hungry here at work. and i just think of food. and every once in a while i start perusing various vegetarian-food related blogs. and i really enjoy reading this one. first of all, because it is colorful and happy (incentive to change my own blog), and Crystal's pictures of food look so wonderful. though i have been vegetarian all my life... over the past couple years i've been thinking of going vegan.... and the photos and descriptions of the various vivacious vegan foods make it seem quite appealing. mmmm. i'm going home to have some of the homemade mocha vegan icecream i have in the freezer. it may not be "real" food but it's a start!

Finally: the banning of plastic bags

so it turns out (and i know this is almost old news) but san fran has made some of the steps forward in banning plastic bags. excellent. it will mainly affect grocery stores and pharmacies...and not necessarily all the other little stores, but it's definitely a start in the right direction. the larger stores will be allowed to only use compostable bags or bags made from recycled paper. not bad, not bad. and if you are thinking (like i often do when i hear about san fran) "well, lucky them, living in that perfect little liberal eviro-city"...do not despair, apparently Melbourne, Australia and Hong Kong are implementing similar plans.

i wonder how long until this dusty town will follow suit? at least our friendly health food store had a great deal going on in june. if you bought $30 or more you recieved a reuseable shopping bag. and then, everytime you bring in and reuse the bag, they donate 5 cents to the local shelter. that's a nice incentive!

S.F. FIRST CITY TO BAN PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS / Supermarkets and chain pharmacies will have to use recyclable or compostable sacks