©IBKimage2012

Before moving to Denver , my hikes occurred on summer vacations. Yesterday  a friend and I went on a spring hike.  The trail started from a parking lot about 15 minutes from my house. Soon we were climbing higher and  proceeded up a series of switchbacks with a generally smooth path along with patches of rocky terrain. We hiked to the top, sat on rocks to eat our snack and then completed the loop of 4 miles back to the car.  I was home by lunch. OK, so what?

Well the rest of the story is that with minimal effort, I saw purple,teal,and fuchsia spring flowers that I had never seen before, hiked up the back of the well known Red Rocks Amphitheater, AND saw numerous nests of caterpillars in their silken  nursery tents  (see today’s image), resting  – perhaps after munching on their host plant’s leaves.  Take that you boring treadmill at the fitness center.

I had so much energy and a great attitude when I got home, that I planted most of my small backyard garden and added some new scented flowers by the front steps in anticipation of the rain which didn’t come until tonight.  Then I got to see the new plants dancing in the rain.  I would have missed this latest delight because I had planned to watch some T.V. after my big day … thankfully the cable was out and I had hours “to be”.

A personal note: Please pray for a young man name Ty who is in a major battle with his enemy, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.

IBK