Summer tree

Another one of my favorite Summer Tree ...

A sign of what's coming?

The weather continues to be delightful - cool mornings, mostly sunny days, not hot!  We're starting to notice some coloring of leaves.  Could this mean that summer is almost over?

I'm headed to KY for the weekend.  Should have a lot of photos coming that are "out of the woods"!

 Make-do bridge.  Nice to finally have a way through the mud.

 Jubilee is doing pretty well with her limited eyesight, though she falls off this bridge most every time we cross it.

leaves, lilies and sunshine

These days in Western Pennsylvania have been delightfully cool (48 degrees yesterday morning) and mostly sunny.  I've yet to make it up to the pool (too cold!), but doing a lot of walking and generally enjoying the weather.  It feels like summer without the heat!

 I love the way the sunlight filters through the oh-so-green of the trees.  Even the dappled shadows dance and delight.

 I've been looking at these lilies up by the playground.  They too speak of summertime.

 I coaxed Jubilee across this bridge today this morning.  She is careful where she walks now ...

 ... down to the fallen tree ...

 ... where we saw this lovely "weed".

midsummer bounty

Blackberries are ripening ...

 Orange fungi ..

...pretty little flowers ...

Finally someone has made a portion of our favorite off the road walk, passable.  For more than a year now it has been so wet that I would sink several inches into the mud while trying to get around this corner.

 Jubilee rinses her feet off.

Back to the park

The drive was long and through quite a few downpours.  The last 25 miles crawled through rain and Pittsburgh traffic and I thought we'd never get here.  But we finally arrived.  John had a salmon dinner ready for us.  He keeps our little "cave" here simple and neat.  Life is so much easier and better when I am with John!

Jubilee and I didn't waste much time getting back over to the park this morning.  The air is cooler here, and since we don't walk much in Florida (we swim!), it is good to be out walking again.  Besides running into a frisbee "hole", Jubilee did pretty well walking along the path without a leash or much eyesight.

It is full summer here now, all the trees are fully green and in their prime.

 I am looking for a few good rocks to put in our up and coming Rock Garden in Florida.  So many here, and they are so rare (and expensive!) in Florida.

trees and stuff

 More of the hickory tree blooms, which are still breaking open ...

 Leafing is well underway, though, and appears to be almost done ...

 ... the tops of the trees outside our window are filling in...

 Jubilee has had a shave ... revealing several "rolls" on her back so that she resembles a well fed seal ...

 ... looking up ...

 ... and around ...

... the morning walks in the woods have been like prayer.  Nor like a prayer, they are prayer itself.

some last PA photos

These are some last PA photos that were on my camera.  We'll be leaving here in less than a week -  Friday morning.

Even though it is COLD today - going down to 34 degrees tonight - springtime is turning into summer.  The buds and blossomings are giving way to the leafing, and the trees are getting greener and fuller every day.

I have my last visit with my young doctor up here tomorrow.  I came here a bald and sickly creature and am leaving feeling much stronger, with a smattering of fuzz on my head.  My doctor here, Michael Krauze MD, is just 33 years old and had the confidence to stop the chemo that I was on and change my drugs.  I wish I could bring him back to FL with me.

We will be going through South Carolina for Rocky's wedding, and then on down into the tropics, just in time for Hurricane season.   They tell me that Florida is hot already!

This is the last budding tree ...

 Some violets ...

 One of the last of the dogwoods ...

 Azaleas are blooming now ...

 ... and rhododendron ...

 The beautiful dogwood blooms giving way to the leafs ...

 A purple dress down at the "Strip" ...

 ... flowers at the strip ...

 Lunch at "Enrico's" ...

... 2 cars, 2 trucks, 2 bridges ...

 dogwood...

 some leafing that reminds me of Matisse ...

 Japanese maple tree.