It happened again!

Last June, 2010, BobBIE gave me an orchid plant after my surgery.  It had gorgeous purple-spotted bloosoms that lasted 5 months or so!

In February I showed you pictures of the orchid that bloomed for a second time.  The beautiful flowers lasted until early June. BobBIE got to see them when she was here for graduation!

And guess what? The other stem of the two-stemmed plant bloomed this summer!  Here is the progression!

I was excited in June when I noticed the tiny buds.

June 25 -- buds on the smaller secondary stem.

Over the next few weeks, they continued to grow bigger.

July 5

July 26

Until, here they are today!

I'm so excited that I get to enjoy a few more blossoms for a few more months!

End of Day

I forgot to post this picture that X took as we drove back up the hill from our hike.  Nice end to the day, huh?

Niece Afternoon!

It was a niece afternoon! How nice!

First, the littlest one and I went to feed the ducks at the pond. Ruby K's was closed, so we couldn't get any stale bread to feed them. Darn! It was tons o' fun anyway!



In the late afternoon, the middle one and I went to Tsankawi, part of Bandelier National Monument. Most of Bandelier is closed because of the Las Conchas fire, but Tsankawi is open. I had never walked there. It is a nice interpreted trail up to a mesa-top un-excavated Ancestral Pueblo community. Really cool hike as you walk the paths that the ancestral puebloans walked.

Beautiful vistas!

What a beauty!

There are lots of petroglyphs there.

There were three ladders to go up and down.

The trail passed some cavetas that you could enter.

I love to touch the past and imagine the life that was lived hundreds of years ago.

Walking the Rim Trail

The Canyon Rim Trail is a fairly new trail in Los Alamos that loops around the "main" mesa (does it have a name?).  It starts out across the street from the new Co-op store.  You walk a paved path above DP Canyon, then you cross East Road near the fire station, and walk back along the other side of the mesa along the rim of Pueblo Canyon, behind the airport. The Pueblo Canyon side is especially pretty. The cliffs of North Mesa are gorgeous, and I was coveting some of the homes that sit on the edge.

Here is a nifty map I found of Los Alamos for your reference.  Hover over the map, click, and it will give you a nice PDF.

It was a fairly cloudy day, and a nice breeze blew. It was perfect for a 4-mile walk. Come with me!

Not too many wildflowers this year!  Waay too dry, I guess. But here's one.

I was surprised to see this fungus. No rain, no humidity, but it still managed to ...what? bloom? emerge? fungasize?

As I started along the Pueblo Canyon a helio was taking off to go fight the fire some more, and as I finished this section, he came back.

At least one helio crew came from the Grand Canyon.

I could see some smoke from a little spot fire.

The cliffs across the canyon are sooo pretty! Here are some pictures!

See the large adobe-style house? That is my home. In my dreams.

Want.

 I took a panorama of North Mesa.  I was standing on a cement jut-out like the one you see on the right. Nice vistas!

Some more pictures.

The Potty Place.

Growing behind the Co-op at the end of the trail, I enjoyed some California Poppies!  A little piece of home!

Viewing Las Conchas

BobBIE and I drove up to the Jemez to see the burned areas of the still-burning Las Conchas wildfire.

It was super smokey. Here are some shots of the Valle Grande.

And a panorama of shots.  As always, click for bigger version.

Here is the Las Conchas trailhead, near the area where the fire started.  Sad.

The happy news is on the other side of the road, at the trailhead itself, the forest is still beautiful and pristine.  Fishing and hiking next year for sure!

We drove into the Caldera to take a look from another viewpoint. It was so smokey, it was hard to see to the other side of the Valle.  We met some new friends, though!  Cuties!