Where has the summer gone?

Today: RAIN!  Last night: RAIN!  All night!!    It's been months since we've had this much rain.  A big yahoo to all the moisture.  And a bit of a startled bonk to the brain over the inkling that autumn must be fast approaching - for not only is it raining, but the nights are cooling, the darkness of the night is creeping further into the morning hours and, lordy lordy, the leaves are beginning to turn.

It turns out it has also been months since I've posted to this blog.  So just what has been keeping me so busy that I couldn't sit down in front of the computer and write a bit.  Well, not terribly busy, but definitely enjoying the balmy (perhaps a bit too balmy) days of summer .  Here's a quick synopsis:

  June started with a trip to Petoskey to visit mom and the oh-so-fabulous Great Lakes.  As an added bonus, we were able to watch the transit of Venus as it crossed the setting sun over Little Traverse Bay.  Spectacular!

 After our return to Boulder, we experienced the hottest June on record.  Whew.  The heat seemed to slow everyone down. Feeling blah, feeling cranky.  What a person to do?  Well!  In the VaughanMiller household we decided to have an Iron Chef competition.  Kendall and Devon were the competing chefs, Paul & I were the judges and the selectors of the Secret Ingredient:  Pineapple!  The kitchen was humming, the house was abuzz, and boy-oh-boy did we eat well that night!  Pineapple salsas, chicken pineapple soft shelled tacos, pineapple kabobs and the piece de resistance: dessert pizza (shortbread 'crust', strawberry 'sauce', pineapple, marscapone cheese, and shaved pineapple granita 'parmesan'.  Our new Iron Chef: Devon!

 July's highlight was the Miller family rendezvous in Cody, Wyoming & Yellowstone.

 Kendall and siblings and most of the offspring were there for campfires, hiking, running, cycling (hooray for K's brother Andy and his patient willingness to cycle with me as we explored trails near our campground), and a whole lot of laughing and talking and general frivolity that seems to permeate every Miller gathering!

The Miller siblings: Steve, Andy, Kendall & Cheryl at Yellowstone Lake

Hangin' at the campground (Tara, Kitty, Steve, Kendall, Paul)

Just about the whole gang...lots to keep track of, lots of fun

August was a hodgepodge:

Paul on his party porch

Mister Taz cruising Paul's backyard

• I was training hard for the Heart & Sole Half Marathon. 
  It turned out to not be my day for racing - but a glorious day for a long run, one of the coolest days of the summer.
  Definitely an enjoyable day for a run around the rez and environs.
• Paul had his official housewarming party. 
  It seems he has a mighty fine party house.  We'll have to keep that in mind for future festivities!
• The fabulous RazamaTaz had his first birthday.   We sure are a lucky family to have been adopted by this most excellent pupster!

September got off and running full speed ahead.

September 1: CU loses to CSU in our first football game of the season.  Sigh.

September 2: President Obama visits the CU campus.  So very glad I could be there to hear him speak.

 

Quiet beauty of a Mesa Trail run

Now we are heading into autumn.  Given my disappointing race, the general fatigue of eight solid months of hard training (first for the birthday 60k, then for May's Bolder Boulder, followed immediately by half-marathon training for August's race), and that I simply love love love running footloose and fancy free in the autumn, I've backed off focused training and simply go out to enjoy the day.  So far it's been a delightful plan.  Sightings of heron, hawks, albert squirrels, deer, my first Boulder bear!, and moments of silence that only wilderness can provide.  'Tis a good life!

Bear in a tree.  I saw him; the Daily Camera took the pic