I got to visit a beautiful place with some of my favorite people last weekend. (Look closely to see me in lush, crazybeautiful setting.) Just being here really helps to erase some of the strip-mall, Wal-Mart, fast food, consumerama that is a daily distraction from what is important.

Still, quiet, picturesque... solitude

The property had been a resort in the early part of the twentieth century. People came from all around to take the waters...

You can see the rust that has accumulated in the leaves from the water leaving the spring. Visitors carved their initials in this stone :

A friend and her son, who shared the weekend there:

The "male energy" component of the weekend:

My Godson, who must be some kind of hippie?

My mother. She doesn't know how cool she is.

My best friend, who can almost hide her whole head behind that coffee mug:

Boys again (The two brothers were remarkably considerate and thoughtful for modern children, in my opinion.)

Happiness

I so enjoyed watching Henry play in the mud and examine his shadow:








I had the time to see all sorts of little creatures and other things that are too small to notice in my day-to-day life:

This guy was particularly fierce looking:

If you click on this one, you can see a teenytiny frog:

When I saw this guy I told mother to just keep walking. She has a "thing" about snakes.

I tried to take the boys back to see this guy, but he was gone when we returned to the scene:

It was marvelous!