July Magic

 

The magic began by

celebrating the 4th of July

canoeing and kayaking with

Faith and the O's

 

 

 

 

Remi didn't come this time

because the Yurtians were

celebrating Micki's birthday

 

 

 

 

We went hiking on

the Summit Trail and

saw this cool snake

 

 

We went camping in

RMNP and saw our very

first bear's den

 

 

The next week a bear tore one of

our downstairs screens off and must

have come into the house but since

the bedroom door was shut he didn't

find anything interesting and left

 

 

 

 

These sweet twin fawns have

been hanging out in our

Sandalphon Circle

 

 

 

We took a mini-vacation to Wyoming

and  hiked 4 hours in The Snowy Mountain Range

 

then we stayed in Saratoga Springs

and soaked in the hot springs

 

 

The most amazing thing that happened

in July was when a rattlesnake came

to visit and looked in the window

at Koyuki and me

 

 

 

 The next day I sent my very first

email from Mailchimp and it

was all about the rattlesnake

 

 

I've been having fun the whole month of July

helping Dusty with his indiegogo campaign.

He made me part of the team!

 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-crystal-compass-find-your-true-north

 

I just asked Dusty's Crystal Compass

which mandala I should post here

on my blog and this one came up

 

http://crystalactivations.com/#45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Koyuki now has her litter box out

on the deck and it's called her cat loo

 

 

Another cool thing that happened in July is

that I bought a flute at a garage sale for $20

and I love it so much. My friend Joanna taught

me to play the flute when we were in high school.

I'm having fun learning lots of different kinds of

songs and memorizing them so I can just sit down

anytime and play them and I can play them in the car too

(when Steven is driving) and Koyuki loves to

sit in my lap when I play.

 

 

 

And finally, Oona's birthday is today,

the last day of July. She is 10 years old!

 

 

I'm sooooo thankful for

all the blessings of July!

 

I Love You,

Zoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June Magic

 

Wow, June has been a really wonderful month!

The first week-end we hiked up to Alberta Falls
and then down to Boulder Brook

The next week-end Remi spent the night
and we had fun taking him to garage sales

I found the perfect birthday present for Seth
(for only 75 cents) then wrapped up all the
little presents and hung them on it

We had such a fun birthday party at the Rio.
All the kids and grandkids were there!

We had fun at the arcade too!

The next Saturday I played for 18 students
at Juliana's voice recital and Otis sang!
He was fabulous and I'm so proud of him.
It's so much fun playing for his voice lessons.

The next day we went to Idaho Springs and enjoyed
soaking in the springs, hiking and eating at
some restaurants in town.

We went in the cave baths for the very first time
and here's what I wrote about my experience.

8:30 am
Monday, June 16, 2014
In the Cave Baths

I just experienced my very first cave bath.
Steven went in the men's and I went in the women's.
The baths were in a long tunnel and I was the only person there.
I walked to the end of the tunnel and got in the very
last one, the 4th one. Hot!  Amazingly Incredibly hot!
Off came the swimsuit immediately. After several minutes
I felt like I needed air so I walked out the first door and saw
a hole in the roof that went straight to the outside.
The hole was blocked mostly, but there was a
tiny space where air was coming through.
After breathing some fresh air for awhile I was ready
to go back in. I totally immersed myself for a couple of minutes
(except for my face.) Then I sat with just my feet in
the water and started singing the Hanuman Chalisa softly.
I stopped after hearing someone come in.
Then another lady came in. I didn't really feel like
striking up a conversation so I decided it was probably
time to go. As I was walking out, one lady said
" I love your robe! Where did you get it?"
I thanked her and said Good Will. (my frog robe)
So it was a pretty awesome experience being naked
in a cave bath all by myself. But actually I wasn't
by myself. There were three pictures in
the rock walls that jumped right out at me.
Natural pictures formed right in the rock.
First I saw HI in big letters. Then I saw the face of
Hanuman. And then I saw a heart.



The next week-end I played for the very
talented Kyle Gibben's senior voice recital.

And now no more playing for awhile.
Time to relax.

 

On June 22, Dusty launched his fund-raising campaign for Crystal Activations. It's so awesome and I'm having fun
telling everyone about it. If you haven't contributed yet, please do!


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crystal-activations-empower-your-life/x/8013707

On June 27, Seth proposed to Patty!
We are all soooooo happy and looking
forward to their wedding next April!

And here's an exciting thing Oona did in June.
She had her picture made with Sylvester McCoy
from Doctor Who and The Hobbit :)

Yesterday we went on a beautiful hike from Bear Lake
to Beirstadt Lake and then down to Hollowell Park.

My peak animal experience of the month was
when there was a little frog singing at our waterfall
and here's a video of him singing a duet with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWZdzxPrBxQ

That little froggie inspired me to write
Golden Tree Frog Song for my next song.
And then today I made a nice singing video
of it out by the magic waterfall tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQBvcQr-hc



Wow, I am so thankful for all the wonderful and incredible
blessings of June!

Lots of Love and
Incredible Blessings to You
Zoe

 

 

May Magic

Today is the last day of May and wow it has sure
been another magical month.

 

 

 

Well, no matter what else happens, May is always
a magical month because that's when my favorite
bird the Western Wood Pewee comes back.
You can hear a western wood pewee singing
with me in this video I made last summer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtbBzmlZDqI


Our first iris just bloomed this week.

We went on TWO camping trips in May!
The first week-end of May we took the TAB
to Crow Valley in Pawnee Grasslands and
hiked the Pawnee Buttes.

And 2 weeks later we took Antelope to
Dinosaur National Monument.
You can read all about that trip
here in my previous blog post.
http://rabbitrockcafe.blogspot.com/2014/05/our-trip-to-dinosaur-national-monument.html

On Mothers Day Eve we hiked to
Gem Lake with Seth, Dusty and Remi

An author friend of mine told me about
Scrivener so I downloaded that and
started writing my novel and I'm
having so much fun with it!
It's called Lucretia Light.

Today I made a facebook page for my book
The Turtle Path and I'm going to randomly
pick one of my haikus each day to post on there.
https://www.facebook.com/zoenishimuta#!/theturtlepath
It's always fun to start something new!

I'm so thankful for all the wonderful blessings of May!

Lots of Love to You,
Zoe

 

Our Trip to Dinosaur National Monument

Friday Morning, May 16

Yesterday was a great day.
We left about 11:30 and filled
up with gas  in Loveland then
went to Family Tire to get the spare
and mounted it under Antelope.
That was a huge relief that we
were able to get the spare.
Next stop was JAX outside Fort Collins
where we filled up the propane tank.
Another huge relief.
Finally we were on our way!

The drive up Poudre Canyon
was really pretty and we saw
4 moose between Gould and Walden.
The drive over Rabbit Ears Pass was a little scary
because we thought we might run out of gas.
But we didn't.
We had clear roads
to drive on all the way but there was
a lot of snow everywhere around.

Not in Steamboat Springs though.
It's beautiful here.
We are in spot E in Steamboat Campground right by
the river with nice warm bathrooms and showers nearby.

Last night we soaked in the hot springs for a couple of hours.
Wonderful. So relaxing.

And this morning we are going to breakfast at Freshies.
Coffee!

After breakfast we will be heading to
Dinosaur National Monument.

Friday night, May 16

We're sitting around the campfire
in Green River Campground in
Dinosaur National Monument.

I'm writing this now because we're
leaving early in the morning to
go on a bird walk.

We had such a great breakfast at Freshies.
I had tofu scrambled eggs, potatos and pumpernickel raisin bread.
And coffee!! In green cups!!

Then we drove to Dinosaur
National Monument.

On our way, when we were in
Maybell, Faith called and said we
had a water leak in our downstairs
bedroom. I said no problem.
We've had that before. And I
instructed her how to go up by the
road and turn the water off.
No problem. Steven will fix it
when we get home.

We stopped to get gas in
Dinosaur, Colorado and I was
just fixing to buy a toothbrush
(I forgot mine and and have been
using Steven's) when Steven asked me
to go clean Antelope's windows while
he went to the bathroom.
So I am still using Steven's
toothbrush.

Here we are in Green River
campground site #3.
It's such a great spot right beside
a really old cottonwood tree.

We went for a fun hike by the
river and I found the coolest fossil!
But I left it there because you
are not supposed to take them.

I saw this unusual rock formation
that I wanted to hike to and
Steven climbed up to it so
I could get a picture of him there.

When we got back from our hike
we drank wine by the river.

It's heavenly to be
camping in Utah.

Saturday night, May 17

We went on a bird walk this morning
and met a new bird...
Yellow-breasted Chat.

Then we went to the Visitors Center and rode
the shuttle up to the Quarry Exhibition Hall and saw
1500 dinosaur bones and got to touch some of the really big ones.
These amazing creatures roamed the earth 149 million years ago!
We got to see the fossils of Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus,
Diplodicus, Stegosaurus and several others.

We walked back to the
visitors center on the Fossil Discovery Trail,

had lunch in Antelope, then drove
to Vernal, which is where we are
spending the night in the
Resides In Hotel room 9.

I finally bought a toothbrush! Hallelujah!

Tomorrow we are looking forward
to seeing lots of petroglyphs
and hiking more trails.

Sunday night, May 19

We slept good in the Resides In Motel,
had their continental breakfast,
then drove to McConkie Ranch which is 10 miles
outside of Vernal and hiked up to see 100s of cool petroglyphs.

We also saw a cool gopher snake.

Then we went back to Vernal
and had a yummy lunch at
Plaza Mexicana.

We went back to Green River
Campground and got site # 8

then did the Cub Creek Road autoguide tour,
hiked around to see  lots more petroglyphs

 

and hiked the Box Canyon Trail
and the Hog Trail at Josie's cabin.

 

We just now drank wine down by the
river and as I was sitting here in
Antelope writing this Steven said
"Come out here.
There's a cute little toad sitting on your shoe"


Monday night, May 19

We're almost home. Should be there
in about 45 minutes. This morning
we went on one last hike before
heading home, the Sound of Silence Trail.
That was an adventurous 3 mile
hike and we thought we were lost a
couple of times. Then we went back
to the Visitors Center so I could
get souvenirs for the kids.
We ate mango pie and bananas
for breakfast while we were driving
and had a late lunch of leftovers
at a scenic view pull-off outside
of Walden. It was a fabulous
mini vacation and the weather was
absolutely perfect. And now we are
anxious to get home and see
Koyuki.

If you want to see all 119 pictures
from our trip click here

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+zoenishimuta?tab=wX#photos/113331472821012850589/albums/6016300929345906609

Lots of Love
Zoe