We spent a wonderful weekend in the woods. Ironically, the only deer we saw were off the property! Heard lots of activity, saw plenty of track - I found about a three inch raccoon track in the creek bank. Tromped around the woods...I tell you, really, nothing makes your stomach lurch more than thinking you hear two hogs, with you in the middle. I've been told that any of the small trees would have held my weight, but who wants to chance that?

We have some sunset pictures from both weekends that I'll post sometimes this week. Saturday's was memorable - brilliant, even, and something you couldn't ever hope to recreate with pixel, pencil or paint.

I finally spotted, with my own eyeballs and without the assistance of a star map, Pegasus. The air is so clear down there, I could spend ages looking up at the sky and getting lost in the stars. They now make a hand held telescope that is programmed to identify constellations after you point at it - how cool is that? I can only find Cassiopeia, Orion, the two Dippers, the Pleiades, Mars, Venus, and now Pegasus. I need a new star guide! I don't think I want to spend $250 on a super cool telescope!

It's not exactly relaxing to be so far out in the woods, but it does give one a certain clarity of mind, a strengthening of resolve, and a lightness of heart. Nature is so much simpler than our ornate and overdone everyday human existence.