The Myth & The Majesty

Managed Harney Peak yesterday at last! Seven months out of seven so far. It was a good reminder that (a) July is hot, and (b) foot traffic on Saturdays is insane. Definitely going to shoot for a Tuesday or something for August. A different vantage point! Sat on the edge of insanity this time... This month's hike wasn't as fast as last month's ... and it totally wiped me out. It was a little disconcerting, actually, how hard I slept last night. The effect of summer, I suppose.

... Hey, it's Ashley again. I appreciate the rain. Really. The timing ... Well, please don't let any of my campers get struck by lightning. Thanks. Love, Ashley

A couple hours on Deerfield with Dad today ... The weather was perfect juuuuuust long enough. Got home in time for the rumbling to start. Yay July.

On the last night of camp at the last campfire, it is semi-traditional for the smaller camps to do a round of highs and lows (and sometimes mid-week, but we'll stick with the end of the week). It's been awhile since I've done that here, and this week ... it seems like a good idea. I'm going to go in reverse order, since I like to end on a high note. This last week (since my weeks tend to go from Friday to Friday) has involved five different camps, some changes around the place, and not a lot of sleep. Lows: - There was a fire on M-Hill yesterday that seems to be mostly under control now. Scary to see the flames right in the middle of Rapid City. - We're now down a staff member.' - The exhaustion is a bit extreme. - In related news, at some point an unknown perpetrator (accidentally?) swapped our regular and decaf coffee in the camp's industrial coffee pot. Which explains the headache I've had for the last three days... Highs: - It's ...

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the idea of familiar strangers. Realistically, this was putting a name to something I'd already experienced many times over. Familiar strangers are those people you don't actually know but that you see regularly enough that you recognize them. Maybe it's the guy that visits the same coffee shop as you every morning; maybe you both get on at the same bus stop each day. They're not really part of your "circle," exactly -- you probably don't attend the same church or work in the same building -- but they're part of the periphery of your life ... and you are of theirs. Rapid City is a town that happens to be just the right size for a person to have a lot of familiar strangers in her life. It's large enough that no, you won't know everyone (contrary to the belief of some out-of-towners) but small enough that you can easily run into the same people repeatedly. Your server at that restaurant might be in li...

1. To my Minneapolitian friends: what happened? Why did so many of you lose power?  2. We've hit the middle of the summer -- we're in stride, the place is hopping, and the reality is there's just not much left. Four weeks and it's over. I'm not sure how to take that.  3. I'm coming off a fantastic weekend that managed to be an actual respite from the psychosis here -- a show, camping, fireworks, a trek to the ranch, lots of awesome meals, even a couple of movies...  4. In related news, "The Legend of Tarzan" is extra sad when you realize what followed the timeline there in real life. And the new "Independence Day" is quite entertaining, if a little cheesy. (But so is the original, so that's okay.)  5. Some not fun weather around here. I was driving the wrong direction: directly into it.  The worst has passed us at least. I'm hoping those east of here are okay...