Our life in photos, June 2014 version

It's a lazy warm sunny Oregon Sunday, a day past the summer solstice. TIme to browse the iPhone and dig out some unshared photos of what we — me, wife, and dog — have been up to recently.

Such as…walking along the Metolius River in central Oregon near sunset. The Metolius has to be one of the most beautiful rivers in the world. Sure seems so to me, anyway. . I wasn't aware of the beam of light when I snapped the photo. A bit of natural "divinity."

Hiking to the top of Black Butte, an ancient volcanic cone that sits near the headwaters of the Metolius. The view is magnificent. Zu Zu, our dog, is doing her best wild coyote imitation. I love the old cabin. Home at one time for those who manned/womaned the fire lookout, I believe.

All of us, including the canine, were breathing hard on the 2.3 mile continous uphill climb to the top of Black Butte. Posing Zu Zu on a rock that overlooked Black Butte ranch gave us a breather. Of course, this being central Oregon, home to fanatic fitness folks, we encountered a guy at the top who passed us — running — on the way down. I have a feeling he ran up also. Then probably went for a fifty mile bike ride before getting into the heart of his exercise regimen for the day.

This is a photo of a peak Sisters, Oregon dining experience for us since a Mexican restaurant, Los Agaves, opened in town. The spinach enchiladas hugely appeal to our vegetarian selves. (I don't like beans, so I got a double serving of rice.) Highly recommended, along with Los Agaves' generous margaritas.

Back in Salem, here's Laurel and Zu Zu at this year's Willamette Humane Society Mutt Strut. Zu Zu is wearing her biker outfit. 

Zu Zu made lots of friends, friendly dog that she is. Some passers-by were impressed that she was relaxed enough at the Mutt Strut event to collapse into her favorite patting pose when this girl asked if she could pat Zu Zu. Could she?! It was a must! 

I took part in a No 3rd Bridge rally down at Courthouse Square, where the bridge proponents were holding an open house in an attempt to sell people on this $450 million unwanted, unneeded, and unpaid-for boondoggle. Jim Scheppke, standing on a "soapbox" and pointing, ably organized the protest. I blogged some about it here.

We're starting to think about where we may want to live if (or more likely, when) our non-easy care house on ten rural acres in south Salem gets to be too much of a hassle to maintain for us senior citizens. Walking across the creek this afternoon made me realize — as if I didn't already know this — how difficult it would be to leave our property behind. The photo doesn't do justice to the small creek, filled with ferns and greenery, which tumbles over a few small "waterfalls" in this area on its way to Spring Lake.

Just realized that I didn't include any photos of myself. Here's my Black Butte summit selfie. That's sun shining on my chin, not an extended geezer soulpatch.