Last Sunday at the Animas River

 

Several white water rafts went by, with the steering person directing the raft across the river to the right channel. Flow of river is directly right to left here, but some shoals are near the far bank. My  daughter-in-law said earlier in the week the water had been orange from the  upstream mud and rain.

In the past mines would have their runoff going into the river, but environmentalists have restricted them to using pools for the toxic mining leavings.

My apartment building is right under the yellow arrow pointing at the park. It's very convenient!

 I already introduced you to the Rotary Park on the Animas River. These photos were all taken there.

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Tuesday morning I shopped in three different stores before 11. I had to leave the lamp shade and the two folding chairs, and the two gallons of distilled water in the car for later pack-ups to bring upstairs in my little rolling cart (on the elevator then down the long hall). I got all the groceries from Walmart and Natural Grocery in it however! 

Goodwill provided two used folding chairs with padded seats at a nice low cost. I should have waited to get the lamp shade there, rather than Walmart...but it is done.

I'm so thrilled the stores all had grocery carts to carry my oxygen generator (5 pounds) and my purse (it balances out pretty well) and then can lean on the cart.  Fortunately at 8 am Walmart was pretty deserted, so my slow wandering didn’t cause many people worries. Actually I saw two other people aimlessly wandering without carts.!

I was sad to look out my window at 1:30 to see the haze of smoke from  fire south of Pagosa Springs, about 65 miles east of Durango. It cleared by 5 when I next peaked through the blinds. I can’t open the blinds till after sunset, being a west facing apartment. And the 100 degrees on the other side of the glass also makes it a good idea to have another barrier. But being up in the mountains the nights cool down to 58 sometime before dawn. 

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"It goes without saying that you should never have more children than you have car windows." Erma Bombeck

water lillies. oil on canvas...frank depietro...american painter....landenberg..pennsylvania...born 1975

--------Sharing with Thankful Thursday

Rotary Park on the Animas River

 

Some boulders show a way to get down to the river, if I were maybe 15.

Fie on iPhone's plant identification! Fie! I'm pretty sure this is a form of Black Locust. One identifer wanted it to be Poplar or Cottonwood. They may be around here, but those are sure the wrong leaves!

And Rocky Mountain NPR just posted this...about this very park!

"DURANGO, Colo. — A green plant along the Animas River Trail caught Catherine Grillos’ attention. She bent down, pulled several leaves from the ground and held them up excitedly.

“Ha, there’s burdock over here,” Grillos said. “These are going to make the best pesto.”

Grillos, a forager and chef, sees ingredients where many people see weeds. She gathers plants around Durango and turns them into drinks, salads, crackers, ice cream and pesto.

A 2018 field guide by self-sufficiency author Caleb Warnock catalogs 437 edible wild plants across the Rocky Mountain West, including berries, roots, nuts, greens, flowers and seeds. The guide covers eight states, including Colorado and New Mexico.

At Rotary Park, Grillos pointed out plantain, clover and dandelions growing within a few feet of one another.

“Just where I’m sitting now, all this food is available,” she said. “And it’s free.”

Rotary Park is part of Durango’s Organically Managed Parks Program. The city maintains the park using organic fertilizers and herbicides instead of synthetic chemicals."

I admit to not planning to forage, but this is the fist park I've visited, so I love that it's organically sustained.

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Especially for AC!