Cousin Party

A week and a half ago we went to a party for Melinda's cousins.  Extended family can be a source of great strength.  This is less than half of them.  Their grandpa would be so proud to see them all together.

Cousins.

Cousins, spouses and second cousins.  

Pink Martini

In July we went to the Pink Martini show at Red Butte Garden.  It was really hot but as soon as the sun went behind the trees it was perfect.  It's such a great place to enjoy the outdoors and good music.
 

Our favorite song was Hang on Little Tomato.  It was inspired by an old Heinz ketchup ad. It is such a fun and uplifting song.  

We also loved the songs in different languages. The sang in Spanish, German, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and Czech.  International Jazz. Awesome.  

Wasatch Wildflower Festival

Saffy, Miles and Ian joined me early Saturday morning so we could go to the Wasatch Wildflower Festival at Albion Basin. 

It was fun because we got the same guide as last year.  I was excited to identify several varieties that I had been wondering about. Last night I was able to correctly label four plants from a previous blog post.

We all had a good time and barely noticed the rain.  Saffy was a great little hiker and Miles and Ian are getting quite good at flower identification. 

Larkspur, Delphinium nutallianum

Sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum; blue flax, Linum lewisii and Engelmann's aster, Aster engelmannii

Indian paintbrush, Castilleja spp.

Pearly everlasting,  Anaphalis margaritacea

Sticky geranium, blue flax, little sunflower with sulphur buckwheat, Erigonum umbellatum

False hellebore or corn lily; Veratrum californicum

Beautiful meadow

Brighton Lakes

Miles, Ian and I hiked the Brighton lakes for Pioneer day.  There were quite a few people hiking, but most of them only went as far as Lake Mary, so we were still able to hike in solitude. 

We saw fat ground squirrels, but the chipmunks seemed to be fitter this year. We saw a moose family by Lake Martha, and a some kind of flightless foul.

The wildflowers were gorgeous and we were especially excited to find a patch of snow saved by the entrance of a shallow cave. It's pretty awesome to make snowballs in July.

Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium

Monkshood or wolf bane, Aconitum columbianum

A meadow of little sunflowers, Helianthella uniflora

Mountain bluebells, Mertensia arizonica

View of the mountains north of the trail

Us

Butterfly on an Engelmann aster, Aster engelmannii

Lake Mary

Coyote min, Monardella odoratissima; Wyeth's buckwheat, Eriogonum heracleoides; little sunflower, Helianthella uniflora

Lake Catherine

What kind of bird is this?  Maybe a snape?

Snow in July.

Showy fleabane, Erigeron speciosus

Lake Mary on the way back.

Lewis' monkeyflower, Mimulus lewisii

Elephant heads, Pedicularis groenlandica

Ski lifts at dusk

Wasatch penstemon, Penstemon cyananthus

Dog Lake

Our last hike was Dog Lake up Millcreek Canyon.  I'm not going to gush and tell how incredibly beautiful it was because I really don't want it get any more popular than it already is.

Columbine, Aquilegia spp.

Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus

Monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus

Baneberry, Actaea rubra

Stickweed or False forget-me-not, Hackelia floribunda

Red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa

Sticky geranium,  Geranium viscosissimum

 

This is a pale specimen of the usually pink sticky geranium.  The pure white geranium known as Richardson's geranium doesn't have the pink veins.

Leafy Jacob's ladder, Polemonium foliosissimum

Mountain hollyhock, Iliamna rivularis

Silvery lupine, Lupinus argenteus

Coralroot, Corallorhiza spp.

Paintbrush, Castilleja spp.

View near the top

Hikers

Dog Lake

Sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum and 

Wastch penstemon,  Penstemon cyananthus

Desolation Trail

Last week's hike:  Desolation Trail in Millcreek Canyon.

The woods

Showy fleabane, Erigeron speciosus

Mallow ninebark, Physocarpus malvaceus

Woods rose, Rosa woodsii

Mountain hollyhock, Iliamna rivularis

Salt Lake Valley overlook

 Hikers