Been at my grandparent’s cabin the past few days with my parents and brothers.  It was beautiful and relaxing.  There are so many wonderful things to enjoy there.  I especially loved our hike we took this morning.  The butterflies were out and the kiddos loved watching them, the caterpillars, seeing all the flowers and plants, looking for deer, squirrels, elk, and even catching a little horny toad with my brother Jonny.  The grower fell asleep, and my mom carried the dancer in the baby hawk…she’s against shoes these days :). 

I took a few moments to capture some of the beauty.  There’s just something about thistles that i simply love.  The designer used to think I was crazy to admire a noxious weed, but i think he sees them differently now.  Maybe it’s that you really shouldn’t touch them (if you don’t want to be pricked), maybe it’s the unique size and shape of the blossoms, or the color contrast…whatever it is, I think I’ll enjoy photographing and painting them for a long time.