I have a neighbor living downstairs. Er, underneath rather. I heard him last night gnawing the roof over my head and the outside walls next to my bed: a marmot. Apparently he doesn't actually damage the cabin, so no one worries too much, and if he's too annoying, you just bang on the wall or ceiling and he quits for a while. He need a name...

This morning I met with one of the fabulous park volunteers who helps with the artist in residence program. Yet another example of feeling pampered, she was so helpful with information and ideas, and even brought a couple gifts in the form of a park calendar and a copy of the video shown in the visitor center. Such a nice gesture, and I'm looking forward to my first evening program. Have to finish getting my head around how to edit it down to a reasonable time frame. That's on the agenda for tonight.

Late in the morning today I drove around Horseshoe Park and by Sheep Lakes, then on over to Lumpy Ridge where I hiked to Gem Lake. Definitely an elevation change on that one, which may be partly responsible for the headache I'm currently sporting. More likely it's the heavy pack I had with a little too much water, clothes, food, and camera gear. After loitering at Gem for a good long while, I hiked down and drove into Estes Park for some groceries. A bit of fresh fruit and salad was needed for the week. At the cabin I went through the day's photographs, made dinner, then just read for a bit before retiring. Had my pack too heavy today and tight neck muscles gave me a good headache. Extra sleep is the answer!

By the way, I feel spoiled here. Everyone has been so excited to see me, the staff not only know about me, but many are familiar with what I do and some even recognize my face from park email and fliers. My cabin is spectacular, so clean, with amenities I would have never expected them to provide. And I don't have to clean or do anything else, just live here and enjoy my time. Oh, and do those evening programs on Wednesdays, which should be fun.

Some photos from today's hike, also a few from yesterday after I posted the blog. I did a little painting session on my porch, then was up late, and the full moon was so bright and lovely on the mist in the meadow that I pulled out the tripod and played around with some night photography. Always makes me think of older movies when they would film night scenes during the day with a filter over the lens. A similar look.