Don't be too disappointed

 Since I am admittedly an introvert, I don't go out and cheerfully meet lots of new people. Don't be too disappointed.

I can sure understand folks with agoraphobia...the one where folks don't want to leave home at all. There's a comfortable place which we work hard to make that way, so why go anywhere else?

Well, starting with when we decided to get born, we often (myself included) just feel too cramped in the comfort of our homes, and just need to stretch a bit. Plus we might want to see what's on the other side of whatever barriers we have, a womb, the walls, or the fence with green grass.

This is all to say that I sometimes don't want to go out exploring, and sometimes I do. 

Last Saturday I chose to stay in the house, did some chores, set up a budget worksheet on the computer, set up my new on-line bank account here in Durango, and didn't go to the nearby Natural Foods Festival. It would have been interesting, but I knew parking would be limited. And no way did I want to walk that far. (Talk to me next year, please...I do want to be able to go for walks again!)

Saturday 8/22/26 at 1:20 pm looking northwest

There were lovely clouds, and rain at a distance. But it still got to 92 degrees. Fortunately the rain never came close to the festival at Rotary Park, just behind those buildings on the other side of 15th Street, where the Animas River runs through town.

I've had fun trying to capture the neat rain clouds, which don't ever (now) seem to give much moisture to Durango downtown. This is similar to how Black Mountain would be missed by many storms, back in North Carolina.

7:37 pm on Aug 21, 2026

7:37 still, iPhone camera is having fun with different levels of light when I zoom in a bit

7:42 pm zoomed in a bit more

8:09 pm looking west-southwest

8:10 pm

8:10 pm zoomed out

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  Repost from Aug. 5, 2026

Rotary Park by 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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