Just when I believe that Autumn has really and truly arrived, we go and get summer days over the weekend... and today! It is a gorgeous day here in the Mendenhall Valley. (even though we've had some good weather this summer, I think I blinded the neighbor dog with my bare arms yesterday) Ya, I'm one of those "ew, you can see all her veins through her skin!" people.

There were a lot of people enjoying the weather at the glacier...they were coming and going most of the day I imagine.

Of course I have to post a picture of mushrooms - my hubby called these, Pumpkin mushrooms because of the color - they're almost velvety looking or powdery looking too. They were growing along a path by the sea shore where we thoughtwe'd spotted a school of dolphins but turned out to be a pod of rocks instead :P
(note to self - get stronger glasses)

"sea shore, sea shore, sea shore, sea shore" say that 10 times, fast! ;)

The next pic is of a fungi in the mushroom family I'm sure. They look similar to cups but they are soft and rounder. I have been lazy about looking up the genus of these mushrooms but my excuse is, I don't have a reference book and looking on the internet is tedious as no sites have all species listed so I have to go through several sites sometimes to find a given shroom - but YES, it's worth it in the end. So, I promise to do that :)

They're not very purdy, are they?

"Swimming, swimming, in the swimming hole, when days are hot, when days are cold...."

This was a very large Beaver - he kept in the same spot for a long time....it was apparent that he was finding something good to nibble on. He kept dunking under, and coming up chewing on something we couldn't see.
Do Beavers eat anything but trees and leaves? why yes! They also eat vegetation found in the water, berries and water lilies :)

What a beautiful Wild Rose Hip, eh?

Rose hips are a valuable source of Vitamin C - Rose hip oil is also good for the skin - especially aging skin. "The anti-inflammatory properties of rose hips have recently been shown to be useful in the treatment of patients suffering from knee or hip osteoarthritis:"

So, not only is the Rose beautiful, but it has properties conducive to good heart health, skin care and the most expensive perfume at one time was created from roses and jasmine. Created by Jean Patou, "JOY" perfume contains 10,000 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses in a 30ml bottle of the parfum.