Olympic National Park - Lena Creek

This is the campsite at Lena Creek Campground, where we spent four days camping with the family - Rue and Annie, Daisy, Taraz and Megan, Ruhiyyih and her friend Brynn.

George acquired it Thursday, thinking that there would be overflowing crowds. But, the place was almost empty, except for four other campers, all of whom were quite a distance away from us. So, we had a wonderful deep forest experience - the huge old growth cedars, the calls of the Swainson's thrush, and the darkest nights imaginable. Our campsite was quite large, comfortably accommodating our 5 tents and the canopy over the cooking table.

We'd counted on rain - intermittent and light, with sunbreaks. Fortunately, during our cooking, meals, and hikes it didn't rain, and we were able to do some serious exploring. We got in a 7 mile hike, round trip, up to Lena Lake, and took the trail around Hama Hama Creek.

The Olympic National Forest is a rain forest, with big boulders and cedars, moss and lichens in the high alpine reaches, and rainfall up to 240 inches a year. Summertime temps from 65 - 75 degrees. Recreationists are warned about rapid weather changes, and are warned to know the signs of hypothermia: rapid body heat loss with progressive mental and physical collapse accompanying the chilling of the body's inner core. It is the #1 killer of outdoor recreationists and is caused by exposure to cold, aggravated by wet, wind and exhaustion. On our hike up to Lena Lake, I needed only a T-shirt with the hard physical exertion of the climb, but on the way down I wore 2 shirts, a sweater, and jacket. When we got down to camp I was so tired, that when I made dinner (hamburgers), I saw the dill pickle jar out of reach by two feet, and I figured 'these feet are not walking over there to get them!'

Here is a photo of our oldest son, Rue, making coffee with a Melitta filter system. It is the easiest and quickest way to get it done, with styro-espresso cups to hold in the heat.

This is our son preparing chicken over the campfire. He offered this several evenings, and it was incredibly good, with fresh lemon juice, garlic and pepper.
He and I took turns cooking for the crowd, that way it was kept simple....and, he is the better cook when it comes to camping. Rue put potatoes, carrots and onions in tinfoil, and roasted them in the coals, and that was served with the chicken.

This is Daisy waiting for mealtime - she's got a Game Boy here.

This is the firepit. Just look at those muddy shoes. Mud was the key word here - we woke up to it, cooked in it, hiked in it .....and it covered every bin and container we placed on the ground. It will take me days to clean everything, to air the bedding, to wash and organize our gear once again.

Rue brought lots of board games - Scrabble being the favorite. Daisy jumped in with all of us...and I was amused at some of the words: doom, brat, quiet, corny, dam, loan, boats,jaw, axed. George won most of these games, until he disclosed his strategy, then Annie won.

We had family coming and going on this trip - some could stay the night, and some couldn't. I spent a good part of the time video-taping, rather than taking snapshots, so Annie's (Earthen Vessel) blog will contain more photos. Ruhiyyih (Ruhiyyih's Reflections) will probably post a few too, when she arrives back in Virginia. She sent me a few last night, so I'll post a few of hers here, Taraz and Megan with Daisy and me; a very contemplative Taraz; and Ruhiyyih, looking quite squeaky clean...something we all envied.

I've got some appreciative words for my son Rue. He taught me some good cooking techniques, and was so swift with support and consideration. I was always deeply touched that with every meal he cooked, he would bring the first plateful to me, then to George, then serve his family.

I appreciated his quick response with an icebag for a slight burn. And he knew how to make the trip enjoyable ('sparklers anyone?'...it's been years since we've used fireworks.)

George says his fondest memory is laying in our tent at night, while listening to all the youth and their friends laughing, storytelling, and recalling their memories growing up.

Taraz and Megan brought two birthday cakes - a carrot cake and a German chocolate cake, and we opened gifts and celebrated 6 birthdays in May.

Ruhiyyih brought a bag of balloons, and fortunately no one camped near us as we inflated them and played volleyball - over the campfire. Everyone of those eventually popped in the fire, with a scattering of sparks and ashes. And leave it up to someone, Rue.....he inserted a tiny firecracker in the last one, warned everyone to step back, and the evening ended with a loud 'bang'.

And, this last photo is of me, videotaping the balloon fragments in the fire, all of which had to be picked up, so we left the campsite clean - as we found it. Not a bottlecap, twist-tie, sparkler wire, or piece of food was left at our site - I raked it clean.

Hold On To Your Hat - It's Windy Here

Yes, that's the trail, upper right-hand corner.... on top of Divide Mountain in Glacier Park, Montana, a few years ago.

We'd spent half a day climbing to the top, starting in dense forest, across a moraine, up into the tundra, and finally up onto this windy slope.

Looks like a desert shot on the moon. This high ridge is battered with wind all summer, and is covered in 8 feet of snow in the winter. Nothing grows here.

It was so windy, it darn near blew us off the mountain. When we (Bubbie Dear, Oldeupher, Ruhiyyih, Taraz, George and I)got to the top with our packs, we drank water, ate lunch, and took a nap right there, on the rocks. It was a rigorous climb - and I felt paddling a canoe was sure a lot easier. Hiking, especially with a vertical climb, means that most of the time you are looking at your feet, just huffing and puffing forward and up, up, up.

Aside from the wind, all I remember about this hike was that I blew my whistle every 15 minutes to keep the grizzlies away. When we got down to the trailhead, it was all torn up. A bear had dug up about 8 inches of soil trying to dig up a few roots.

We'll be gone through the weekend.... going camping with the family up in the Olympic Mountains, and securing our campsite tomorrow. I'm busy baking pies, making macaroni salad and coleslaw, airing bedding, getting gear ready. I'm packing for unpredictable conditions. With snowmelt raging down local rivers, I'm not sure what we're going to survive up there....rain perhaps, and I've got a small shovel to dig trenches around the tents for drainage. But, I know we won't have the wind we had out there on top of Divide Mountain.

Have yourself a great Memorial Day Weekend.

The Comfort of Family

I will be doing some heavy-duty mothering this weekend. Ruhiyyih is flying in from Virginia. Big, big hugs for her.

Bygone Times, In The Garden

Our weather has cooled down considerably, from the high 70's - low 80's. We're down into the low 60's again. It is a welcome relief. But, currently it is raining, so I've contented myself with reminiscing. I've pulled out some of my old photo albums.

I'm amazed when I see just how much food I've grown over the years. Now that I'm retired, and the kids are gone, I've contented myself with a much smaller garden - just a kitchen garden, a perennial bed and a few dahlias.

Years ago, when we first moved to Tacoma, I rented 4 large garden plots from the city of Tacoma, as part of their community garden program. The site was just 3 blocks from our house, so it was almost like working in my backyard. I'd work in the garden from 7:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., then go to work. My job was from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. After work, I often went to my garden to pick produce with George.

Every autumn, I'd glean the growing beds, and collect the very last of everything - tomatoes, corn, squash, beans, onions, potatoes, mums. Whatever was left.

I also collected seeds - dill, fennel and buckwheat, the dry beans, and cilantro. The old Ukranian women who had plots next to me showed me how to pick the best seeds from the best flowers....I thought all seeds would be the same, but flowers on the same plant have variations in seed outcomes, so the choice has to be careful if desiring a pure strain, something that resembles the parent plant. Zinnias are fussy this way.

I did all my own canning - jellies, jams, and syrups, applesauce, pickled beets, pickle relish, salsa, and tomato sauce for spaghetti. I put up about 50 quarts of spaghetti sauce one year. The photo here is blackberry jam - we had our favorite picking spots, and peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches were a favorite.

I've since put up strawberry, apricot, peach, plum, crabapple, and mixtures like pink grapefruit-orange marmalades. I also grew herbs - oregano, basil, celery leaves, parsley, lemonbalm, thyme, mint, garlic and onion. I'd pick these in the morning and dry them on sheets in the back yard, then grind them. They were incredibly fragrant.

We had a long table, and we'd place all the last old squash, potatoes, zinnias and dahlias on it. I always had a very good feeling seeing that harvest.

These photos show some of the produce that we've had. What I'm not showing is the inside of the refrigerator, after George would pick the beets - he'd be in a hurry, and would put them inside, with the dirt still on them, inside a plastic bag. That is something I'll never forget!

When a sudden heatwave comes like we've had lately, some of the early spring veggies will 'bolt', forming seedheads before they've put out much growth. That can happen to spinach, broccoli, radishes and collards. Once initiated, flower production usually can't be stopped and can result in a ruined crop. Not all vegetables will spoil if they produce flowers, of course, and for some, such as podded vegetables, it's an essential process if you're to get any yield.

Years ago I learned to make raised beds for greens - green onions, lettuce, celantro and parsley, cabbage and collards, cabbage and carrots. It was always one of the first crops that I seeded, and the first harvested. This is one of my raised beds, from a few years ago.

I always enjoyed growing big cabbages.

Oh, and every couple of days there'd be a few more things in the garden....laundry. Nothin' more wonderful in summertime, than sheets dried on the clothesline. Here, you can see that I was taking care of a little grand-daughter.....my, those were some wonderful days, hard-workin' days.

Okanogan Country - Open For Adventure

We headed over to eastern Washington again, this time in a northerly direction, driving up through Wenatchee, with its orchards - valley after valley of them. (Photo taken from inside the car.)

This is Okanogan Country, stretching from the 10,000 ft. peaks of the Northern Cascades to the rolling wheat fields of the Columbia Basin. It is a vast, rolling, varied landscape, offering
whitewater rafting, boating, fly fishing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, horseback riding, wilderness packing, hunting and more - I was amazed at all the people touting bikes on top of their cars, mountain bikes, boats and kayaks. We also drove past golfers lined up in their miniature carts, awaiting entrance onto the course.

When you drive through the orchard country, everything is abundantly green and quaint, with migrant-worker cabins lining the groves. Every workable space has trees -apple, pear, apricot, peaches, plum and cherry. Roadside fruitstands lined the roadway, all of them closed yet, waiting for the harvest. There was no hustle and bustle in the orchards this time of year. In fact the only thing that seemed to be moving were the huge sprinkler systems irrigating the orchards.

We spent most of the day - a good 10 hours - exploring backroads, hunting out new campgrounds, and locating alpine lakes nestled in the woods. This, so we will be better prepared - on a moment's notice - to drive to an exquisite location, set up camp, and get right into action - hiking and canoeing. (Much like a rock climber determining what crevice or break in the rocks will provide a good foothold. It saves time, and makes for efficient, effortless get-aways.)

This view is taken from the top of Timerick Mountain, which commands exquisite views in every direction.

Leader Lake is at the foot of Timerick Mountain. We unloaded the canoe, and pushed out into a 'full to the brim' lake. (Notice that the trees are in the water.)Snowmelt has caused excessive runoff, and many of the creeks and rivers in this area were simply raging torrents, milky from silt and mud coming down off the mountains.

We paddled around the lake in about an hour and a half, taking our time to check out the wildlife and the nearby cliffs. This is a marshy area near the end of the lake. This is a good fishing lake - with a lot of perch being caught along the shoreline. We saw many schools of them as we paddled along.

Campsites are plentiful, and we plan to go back sometime, and secure a site up on a nearby bluff overlooking the lake. The rocky cliffs behind the campsite would make a nice morning climb.

We're putting this place on our list of 'great campsites'. In fact, when we finished our paddle, and loaded up, George said, "Babe, it doesn't get any better than this!" I groaned, with a correction. "Yes it does - we should have brought our tent and stayed the night."

Spring Produce - The Farmer's Market

Shoppers have a treat in store every Thursday from 10:00 to 2:00, when the local truck-farmers bring their produce into the city. Yesterday was opening day, offering early-season vegetables, like aspargus, spinach, onions and lettuce.

The growers have brought in flowers in big containers, and bundle them on the spot. Pictured here: Iris, peony, daffodil, shasta daisy, and lupine.

Just a few photos here - more on the way when the growing season picks up.....

Evening At The Waterfront

We made a couple of 'Blueberry Smoothies' and headed down to the Ruston Way waterfront to cool off. It was in the mid 80's again today - too hot to stay in the house. Everyone seemed to be down there, walking their dogs, just taking in the nightime air. I took this photo at 8:30.

And, what is a Blueberry Smoothie? ......Yogurt with frozen blueberries, blenderized. George threw in a can of mangos, too.

On His Own - Rahmat

Our son Rahmat characterizes himself as 'being a lot like my Mom' on his blog, but you'd never know that by looking at the photos I took of him the other day in his apartment.

First, I don't hang from door-jams.
Secondly, I do not work out with weights.

He is almost 23, and is the 'baby of the family'. Rahmat is my 5th child, independent, thriving on time alone pursuing his projects, one of which is designing his own video games.

When you look at his single room, it is obvious that he spends money on computers, his bike, and his exercise equipment.

There is simply not much more than that....not even a bed. (But then, both Taraz and Rahmat prefer to sleep on mats on the floor, Japanese style. Come morning, you just roll them up, and you've got tons of space.)

I looked around for something to photograph, and I realized it was not going to be much more than a pair of shoes, a few pots and pans, and an old telephone nailed to the wall. Sparce is the word here.

But, he is doing pretty well, newly emancipated. He sure is doing better than he was in the 3rd grade, when he wrote this:

Dear parents,
Rahmatullah is acting strange. We don't know if he is O.K. We took him to the office and took his tempicher and something was rong. He had 208 tempicher. He has the flu, cold & feaver. We gave him medasine and it didn't work. Do you know what it is. If you don't call us. The number is, 752-3824. Hurry! He could die soon. Right now he is suffuring. He is dieing just a little. He is laying on the chair. Were going to call the amblance if you cant come in 30 minuts. In about 50 he will die. Please come fast!

And another scribbling said:
Dear parents,
Rahmatullah is not cuwaperating in class. Were trying everything but he won't do anything. Mrs. C. is getting very mad. You have to help me. If he does anything wrong you be there. I'll see you there. Rahmatullah is going to scoll on Saturday Please come! Go to scoll at 2:00 sharp. Please do not be late because we can't do any other time. He will BE treated the way he treated are students. He will have to be nice. If he does anything wrong he will not go to reses again. If he doesn't cuwoperate he will be treted even bader. The qonsa quenses he will take will be vary mene. He will never want to go back to this place again! If he still wont cuwoperate send hims to millatery school. After this day he'l never want to go back again!
Sign: THE PRINCABLE

Rahmat's Stuff

Working For Spring Color

I'm still working out in the yard for several hours every day. Our property is very old, and we've spent several years pulling out old shrubs, pruning back overgrown tree-limbs, and reseeding the lawn.

Here in Tacoma, the height of the flowering/growing season is in late April, early May. Right now we see the greatest color flooding the yards and boulevards. Rhododendron, Azaleas, and all the flowering fruit trees are in bloom. This year I'm starting new Rhododendron shrubs, in pinks, peach, and deep reds.

'Percy Wiseman' is a stunning favorite, with large peach colored flowers, compact habit, and silvery new leaves.

Wikipedia indicates that Rhododendron is a very widely distributed genus, with major concentrations of diversity occuring in the Sino-Himalayan mountains of southeast Asia, from central Nepal and Sikkim east to Yunnan and Sichuan, with other significant areas of diversity in the mountains of Indo-China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Several species also occur in North America and a few in Europe, and some tropical species occur as far south as Borneo and New Guinea. Here in Washington you can sometimes see Rhodies growing wild in old forests, and we've seen many old varieties in Point Defiance, our city's large park in the North End of Tacoma.

I've got some shrubs that are so old, I've forgotten what they are called. This perennial has the most colorful petals, many of which turn into different shades as the weeks go by.

The grass in our backyard is seed we put down just a few years ago. All my compost was worked into the soil, so the grass came up quite beautifully, and has stayed very healthy.

This is the view from my patio, when I'm sitting in my chair - this photo was taken about 6:00 p.m. (To the left of this is my vegetable garden, with growing beds, my dahlia beds, and a junky compost pile that needs to be tidied up) ....still lots of work to do in this backyard. I'll cover all the 'clean-up' and repair projects in another post, for tomorrow.

And this is part of a pathway, lined with bark. This little bed will grow to be large tufts of purple and white allysum, an exceedingly fragrant flower....I took this last photo at 6:30 this morning, while getting a little water onto the grass. It is supposed to be close to 80 degrees today..... good growing weather.