Heading Out - Eastern Washington

We've got the van all cleaned out, washed and vacumed, the camping stuff packed, and we're heading back to Okanogan County to check out those lakes we saw a couple weeks ago.

This time, we're going to settle in, and stay awhile. We'll be back after the 4th. Have a great weekend, and a safe 4th of July.

Family Gathering

This is a view of the Narrows Bridge, from a home overlooking the Narrows Waterway, where we had a family gathering. It is the home of my former husband, Darrell, his wife Alice, her daughter and a grandson. They are an extended family, all living together.

Our family arrived - Laurel and her husband, Mehran; Rue and his wife, Annie, and their daughter Daisy, and Annie's mom, Kathy.

We brought Rahmat, shown here with Daisy.

And Megan and Taraz also came.

It's just easier, to all meet together this way, rather than go from house to house, to hear of all the news.

We wanted to celebrate the news about Taraz and Megan's wedding in September.

And, Darrell wanted to show some of his photographs from his pilgrimage to Haifa last fall.

Mehran recently visited Iran, to visit his family there, and he had stories to share about that visit. The following story was one that Mehran told about his Mother:

In Iran, Baha'is are under constant surveilance and questioning, and once a month Mehran's mother has to go to an office for questioning. It is just the usual questions, about where they have gone, what are they doing, and who do they talk to.

The officer in charge had interviewed Mehran's mom for over 6 years now, not missing a month. At Naw Ruz, the Baha'i new year, she called him, to tell him that she would have to cancel the monthly meeting, as she was busy cooking for the holy day celebration.

This was the first time she had been so bold as to tell an officer that she cannot lighten her tasks to oblige political protocol. Quite a daring move, but, she had main dishes to prepare, like kabab koobideh, gormeh sabei, and koofteh berenji. She couldn't leave her work. He told her to skip the visit this time, and prepare for Naw Ruz.

After the new year festivities were over, and the month had drawn to a close, she discovered that even if Baha'is were being persecuted in Iran, that she had come to look forward to these interrogations! It was a way to talk to someone about all the details about her family. The officer was always an alert and curious listener, asking so many questions.

Because she skipped a meeting, she told the officer that he must come to their home for the next visit, so she could make tea. That is a custom that you do for honored guests, and that is how she wanted to view this man and his questions.

He came to the home......but, did not take time for tea.

I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.
~ Oprah Winfrey

Movie Night, With The Kids

There was a package in the mail a few weeks ago, from my daughter, Ruhiyyih. She purchased a video for $2.00 from Frugal Media in Austin, Texas. "Revenge of the Nerds II - Nerds in Paradise". The kids watched it years ago, around 1988. And, horror of horrors, they watched it again - HERE.

The original starred Anthony Edwards, Robert Carradine, and Timothy Busfield as a bunch of socially awkward but lovable freshman at Adams College who find themselves oppressed and taunted by the more popular jocks of the Alpha Beta fraternity. Hoping to avoid more wedgies, the nerds form their own frat and attempt to overrun the student council, inciting an all-out war.

Now, normally I was too busy to sit for very long to join them, but they remember that I did watch this film with them. I never laughed harder or longer, than when an old man burped in that film. That was one loud, long belch, totally a surprise. Everyone held their breath waiting for the old guy to take an IN-breath. No deal. He kept opening his mouth, gyrating, eyes bulging, until all his expulsive power emptied with a squeek. Every kid in the room turned, and looked at Mom! My face was as purple and breathless as the old man's.

You won't find any famous names in this film, just antics that are nerdy beyond belief. Tastless, irritating. They are so bad, I've forgotten every last one of them. I wouldn't recommend this film. On the Message Board at the website, comments started with, "Just awful.", "What really bothered me about this film", "The worst part about this movie".......!!

While they watched an earlier movie, "Lord of the Flies"(double feature night here), I went out to my garden, picked some lettuce, onion, zuchinni, and peas, and pretty soon George had put together a meal.

He served it in stages as he made it...... pitabread sandwiches, served with some cornbread and maple syrup.

Since its been in the high 80's, low 90's here, we also put out some iced tea laced with lemonaide.

How "Revenge of the Nerds" ever became popular is beyond me. But, a remake of the 1984's college comedy is scheculed, with Fox Searchlight. It will follow a fraternity of misfits seeking payback against the football players harassing them.The studio has reportedly hired Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah to pen the script. The duo also wrote for the short-lived but critically-acclaimed NBC series 'Freaks and Geeks' and are the creators of ABC's drama 'Life as We Know It'.

It's Summertime, sum sum Summertime!

The tranquil fog shown here is at the confluence of Joe Creek and Pacific Beach. We were just a short distance away from the ocean. The weekend had record high temps in the 80's, creating this kind of fog in the morning.

Inland, on Van Winkle Creek, we began a canoe paddle that started out great, with water flowing upriver due to the tide. (And, I apologize for photos that are mid-day, with poor light.)

It carried us inland, as the stream narrowed and got more complex. Snags were underwater and overhead.... not the best conditions for a paddle. In any kind of current the canoe can be sideswiped when turning it around, causing capsizing. And, the debris in the water can snag a life-jacket, pinning a person underwater. So, we turned the canoe in a shallow spot, and headed back down-river.

When we first started canoeing about 7 years ago, we came across logs jutting out in the stream that hosted whole communities of plant life, holding on, packed tightly. Some of them hosted landings for geese, resting places and nesting places. I call them 'little meditations', because each one holds a story.

This one just had lovely grasses waving in the breeze, and a promise of huckleberries on the other side.

We drove over to Lake Aberdeen where there is a public beach, and paddled around the lake.

There were a lot of swimmers and sunbathers, but we left them behind, and paddled up Van Winkle Creek. We've done this paddle before in the wintertime, but we didn't recognize the little stream that trickled into the lake. We paddled upstream, against the current, and then floated back down, without paddling, just letting the current pull us along. This is when the languid pleasure of a summer day really takes hold. We watched salamanders floating along, nests of killdeer in the sand, and enjoyed the wave patterns in the sandy bottom.

Aberdeen Lake has two distinctly different types of water lily in bloom, the yellow and the white. The yellow ones were filled with little black insects, and floated in brilliant sunshine. None of my photos turned out - too much glare.

I caught this photo because the plants were in the shade.

We were gone about 9 hours, and got home just in time to clean up, put our gear away, and go to Feast, one of the devotional activities of our faith.

There, we announced that Taraz and Megan were to be married in September, and we had a chance to celebrate that news with our Baha'i friends. It was a special feast, held in the home of Megan's parents.

I'll post a few photos below, just to share the images of a very special evening, with some of our closest friends.

The Feast of Rahmat

This is Taraz, working on a project at Feast. I think finances are involved with this one....

And Pearl, one of Taraz's friends, completing a project.

And Margie. She led the discussion and presented the projects. Her background is teaching - primary school level. We were broken up into groups to design and figure-out, do artwork, or discuss.

Margie and Debbie, setting up a project in the dining room.
Al co-hosted the Feast of Rahmat (Mercy), and did all the cookin', readings, and prayers. Kay, a physical therapist, Debbie, a chiropractor, and Pearl are to his left. (I'm still learning how to use this camera, so even with a flash, I've noticed problems with light.)

Tom is telling a story, and why do I think this story is about those huge fish up in Alaska.....

"No Al, a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down."

Taraz with Pearl's mom, Arlene, who is a charge nurse in a nursing home. I've known Pearl since she was 9 months old. She is married, and a student at the community college. Taraz used to pull her hair and give her big squeezes when he was 5 years old. They've grown up together.

Now, he gives everyone BIG squeezes.

Bird Hunting

A Princess For A Day

When my grand-daughter and I were at the Tacoma Art Museum, I snapped this pondering pose.....oh, to be a princess, for just a day.

Point And Shoot At 6:00 A.M.

I'm still trying to figure out how my camera works. When I got it, I wanted just a 'point and shoot' camera. Thats worked out fine for what I want to do.

But now, I'm wanting my photos to show what I REALLY saw - the crispness, the intensity of color, the impact.....and I don't know how to get it. It's there when I'm looking at it, it just doesn't look the same on the computer screen or on paper. Something is lost.

I'm convinced nothing is better than the moment of observation, and we just can't copy it perfectly. It is like the rush of going down the Snake River in a white-water raft - how can you photograph it to bring it to life?

But, there are a few guidelines, and I'm reading them. Ken Rockwell has a simple way of explaining his craft - photography. So, I'm studying this material. First thing he says to do is to aim for sunrise or sunset - light is everything. There is a 15 minute window during every day where the light is favorable. Usually people are sleeping or eating dinner at that time. A devoted photographer will rise at 3:00 a.m, get to his site, and get set up by 5:00.

That is today's lesson. I'm lazy, I got up at 6:00 a.m., walked outside to my patio, and took this shot.

How do I know if it is good or not? Well, just compare it with this one, taken at 9:00 a.m. There is a difference, isn't there! (Sure looks quiet here, doesn't it.)

But, that doesn't solve the problem with most of the shots I want to take, which are mid-day, out on the prairie of eastern Washington. The air and light there just wash everything out, and water pictures hold a lot of glare. I can tell you, it is a lot more beautiful there than my pictures show. Yesterday, I bought a polarized filter to tone down the glare a little, a cheap little piece of plastic like sunglasses. It may help. But, Rockwell says they only slightly help.

I pressed the mouse onto the photo above to enlarge it, and that white rose needs to be dead-headed.

Sinlahekin Wildlife Refuge

We spent the weekend camping up in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Refuge, a spectacular protected environment in Okanogan country, in north-central Washington. When I say 'protected' I mean that it is obvious that great care has been taken to preserve the refuge for wild-life, birds, deer - and bear. This area, the oldest Wildlife Area in Washington state, was originally purchased to provide habitat for mule deer. Bighorn sheep were re-introduced in 1949 from a herd in British Columbia.

Shrub species used by deer include antelope bitterbrush, Pacific serviceberry, western common chokecherry, and snowbrush. A long field behind the campground was plowed, growing wild oats, grain, and thistle, to attract birds. Little golden finches were abundant, singing in the wild rose bushes.

It was so satisfying laying in the tent at night, listening to the sounds of the birds, then the crickets, then the frogs. In the middle of the night the sounds of the frogs stopped when there was a loud cry from an owl. It woke me up, and I opened the tent flap to look at the sky - just a spectacular night-time sky, with the milky way and the stars so brilliant and clear.

This campground was so remote, there was just a fire-pit, no tables or water spigots. I prepared our meals over the fire, while sitting on our cooler. I made fried eggs, toast, and potatoes for breakfast. And, coffee.

I went for a long walk along the lake, and video taped the wild geese nesting in the brush. Other campers were eyeing a bear up on the hillside. I couldn't see it, but used my zoom lens to get a look. I did manage to see a deer foraging up on the hills across the lake.

We went for a late afternoon paddle on Blue Lake, about 6 miles. Ideal temperatures, sun, and minimal wind made for a great paddle. My video images had rich, deep color, swirling water patterns, and the constant back- ground sounds of birds and geese.

We also paddled Sugarloaf Lake, a little lake with birds nesting in old tree stumps along the shore line. While George got the canoe ready, I waded out into the marshy edges and filmed the tadpoles. Thousands of them were swirling around in the warm edges of the water.

On Sunday, we attemped to paddle some other lakes, but the wind was too strong. It can be too tedious and dangerous fighting the waves and wind. So, we explored, finding a lot of other remote lakes - Conconully, White Stone, Spectable, and Brown and Green. No one seems to bother driving to these lakes, they are so remote, but they are a canoer's dream.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon driving along the Similkameen River, the Oakanogan River, and the mighty Columbia. This photo shows the dry vege- tation. Sage brush country, hot and dry.

We drove through deep mountain canyons, along the plateaus of the Central Ferry Wildlife Refuge in Douglas County, which winds up on a long stretch of prairie that is vast and expansive in every direction. It is almost unsettling, the absence of people, trees, and farm houses. Families just don't dot the prairie here. The distances are too vast.

I didn't get any photos of the Dyer Hill country. We just wanted to 'get through it'. It has big boulders that dot the expansive prairie, where they dropped off of glaciers during the ice age. And, from there the McNeil Canyon Road drops down off the high plateau country into the Oakanogan country, with Lake Chelan in the distance.

We just kept going, until we hit the fruit orchards of the Wenatche valley, with miles of peach trees, cherries, apricots, and apple trees.

The orchards in the Wenatche valley had fruit stands selling Rainier cherries.

We spent about eight hours exploring backroads. I video-taped the bucolic farmlands, the lakes, canyons, and vast areas of dry-land farming. We stopped at a farm that had old machinery lined up in the grass by the side of the road.

It was hard to drive back into town, Sunday evening....I wanted to stay at that campground, and look at stars at night, listen to the sounds of birds in the morning, and have morning coffee over the campfire. Sigh....I'm definitely not cut out for city living.

A Sense of History in the Grass

We were impressed that a family out on the prairie parked all of their family's machinery right there, along the road, so that people driving by could appreciate it.

I love old machinery. I can't always understand what they did, but the sheer size and mystery of them have always fascinated me.

I like how the paint rusts, and the hornets find nesting places inside the old cabs and inside the grill.

I like the big bolts and the engines. When I was videotaping these, the owner was nearby, weedwacking the tall grass nearby. She said that they wanted to put a protective roof over all of them, but that would destroy the image of them, sitting out on the prairie.

She said all of these old machines still require maintence and repair, to keep them in shape.

Well, we might be on our way.......

I think I've got most of the kinks worked out, so that Blogger will upload photos - it has pooped out on me for days.

What I thought were Blogger issues - weren't. I read their 'Help' program, and followed every step: Delete old programs and files. Delete cookies. And install the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Now, I don't know what any of this stuff is, but I followed the directions - I thought, "What have I got to loose?" I didn't know where the 'tool bar' was, didn't know what 'internet options' was, don't know what 'internet files' are, or what they are for, but I just followed the directions. I figured the cookies were just those things that rattle.

Fortunately, my son Rue dropped by for a chat, and he installed the Mozilla Firefox, just for my Blogger work. He showed me a few steps and I tried it, and it worked. Darn, it was my fault! All this time, I'm tappin' my fingers, waiting, waiting, waiting, trying again. And, knowing me, I would have kept on waiting until next week!

Now, this is a lesson for all of the world's woes. Just don't assume it is the other guy's fault, and step in and get busy. Is that called getting 'proactive'?

Blogger is down. I'm waiting.......