George loaded up the canoe and my hiking poles and we headed over to Anderson Bay on Holly road for a morning paddle, and then spent the afternoon hiking along the Gold Creek Trail in the Green Mountain Forest. No photos, since George forgot his camera.
The water at Anderson Bay was perfect for an early spring paddle - clear and still, which made for a very peaceful glide. Lots of oyster beds and seaweed, and shorelines dotted with little cabins. This area has been in use for a long time.
We noticed several old cabins caving in to decades of neglect. One old cabin remained upright due to a huge fir tree holding it up on the leaning side. We beached the canoe and I explored an old abandoned cabin in a nettle patch. Daffodils were in bloom along a nearby creek. Someone had pitched an old stove and icebox off the back porch, and an old rusty bed-frame leaned against an outside wall.
I walked through the cabin - others had too, leaving behind their beer cans. Nothing remained inside. The doors were taken off the closet; the fixtures removed from the kitchen sink; many of the lovely ceiling boards were pulled off and salvaged. A tin roof kept the old linoleum floor dry, but the deck outside was rotted and dangerous. I noticed that all of the windows were still intact, unshuttered, and open to any little critter wanting to nest in the roof or inside the chimney.
The cabin had four rooms, a large living area, a small kitchen, an adjoining bedroom, and a stairway up to an open loft - it would be warm up there, for kids. I stood at the kitchen window and imagined waking up in the morning there 40 years ago. There was a nice view of the water, the snow-covered Olympic mountains, and the forest. What a shame that all of it is now in a tangle of blackberry bushes and nettles.
I enjoyed lunch and a thermos of Turkish coffee while George paddled along the shoreline. We saw very few people about as many of the homes are for summertime use. Lots of waterfowl: Common mergansers, western grebe, barrows golden-eyes, buffleheads. We heard one barking seal on the far shoreline - it is amazing how that sound will carry across still water.
Our hike at Gold Creek took us through the forest and down to a large beaver pond where many frogs were singing and courting. A speckled grouse pecked in the gravel along the path, and I was surprised that she just kept sorting through the fallen leaves, head down, and me just a few feet away. "Dumb as dirt", as Trish on 'The Alaska Experiment' once mentioned, when it came to grouse. The moment I saw it I felt just like her - it was food, not just wildlife!
I made several soups over the weekend, using my garden vegetables.
The beautiful white roots on these leeks can be chopped for Vietnamese crepes. I finely chop the green stems- all of them, and freeze them for soup.
Leek soup, topped with home-made yogurt.
I ran out of potatoes so had to use carrots for this kale soup.
These cheese-filled biscuits were seasoned with dill.
