Poo Poo Point Trail

On Saturday we hiked Poo Poo Point Trail which begins behind the stadium of Isaquah High School. The trailhead is not easy to find; you have to walk about a quarter of a mile behind the stadium, taking one of the trails leading east,away from the stadium. First you will pass the trailhead for the Adventure Trail; that is not the one you want if you are headed to Poo Poo Point. We made that mistake and walked about 10 minutes before meeting someone with a map and discovered our error. We DID eventually get to signs to direct us UP, UP, UP Tiger Mountain to Poo Poo Point where we hoped to see para gliders launching off the side of the mountain. No such luck, but the view of Lake Sammamish was breathtaking and we really felt a sense of accomplishment to see how high up we were once we walked out of the woods. From the para gliding area if you take the trail about 5 minutes south you come to a small meadow (kind of made us want to break into Sound of Music) and this lovely view of Mt.Rainier. For us it was a moderately difficult hike. Even with poles the downhill can be taxing on a person's knees. It is 4. miles each way. Although we met people along the way I would not call it a crowded hike. It certainly was a quiet trail; not even a lot of birdsong, just an occasional airplane overhead. Nary a toot from a train was heard; they say the Poo Poo name comes from the sound of trains in the valley below. So we get back to our car, look up towards where we had hiked and of course, we see para gliders!

The Waning Days of August

Our vacation and family reunion in July seem so distant. I feel like August has just steamrolled over me. The garden in August is rich with the smell of lilies or dead possums; yes, we have experienced both. Last Saturday found us frantically hauling a dead possum from under our shed, digging a shallow grave in the vacant lot next door and burying said possum in a shallow grave sans ceremony. PHEW! You do not know stench unless you have smelled bloated, rotting possum flesh in 80 degree heat. That was a nasty, nasty job and I am so glad we discovered and dealt with the source of the stench before our Sunday BBQ which was held to celebrate the arrival of Honey Girl, home for three weeks from Chicago.

August found us tying up the loose ends of summer projects. My industrious husband tiled the tub-surround walls and installed a new shower door.

The icy water painting on the opposite wall is also his work. As well as this painting:

And while he has been tiling and painting, I have been refinishing those end tables,
attending two days of workshops to prepare for teaching; one that sapped my enthusiasm (shall remain nameless), another (Love and Logic re: classroom management) made me smile, kept me alert and seemed practical/useful. I also have made about 15 home visits to incoming kindergartners and I am both excited and a bit daunted by all the new, young enthusiasm that is headed my way on the first day of school. I have had children read to me, do cart wheels for me, hula hoop for me, count their lemonade stand money for me, introduce me to their pets, their grandparents, their siblings.

But today I gave to family pursuits: I went shopping with my daughter, our family of three went downtown to see the movie Bottle Shock (very good; especially if you are interested in wine. Even if not,this is an easy, happy movie to see.) Then we went to the open house of our dentist's office. He just remodeled his 17th/18th floor space. It is a spectacular penthouse office with lots of great views and a roof top garden. Oh, and he's a GREAT dentist! Lastly we enjoyed ice cream from a new shop closer to our own neighborhood.

Tremendous Tomato Plants

When he is not in his treehouse, my nephew, Tanner, just might be helping his mom in her garden. Lisa's tomato plants are eight feet tall! Pacific Northwest gardeners like myself are all agog at tomato plants that are that robust. Lisa lives on a woodsy piece of property that once belonged to our maternal grandfather in Northeastern WI. The fence around the garden is to keep the deer out, they come right up to the windows of their house and eat her flowers at night. You've got to be a tenacious gardener to put up with bold critters munching on delectable plant life when your back is turned. More likely, Tanner is taking a dip in his pool to beat the heat.

Tanner's Tree House

My nephew Tanner has this awesome treehouse. To be honest; it is more my brother-in-law's treehouse; he has put an incredible amount of energy and ingenuity in creating this haven above the forest floor. My guess is that at some point Tanner is just going to push his dad out and say, "Hey pops, this is my roosting place, doesn't the sign say Tanner's Treehouse?"

The Fair Experience

What visit to Wisconsin would be complete with out a visit to a county fair? I'm not foolhardy enough to do a state fair like Diana, but a county fair, we were up for that!
At the request of our kind host and hostess, Honey Girl and I donned aprons and put in a couple hours of scooping ice cream for the Dairy Board's booth. When in the country do as the farmers do, right? It really WAS a fun, and certainly unique vacation experience. But seriously, scooping cement would've been easier. We cringed every time someone said "Vanilla" because it was the most 'brick like'. I got a slight case of the giggles at one point because I felt like Lucy in the I Love Lucy t.v. series where she is trying to keep up with an assembly line and bad goes to worse in a hurry. Fortunately the crowds thinned and we got to create our own sundae with strawberries, chocolate and caramel. Don't ever expect a vacation in WI to be low fat!

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"PULL KELBY, PULL!" we cheered. See the fierce determination in his freckled face? I couldn't believe he had that much muscle and energy left in his 5 year old body. We had walked around the Farmers Market in the morning, arrived at the Fair at noon and here he is, a couple hours later in the heat of the day, in a Pedal Pull which is a kid version of a Tractor Pull. The kids are grouped by their body weight. He was in the 40 to 60 pound group. The trailer that he is pulling has a weighted load. The box on the trailer measures the distance that it is pulled until the child stops pedaling. Kelby came in 2nd!! So what did he and ALL the other pedalers get; ice cream from the Dairy Board booth of course!


Soft bunnies and colorful roosters and so many other animals to see. The barns are always my favorite part of a fair.

A Coffee Shop Meeting

At Alvora's
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

Look, it's Diana who gave up a Saturday morning and cruised over Wisconsin county roads and negotiated one way streets and wound up and around the innards of a parking garage and then with a hop and a skip (OK, I'm embellishing) found her way to the front of the Inn on The Park, our agreed upon meeting place. Yes, Diana of Piffle! What fun to meet a fellow blogger in real time! Her hair is an enviable glossy auburn and her eyes smiled hello before she even said a word. Talk came easy and she even put up with meeting family members that I dragged along. Now I fully expect that she tote her 'family unit' out to the great Northwest for a visit.

Madison Farmer's Market

I have SO many photos of the Capitol and the square around it that I really didn't need another one. But what else can you do but say "Cheese!" and "Smile for the camera!" when you see a sign like the one in the top photo. Then there is the stately beauty of the capitol building at the end of State Street, and the disciplined lines of bountiful veggies in the market stands, and the farmer himself wiping the sweat off his brow, and what about those crazy gourds?

The Rural Life

View slideshow of Lodi WI

I'm back from Wisconsin with over 200 photos and I am having a heck of a time paring it down to a reasonable number to capture the memories. Impossible, I know. Anyway, this slide show is Lodi WI. I really intended on including a few shots of Madison but that did not happen. I keep forgetting that in BigHugeLabs you cannot edit your slideshow once you hit publish. My sister Lynn and her family live in Lodi. She lives on a street with beautiful old Victorian and craftsman style homes, each one with it's own distinctive porch, windows, and fancy trim. You sit in the swing on the front porch and everyone who passes by waves or says "hi" and the municipal pool is free and so refreshing although as you can see in the slideshow we were about the only ones in the pool as it was only about 75 degrees out. The entire time we were in WI the weather really was not as humid as I recalled and twice we had those summer storms where the rain comes down in sheets and thunder in the night that startles you at the edge of your dreams.

Boogie Woogie

IMG_2436
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

Lilies are my favorite flower. I love their scent, and their commanding presence. White lilies are just exceptionally elegant. This is one of two tree lilies that my friend Christine gave to me for Christmas. Yes, they call them tree lilies (Garden Rant) and can get up to seven feet tall. Mine are in pots and are only about 2 feet tall this year. Each year is supposed to be more magnificent and flower more abundantly than the last. This one's color is called Boogie Woogie. Now I am about to boogie woogie on outta here for a little R&R with family and friends in WI. See you in a couple...

But before I do I want to share that rice salad recipe. I put it below the photo of the salad in my July 13th post. Hey Anne, I found the black rice at Heng Heng market in White Center and the guy behind the counter asked me if I was going to make rice wine.
I guess that's why there were only two bags left on the shelf!

Camping on The Olympic Peninsula

I still have SO much to learn about putting pictures and slide shows on my blog. I had comments that went with each photo but they did not show up on the slide show. It's a long slide show and that is why I did not use Flickr or PhotoBucket. It would have used up too much bandwidth and I refuse to cough up money and go Pro because most months I am well within the 100MB us free loaders are given. Anyway, if you scroll to about 3:42 on the slide show you will see my husband looking into his camera on the edge of the Quilcene River. We are on Falls View Canyon Trail #868. And where am I? To the left of the husband on my back in the rocky bed of a rivulet that feeds into the river. Me, who always tells my students "STAY on the path to the playground!" I went off the path, to get a better picture of course, and I fell, HARD on a slippery rock. I had the presence of mind to curl my head (Pilates comes in handy!)and raise my camera. I narrowly missed hitting my tail bone. But my oh my, do I have the bruise! (No I will NOT take a picture of it!) I managed the next hour of the hike with much more caution. I don't usually complain much about sleeping on the ground but that night I don't think I slept a wink. Ice and Ibuprofen seem to be doing the trick. Going home and sleeping in my own bed was a welcome relief!

On the Wild Side

We just got back from 4 days of camping on the Olympic Peninsula. Spent one night near Dungeness Spit but that was all once we realized it was also the Lavender Festival in nearby Sequim and the campground was fully reserved for Friday and Saturday nights. Imagine mobs of mostly middle aged ladies wearing lots of purple and straw gardening hats strolling up and down the aisles of a street fair where the air is infused with lavender; lavender sachet, lotions, soaps, sprays, jellies,lavender plants, lavender tied up in bundles, artwork featuring lavender. Watch out Provance, Sequim is nosing in on the cachet of lavender! Can you believe it; my husband accommodated my curiosity, stopped the car and we actually did a quick 'browse and buy' at the stalls? It did help that: #1 It was early, barely 9:30 and the serious crowds had not yet accumulated. #2 We both needed a good coffee fix. On from from there we went to Seal Rock campground near Brinnon. The Turk's Cap Lily in these photos was taken at the viewpoint for Mt. Walker.

Invasive?

I am trying to figure out if this is the invasive weed called Policeman's Helmet. I am quite certain it is a type of Impatiens. The seeds fly at the slightest brush in the fall. Then in spring the new plants are everywhere in my shade/woodland garden. They grow to about 3 feet tall in my garden. I rather like them and find that they are easy to control by just pulling them out before they all go to seed.

A Visit to Havercroft

This is the Black Rice Salad that I took to the Open Garden at Havercroft, home of our friend, Roger. It is the last time this summer I may be able to make this salad as finding black rice is as hard as finding hen's teeth. I suppose I could use wild rice but it just wouldn't be the same. So you want to see Havercroft? I bloomin' betcha you do! Take a click on the slideshow button for a tour.



As requested, here's the recipe:
Chinese Black Rice, Orange and Avocado Salad


2 Cups cooked black rice
(Wehini or wild rice can be substituted)
2 cups dice peeled oranges
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
¼ teaspoon of salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and diced into half inch cubes
4 Lettuce leaves for arranging the salad and peeled orange wedges for garnish

In a bowl combine the cooked rice, orange juice, toasted pumpkin seeds, orange zest, salt and chipotle. I squeeze a lemon or lime over the avocado pieces (to keep them green longer ) before I gently mix them into the rice mixture.

Spoon the salad onto the ‘lettuce cups’ and garnish with orange slices. Since it was a potluck I just put the salad into the bowl.

Eilen Jewell

Chris and I went downtown today to hear Eilen Jewell and her band play at Occidental Square. It was a toe tapping time that's for sure. Her voice is lovely; sometimes soulful and other times with just a hint of country twang. The lyrics of the tunes she writes are insightful and speak to the experience of down and out people. Take for example:"It's a Rich Man's World". She sang several tunes from her new cd Letters From Sinners and Strangers and of course I bought it. About the only negative I can say about her performance is that while her singing is beautiful she does not have any catchy patter in her introductions or between songs comments. Great music but not a lot of showmanship. But then again the 2 street people in the photo below were putting on a whole show all their own. It was actually hard at times to concentrate on the stage performance because of the scarf waving, warty backed guy in a purple kilt and his lobster skinned, shirtless friend dancing away in front of the stage. My husband says to me, "Did you see the eyes of the guy in the kilt? He's just plain crazy, bat shit crazy!" I do believe he was right. On one hand I felt sorry for them but then hey, they were all smiles and having a whole lot of fun dancing. Eilen and her band were really quite patient with the antics of these two men and one of their lady friends. She even honored two of their requests for Billie Holiday and Loretta Lynn songs.



The scarf dancer was also at the Solstice Parade....aren't you glad I didn't post buck naked photos of him?

Occidental Park

Occidental Park is in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of downtown Seattle. This is the oldest neighborhood in Seattle and it really is not a square although Occidental Park comes close to being a square. It is a great place to just hang; of course all the street people know that too. If you are ever in this neighborhood in Seattle I recommend you buy a sandwich from Bakeman's Restaurant which has been around for a LONG time. It is located between First and Second streets on Cherry. You will not be disappointed. The bread is baked right there and it is the yummiest; maybe second only to my Grandma Caldie's and Great Grandma Cornell's. But be forewarned; if you go there during lunch KNOW WHAT YOU WANT! The people behind the counter can be like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld and they talk fast too. I had oven roasted turkey, white meat, on whole wheat with mayo and cranberries and the price; a mere $5.60 including a big dill pickle. The cash register guy gave me a bit of grief for not having my bills organized by denomination but I came away relatively unscathed with my yummy sandwich in hand.

Who's Snacking on My Zinnias?

Last week I bought a few zinnias to put a touch of bright color in the rockery border. Well, every day this week I noticed that two of them never could seem to get enough water. Their leaves always looked limp, even in the early morning. Snap dragons had flourished in the same spot earlier in the summer, iris' did just fine in the spring, one zinnia only a foot away looked quite healthy and content in it's spot. This morning I fully intended on moving both of the limp zinnias to new locations. Imagine my surprise to see that some critter had done the job for me. One whole plant was torn out of the ground and ripped into 3 pieces by some seriously annoyed animal. I don't think I am going to get more life out of this plant but I replanted it along with it's sorry looking sibling; but in a new location. It sure enough is a backyard mystery.

On Stacation

So you might ask, "What's it like to have the husband on 'stacation' with you?" Not half bad I must say, downright enjoyable at times. It's all about choices. You can look at a midlife lay off as a crisis or an opportunity. We are doing pretty good at choosing option number two. I have an occasional anxiety attack and reach for the paper bag (NO, not to wrap around a bottle; to breathe into), especially when tuition bills of seven thousand plus come in the mail. But then the sun is up and we get in the groove and it's off to the Y we go or me for a run, him for a skate, time to delve into the invisible, yet real, job jar, or perhaps an hour or of reading, an hour or two of blogging, time for him to get creative, and me to get crafty. See the end table photo? That is one of the two I am trying to spray paint(water based) gloss black. Spray painting is not as easy as I had thought! It will probably take me all summer to finish the 2 end tables and the DH cranks out a new painting every 2 weeks or less; each one better than the last. I guess I should do a dozen or so end tables to improve my spray painting technique.
Here's the song I can't get out of my head today: Mess Around by Eilen Jewell. She's playing at the 'Out To Lunch' concert in Occidental Park this Friday; I'm going!

What's that smell?

Well, if it makes you crinkle your nose in disgust it could be a Voodoo Lily , in Latin: Dracunculus vulgaris. This one I have deep in my shade garden. It gives off a rotting horse flesh odor to attract flies for pollination. The smell is intense for only one day. The blossom is about 8 inches long; impressive but not the sort of flower you put into a bouquet unless it was for your worst enemy.


Voodoo Lily
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

Licorice Scented Hyssop

I'm a sucker for licorice. I drink licorice tea everyday. You really don't get the benefit of the scent unless you brush the leaves with your fingers.


Licorice Scented Hyssop
Originally uploaded by mtnester.