Peninsula Park Rose Garden

April 28, 2020April 29, 2020 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

April 23, 2020 – Another urban hike-

We walked to the Peninsula Park Rose Garden through northeast Portland. Neighborhood gardens are bursting with flowers, but it was much too early for the rose garden.

It is pink snow season in Portland! (cherry blossoms)

These red and white camellias reminded me of the “Painting the roses red!” scene from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.

saxifrage

azalea

phlox

apple

dogwood and maple

Our route took us through the Alberta Arts neighborhood where personal artistic expression is abundant!

Even the tiny horses are prepared for pandemic

Mt Hood

We finally reached the Peninsula Park Rose Garden after walking about 4 miles.

The rose garden was built in 1913.

The rose beds are sunken below street level.

Peonies near the entrance were the brightest color there today.

Brickwork paths.

The gazebo

The only blooming roses.

Looking west across the rose garden.

Hike #37, 8.4 miles, 200 feet. We are hoping to find a dirt trail nearby to walk next week – the cement is very hard on my poor arthritic feet, as I am trying to keep my fitness levels up for the duration…

Knitting

I finished the ‘eggs’ and the ‘chicken feet’ on the Which Came First shawl. On to the ‘chicken wire’!

PS. Happy 3rd Blogiversary to me – I published my first post in April of 2017!

Rocky Butte

April 23, 2020 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Another week of Pandemic, another urban volcano hike, new spring blooms, a bit of crafting, and some good advice from George Washington.

April 16, 2020 – Hike of the Week

Rocky Butte is another Boring Volcanic Field volcano in Portland. We walked there from the Rose City Golf course, and had a great view of the High Cascades Peaks, with a coyote sighting along the way.

After walking flat city streets, we began the uphill climb on Rocky Butte Road.

A coyote, crossing the road ahead.

The coyote continued up into the forest.

Meanwhile, we walked up the road and through the tunnel.

The road, tunnel, and stone walls were built in the 1930’s as part of a WPA post-depression infrastructure project.

Eventually, we reached the park on the summit.

Views in all directions:

East to Mt Hood

North to Mt St Helens

Columbia River, Mt St Helens

Mt St Helens

Northwest, down the Columbia River

West to the Fremont Bridge, Portland

West to downtown Portland

Southeast to Mt Jefferson

Mt Jefferson

Mt Hood again

And a last look at Mt St Helens before heading down.

I always love a Peak Finder!

Hike#36, 6.5 miles, 420 feet.

New blooms in the neighborhood and garden this week:

dogwood

apple

peonies leafing out

camus

fothergilla

California poppy

Crafting:

I made forward and reverse progress on my Meris sweater. While playing yarn chicken, I made the sleeves too short. I have knit just about every part of this sweater three times, so now I will reknit the lower sleeves. I sewed more masks, started sewing a new bathrobe to replace the one I left behind in Queenstown, and continued knitting Emily’s shawl, and the purple socks.

Meanwhile in Portland:

Physical distancing demonstrated by our founding father!

NZ 2020: Day 5, Point Elizabeth, Hokitika, Lake Mahinapua

April 17, 2020April 15, 2020 / margaretquilts / 2 Comments

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

After our relatively dry day yesterday in Punakaiki, we encountered more of the rain of the rainy West Coast on our way south to Franz Josef.

Point Elizabeth Track in the rain – palms and seals

We started the day with a hike through rainforest to a coastal viewpoint at Point Elizabeth. Highlights were lots of blooming nikau palm trees, and then our first sighting of fur seals for the trip.

View north toward Rapahoe

Landward mountains

View south toward Point Elizabeth

Into the rainforest

Tree fuchsias

Nikau palm trees

fronds

flowering structure

another “bloom”

Petals have fallen off

pod that encased the flower before it bloomed

fallen petals

Views from Point Elizabeth:

Looking down at the fur seals near the cliffs.

Still misty as we hike out.

Hokitika

We stopped to eat lunch and browse the shops offering Maori greenstone carvings.

Views from the Hokitika River Quay.

I discovered a yarn shop with a sock knitting machine museum, here near southernmost part of the settled world!

Sock knitting machines

And a Carnegie Library, here on the far side of the world.

Lake Mahinapua

Another hiking stop – we took the Jum Michel Walk, in the rain, and saw some interesting plants. Once again our guide dropped us at the trailhead, and met us on the other side.

Into the rain forest

Hen and chicken fern

Tree fern

Supplejack

Then we wandered over to Lake Mahinapua to look at what could have been a view to the peaks of the Southern Alps.

Lake Mahinapua

Total hike stats for the day: 6 miles, 300 feet.

Tree Ferns and mountain views, Franz Josef

Our final stop was our lodging in Franz Josef. Tomorrow, if the weather cooperated, we planned to see the Franz Josef glacier.

Mask sewing, knitting, neighborhood walks, and hiking a local volcano…

April 13, 2020 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I’m not exactly sure – I think it is the second week of April…

We are lucky to be just sheltering in place, only venturing out for walks, weekly grocery replenishing, and the occasional medical appointment. So far we are healthy and doing our part by staying home.

I made masks for family and friends.

I am enjoying meeting my knitting group via the internet, and making progress on a shawl for my daughter.

Which Came First shawl, pattern by Cheri Clark, Malabrigo Mechita, Piedras colorway.

We are busy with home projects, both inside and out.

We made a nice dinner for the first night of passover, which we shared virtually with one of our sons.

I continue my usual neighborhood walks. We have had some amazingly beautiful spring days. Trees are blooming, leafing out, glowing in the sunshine!

Easter spirit!

Tulips and euphorbia

New growth

Acute angles

Sidewalk variations…

Alameda Ridge stairs

Polygons

Our crabapple tree has come into full bloom this week.

Earliest blooms

Looking out from the upstairs window

Queen Catherine has come out of retirement to show solidarity with the neighborhood!

We walked to a farther distant park in town to make up for not being able to take our usual hike of the week in wilder surroundings just now.

Mt Tabor Park, Portland, 4/9/2020

Mt Tabor is a relict 300,000 year old cinder cone, over 600 feet high, that is a popular park on the east side of Portland. It is about 3.5 miles from our house, so by the time we walked up and around the reservoirs and to the top of the hill we had covered over 8 miles for the day, with a little bit of hill climbing.

Our route was through residential neighborhoods.

Laurelhurst entry arch.

Acute sidewalk angles again.

Ivied building

Another salmon carved from a cedar stump

Native wildflowers, which I am so missing from our hikes, are blooming in front yards.

Shooting stars!

Oregon grape

Bleeding hearts

Sandwort

Trillium

When we reached Mt Tabor Park, we continued uphill, past the reservoirs and through the woods to the top. No cars are allowed on the roads, and trails are wide, so we were easily able to keep our distance from other people.

View toward downtown beyond the reservoir

Flowering trees and fields

Pear blooms

Woods near the top

We found a bench to eat lunch with a westward view toward downtown Portland.

After lunch, we walked down past the amphitheater where the excavated hillside reveals the volcanic structure of Mt Tabor.

On our walk to and from Mt Tabor we saw encouraging signs of pandemic solidarity throughout the neighborhoods…

We saw lots of bears, hearts, rainbows in windows!

We saw a tribute to John Prine – sadly, one of the coronavirus victims this week.

More words of encouragement! One of my knit group members shared a photo of this plaque from the FDR Monument in Washington DC…a message of hope and guidance that applies to our times as well.

NZ 2020: Day 4, Punakaiki

April 7, 2020April 17, 2020 / margaretquilts / 2 Comments

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The sun was still shining when we woke up to a beautiful morning in Punakaiki!

Morning view from our lodging.

Southern rata and cabbage tree

We spent the day hiking in Paparoa National Park.

Our destinations for the day.

Pororari Punakaiki River Track

We had our first chance to fully immerse ourselves in the rain forest. It was beautiful, and very different from our usual forests in Oregon.

The red line shows our trail. Our guide dropped us at the Pororari River, then hiked in to meet us from the Punakaiki car park.

Limestone cliff above the Pororari River.

Tree ferns

Nikau palms

Each turn in the trail revealed interesting views.

Palm trunk

Cut trunk of a tree fern?

Pororari River, looking west toward the ocean.

We were learning the unusual (to us) foliage – this is the Rimu, or red pine, a member of the native Podocarp family. We would see these throughout our travels on the South Island.

The red blooming tree is the Southern Rata, a native evergreen tree.

Our guide had us taste the inner core of the supplejack vine – a bit like asparagus.

We were excited to see a few weka birds running across the trail and in the parking area. They are flightless native birds about the size of chickens, sometimes regarded as nuisances, but are a protected species, as are all the native birds.

Weka

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

After lunch we visited the famous Pancake Rocks. The tide wasn’t quite high enough for spouting during our visit, but we admired the weirdly eroded limestone rock formations and ocean views.

View to the south.

Closer look

Limestone layers

Red-billed gull

Imaginative viewing.

View north to the next destination – the Truman Track.

Truman Track

The Truman Track leads through rainforest to the beach.

It was a little misty in the forest.

By the time we reached the beach the sun was out.

View to the south back toward Punakaiki.

Truman Cove beach to the north.

The tide was going out as we walked along the sand.

Pebbly “sand”

Marine fossils in the sandstone cliffs and ledges

Overhanging sand stone cliffs, and view to the beach stairs.

Stairs up through New Zealand flax back to the trailhead.

We had a lovely day exploring interesting rocks, fossils, pebbly beaches, and rainforest palms and tree ferns of Paparoa. Tomorrow we would go south along the West Coast toward Fiordland. Our three hikes for the day added up to about 7 miles/600 feet (#3 for 2020).

Walking in my neighborhood…

April 2, 2020 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

March 31, 2020

Walking in my neighborhood in the time of coronavirus

It has become a strange do-si-do as we pass each other…

At each corner, each intersection, I look ahead –
If the sidewalk is clear I keep walking.
If someone is coming my way, I cross to the other side of the street.

If we approach each other on the same sidewalk,
one of us will take the time to step aside or
step into the street
to maintain that magical six feet of separation
that is supposed to keep us safe from infecting each other.

This is in my friendly old neighborhood where I have walked for almost thirty years.
Houses of every style, mostly pre1950’s, some homes dating back to the 1800’s.

1891 home

This is Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby’s neighborhood, for goodness sake!
Usually people are very friendly, walking together, stopping to greet dogs and children.
I notice my favorite landmarks –
the cedar stump carved into an eagle and salmon,
the fairy houses,
my favorite sidewalk patches,
the old curbstones with horse rings,
and this time of year, the tulips and the cherry trees in bloom.
I visit my favorite poetry posts and sometimes take an extra copy.
I scan the Little Free Libraries, and sometimes take or leave a book.

carved cedar stump

Fairy garden

sidewalk patch

horse ring

cherries and tulips

Poetry post

Little Free Library

tulip buds

Tulips

Bee habitat

peony sprouts

early rhodies

red currant

lichen, light pole, vacant softball field

cherry blossoms

These days I almost hope no one else will be out
so I won’t have to make the awkward do-si-do,
though we usually nod wistfully and
smile apologetically,
encouragingly,
hopefully,
as we pass.

Neighborly fence of encouragement!

Margaret Quilts

Quilting, Knitting, Hiking

Month: April 2020

Peninsula Park Rose Garden

April 23, 2020 – Another urban hike-

Knitting

Rocky Butte

April 16, 2020 – Hike of the Week

New blooms in the neighborhood and garden this week:

Crafting:

Meanwhile in Portland:

NZ 2020: Day 5, Point Elizabeth, Hokitika, Lake Mahinapua

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Point Elizabeth Track in the rain – palms and seals

Hokitika

Lake Mahinapua

Mask sewing, knitting, neighborhood walks, and hiking a local volcano…

I’m not exactly sure – I think it is the second week of April…

Mt Tabor Park, Portland, 4/9/2020

NZ 2020: Day 4, Punakaiki

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Pororari Punakaiki River Track

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

Truman Track

Walking in my neighborhood…

March 31, 2020

Walking in my neighborhood in the time of coronavirus