Home and garden:

Last of the tomatoes

gladiolas

sumac

chamomile

Farmer’s Market bounty

Knitting:

I finished more hats for the Women’s Shelter donation, made progress on socks and a shawl, both excellent travel knitting, and began knitting the fall Mystery Gnome. And I received a late but welcome crocheted bag as a birthday gift from my sister.

Crocheted bag from my sister.

Donation hat

Donation hat

Weaving Socks, pattern by Very Busy Monkey; Knit Picks Stroll yarn.

Hitchhiker Shawl, pattern by Martina Behm, yarn by Knitted Wit

Mystery Gnome 7, pattern by Imagined Landscapes, yarn is Noro Silk Garden sock.

Hiking:

We spent a lot of time on hiking trails! In addition to two out of town trips to the Olympic Peninsula and Mt Baker, and a day hike at Cloud Cap on Mt Hood, all described in separate posts, we went on six other adventures:

September 9, East Crater Trail, Indian Heaven, Washington. Return to Junction Lake.

Into the woods

East Crater

Junction Lake

Mountain ash

Huckleberry

Mt St Helens from the PCT Southbound

Birds in a water hole in a mostly dry creek

September 17, Portland Arboretum. Early fall color on a beautiful day.

Aralia

Sumac

Hop hornbeam

Douglas fir with sap

September 24, Kiwa Trail, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington. Looking for Sandhill Cranes while we can still hike the trail before it is closed for the winter nesting season.

Nightshade berries near the creek

Woodland

Grassland with teasel

These are the sandhill cranes we are looking for!

Resident nesting pair with colt

September 26 – Saltzman Road in Forest Park, Portland. Our first time on this particular trail through the park, we walked 6 miles while catching up with friends.

Saltzman Road, Forest Park

September 28, Crawford Oaks, Washington. A return to an oft hiked trail, we escaped the rain in Portland and saw only 4 other hikers the entire day.

Columbia Hills from The Dalles Bridge

Geologic context

Eight Miles Falls

Pear tree

Our usual lunch spot

Clouds and wind

Eastward

Tufts

The “one tree”

Dried balsamroot, Dalles Mountain Ranch

Some foliage for the day:

pear

poison oak

oak

grasses

September 30, Coyote Wall, Washington. Another often hiked trail, again with friends. A beautiful day up there!

Puffy clouds and rocks

Coyote Wall

Mt Hood in the clouds

Return hike

Other news:

Tiaki, the Albatross chick I have been watching in New Zealand via webcam, has fledged!

The blue line is a tracker on Tiaki, the red line is one of her parents.

A family member acquired a new-to-him car.

I attended an in-person book group meeting, where we watched the moon rise over the Willamette River from Sauvie Island.