Hiking to Lyle Cherry Orchard, WA, and knitting a peach

October 18, 2019 / margaretquilts

October 11, 2019 – Green vegetation of summer transitioning to autumn hues: golden grass, yellow big leaf maples, orange oak, and the luring leering red of poison oak against the black cliffs. The ‘Cherry Orchard’ consists of a few ancient snags at the far end of the trail on top of the cliffs….the rewards are the blue sky and river views from the cliffs. (Hike#47, 6.3 miles, 1300 feet)

View of the cliff tops from the Convict Road.

Convict Road below us now.

Big leaf maple

Oak

Acorns on the trail.

Poison oak

Lots of poison oak all the way up…

Lunch view toward Lyle from the cliff top.

One of the remaining cherry trees.

End of the trail – west toward Rowena.

End of the trail, east toward The Dalles.

Almost back to the trailhead.

Knitting

I interrupted my other projects to knit a peach from the pattern Peached by Hunter Hammersen – who is donating the proceeds to RAICES and The Southern Poverty Law Center in aid of immigrants. I sent it to my daughter in her birthday package.

Meanwhile, I have made progress on a cardigan and a cowl.

Meris Cardigan

Spiral Cowl

Two wildlife refuges, Indian Heaven, and trying to keep up with fall colors, Sept-Oct 2019

October 13, 2019October 30, 2019 / margaretquilts

It has been a busy couple of weeks – a quilt show, a fiber festival, hikes at two wildlife refuges and Indian Heaven Wilderness. Meanwhile, the Mac hard drive is off at the Genius repair shop. I am learning blog work-arounds via iPad.

Friday, September 27 – I attended the Northwest Quilt Expo, admired all the quilts and photographed many. This vintage Tile Friendship Quilt (circa 1900, maker unknown) from the Latimer Quilt Museum, was very interesting. Seemingly random shapes are appliquéd to a plain background, each signed by a different maker in true Friendship Quilt style. It looks very modern, but it is old and entirely hand stitched!

I bought a few fat eighths to add to a batik quilt in my mental UFO list.

Sunday, September 29 -I visited the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, Oregon, just long enough to buy a lighter weight spindle and more fiber to practice drop spinning.

Then we went to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, our first visit there, and walked around the perimeter. Not many birds have arrived yet, but there are great overlooks and a nice winter trail for future visits. (Hike#44, 3.6 miles)

Great Blue Heron

Hawthorne berries

Looking across the refuge – soon this will be flooded with water and birds.

Great Blue Heron on the return trail.

Saturday, October 5 – We went to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington during their season closing bird fest. We walked the Kiwa Trail and part of the newly opened Carty Lake trail, and also went inside the Chinook Plankhouse to look around. (Hike#45, 3.2 miles)

Turtles

Sand Hill Cranes

Sand Hill Cranes in flight.

Great Horned Owl

Carty Lake

Chinook plank house

Inside the plankhouse.

Chinook Salmon trap

Sunday, October 6 – We joined friends for a hike in Indian Heaven Wilderness – from the East Crater trailhead to Junction and Lemei Lakes. Late fall colors, thawed mushrooms and blueberries, very pretty. (Hike#46, 8.8 miles, 1000 feet)

East Crater beyond one of many small lakes along the trail.

Junction Lake

Lemei Rock

Lemei Lake

Neighborhood walks – Meanwhile, in Northeast Portland, the days grow shorter, the light angles lower, the leaves more colorful.

Katsura trees

Sumac

Neighborhood witches hunting…

More witches…

Ash trees reflected in nearby windows.

Rain chain shadows

Knitting – I am making progress on my Meris cardigan….

A September Wedding, and a visit to The Getty Museum in Los Angeles

October 3, 2019 / margaretquilts

September 20-22, 2019. We flew from Portland to Los Angeles for another very happy wedding. Once again we spent most of the weekend biding time with family. This was also a ‘return to the past’ weekend – I grew up in the northern San Fernando Valley. No family members live near there anymore, so I haven’t been to the area in a very long time. I was looking forward to seeing some of my past geography.

On Friday we flew out of the clouds in Portland. I was lucky to get a window seat, my favorite part of flying.

Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens and Mt Adams poking out of the clouds.

Mt Hood

Clouds dispersed at the California border. The landscape of central California, the Sierra Nevada Mountains and then the transverse ranges north of Los Angeles were on view.

Lake Tahoe

Central Valley farmland

San Fernando Valley

We flew over The Getty Museum in Sepulveda Pass. The Italian travertine building stone really stands out in the landscape.

We circled near the Hollywood Hills before landing at LAX.

Wilshire Boulavard

The Hollywood Sign

Los Angeles River

After renting a car, we drove back to the Getty Museum. It was built after I moved away for college, so this was my first visit. The architecture is stunning, geometric, pleasing.

We wandered through a few of the many galleries, admiring paintings and photography. The most iconic is this iris painting by Vincent van Gogh.

The gardens were overflowing with seasonal flowers. Somewhere on these paths our wedding couple got engaged.

I was especially excited to see a blooming and fruit-laden pomegranate tree – another throwback to my youth.

After a lovely couple of hours at the museum, we returned via the tram to the parking garage, with panoramic views along the way.

Getty Tram view: The hills ahead were burned in a wildfire last year.

View south to the Los Angeles basin from the tram.

View north toward the San Fernando Valley.

I-405 Freeway wall mimicking the stratigraphy.

As we drove on the Ventura Freeway across the south side of the San Fernando Valley, enduring the infamous traffic, I revisited the street names that bound the geography of my childhood.

We were staying in Thousand Oaks, near the wedding venue. On Saturday morning we had time to drive over the Santa Monica Mountains to Zuma Beach in Malibu, to spend just a bit of time on the very beach I played on as a child.

Zuma Beach

Zuma Lagoon

View to the north

Sand castle and wave action

Then in the afternoon and evening, we celebrated with a very happy bride and groom and families.

Garden at Los Robles, before the wedding.

We flew home on Sunday, but alas, no window seat – not even an open window shade near me! Which makes me feel claustrophobic. I did get some knitting and reading done, but I can do that anywhere. Some of the most beautiful landscape in the world is out that airplane window!

In all it was a lovely weekend, a chance to visit with distant family members and see some of my historic geography. There is never enough time to do it all!

Tech problems as the season turns

October 1, 2019 / margaretquilts

September 30, 2019

Our five year old Mac is complaining about the many thousands of photos my husband and I ask it to manipulate. Not being digital natives, and having shared this computer and its predecessors with our three now grown digital natives who downloaded all kinds of unknown items into our shared memory space, we have been told by the very helpful people at tech support that our hard drive hygiene is not good. That is just a long way of saying that I can’t post about some recent adventures until I can free the photos from their well backed up hard drive.

Meanwhile, the sun shifts ever slightly to the south….

Leaves turning orange

Late roses

Yarn bombing in the neighborhood

Future quilt patterns?

Morning light in my kitchen

Katsura turning orange

I got my ring back!

At least three years ago I had my wedding ring cut off because I could no longer remove it, due (I thought) to arthritis in the knuckle or weight gain. I didn’t know that the insidious excess growth hormone of acromegaly had caused my bones to grow. About a year later, the missing wedding ring was one of the keys to diagnosis. Now almost two years since the pituitary surgery and about a year since the medication regime has controlled the growth hormone to ‘normal levels’ for now, we took my ring to a jeweler who put it back together and polished it up, nice and shiny, in a size that fits! It is nice to have it back! Only about 3 months until our 35th anniversary.

Seasonal art…

And because I can’t resist, and it seems seasonal in more ways than one, a screen shot from the artist Shanalee Hampton’s instagram post:

Portland Interlude, mid-September 2019

September 26, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Afternoon rainstorm…

Walk on Alameda Ridge…

View to Portland west hills

yard gnome

Street art

26th Ave stairs

And some knitting…

Main Street Cup Cosy by tincanknits in Cascade 220 Aporto – knit group project

Return to Mirror Lake and beyond…

September 18, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

9/12/2019 Mirror Lake and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, Mt Hood, Oregon

Our first time on the rerouted trail to Mirror Lake – the trail is slightly longer than before, but not as steep, and crosses several small streams on new bridges.

Mirror Lake was popular on this not quite fall day.

Tom Dick and Harry Mountain beyond Mirror Lake.

Mt Hood reflected in Mirror lake.

We continued to the top of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, and enjoyed clear views of the Cascades north and south while eating our lunch.

Mt Hood and Mirror Lake from Tom Dick and Harry summit.

Mt Jefferson to the south.

Panorama – St Helens, Rainier and Adams to the left of Mt Hood.

Late summer glaciers of Mt Hood.

Mt Hood in view on the descent.

There were a few scrappy wildflower blooms hanging on to their petals, and tinges of autumn on the vine maples and huckleberries.

Fireweed

spirea

lupine

mushroom

yarrow

penstemon

pearly everlasting

bunch berries

pinedrops

paintbrush

water parsnip

vine maples

arnica

toilet roll

aster

thimble berry

huckle berry

mountain ash

Hike #43, 7.4 miles, 1600 feet.

Knitting

I pulled this sweater yarn out of the hibernating pile, measured and swatched a bit, and recast on….we’ll see how it goes.

A quiet week with a visit to the frogpond…

September 12, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Some rain, helping someone move, house painting, future trip planning, but no actual hiking this week.

A new home

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A late birthday present

Reverse knitting during La Vuelta de Espana:

Last year I knit a long loose vest, but it doesn’t fit or hang well, so I decided to ‘frog’ it during La Vuelta de Espana. The Vuelta is the three week bicycle stage race through Spain, one of the three European grand tours. People spin for The Tour de France, and I chose this for my project as we review the coverage of the Vuelta each evening. The mountains of Spain look amazing, and once again, the cyclists are incredible.

Farewell, Ivy Cardigan

Unravelling (frogging), and reskeining;

Drying the skeins after a good soak to remove the kinks;

Reskeined, ready to knit again.

Back to the sky/some sewing

September 5, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

8/31/2019 Cloud Cap/Timberline Trail High Point

We returned with friends to this same trail near Cooper Spur on Mt Hood that we hiked in July. Fewer flowers, less snow, still the sky, the swirling cloud cap, the views afar, the plans formulating to complete the Timberline Trail loop someday. Hike #42, 6 miles, 1650 feet.

Once attaining the crest of the East Eliot Moraine, the Washington Cascade Peaks are on view to the north,

and Mt Hood is ahead to the west.

Low growing buckwheat, lupine and yarrow.

Later in the day, clouds forming on the mountain, knotweed in the foreground showing fall colors already.

My hiking companions resting near the Timberline Trail high point.

And, almost back to the trailhead, high desert beyond.

Lookback: A couple of photos comparing snow levels with mid-July:

View up the Eliot today, 8/31/2019.

View up the Eliot seven weeks ago, July 12, 2019

View to the south, toward Lamberson Butte and the Timberline Trail crossings, today.

Similar view seven weeks ago.

Some sewing

Two pairs of sleep shorts.

And a random Portlandia street art scene:

Late summer Gentians at Chinidere Mountain, Oregon

August 29, 2019August 26, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

8/23/2019 Chinidere Mountain hike

The trail leads down to Wahtum Lake,

Chinidere Mountain, our destination, on the skyline.

Endemic cutleaf bugbane blooming along the lake trail.

After crossing the log bridge at the lake outlet, our trail leads steeply up hill, eventually reaching the top of Chinidere Mountain, with views of five Cascade volcanoes.

Mt Hood to the south,

and Mt Jefferson on the horizon just to the right.

Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, and Mt Adams to the north.

The burned drainage of Eagle Creek, with Mt St Helens on the far right.

Wahtum Lake below us to the east.

I was pleased to find many patches of Explorer’s gentian blooming along the trail and at the top of the mountain.

Explorer’s gentian

Previous hikes here earlier in the season had a different suite of flowers. Today we saw the later season flowers and berries:

Other new and notable flowers:

Fringed grass of Parnassas

hare bell

Scouler’s bluebell

cutleaf bugbane

angelica

Berries of late summer:

Sitka mountain ash

Devil’s Club

fungus?

thimbleberry

juniper berry

pinesap

solomon seal

salmon berry

Huckleberries!

We found plenty of ripe huckleberries to supplement our lunch. We saw a few north and south bound PCT through-hikers, but not many other people on the trail today. It was a fairly perfect late summer hike.

Hike #41, 5 miles, 1200 feet

Spinning

I finished plying the last of my Tour de Fleece yarn. I am planning to try Easter Egg dye on this yarn – stay tuned for updates.

Signs of Fall in the neighborhood

Finally some knitting! And two new hikes…

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Flyway Twist Shawl

This shawl has been delivered to it’s recipient, so I am happy to share the pictures! The solid yarn is Malabrigo Sock in the Reflecting Pool colorway. The real star of the show is the Fully Spun colorful gradient called ‘Voices in My Head’. It was fascinating to knit with the gradient, watching the colors emerge and play against the teal backdrop. The brioche section in the middle adds variety to both the look and the knitting experience. The pattern is by Veera Valimaki, and is easily obtained on Ravelry.

Salmon River Trail 8/12/2019

We hiked with friends on a flat easy trail where we could enjoy a shady beautiful setting with lots of time to chat. This was my first time hiking this trail, near Welches on Mt Hood, and I can see why it is often recommended.

Salmon River from the trail.

Hike #39 – 4 miles/200 feet

Cheater hike on the Timberline Trail, Mt Hood Meadows 8/15/2019

I would like to walk all of the 40 mile Timberline Trail around Mt Hood. This is a section I hadn’t done yet. We rode the Mt Hood Meadows chair lift up 700 feet of elevation (thus, cheating) then began walking north along the trail, as far as Clark Creek. Beautiful flowers, creek crossings and wildflower meadows along the way.

Our cheating enabler – the Stadium Lift

Looking back as we silently rise – Mt Jefferson and a hint of the Sisters.

Aster and goldenrod meadows along the Timberline Trail.

Several small, easily crossed creeks along the trail.

We eventually reached views of ‘Pea Gravel Ridge’, a glacial moraine just beyond Clark Creek.

Pea Gravel Ridge

Downstream view of a branch of Clark Creek.

Upstream view toward a waterfall on Clark Creek.

Mt Hood, summer view

Glaciers

We then retraced our steps and walked south along the Timberline Trail until it began to descend through the woods to the White River crossing – we’ll save that for another day. We passed through beautiful meadows, under ever-present ski infrastructure and views of the mountain. We walked the mile and a half and 700 feet down to the trailhead instead of going back to the chairlift, so we only ‘cheated’ one way.