Early February 2023, hiking, quilting, knitting…

March 5, 2023February 19, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

This post updates my activities for the first part of February…

Knitting: I’ve made progress on two blankets – one for me, and one for the Puddletown Knitters Guild Service Project:

Malabrigo Slip Stitch Blanket

Sliding Is Fun Blanket

I had planned to crochet the guild blanket, and tried my hand at a sample, but I’m not quite ready to commit to such a big crochet project yet. Maybe the next one.

Practice crochet swatch

Quilting: I’ve worked through all the clues on the Modern Mystery Quilt, and pieced the blocks. We were asked not to share the finished look until March 3rd.

Modern Mystery Quilt 2023 tentative layout…

In bloom: Our first crocus emerged from the mostly dormant garden beds on February 9th. Just about the same time as the first grass widows were blooming in the eastern Gorge.

Our first crocus

Hiking: Both hikes were in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, Washington:

Eagles again! Bitterroot-Rowland Trail at Catherine Creek, WA – February 8th:

Lots of water here today – in vernal pools, and oozing out of the grassy slopes. No actual flowers, but plenty of emerging foliage – just waiting for a bit more warmth and sun.

Catherine Creek/Sunflower Hill

Fairy pools

Up the Bitterroot Trail,

The Arch

Mt Hood with fresh snow

Mt Hood close up

Meanwhile, as I was admiring these plants at the edge of Rowland Wall, a juvenile eagle swooped by at eye level.

View west from Rowland Wall

Bald eagle…

circling back,

and around again.

Then the entire eagle family circled its way up Rowland Wall, juveniles and mature adults – perhaps the same flock we saw a couple of weeks ago over Lyle.

Adult bald eagle

The whole family is here.

We continued down the wall, and back to the trailhead, imagining the flowers that will be blooming soon.

Looking back up Rowland Wall.

Another vernal pool. The frogs were really loud, but became instantly silent as we approached.

Crawford Oaks-Vista Trail, Columbia Hills, WA – February 14th

A cold, slightly windy day – fresh snow on the Cascade Peaks. We walked the five mile lower loop and were rewarded with seeing the first grass widows – next week there will be a purple bloom here.

View west from near the trailhead – Mt Hood and Horsethief Butte

Mt Hood

Eightmile Creek Falls was fairly full…

Eightmile Creek Falls

Rainbow and plunge pool

The view from the waterfall to the east across the Columbia River:

We continued up the road, across the creek, then south on the Vista Loop, to our usual stop near the power pylons, where we often see the first flowers blooming, and the first grass widows were just beginning to open in the cold breeze…

grass widow

A few purple buds opening in the grassy slopes

We continued around the loop, to the high point, then back around to the view of Dalles Mountain Ranch. A good walk on a brisk day.

West from the high point

East from the high point

Dalles Mountain Ranch

There will be more hikes in February – in the next post.

Hiking, January 2023

February 7, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

January 3rd – Eagle watch near Lyle, WA; Catherine Creek Arch Loop

We drove through the snow-frosted Columbia River Gorge, with a stop at Cascade Locks.

View down river from The Bridge of the Gods.

At the Balfour-Klickitat Natural Area near Lyle, WA, we spotted just a few bald eagles where we sometimes have seen many in early January.

One adult and two juvenile bald eagles

Bald eagle

We followed with a hike around the nearby Catherine Creek Arch, foliage mostly dormant.

View south toward Mosier, OR

Catherine Creek Arch

Eastward, up the Columbia River

January 17 – More eagles; Lyle Cherry Orchard, WA

After two weeks of inclement, unhikeable (for me) weather, we returned to the eastern Gorge. We began with another attempt to see the eagles at the Balfour-Klickitat Natural Area near Lyle. This time, we saw only one bald eagle near the lagoon, and also a great blue heron.

Lagoon near the Klickitat River; bald eagle and heron circled in blue

Bald eagle and heron again

Bald eagle

Great blue heron

Also seen near the mouth of this lagoon and the Klickitat River:

Salmon swimming in from the Klickitat River

Ducks and geese in the Klickitat River

From the southern bluff, we could see that most of the eagles were down on the delta/sand bar where the Klickitat River meets the Columbia River. I took a few fuzzy zoom photos – we counted about a dozen eagles fishing down there.

Bald eagles on the Klickitat River sand bar

Lyle Cherry Orchard Town Loop: Then we drove through Lyle and the railroad tunnels to the trailhead for Lyle Cherry Orchard. We climbed up the first tier, admiring the reflections in the river.

Eastward view from the Convict Road

As we hiked westward on the town loop, we spotted our eagles circling overhead – it was quite thrilling to watch them for a while as they made their way up the Klickitat River Canyon.

Bald eagles circling above Lyle, WA

We also got a glimpse of Mt Adams from the trail:

Mt Adams

And another look at the town of Lyle as we finished our loop. No eagles on the river bar, but one overhead.

January 26 – Tracy Hill, WA

Another gloomy day in Portland. Cold and dry in the Eastern Gorge. We started at Catherine Creek Trailhead, and opted for the eastern loop to the top of Tracy Hill.

Looking up the slope near the trailhead. Bitterroot and grass widow foliage emerging in the foreground.

Vernal pools along the way.

We stopped for lunch with a view up Major Creek.

Continuing upward after lunch, I noticed a ghost tree with an awestruck look on their face:

A face in the trees…

Ghost tree with an amazing view:

The view is of Mt Hood from this point on the trail.

Continuing on to the top of the hill:

To the top of Tracy Hill

A makeshift bench for a short rest

Just beyond the top, a peek at Mt Adams through the bare trees

And another view of Mt Hood on the return hike.

Underexposed, but I can see the glaciers shining in the low winter light on the slopes of Mt Hood.

January 31 – Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge, WA

Our last hike of the month was another visit to Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge in Washington. There was more water in the reconstructed lakes than during our most recent visit in December, and we saw a variety of wildlife.

Tree reflections in the slightly frozen lake, as seen in from the dike.

Geese gathered near the lakeshore.

Deer near the long bridge

Water under the bridge this visit, swan (and Mt Hood) in the distance.

Tundra swan

Two bald eagles out in the lake.

A great blue heron on our path on the return hike.

Great blue heron on the trail

And I zoomed in to this view of Mt Hood from the dike on our return.

Notice Vista House in the right foreground.

January 2023

February 6, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Quiet and cold in Portland this month. I went on four hikes (see next post), met a few times with my knitting group at the local coffee spot, and walked in the neighborhood when it was dry.

Alameda stairs

Moon, January 1, 2023

Knitting:

I thought I was done with knitting gnomes for a while, but then a request came in for a long time friend, so I made one more. I knit myself a new travel mug cosy, and finished my holiday socks. And made progress on my slip stitch blanket.

The last? gnome

Cup cosy

Holiday socks

Slip stitch blanket in progress

Quilting:

I am actually quilting again! I joined the Modern Quilt Studio – Mystery Quilt, as I have learned so much from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr over the years. I’ve finished the first four clues. I have no idea what the final quilt will look like, but I had fun picking two contrasting palettes of fabric from my existing stash. There will be two more sets of instructions before the big reveal.

Blocks for the first four clues.

Family archeology:

While relearning crochet, I was looking through a collection of my mother’s knitting and sewing books for useful material. These are very outdated craft books that I keep for sentimental reasons. As I was leafing through one of them, a piece of thin note paper covered in my mother’s beautiful cursive handwriting fell out. It is just a notation of a crochet pattern, but my heart filled, and I felt her here with me, advising me in her future, playing the role of a ‘time being’. (Credit to Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being, which I read recently, and which gave me a whole new definition of the expression ‘time being’.)

Sad news: In January, more racist violence shocked us all…as a mother, daughter, sister, friend, member of the human race, my heart is pierced each time.

With reference to Tyre Nichols, Memphis, TN (photo from the internet)

Meanwhile, an anonymous someone in my neighborhood is trying to spread good wishes…

Looking back on 2022…

February 1, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Hiking, reading and crafting, goals and accomplishments, life in pandemia….

We begin 2023, adapted to the new ‘ordinary’ life. We are injected with as many booster shots as we can get, and masking whenever in crowds of people. We will probably go on this way for a while. With the best of intentions we move on in our world, acknowledging privileged survival and a relatively easy life here, now.

TRAVEL: We returned to international travel in 2022, hiking in Scotland and Iceland during long summer days. We also traveled to Joshua Tree and southern Utah for hiking, and went twice to Washington DC, to see our daughter, and other east coast relations.

Red Rocks, NV, April

Joshua Tree, CA, February

Zebra Canyon, UT, April

Pennsyvania, March

George Washington Bridge, on the way to CT, March

National Mall, DC, March

Supreme Court, DC, October

Old Rag, VA, October

Thingveller, Iceland, July

Applecross, Scotland, June

HIKING: My 76 hiking and walking adventures added up to 332 miles, and 52,272 feet in elevation, many of these while on our travels. New notable local hikes: finishing the last few miles of Portland’s 39 mile long Wildwood Trail, a pandemic project; the return to fire-scarred Bird Creek meadows on Mt Adams; and our first time to walk around Bayocean Spit on the Oregon coast.

View from Pittock Mansion over Portland after finishing the Wildwood Trail.

Bird Creek Meadows, Mt Adams

Sand pipers and plovers on Bayocean Spit

Our many repeat hikes were satisfying for monitoring seasonal changes, exemplified by these views of Mt Hood:

March, White River

August, East Eliot Moraine

October, Vista Ridge

READING: I finished 88 books last year. I learned the most from nonfiction and memoirs (red stars), written by diverse authors, mostly women: a thru hiker, a mountain climber, a senator, musicians, writers, and even an astrophysicist. My favorite fiction books were: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather. I also enjoyed rereads of classics and old favorites.

QUILTING: I made one baby quilt.

Baby quilt for a new great niece, March

KNITTING: I knit my way through 9933 yards of yarn, the largest quantity into 15 hats for our guild service project. I also knit at least one gnome every month, for the Year of Gnomes. I made hats and socks for family, and a couple of scarves and gift critters.

Ravelry 2022 project thumbnail pictures

Ravelry 2022 knitting stats

12 gnomes, for the Year of Gnomes

FAMILY: Both of our sons, who had been temporarily living at home, moved out: one nearby, the other to Philadelphia. So we are fully empty nest for now. We were able to visit our daughter in DC twice last year, and she came home twice. She is in a gap year, and may be relocating to a new city for grad school next year. We were able to see some extended family members for the first time since the pandemic, but they live far enough away that regular visits are not easy.

A favorite garden in Eugene, OR, August

More of my favorite photos from 2022:

Portland cherry trees:

March

November

Scotland, June:

New Zealand Tree Fern in the Glasgow Botanical Gardens

Climbing Stob Dubh

Solstice near Glencoe

On the slopes of Stac Pollaidh

Iceland, July:

Street Art in Reykjavik:

Waterfalls and puffins:

Gullfoss

Dynjandi

Kirkjufellsfoss

Latrajbarg cliffs

Plans for 2023: I am relearning crochet so that I can make a blanket for the Guild service project, and a coral for the Coral Reef project. I am midway through knitting a slip stitch blanket. I have started the Modern Quilt Studio Mystery Quilt, and am having fun using my stash again. I hope to see more of family, but that is not always up to me. I plan to continue monthly blog updates, with expected travel interruptions. I am working on about a dozen posts from our 2020 New Zealand trip, and from 2022 Scotland and Iceland trips, and quilt documentation posts. I have to resize pictures in older posts to fit storage limits, adding a layer of time consuming work.

We will continue weekly local hikes, and expect to hike almost daily on our upcoming trips to New Zealand and Italy.

My general wish for the New Year is for good health, and for living in a way that honors diversity and contributes to ecological repair, with kindness, honesty, and generosity.

Margaret Quilts

Quilting, Knitting, Hiking

2023