December 2022 Recap

January 14, 2023January 14, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

What do I want to remember about December? A freak snowstorm the first week. A lot of grey, rainy cold days which I spent counting down to the winter Solstice. I only went on two hikes this month:

12/6/2022 – Catherine Creek, WA –

We drove through the snowy Columbia River Gorge, and found the early snow at Catherine Creek.

Ice on Rowland Lake

Snow covered slopes on the Lower Trail

We saw a fox run up the slope.

Looking across the Columbia River to Oregon.

Catherine Creek Waterfall

Then we walked up to the snow-covered fairy pools,

and looked across to the Arch.

While eating lunch and warming up in the car, the sun came out, so we decided to walk the trail above the Arch.

Bridge over the creek

I saw a few predator birds in the tree tops – a hawk

American kestrel

Looking up toward Sunflower Hill

We turned around at the top of the Arch, not having adequate footwear for deeper snow and ice.

Eastward view

12/13/2022 – Portland Arboretum –

Another day, we found a slightly dry weather window, and took a 2.5 mile walk through part of the Portland Arboretum.

We found the most color in the Holly Garden.

Bare deciduous trees and grey skies.

Mahonia in the Winter Garden

Cedar

Meanwhile…

I took plenty of walks through the neighborhood looking for cheerful holiday decor.

I remember willing the Solstice and longer days to arrive. For a few days each year, the sun is so low, it shines through our front door windows onto the stairwell wall.

Later in the month, the east winds swept through and pounded our neighborhood, blowing down several very tall fir trees, including one across the street that we had been worried about for years. It fell on the neighbor’s house. Fortunately no one was in the room that was crushed at that moment. Then we watched the street drama of tree removal for several days, front row seat from our living room.

December 22nd, tree down

December 23rd – a thin layer of icy snow over everything…

December 26th – first they removed the other standing tree,

Then used a very tall crane to remove the fallen tree.

Rainproofing the roof; reconstruction and repair will take a while….

Elsewhere in the neighborhood:

Over in the park, Henry Huggins lost his shade tree,

and the tall fir to the left of this nutcracker…

blocked this street for a few weeks until it could be removed.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt an any of these local incidents.

What else…one son moved to Philadelphia at the beginning of the month and was not here for the holidays. We began to settle into our next phase of empty nesting, with no sign of any of the kids living here in the near future. We were glad to have our daughter home for the holidays. Luckily, she moved her flight up one day, and missed the travel craziness that happened this year. We were amazed that our other son arrived home from a business trip on a delayed flight from Denver, at 3 am on Christmas morning…for some reason not cancelled. We enjoyed setting up our tree, admiring the ornaments and the memories they bring; lighting Hanukkah candles, baking cookies, having a lovely Christmas dinner with some of our oldest friends.

New ornament from Scotland

Portland Art Museum – 12/28

My daughter and I went with friends to see a few of the current exhibits.

The golden brush strokes on this special exhibit Botticelli painting drew me in.

Very different from the rectangular smudges on this Impressionism work, which I also loved.

The Japanese woodblock prints of Mt Fuji were much more intricate and detailed, also beautiful!

A large retrospective exhibit of the Native American artist, Oscar Howe, was so interesting. His style evolved from representational to fractured, and was very colorful. These paintings are both dancers, with one arm raised, and feathers hanging down. I loved them!

Other December news:

An artist friend gave me a small painting of Mt Hood that we hung in our kitchen adjacent to one of my husbands’ photos of Mt Hood. We love the mountains!

I knit my way through the month, completing a few gifts, and finishing the year of gnomes.

I made three of these Warm One Hats in Knit Picks Mighty Stitch yarn held double, as gifts for each of my kids.

I made the 12th gnome, Gnova, by Sara Schira, for the December Year of Gnomes.

I made three Little Tigers that have new homes.

I continued knitting the Malabrigo Slip Stitch Blanket after all the gift knitting was done. This one is for me.

I plan to write one more post for 2022 – hopefully soon.

November 2022 hiking, and a visit to the Maryhill Museum of Art

January 9, 2023 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We went on three familiar hikes, and to the Maryhill Museum of Art.

11/3 Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge, WA

This used to be our reliable close-in flat walk, for partly rainy days, where we could go to see upside down trees reflected in the lake, and often, many waterfowl. For the past couple of years, the site has undergone major reconstruction. The berm that separates these lowlands from flooding by the Columbia River has been breached in order to reconnect salmon to the Gibson Creek drainage. On our first visit back on the rerouted trails we saw a few birds and drained lakes. I will be interested to walk the rest of the trails when the project is complete.

Looking across the new Steigerwald Lake to the east.

Egret and heron

The bridge that used to have a lake under it.

Killdeer

Crossing the bridge

Trail now closed

Art trail – should be open next spring

View across the Columbia River from the berm

Geese

11/10 Angel’s Rest, OR

We save this popular close-in trail for midweek hikes. The trail zigs and zags up, through the forest, then the cliffs, to stunning panoramic views up and down the gorge, and across to the snowy Washington peaks (4.5 miles, 1500 feet).

Angel’s Rest

View to the west from the upper cliffs

Looking north across the Columbia River

Closer view of Silver Star Mountain

View to the east, northern shoreline highlighted by sunbeams

Blue jay lunch companion

Colorful twice-burned forest in the foreground.

11/14 The Labyrinth, WA

Our reliable eastern gorge hike, especially on windier days when the basalt columns give some protection. I love to visit all my favorite trees along the trail, and check the water levels in Hidden Creek (4 miles, 800′).

Approach trail – Old Hwy 8

Looking south across the Columbia River

Pools in Hidden Creek

Hidden Creek

Dry grass

Basalt cliffs

Up the labyrinth

More basalt cliffs

Favorite oak grove

Lunch view to the east

Farther up, the cliff-edge oak tree

Poderosa at the upper viewpoint

And down, past the haunted tree

Driving home toward rainy Portland through sunbeams

11/8 Maryhill Museum of Art, WA

I was still nursing a knee injury, so instead of hiking, we drove east of our usual winter hiking ground and visited the Maryhill Museum of Art. It is perched on a cliff edge on the northern side of the Columbia River Gorge, in a mansion built by Sam Hill. He was the remarkable American businessman who built railroads and roads, including some of the first roads through the Columbia River Gorge. He travelled through Europe in the early 20th century, and made many artist friends who convinced him to turn his mansion into a museum. The building was started in 1914, but not opened until 1940. It contains an eclectic selection of art, some donated by Sam Hill’s friends, some acquired later. So out in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of the Columbia River Gorge, is a museum with galleries of Rodin sculptures, gilt furniture that once belonged to the Queen of Romania, historical exhibits about Sam Hill and friends, and a large and well curated display of Native American art and artifacts. And hundreds of chess sets from all over the world. It is a beautiful collection.

Driving east out of the rain, through the Columbia River Gorge along WA 14

We accidentally parked near the service entrance, so walked to the museum from the western side.

Throne chairs, inspired by those donated to the museum by the Queen of Romania, with excellent views.

View west, to the vineyards and Columbia River

We walked around to the eastern entrance plaza.

Main entrance

Yarn-bombing installation

Dedication by the Queen of Romania

One of the historical exhibits was about pioneering modern dancer Loie Fuller, who encouraged Sam Hill to dedicate his house to art.

There is an entire gallery dedicated to the works of Auguste Rodin, the French sculptor, including a fascinating exhibit with miniatures showing each step in the process of Lost Wax Bronze Casting. We had just seen one of Rodin’s more famous pieces, the Burghers of Calais, in the Washington DC Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, and here was a whole roomful of bronze statues, and plaster casts, working models, sketches and completed pieces.

Rodin gallery

Plaster model of The Thinker

More Rodin artwork

Another Gallery, Theater de la Mode, displays miniature mannequin collections from Paris fashion houses.

Native American Art and artifacts are on display in several galleries:

Modern jewelry

Displayed in a glass walled gallery with extensive views.

Modern paintings in another gallery,

these change seasonally.

And extensive displays of beading, basketry, stone, leather, weaving, pottery and other antiquities, organized by regions of the west. This exhibit is scheduled to be overhauled during the winter closure. (The museum is closed from midNovember to midMarch).

The last gallery we visited was the hall of chess sets – over 400, from all over the world, carved or sculpted from many different media, a dazzling display.

A life size cutout of Sam Hill stands overlooking this gallery.

As we exited the museum, we walked again along the outdoor plaza, admiring the views and outdoor art installations.

Looking down on the outdoor plaza

Aptly named “Roll and Play”, by Alisa Looney, 2007

Eastward view

View to the south, with three birds

Three birds

Walking into the wind back to our car. “Brushing” by Mike Sur, 2009.

I can’t believe I had never been here before, but I hope to return next year when they host their annual plain air exhibit.

Early June, 2022

June 12, 2022 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

The sun came out for a few days, and the roses finally bloomed, seemingly all at once.

Hiking: We hiked twice on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, where wild flowers are also blooming late this year.

June 1 – Hardy Ridge – We found some of the earliest blooming wildflowers on top of Hardy Ridge (8.2 miles, 2100 feet).

Fading trillium

Oregon anemones

Glacier lilies

Eastward view toward Table Mountain.

Phlox Point, and plenty of black flies photobombing us.

Blue jay near our lunch stop.

Looking south toward Oregon on our return hike. Service berry bushes in bloom.

June 7 – Cape Horn – We started in the middle, at the Strunk Road Trailhead, since the full loop is not open this time of year. We were hoping to see the tall larkspur, which can be profuse along this trial.

Lupine blooming in reclaimed fields along the trail to the Nancy Russell Overlook.

Cow parsley also in full bloom.

Tall ferns unfurling

Tall ferns

And we found the larkspur!

Larkspur blooming all along the trail…

More larkspur…

Also, candy flower and buttercups.

More buttercups.

Maple trees were leafing out.

Avens at the Hwy 14 underpass.

We made our way to the Lower Oak Overlook, where the trail is closed for falcon nesting season. The river viewpoints were very windy, but it was calm and protected in the forest. We retraced our steps, back up the larkspur lined trail, for a 4 mile, 650 foot hike for the day. Lovely!

Knitting – I finished my June gnome for the ‘Year of Gnomes’, and made progress on socks, a hat and a sweater…

June Jester Gnome, Oh, Gnome, You Didn’t pattern by Sarah Schira

Side view, with jingle bells and pockets.

I was inspired by a Cirque du Soleil show from 20 years ago, and some other knitters’ Mardi Gras interpretations of the pattern.

Works in progress.

And spent much time preparing for our overseas adventure to Scotland and Iceland… finally! Postoned and postponed and postponed again. I will report back!

Hiking in May 2022

May 31, 2022September 9, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Our four hikes in May were all repeat hikes for us, east out of the Portland rain, to see spring wildflowers in the Columbia River Gorge.

5/4 – Tom McCall Point

One of our favorite hikes (3.5 miles, 1000 feet) with wildflowers and mountain and river views.

Balsamroot and lupine on the lower plateau

Fern-leaf desert parsley and poison oak in Parsley Alley

Paintbrush and balsamroot all the way up the mountain

Chocolate lilies

View to Lyle and Rowena Crest

Mt Adams

View to the Cherry Orchard cliffs from the top of Tom McCall Point

And, a flock of American pelicans flying upriver…we’ve never seen that before!

5/10 – Bitterroot Trail at Catherine Creek

Another easy loop (3.5 miles, 800 feet), my favorite bitterroot flowers in bloom, and amazing views the whole way.

Bitterroot blooming on the rocky balds near the trail head.

Poppies and bachelor buttons along the road

Bitteroot, camas and monkey flowers near the fairy pools.

Bitterroot – Lewisia rediviva

Cluster lilies, orchards of Mosier

Meadowlark

Rosy plectritis and bitterroot

Upriver view at the Balsamroot cairn

Downriver view, giant anvil cloud southeast of Mt Hood

Top of Rowland Wall. I found that one giant cluster of bitterroot that I always look for.

Giant bitterroot cluster, not in bloom;

Another beautiful bitterroot cluster, in bloom.

5/13 – Weldon Wagon Road

A hike with friends along gorgeous slopes of blooming balsam root flowers (5 miles, 1200 feet).

Lower oak woodland

Western tanager flying near the balsamroot

The open slopes in bloom

Open slopes

Parsley and balsamroot

Flowery meadows along the trail

Lupine dew

Balsamroot

Dogwood in the lower forest

5/26 – Hamilton Mountain

This can be a more difficult loop hike (8 miles, and 2200 feet), but we chose to go just to the upper set of rocky switchbacks, then return the way we came (5 miles, 1550 feet). I got to see the smaller cousin of the bitterroot – Lewisia columbiana, on the upper cliffs just as the weather was starting to turn.

Lots of white flowers blooming in the forest

Equisetum (horsetail)

Rodney Falls

Pool of the Winds

View across the gorge from the Little Hamilton summit meadows

Larkspur, parsley, and chickweed blooming down the slope

Bonneville Dam and the eastern gorge

Hamilton Mountain- we are only going to the upper rocky switchback section, circled.

Most of the Lewisia columbiana was not blooming yet,

but there were some patches on a sunny cliff.

Chocolate lilies, phlox and parsley on the lower cliffs

We felt a smattering of rain as we hiked down, but managed to sneak this hike out from under the nose of the weather gods. The real rain didn’t start until we were on our way home.

April 2022

May 3, 2022September 11, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We returned from our east coast trip early in the month, happy to see our bulbs and crabapple tree in full bloom.

Checker lilies

Tulips

Crabapple

On April 11th we had an unusual late season snowstorm covering all the blossoms. It melted within a day, and though hail, wind and rain hit sporadically that week, we were also treated to several rainbows.

Snow on the crabapple blossoms

and tulips

Hail and crabapple blossoms

Sunny deluge

Rainbow

We hiked the Lyle Cherry Orchard West Loop on April 6th, – our second time on this new trail. Today we saw the early spring flowers, the always spectacular views, and a lot less wind compared to our hike here last December!

Eastern gorge, red poison oak beginning to leaf out.

Death camas in abundance throughout the lower plateau.

Death camus

Mt Adams from the upper trail

Pink filaree carpeting the upper oak groves

shooting stars

glacier lilies

fiddleneck

View to the western gorge and early balsam root blooms.

Balsamroot

On April 15th, we took a quick loop through Tryon Creek on our annual spring hike to see the trillium and skunk cabbage….

trillium

skunk cabbage

salmonberry

Big leaf maple, Tryon Creek

April 21st to 27th we travelled to the southwest, Nevada and Utah, the subject of my next post.

On return to Portland, the neon green of our city glowed from the airplane window. I was pleased to see the dogwoods and azaleas in the neighborhood in full bloom.

Tulips

My knitting this month:

April Gnome – Gno Fun Like Gnome Fun (Sarah Schira) – made for an east coast friend.

Backcountry hat – Guild service project

Morning Dew hat – Guild service project

Mercury Sox

New yarn from Local Yarn Shop Day

And…I celebrate the approval of our new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson…though her presence will probably not be enough to thwart the regressive decisions looming….

The wisdom of Ruth Bader Ginsberg

March, 2022

April 10, 2022September 13, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

March was cold, rainy, windy, with a few sun breaks and early flowers:

camellias

hyacinths

cherries

plums

star magnolias

bare branches

We went on three repeat hikes:

Memaloose Hills – March 3rd:

Cold and windy at the Memaloose Overlook

Looking to the westward cliffs…

Zooming in on the blue heron rookery.

Chatfield Hill – mostly still dormant,

with a few yellow bells.

We tried a (new to us) side loop up the lower hill on the return hike.

White River with micro spikes – March 11th:

Clouds wafted across Mt Hood throughout the hike.

Our usual lunch spot – snow level is low!

Return hike – lenticular clouds forming…

The Labyrinth – March 16th:

Plenty of water in the Old Hwy. 8 waterfall; Mt Hood on the far horizon.

Slightly frozen grass widows.

Labyrinth waterfall

Yellow bells and buttercups

My favorite oak grove

Our guide Ponderosa

View from the guide tree

Early yellow parsley

The haunted tree

Knitting and sewing:

Quilt for my new niece, born at the end of the month.

‘Brave Enough’ Hitchhiker – yarn by Knitted Wit, pattern by Martina Behm

Gnome Pun Intended, pattern by Sara Schira, Year of Gnomes, scrap yarn.

Ripples Make Waves hat for the Guild Service Project; pattern by Casapinka; Knit Picks Hawthorne yarn.

I started a new pair of socks for travel knitting.

At the end of the month we flew to the east coast to visit family – that will be my next post.

February 2022

March 2, 2022November 17, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I knitted a few things this month…

Goose Hollow Shawl, Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL

Four hats for the guild service project

A flotilla of gnomes, sent to Washington DC, with survival provisions.

I started a baby quilt…

The front yard bulbs are blooming despite a late hard freeze.

We went on three local hikes to familiar areas, in addition to one big adventure to Palm Spring National Park in southern California (separate post)….

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, Portland, Oregon, February 3

An easy 3 mile loop with lots of wildlife sightings.

Wildlife mural on the mausoleum

Blue heron mural

The lake, downtown Portland in the distance

Otter

Cormorant

Otter

Mallards

Coyote Wall, Washington, February 18th

5 mile loop, with friends, on a sunny day with only a light breeze.

Coyote Wall

Lunch view to Mt Hood

Lunch view to the eastern gorge

The early flowers:

yellow parsley

grass widows

gold stars

salt and pepper

Columbia Desert Parsley

spring whitlow grass

Catherine Creek, Washington, February 25

A week later, a cold snap had frozen most of the grass widows at nearby Catherine Creek. We walked a few miles, exploring some side trails we hadn’t tried before.

Fields of grass widows – some shriveled in the cold. Hoping many of these will bloom when it warms up!

A new to us side trail brought us to these rock formations.

The arch

The road

Dozens of robins bobbed and hopped in the surrounding meadows and bushes.

robin

Western bluebird

We visited our favorite fairy ponds, which were frozen,

And found a few blooming grass widows nearby.

grass widows

bitterroot foliage

Snow dusted eastern view

Meanwhile…The days have been galloping by. I have created a few things to justify the time, of which there is never enough. Elsewhere in the world all is upheaval, war and death. A power grab, unexplainable access to power; the code of civility is a construct…if we don’t all buy in then it cannot exist.

January 2022 in Portland

February 4, 2022January 25, 2024 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

The first couple of weeks were very cold, followed by many days of rain dripping down the windows, yarn loops sliding by on the needles, and just a few sun breaks. A tsunami from Tonga, the Omicron surge just beginning to decline, a trip to Joshua Tree cancelled…another pandemic month in Portland.

Hikes:

1/9/2022 Wildwood Trail to Pittock Mansion in Portland – A rare sunny day – everyone out on the trails – we continued our section hike of the Wildwood Trail, completing about 3 more miles as we hiked up and back to Pittock Mansion from the arboretum, crossing the new Barbara Walker Bridge for the first time.

Up until last year, hikers had to scurry across the very busy Burnside Street.

Barbara Walker Bridge.

Urban trail graffiti

We reached the 1914 Pittock Mansion, and walked around to the viewing areas…

Pittock Mansion

Views from the property to the Cascade Mountains…

Mt Hood

Portland and Mt Hood

Mt St Helens

Mt Rainier beyond Mt St Helens

Returning back over the Barbara Walker Crossing…

1/12/2022 Eagles and snow near Lyle, WA – Our annual trip to see the eagles at the Balfour/Klickitat Preserve:

Calm Columbia River looking east from the Hood River Bridge.

Snowy ground near Coyote Wall.

We walked to the eagle viewing area near the mouth of the Klickitat River:

Osage oranges along the trail

Frozen lakeshore, eagle flying above the island

Eagle and ducks

Looking up Klickitat Canyon – white eagle heads in the trees.

Bald eagle

Bald eagle

We saw more than twenty today.

Looking south to Tom McCall Point.

Next we walked some of the trails at nearby Catherine Creek.

Snowy slopes at Catherine Creek

Frozen Fairy Ponds

The arch

Mt Hood and the orchards of Mosier

Eastern Gorge

Grass widow foliage, but no blooms.

The waterfall.

1/18/2022 Swans at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, WA – We walked the 2.5 mile Oaks to Wetland Trail.

Swans in the distance, from the railroad bridge

Fungus

Belted kingfisher

Trumpeter swans

Then we drove the auto tour, looking for more swans.

Plenty of tundra and trumpeter swans in the northern lake…

American coot

Northern harrier next to the road.

1/28/2020 Chehalem Ridge Nature Park, OR – Our first visit to this new park south of Forest Grove. We walked almost six miles on the trails, quiet today with a few views of the distant mountains.

Chehalem Ridge Nature Park

Mt St Helens and Mt Adams

Farmlands and Coast Range to the west

Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens

Neighborhood:

On our first sunny day, I went outside for what seemed like the first time in weeks, to see blue sky and low angle winter shadows:

1/16/2022 – Another sunny day, we met friends and walked a long loop on the hilly streets south of downtown Portland.

Mt Hood from SW Portland

Mt Hood and the Tilikum Bridge over the Willamette River

By the end of the month, viburnum and crocus were beginning to bloom…

Viburnum

First crocus blooms of the year

Hexagonal sidewalk

Knitting:

I did get a lot of knitting done this month, since the outdoors were so inclement. And I am still meeting once or twice weekly with my knitting group over Zoom.

Winding yarn on my new swift.

Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Shawl, in progress

New pile of yarn from the guild to make hats for our service project.

I used online tutorials to learn Tunisian crochet.

I finished a languishing WIP – The Ella Improv Cowl, by Cecelia Campochiaro, using marling and sequence knitting techniques.

A Gnoah gnome, (Imagined Landscapes), sent via Intergalactic Gnome Transport to the burgeoning colony in Washington DC.

Addenda:

The volcano in Tonga!

The snow in DC.

Other adventures – January 10th was the 4th anniversary of my pituitary surgery. With constant vigilance and good doctors, all my hormone levels are now within the normal range. I feel healthy and strong and grateful for early diagnosis and the miracles of modern medical science, especially the monthly injections that keep the acromegaly in check.

On to February – pandemic numbers are going down in our neck of the woods – we may actually travel somewhere – stay tuned.

December 2021, Walking adventures

December 31, 2021 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

We went on a couple of hikes, and walked among Van Gogh paintings in a digital art experience.

Lyle Loop, 12/2/2021, 5 miles, 1250 feet

Clockwise track

A new loop has been carved out of the Nature Conservancy Lyle Cherry Orchard property. We tried it on a windy (but not tooo windy) day- lovely blue sky and puffy clouds our backdrop. We climbed up the familiar tiers of basalt flows, above the Convict Road,

Looking down on the Convict Road

Windy blue skies above

then headed west, to a new trail carved into the grassy slope.

It curves around the mountain above the town of Lyle.

As the trail circled to the north, Mt Adams appeared on the horizon.

Zooming in

On the northern side of the loop, out of the wind, we walked through lovely oak woodlands, occasionally switching back past views of Lyle, and of Mt Adams again.

Lyle, Klickitat River delta

Lyle town sign, in white rocks

Mt Adams again,

now with clouds.

Eventually, our trail intersected the Cherry Orchard Loop, and we descended on the familiar trail.

A lovely day on the sunny side of the mountains.

Tracy Hill, Catherine Creek, WA, 12/8/2021, 5.3 miles, 1200 feet

Our counterclockwise trail map

Calm and bright; clouds topping the highest hills; some blue sky distant:

some of our plant friends in their winter garb:

bitteroot

parsley

Ravens and cows:

ravens

cows

Columbia River shining:

oak and ponderosa sharing the sky:

Ent on the skyline:

It’s very birdie in this section, chirping and calling, flashes of blue, rust, white and black between trees, I can’t quite see them; blue jays and woodpeckers?

Up Tracy Hill’s open slopes:

View up Major Canyon, to the east

Seating at the top of Tracy Hill

A well earned rest

and down again:

halfway down

above the arch

Looking back at the top of Tracy Hill

It felt a bit like walking in a painting. I was interested to compare it with walking in digital paintings the next day…

Beyond VanGogh, Oregon Convention Center, 12/8/2021 – We did actually walk in pictures, as the digital imagery swirled around us, and the paintings painted themselves on the walls. All beautiful and colorful, and an excellent reminder of Van Gogh’s work. I loved seeing:

the flowers that melded together then blew away:

the swirls of starry night whirling:

walls of self portraits:

buildings appearing from simple sketched lines to full color paint strokes:

signatures writing themselves in a patchwork of squares:

dark starry skies dripping down the walls:

However, Beyond Van Gogh was not a wilderness experience. I enjoyed the visual imagery, but would have liked to see it in an Imax setting. Perhaps if we had been stationary, I would have felt more in control regarding Covid precautions, especially now that omicron is spreading. There were too many people wandering around in the hall. I was constantly checking over my shoulder to get away from someone standing tooo close with their mask slipping down. I guess I’m not ready to resume life in the peopled world yet.

For the rest of December it has been raining, and now is cold (for us) and snowing. Not conducive to driving to the trails or hiking. I’ve mainly been taking neighborhood walks in the brief dry spells. I will be glad to return to walking in the real hills after this Canadian cold front moves on.

November 2021 report…

December 4, 2021 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

A month that sped by, interludes of rain and wind and another atmospheric river, a few hikes, some knitting, and a family Thanksgiving celebration indoors…

Hikes:

November 5th – Wildwood Trail, miles 0 to 1.5, Portland, OR

On a sunny afternoon, we walked the first section of the Wildwood Trail as part of a 3 mile loop. We saw some late fall color, a bald eagle, and a few other interesting trees.

liquidambar

oak

bald eagle

Redwood trees

Huggable!

Monkey puzzle trees

Not huggable!

I only have about 3 miles left to have completed all 30 miles of the trail.

November 10th – Catherine Creek – Bitterroot/Stringbean/Rowland Wall trails, WA

Another 4.5 mile loop on a sunny day in the eastern Gorge, Washington side.

Up the Bitterroot Trail, view to Catherine Creek Arch.

Oak groves on the west side of Rowland Wall.

Spotted towhee

Lunch view to the east toward Rowland Wall

another towhee?

Handsome old tree snag

Westward view

Back over Rowland Wall

Orchards of Mosier

We took a quick stop to check out the bald eagle nesting grounds on the nearby Klickitat River, knowing it was probably too early to see them.

No bald eagles yet,

but plenty of Osage Oranges,

and some small birds in the bushes.

Three bushtits

Spotted towhee

November 18th – Deschutes River Trail, OR

A two hour drive to get out of the rain – a pleasant 5 mile walk with friends…

Canada geese near the trailhead

The river level is high!

Some fall colors along the banks

Cliff views as we start uphill…

View back to the river mouth.

November 23rd – Stonehenge, WA

Again we drove east, looking for good weather. We found sun, but too much wind! We drove through the wind power installations in the hills, then stopped for our lunch break at the Stonehenge replica/ WWI Memorial near Maryhill, WA.