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!

Meanwhile, in Portland…

March 7, 2020 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Back in Portland after our trip to New Zealand, we were greeted by blooming daffodils, hyacinths and wind flowers.

wind flowers

last crocuses

hyacinths

daffodils

Catherine Creek hike, February 27, 2020

We went to Catherine Creek in the eastern Columbia River Gorge to see what early blooming spring flowers were still on view. We lucked upon a windless, blue sky day, with Mt Hood reflected in the Columbia River. Grass widows were waning, desert parsleys, gold stars, yellow bells and buttercups were emerging.

grass widows and gold stars

yellow bells

spring whitlow grass

Saxifrege, grass widows, and prairie stars

Salt and pepper and grass widow

buttercup

Columbia desert parsley

desert parsley

We hiked the lower paved loop, then the upper Bitterroot Trail above the fairy ponds all the way up Sunflower Hill to Atwood Road. We walked down the connector trail to Rowland Wall, for the first time.

Trail connection to Rowland Wall

Going down Rowland Wall.

We still want to try the inside out switchback on the upper Shoestring Trail that we missed last time. I love that there are so many trails to follow in this area, and that each visit during the next couple of months will present a different wildflower suite.

Hike #29, 5.5 miles, 1300 feet.

Knitting

I knit a small amount while in New Zealand.

Geology shawl, and my current traveling socks.

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

Wildwood Trail and Tour de Fleece

July 24, 2019September 26, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

July 19, 2019 Wildwood Trail

A short hike this week on the Wildwood trail in the Portland Arboretum. We stayed in the shade, though it is not as hot here as other places right now. Hike #32, 2.6 miles, 200 feet.

sun and shade

fireweed

thistle

Wildwood Trail map

Tour de Fleece

It is Tour de France time, which we love, and I have joined the parallel Tour de Fleece. I took a drop spindling class in the fall of 2017 at my local yarn shop. Shortly thereafter, spinning fell by the wayside as I dealt with my acromegaly diagnosis. For Tour de Fleece 2019 I pulled out my drop spindle and remaining fiber samples. I borrowed the Maggie Casey Getting Started on a Drop Spindle DVD from my library. I have been spinning a bit of fiber each night as we fast forward our way through each day’s stage in France. I love seeing the landscape, mountains, castles of France, and the bike race has been exceptionally unpredictable this year. And I feel like I am getting a new feel for spinning, and would love to take another class.

I have also been knitting my traveling socks, and have started a shawl that is a gift for someone…

Garden

It is berry time at the farmer’s market,

marionberries

blueberries

raspberries

and we have more blooms in the garden.

sumac flower

hydrangea

zinnias

CT NY MD PA OH and CO, Oh My!

July 14, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

May 16 to June 1, 2019

This post is a summary of our recent trip to visit family and attend our daughter’s college graduation.

CONNECTICUT

We flew to Hartford, then stayed 3 days with family in the New Haven area.

Highlights: While celebrating a family birthday and spending lots of time catching up, we visited places near New Haven that held significance for my husband.

East Rock State Park

View from the top to New Haven and Long Island Sound.

Monument at the top of East Rock.

Looking down on the winter sledding hill, East Rock.

Lighthouse Point was a favorite childhood summer beach, but nobody was selling lemon ice today.

Walking toward the Lighthouse.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse Point Carousel

Branford – A beautiful old church near our dinner stop.

Branford, CT

Old Town Essex – The town and waterfront are steeped in early American history.

Many of the buildings in town date back to the late seventeen and early eighteen hundreds, and are very well preserved. I loved looking at all the architectural details, especially the half-circle windows.

West Rock State Park – We took a 2 mile walk with a friend around Wintergreen Lake and saw ladyslippers in bloom!

Woods along the trail

Wintergreen Lake

Lady slipper! My first time seeing them!

Hamden – We met a baby grandniece for the first time. We also got to see the damage from the tornado that knocked down 30 trees at the family home about a year ago (actually a lowlight).

The trees along the fence line are gone! They were not able to see the neighboring houses before the tornado.

Newish puppy Bear, with some of the fallen trees piled beyond.

Maya

Niece and grandniece.

My only crafting in this post: I used one of my daughter’s favorite childhood fabrics to make a gift bag for some books for the little one.

NEW YORK

We took the Metro North train to Grand Central Station. A lot has changed since my only previous visit in 1982. My husband’s cousins met us at Grand Central Station, then drove us to their home in Brooklyn. The next morning they rode with us on the subway from Brooklyn to Penn Station – seasoned New Yorkers and very gracious hosts!

View from the train, somewhere in Connecticut.

Grand Central Station

Highlights: Cityscapes, wandering around near the Brooklyn Bridge, seeing the Freedom Tower from a distance (we had been to the top of the World Trade Center on my only other visit), a lovely meal and enjoying our cousin’s garden in Brooklyn.

Chrysler Building in Manhattan

Chrysler Building detail

United Nations flags

Sunroof view on the Brooklyn Bridge

Walking around the waterfront in Brooklyn:

Manhattan skyline beyond the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges

Freedom Tower in the distance.

Closer view of the Freedom Tower and Brooklyn Bridge

A ‘beach’ under the Manhattan Bridge

Gothic arches of the Brooklyn Bridge

Old buildings, bridge supports and massive amounts of noise dwarfed us as we walked around. It was a bit overwhelming. I was glad to see it, but cannot imagine dealing with it on a daily basis, especially the noise levels!

It was more peaceful in our cousin’s back garden.

Tree and cat in Brooklyn.

MARYLAND

We rode Amtrak from New York to Baltimore.

Philadelphia skyline from the train.

Baltimore Union Station

Baltimore Highlights: The highest light was spending time with my husband’s cousins, and enjoying their family stories, good company and hospitality. We spent a day in Annapolis, a bit crazy because it was grad week at the Naval Academy.

Naval Academy

Old bricks in the Naval Academy grounds full of bivalve shells.

We took a short boat tour of the harbor.

Annapolis from the harbor.

We watched a Blue Angels performance.

My best photo of the Blue Angels.

My husband was able to take some excellent telephotos:

The next day we admired the natural beauty at Loch Raven Reservoir, north of Baltimore,

then had lunch at Ladew Gardens.

This old estate includes a beautiful manor house and gardens

and is renowned for topiary:

Swans on the hedge.

Pointed hedges.

Topiary foxhunt:

Horseman

hounds

and fox!

We ate plenty of free delicious ice cream, compliments of a family connection to this business:

May 31, 2019

We rented a car to drive from Baltimore to Ohio for the main attraction of this trip – our daughter’s college graduation. Along the way, we stopped at Washington Monument State Park in Maryland for a picnic lunch, then walked a short way on the Appalachian Trail.

Inset picture shows what the first Washington Monument looks like

when it is not being repaired.

Views to the south into Virginia from the monument site.

Appalachian Trail – near the halfway point, with about 1200 miles to go to the northern terminus.

On we drove, into

PENNSYLVANIA

We passed through miles of farm land.

This was my first time driving across the eastern US and seeing for myself some of the geology I had studied in college. I had highway views of the folded strata of the Valley and Ridge province of the Alleghenian orogeny as I followed along on the map.

Folded stratigraphy on the Google terrain map.

Stratigraphy at highway speed.

Allegheny River

That afternoon we took a 4.5 mile hike along Slippery Rock Creek with a picnic dinner at McConnells Mill State Park near Butler, PA.

Slippery Rock Creek

McConnell’s Mill and Bridge:

We saw rafters and kayakers on Slippery Rock Creek.

Spring wildflowers along the trail:

Bluets

Stonecrop

Violet

Dogwood

Trillium and geranium

The next day we drove on to-

OHIO

We spent a lot of time with our daughter, and met her friends, roommates, and their families, all in town for commencement. Despite rain and thunderstorms on the days before and after, graduation day was sunny but not too hot, and all went as planned. We are very proud of her, and excited for her next adventure – moving to Washington DC where she will begin a good job as a Research Assistant.

stage

square

arch

town

ephemera

house

arboretum

graduate

But first, we drove her to Pennsylvania so she could join a bicycle trip with friends who were already en route. We visited many places in the eastern US on this trip, as indicated by my camera GPS map.

Time to head west again, but only as far as

COLORADO

We were met at the Denver airport by my husband’s cousin, his only family member we didn’t think we would see, but who was unexpectedly in town – a great surprise, and one of the best moments of the trip! Highlights– Visiting with family, including my husband’s 99.5 year old uncle, and spending part of a day in real mountains!

The mountains are calling and we must go!

LOVELAND PASS

May 31, 2019

Comparison to when we were here in June of 2013.

The air was crisp, thin, pure. We walked about 2 miles on the trails above the pass – we were not equipped for snow hiking.

bird, granite, snow

Precambrian rocks – I don’t get to see these where I live!

We stopped for views at Lookout Mountain near Golden:

View to the north along the Front Range

Northeast

East to Denver and the Great Plains beyond…

Buffalo Bill Museum and grave on Lookout Mountain.

We flew back to Portland on June 1st, after two and a half wonderful weeks of reconnecting with family, seeing new geography, and launching our daughter into post-college life. America is an amazing country, and we have nebulous plans to see more of it, but for now, there’s no place like home! Tap, tap, tap…

From the high plains of Colorado

to the Cascade Mountains and Columbia River Gorge.

Back in Portland, June 5, 2019

June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We returned last weekend from two and a half weeks visiting in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado. There were planes, trains, subways, busses, automobiles, a boat, and bicycles; a baby, dogs, cats and the Blue Angels; tornado damage, lakes, rivers, mountains, wildflowers, poison oak, and topiary; a birthday, a graduation, ice cream, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Appalachian Trail! I will report on all that later. Meanwhile, back in Oregon, the weeds have grown and new flowers are blooming.

beardstongue

maple

blue star creeper

acantha

Canterbury bell

coreopsis

tomato

rose

foxglove

Knitting

I made a bit of progress on my travel socks

and started a new project at a knit-in at my local yarn shop.

Weldon Wagon Road, WA

May 14, 2019 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

5/10/2019

We walked Weldon Wagon Trail on a hot day in May. Balsamroot beginning to fade in the heat. I craved the shade, wished for a breeze in the still air, unlike the windblown walk last week at The Dalles Mountain Ranch. Lupine, clarkia, manroot, various parsleys, cutleaf violets, no sasquatch sighting this year. An enjoyable walk with friends. This will likely be my last of the balsamroot hikes this year! (Hike #22, 5.5 miles, 1300 feet).

Lupine along the trail in the lower woodlands.

First view of the open flowered slope.

Our trail ahead across the balsamroot slope,

and a view of Mt Hood across the valley.

Friends ahead.

Balsamroot

Looking straight up at the steep slope above.

Turnaround point

And back the way we came,

Back into the shade on a hot day.

New or notable flowers:

lupine

starflower

fringe cup

tar weed

clarkia

cutleaf violet

Neighborhood and Garden

Birthday bouquet

Our rhododendron in bloom,

And our native irises.

Giant camas in a neighborhood garden.

Local fairy garden.

Knitting

I finished the Frost Slippers. The fit is a bit tight, but they should fit someone! Interesting construction, including stranding, steeking, and seaming, and I used up a lot of the leftover Dr Who Scarf yarn.

Yarn for travel knitting!

((This post has the first photos using my new camera (Sony HX90V).)

Balsamroot, Bitterroot, and a Birthday

May 6, 2019 / margaretquilts / 2 Comments

May 2, 2019 Dalles Mountain Ranch, WA

On a very windy double birthday, we followed the lure of the wildflowers to Dalles Mountain Ranch, Columbia Hills State Park, WA. We hiked the Middle Loop, from the Ranch, downhill and then back up again, over rolling slopes and across streams. Balsam root, biscuit root, lupine, and filaree painted gold, yellow, purple and pink highlights on the hills, and neither words nor pictures can really describe the beauty! But I try…

We started from the ranch trailhead, Mt Hood in the distance.

Down the balsmroot and lupine filled slopes.

As the trail winds down, the view changes from Mt Hood

to the Columbia Hills.

The Columbia River comes into view,

and so many flowers!

Under oak trees,

Down hill, closer to the river.

Stream crossing,

Puffy mounds of phlox,

A patch of death camas

Another stream crossing,

Back up the last slope to the trail head.

A few less common flowers seen today:

white lupine

phlox

bitter cherry

milk vetch

tritellia

Later, the same day – camas lilies and bitterroot!

On our way home, we took a short hike at Catherine Creek where the open slopes are already beginning to dry out.

I was hoping to see swales of blue camas lilies in the vernal pools, and we found them!

Blue camas lilies growing where the vernal pools are drying up.

A few white camas in with the blue camas lilies.

A bonus was finding the first blooming bitterroots of the year! We completely missed them last year when we were in Cornwall, so I took extra pictures to make up for it.

The large pink flowers are so delicately beautiful, and yet grow out of tough black lava outcrops.

Bitterroot blooming on the rocky foreground, camas lilies and buttercups beyond.

This was hike #21 for 2019, about 6 miles, 600 feet overall, but a million in flowers.

Even later, birthday cake and new socks

I made the requested traditional chocolate cake. After dinner out at our favorite local Chinese restaurant, Brian blew out XXVI candles.

Dan will blowout his LXV candles on Sunday when he has his party. Both had ‘medical insurance significant’ birthdays this year. Brian was wore his new socks the next day while watching the Portland Trailblazers squeak out a win over Denver in quadruple overtime! I don’t think there is any adrenaline left in town.

I finished these just in time for Brian’s birthday!

Meanwhile in the garden….

Dogwood trees are blooming all over town in glorious pink, salmon and cream colors. And in our yard:

Only one of twelve camas bulbs bloomed.

Chinese fringe flower and phlox still going strong

Iris

Eastern Columbia River Gorge Wildflowers, April 25, 2019

April 30, 2019 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

1) Memaloose Hills

A favorite wildflower hike, we found a perfect day – not windy, balsam root fully blooming, lupine and paintbrush just beginning to open. Splendid!

Balsam root, lupine, paintbrush and yellow parsley near the trailhead.

Oak woodlands

Lower meadow with buttercups and balsam root.

Emerging from the woods to the yellow slope of Chatfield Hill.

Mt Hood to the southwest.

More flowery slopes to the east.

Mt Adams to the north near the top of the hill.

So many flowers!

Mt Adams, the river, the northern Memaloose Hill with fewer flowers.

Columbia River to the west.

Mt Hood and Mt Adams bookend this panoramic view from the top.

Back to the lower meadow, Tom McCall Point in the distance.

Last peek at Mt Adams.

Many other flowers among the showy balsam root!

chocolate lily

Oregon Grape

fiddle neck

bicolored lupine

larkspur

man root

saxifrage

false dandelion

blue eyed Mary

buttercup, shooting star

chocolate lily

bitter cherry

ballhead waterleaf

popcorn flower, buttercups

balsamroot

bighead clover

the garden on top

death camas

serviceberry

orobanche

lupine

and a bird

2) Lower Tom McCall trail at Rowena Crest

We just had time to walk the lower mile through one of my favorite trail sections, desert parsley alley. The upper Tom McCall trail will be in full bloom soon.