Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge (18-5)

February 5, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge Loop Trail 2/3/2018 (#4)

Continuing to take things slowly this week, we went for a 3 mile walk around Oaks Bottom in southeast Portland. This is an easy trail between the river and the bluff that sees plenty of neighborhood walkers and runners. From the bluff side we could look across the lake and see the west hills and Oaks Amusement Park, with cyclists flying by on the Springwater Corridor.

Details along the Bluff Trail:

Seed fluff

Beaver sign

Tree eye

Ducks

Egret

Berries

Fungi

Reflections

We later walked north on the Springwater Corridor path and looked back across the lake to the famous mausoleum with enormous wildlife mural painted on the side. We saw a few real birds in the water as well as some decoy/art installation blue herons.

Springwater corridor

Heron decoy in foreground

My longest walk so far – getting better all the time.

Meanwhile, I have been knitting

away on the Girl in the Neurosurgery Ward shawl – I have about half of the purple border to go.

I cast on a second Sonic Six hat using the remainder of the Total Eclipse yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts striped with some leftover grey sock yarn to extend the skein for the full hat. Playing yarn chicken with this one.

And I finished the second of a continuing collection of cotton tortilla dishcloths. I gave away most of those I made last year, but still have scraps to use up.

The front yard crocuses were in full bloom today.

A Healing Week (18-3)

January 22, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

1/22/2018

Home for a week now, each day I am more awake, more alert, more me.

Each day I walk a bit more, usually with Sean, at a glacial pace. First to the end of the block, then around the block. On Saturday Dan escorted me a full slow mile around the neighborhood, and on Sunday we visited Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins and Ribsy at Grant Park. I am disappointed not to participate in the Women’s March this year, but have given myself permission to temporarily ignore the outer world as I heal from this event.

Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden, Grant Park

I have been thinking about trust. What is it that allowed me to trust people I’ve met only briefly, including some on the team I never will meet while conscious, to thread some sort of mechanism into my brain and perform this surgery. That is the foundation of civilization, I suppose, that the standards put in place by experts will be upheld, that we all expect to do our best by each other, that we trust.

Knitting

Some time is passed in the evenings with Dan and Sean, watching ‘The Good Place’ and adding several repeats to my Girl in the Neurosurgery Ward shawl. The yarn is Tosh Merino Light in the Mandala and Flashdance colorways.

A mantra for the week from one of my favorite podcasts:

Marquam Hill, Portland, OR (18-2)

January 16, 2018January 22, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

1/10/18 A different kind of Adventure of the Week: Marqham Hill

Begins with a pre-dawn drive up Sam Jackson Road, four flights of stairs in the parking garage, into the entrance hall where I get my wristband; down to the preop suite where I wipe myself with antiseptic wipes and change into a snap on gown, booties and shower cap. That’s when it all gets real. Someone comes to start the IV; I sign all the forms that admit knowledge of possible bad outcomes including death, and then they whisk me away into the OR ante room. I start shaking uncontrollably as they transfer me to the operating table, but they give me oxygen and then the mask, say “Count down five breaths”. I only remember three.

Someone is tugging at a mask on my face. There are bright lights in my eyes. They are holding me in place, putting oxygen tubes in my nose, needles in my arms. I am coming awake and it is over and they say I am doing fine.

Then there are a number of hours I am in and out of awake. Dan is there holding my hand. Emily is sitting next to me giving me droplets of water and encouraging me to eat one saltine cracker that takes 2 1/2 hours. There is a light above that is too bright and one doctor says the hospital is full and I may have to stay in this space all night. It is very noisy and bright and I feel discouraged. Eventually they do find a room for me and wheel me in most carefully. Now here I have been for three days with the kindest of nurses caring for me, doctors coming and going in teams all hours of the night, needles poking, measuring ins and outs. Brian and Sean keep me company and take me on walks around the halls and I appreciate their presence. Dan is ever-present and stays the first night. Emily stays the next two nights and I slowly shed tubes and wires and medications until I feel almost ready to go home.

By day three I am feeling very accomplished to make several laps around the 10th floor neurosurgery ward, and a walk to the view plaza above the Portland Tram, resting and looking at all three snow covered peaks on the skyline on a beautiful blue sky day.

Mt Hood and lower waterfront from Portland Tram plaza

Mt St Helens and Mt Adams

Mt St Helens and a peek at Mt Rainier over its left shoulder (photos by Dan)

Friends and family have texted emailed visited called, sent flowers balloons meals good wishes. Now I just look forward to slowly getting better and less dizzy as I adjust to the new me. No more excess human growth hormone seeping from an adenoma on my pituitary. No more hidden acromegaly.

After 4 days on the hill we drive home, me shielding my eyes from the too bright sun and the overwhelming motion around me. I walk as if balancing a marble on my brittle bubble of a head, each day my equilibrium slowly increasing. In a few weeks I hope to be able to move better, drive, smell, hike…continue the adventures.

Meanwhile, the knitting:

I’ve added a few rows to the Girl From the Grocery Store Shawl, though I may rename it Girl in the Neurosurgery Ward.

2018 Begins (18-1)

January 9, 2018January 22, 2018 / margaretquilts / 1 Comment

1/1/2018 Oaks to Wetlands Wildlife Trail, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA (Hike #1 for 2018)

2018 begins with a 2 mile walk at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. Cold, quiet, it felt good to stretch our legs in the sun, see swans and geese in the distant ponds, and an egret flying down the swale.

Shadows on the approach bridge

Swans in the distant pond

An egret flying along the trail

local ponding

oak leaf

moss

fern

insect carving

berries

Oak tree

Reflections

1/6/2018 Deschutes River Trail (Hike #2)

Blue sky, crisp air, deep blue water, golden grasslands, great escape from the clouds in Portland. Solid boots on the trail, maybe the last time for a while…

We begin by walking along the river:

farther up river

sumac

looking back down river

the arch

The trail heads up hill across Ferry Springs Canyon:

snow in the shade

View back to the Columbia River, and the Columbia Hills in Washington

Closer view of the confluence

Columnar basalt above

Geese at the trailhead

GPS track

Lookback:

We have been here twice before – we saw spring wildflowers in April of 2013

and fall colors in November of 2016.

sumac

train across the river

Meanwhile

I knit away on Emily’s green shawl try to think of all the things to do before the surgery. I am organized and scattered at the same time. I try to anticipate all the needs and soon the time will be used up and I will see what happens on the other side. Hard to set goals for the New Year as I don’t know what to expect for the recovery so I just knit on…

Emily’s Flyaway Twist shawl, completed

38. New Years Eve / Farewell 2017

January 2, 2018 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Wind Mountain, WA Last Hike of the Week for 2017 (#59) 12/31/2017

Wind Mountain is a 1907 foot tall cone shaped mountain that juts out into the Columbia River on the Washington shore just west of Dog Mountain. These photos show Wind Mountain as seen on previous adventures:

From the Starvation Ridge area (southeast), May 2017

From Starvation Ridge, with rainbow, May 2017

From Dog Mountain (east), May 2013

From Grassy Knoll (north). Wind Mountain is the lower cone on the right side of the photo, June 2017. Mt Defiance and Mt Hood are beyond, across the Columbia River. Wind Mountain is rather small by comparison, from this perspective.

The trail is short and steep – about 1.25 miles/1100 feet up from the trailhead on the north slope. Our hike on New Year’s Eve was bitter cold at the beginning and eponymously windy. We enjoyed beautiful views from the top, and felt this was a great way to end 2017.

Historical significance explained near the top

Views from the top:

To the west – Beacon Rock in the distance

To the east, Dog Mountain and beyond toward Starvation Ridge across the Columbia RIver

Looking north to where Grassy Knoll and Mt Adams would be if there were no clouds.

The trail seemed steeper on the way down.

Some details:

Red Oregon grape leaves

A peaceful forest path

Fungus?

GPS track

Lookback: We hiked here in February of 2013 on a less windy and cloudy day, and could see all the way to Mt Adams and Mt St Helens

East to Dog Mountain

North to Mt Adams

Northwest, with Silver Star Mountain and Mt St Helens

West to Beacon Rock

Happy New Year!

In the evening we went downtown for a lovely dinner out with friends, and a New Year’s Eve concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, featuring Pink Martini and the Oregon Symphony ringing in 2018 at midnight.

And finally, some totals for 2017:

603 Total Miles walked, of which 294 were on hiking trails during 59 hikes, with a total of 50,500′ elevation gained.

76 Books read according to my Goodreads page. My two favorites were: Jane Austen, The Secret Radical by Helena Kelly, and Martin Marten by Brian Doyle.

6707 yards of yarn knitted in 10 finished projects according to my Ravelry page:

38 Blog Posts I am happy to say I have posted weekly since beginning the blog last April. I am still exploring what I want it to be, but I have enjoyed the motivation to write a bit each week, and I love documenting life events. I hope to keep up the pace in 2018, with more detailed quilt stories added in, once the big adventure with the surgeon is gotten through on January 10th. I keep thinking of the chorus to an old camp story about a hike through the woods with various obstacles:

“Can’t go under it, can’t go over it, can’t go around it, gotta go through it.”

And I suppose the same can be said about the challenges that face our nation in the next year. Our family holiday letter included this statement:

“It would be incomplete not to mention that 2017 has been a difficult year on the political front. We marched with women and men in January, and although some days it feels like we are barely hanging on by our fingernails, we cling to the belief that the checks and balances built into our Constitution will hold, and that the rule of law and equal protection under the law will win the day.”

Welcome 2018!

37. White Christmas in PDX

December 26, 2017December 26, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Holiday 12/25/2017

Right on schedule we received a thin layer of ice and snow on Christmas Eve. We played Settlers of Catan, finished decorating the tree, and baked some cookies in our newly repaired oven. A cozy Christmas; no hikes this week.

Crafting

I made a few Jane Austen themed ornaments and finished the flannel pajama pants that Brian started but never finished – he will find them under the tree. I continued to knit the green shawl for Emily, which she will find under the tree, needles attached, to be finished soon.

New ornament from Madie and Natalie

35. Dreaming of White River, 12/11/2017

December 12, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

A little under the weather, so I missed the hike with Dan and a friend to White River on Mt Hood. He sent me this photo from our usual lunch stop:

LOOKBACK:

This is a favorite adventure because the grade is gentle and the mountain is in view almost all the way up to a spectacular lunch spot. A few photos from previous years:

March 2012 – Close up of the peak of Mt Hood

February 2013

January 2014

March 2016

March 2017

Crafting:

A little of each- knitting, plying, stitching the leftover clams for the back of Atmospheric River, and what fun! deciding to use Fossil Fern as the focus fabric for my long planned hue shift quilt.

Flyaway Twist: begin the brioche, with lifelines

Panel of leftover clams for the otherwise light blue backing for the Atmospheric River quilt

Color wheel of fabrics for a new quilt

Other adventures: Mostly a waiting week – I tried one new med, and also contracted a common cold from my son, so snowshoeing did not seem like fun.

34. Lyle Cherry Orchard and Other Adventures

December 5, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail, Washington 12/3/2017 (#57)

What joy to step with boots on the trail again today, – a bright blue sky, bitter wind, December-low-angle light sparkling on the water day -in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. Trail of dirt and stone and oak leaf duff winding up alternately through golden grasslands and black cliffs of the Missoula flood scoured columnar Columbia Plateau basalts. White caps on the river, bare oak branches, luminous grey clouds to the west raining on the Cascade crest, with only the eastern flank of Mt Hood visible in the clouds if you know where to look. Sounds of wind and ravens and the occasional train. Deep memories of where the yellow bells, purple grass widows, golden stars (and poison oak!) will be come spring….

Approach trail

Views from the Convict Road:

East view

West view

Views from the lower plateau:

Along the trail to the upper tier:

Views from our high point:

The way down:

And looking back up from the Convict Road to where we were:

Some details:

We hiked about 3.5 miles, 1000 feet today. We turned back at the cliff high point where the trail heads inland then farther east toward the remnants of the old cherry orchard.

We saw a beautiful interplay of sun and clouds while driving back west.

West view from the Hood River bridge into the gorge

LOOKBACK:

Spring wildflowers:

Yellow Bells on the lower trail, March 2017

Gold stars along the upper switchbacks, March 2017

Grass widows at the upper viewpoint, March 2017

Fall colors:

Poison Oak, October 2016

Orange oak leaves, October 2016

CRAFTING

I distracted myself this week by sewing all the clamshells together on my Atmospheric River quilt.

Each clamshell is 17.5″wide; quilt is 87.5″ square.

I began knitting on Emily’s green scarf.

Other Adventures this week were less pleasant, including a horizontal trip in an MRI machine, several blood draws and waiting rooms, as well as scheduling a surgery date in January to remove something that a doctor discovered by chance while looking for something else. What luck, really – if all goes as planned the long term prognosis is great and there will be no lasting harm. Still it is an unexpected and unasked for journey. So after the emotional trauma of this week, it was with great joy that I ventured on to a dirt and stone trail today in the blue sky, bitter wind, golden hills, and black cliffs of the eastern gorge.

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33. Sun and Rain at Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge, WA, Thanksgiving weekend

November 28, 2017 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Our Thanksgiving drama: Emily home from Oberlin for the long weekend, Sean here, but covering college basketball games at the PK80 tournament at the Rose Garden, Brian also here and working, but not on Thanksgiving. Good friends to join us for dinner. I baked the pies in the morning, the casseroles in the early afternoon and started the oven to roast the 9 pound turkey at 3 pm. I rinsed the brine and trussed the bird – and the oven was only at 170 degrees. Ten minutes later, only 175 degrees. Eventually realized the oven is never going to get to 500 – it gradually rose to 300 degrees, hot enough to reheat the casseroles, but something is wrong! Our neighbors generously allowed us to use their oven when their turkey was done, so we were able to eat about 2 hours later than planned – another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat (thank you Arlo Guthrie), with plenty of leftovers for the next day. The silver lining was that Sean was home from work by the time dinner was ready.

Steigerwald Lake and Columbia River Dike 11/26/2017 (#56)

Post-Thanksgiving time/sun window Sunday morning after other family members delivered to airport/work. We drove about 25 minutes to the trailhead near Washougal, Washington.

Bright sun and clouds at the start of the trail.

Clouds closing in from the west. Tundra Swans in the lake beyond the closed art trail gate.

Noisy Canada geese in the distance as a bald eagle flies above them then alights in a tree above the first bridge. We also saw a smaller hawk rustling up the geese.

On to the second bridge as the sun dims and the clouds close in — a few wind gusts, a squall, large fat raindrops spatter us and cast rings in the lake. Three ducks in a row swim away. Other hikers heading back to the trail head. By the time we get our hoods up, lenses wiped, the rain has lessened to sprinkle, drizzle, mist. We are prepared for this.

We continue on to the dike and walk east above the Columbia River, Vista House on the horizon through a shroud of clouds closing in. We walk all the way to the closed gate, though I believe the land beyond is soon to be added to the conserved space. Wind blowing east with the clouds, and the wave caps give the illusion of the river flowing upstream…

Vista House across the Columbia River

Returning the same way, and the rain returns.

Back to the trailhead, with a few more photo stops. Light has changed again. Time to get inside, get dry.

White tundra swans in the far lake

We walked about 4 miles round trip.

LOOKBACK:

The Steigerwald is a close-in go-to place for us – the light is always spectacular, there is often a resident bald eagle, we often see waterfowl – heron, duck, geese, swans, and on a clear day, the top of Mt Hood is on view.