February 2026 Hiking

March 18, 2026 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I went on only three hikes in February. We had some down time while my husband recovered from a sudden illness. He is well now. The later walks were in easy, recovery mode.

2/5 – White River snow hike, Mt Hood, Oregon

With snow levels still very low, we were able to hike this out-and-back trail, a long time favorite, with just micro spikes on our boots. There was a small amount of post-holing, but it was mostly fine.

Hiking uphill along the White River moraine – lots of exposed earth.

Our usual lunch spot, about a mile and a half up river, near the Timberline Trail crossing.

Boy Scout Ridge, which we sometimes avoid due to avalanche danger, has exposed plants on the surface today.

Luckily we had more snow by the middle of the month. There is more snow at this location now than there was in the beginning of February.

2/15 – Leach Botanical Garden, Portland

This public garden was gifted to the city of Portland by the estate of John and Lilla Leach. We hadn’t been in many years, but I remember taking my children here when they were young, and walking the stony paths between the plants. There was a bit of a Secret Garden feel to the park. I was aware that there had been a huge remodel and accessibility initiative. There is now a lovely Aerial Walkway that floats through the woodland. Today was our first time to try it. We walked less than a mile in total, as we had a time constraint, and also, my husband was still in recovery mode. Spring flowers were popping in a few beds, with more to come. I hope to return later in the spring to see more flowers.

Trails continue down to Johnson Creek, and to the original stone cottage across the creek.

Some flowers in bloom today…

2/26 – Memaloose Hills, Oregon

A windy day in the gorge. Most of this trail is protected from the strongest blasts, and it is a good conditioning hike (3 miles, 550 feet), as we work on our stamina…

Trailhead view across the Columbia River

Gold stars and grass widows on the upward slopes

View of the gorge and Mt Adams from the top of Chatfield Hill

We continued the loop that circles over the top of Marsh Hill…

View eastward from the top of Marsh Hill toward Tom McCall Point, with Columbia Desert parsley and grass widows among the rocks.

Swales of grass widows just beginning to bloom.

On the drive back toward Mosier, we stopped for a view to the north, to look at the greening slopes of the Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek areas, all burned last summer by the Burdoin Fire.

The good news is that, despite all the chaos in the political world, the flowers of spring are blooming again this year in the Columbia River Gorge!

February 2026

March 15, 2026 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I began February with a lighter heart, having reconnected with many family members in Eugene at the end of January. Cold weather, rain, not enough snow in the mountains, and a week-long interruption due to a (now resolved) medical emergency derailed some of our plans, but on we go…

Knitting and sewing

I spent several days in hospital rooms, keeping my husband company as he was treated for a sudden bad reaction to a medication he was taking. All is well now, and he is recovered, but I spent many hours sitting, and knitting serious/whimsical hats for sock monkeys, and other small creatures. These are in homage to the Resistance Hats that were worn by Norwegians during the Nazi invasion, and now are made by Minnesotans and other knitters, as anti-ICE symbols. I bought the pattern, with proceeds going to help people hurt by ICE. In the meantime, while I was distracted and worried, knitting these little hats kept my hands and part of my brain busy. We have a display of sock monkeys in our window, leftover from early pandemic solidarity, and now they have joined the resistance.

I began with a couple of the sock monkeys and the Emotional Support Chicken.

I found a small amount of green yarn, enough to make a couple of Portland Frog hats

And then added a few more, including a Pussy Hat for good measure.

I also finished a pair of socks.

And I actually sewed with my sewing machine for the first time in a while. I made a travel kimono robe.

Books

I finished five books in February, including three in the Jane Austen-esque category.

2-17– Museum Day – David Hockney Exhibit at the Portland Art Museum

I was not previously familiar with David Hockney, but now I am so impressed with his body of work! The exhibit follows his life, from British art school student to American icon. His art follows his curiosity, into new mediums and subject matter. The impact of anti-homosexual laws in England, the loss of many people to AIDS (bouquets and chairs); portrait, still life, abstract, and landscape images, including one of my favorite places – Yosemite. The work varies from traditional art materials to modern iPad drawings and videography.

David Hockney, Self Portrait, 2012, iPad on Paper

Below are some of my favorites of his earlier works, created with traditional media:

Later works used Photographs and iPad paintings

I really loved this Yosemite Series, 2010, iPad drawings printed on paper:

These two extremely large works, described as Photographic Drawings printed on paper, play with perspective:

25th June, 2022, Looking at the Flowers, 2022. In this case, the original flower paintings were mounted on the large wall on the other side of the gallery, as well as reproduced on this large image. The artist is sitting in the chairs.

The videography piece was created with multiple cameras mounted on a vehicle driving through a snowy forest. The perspective of each camera differs slightly, the effect is mesmerizing. Luckily there is a convenient bench to sit and watch.

The amount of work presented in this exhibit is overwhelming. I am showing just a few here. I hope to go back and look again.

Neighborhood

Crocuses and daffodils were blooming in February.

One day I walked to our newly reopened Hollywood Branch Library, and saw the early cherry trees beginning to bloom, along with this sign of the resistance.

This new mural in the entry to our remodeled library celebrates our local author, Beverly Cleary, who grew up here and set many of her beloved children’s books in this neighborhood.

New Beverly Cleary Mural in the Hollywood Library

Etc…

Internet meme of the month…

2025 – Review

February 16, 2026 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I am having a hard time keeping up here – real life is getting in the way, as it should, I suppose, but I want to keep my record. Future me wants to read about what happened. So this post is my summary of 2025, written in February 2026, to the best of my current memory.

Last year I still managed to knit and read a fair amount, but our hiking and travel were somewhat curtailed by health issues, and I did very little sewing and quilting.

Knitting

I finished 17 projects in 2025, including nine donation items, mostly hats.

One goal for 2026 is to finish the Zephyr sweater I have been working on for two years.

Reading

I always set my goal to my age, but lately have zoomed past it. This year I read just over 100 books.

Quilting, Sewing and other projects…

Stitching was mostly helping my daughter work through her mending pile whenever she visited. I also briefly worked on these quilt blocks. Next year I hope to quilt four languishing quilt tops, and I have several planned tops in my minds eye…

Hands All Around Blocks, Modern Quilt Studio

We also made progress on home maintenance and repair: interior wall repair; new dining room blinds, new hallway carpet; new kitchen faucet; window repair; storm window cleaning and repair; exterior paint; and exterior brick tuck pointing. This 1932 house will always need something!

Hiking

I have had the goal of at least a hike a week in recent years. I only made it to 49 in 2025, mainly due to health setbacks. Hip bursitis, and a complete cardiac work up for me, and neck surgery for my husband, kept us on shorter and easier walks for a while. I have noticed that I have much less stamina on hotter days, and we seem to have many more hotter days now.

Highlights:

March – Grass Widows at Rowena Crest, OR

April – Green meadows with Death Camas, Shooting Stars and many other wildflowers at Catherine Creek, WA…these meadows would burn in July….

April – First walk through the new hiker/biker tunnels at Mitchell Point, OR

May – Return to that one trail between Multnomah and Wahkeena Creeks, OR

June – Avalanche lilies on the Ant Hill Trail, Mt Hood, OR

July – Bear Grass near Picnic Rock, Mt Hood, OR

July – Elliot Moraine and Timberline Trail High Point, Mt Hood, OR

December – First return after the fires to Catherine Creek, WA

Travel

Travel was mostly local this year. We had to cancel plans for Paris, Switzerland, and Mt Rainier due to the previously mentioned health issues. We spent two lovely weeks in January and August at Bandon, on the southern Oregon Coast.

We visited family in Connecticut and Philadelphia in the fall.

And I spent two weeks in southern Utah in June, but that was mostly within health care settings, and too hot to go outside.

RIP

I will miss these family members who left too soon.

Etc…

2025 was worse than expected, with the government now being run by corrupt criminals who have a stranglehold on the checks and balances built into our government. Someday, someone will figure out why Congress and the Supreme Court won’t do their jobs (Epstein files?). In the meantime, people are protesting in the streets, and every avenue of progress has been set back; basic rights are denied to many people. I thought this was behind us! I wish I was living in that other reality, with a woman president, all people feeling respected as humans, climate change initiatives proceeding, and everyone learning to accept diversity as a natural part of the human species. In the meantime time I will do my bit to communicate, vote, knit, read, and share in resisting tyranny. In spite of everything, I have to hold an optimistic spark in my soul, for hope that we end 2026 on a brighter note!

December 2025

January 24, 2026 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I managed to do many of the traditional December things this year, despite the lead up to the winter solstice being a little darker than usual, as I carried the grief of losing two family members in November, and the chaos of our national wrecking ball situation. In some ways, the traditions kept me going through the otherwise difficult days. The solstice arrived, bringing longer days and more light. And we thoroughly enjoyed a two week visit from our daughter.

Knitting:

I finished two pairs of gift socks, and then re-made a cowl into a felted bowl.

Gift socks, Patons Kroy scraps held double.

Lancelot Cowl, as finished last year, in a bulky alpaca yarn called Hobbii Apricity.

When I tried the cowl on this winter, it was just a bit too itchy for me. Since I knew the yarn would shrink and felt, I decided to unravel the last six rows and reknit it with a closed bottom into a bowl shape. Then I machine washed and dried it, and the fiber shrank and felted into a small bowl, with the textured stitches still visible in the fabric. I count it as a success!

Books:

I finished 8 books in December. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans was probably my favorite of the bunch. I enjoyed seasonal rereads of The Tailor of Gloucester and The Dark is Rising. I learned a lot about the Gilded Age lifestyle in Consuelo Vanderbilt’s autobiography – The Glitter and the Gold.

Museum Day:

The Portland Art Museum has just opened their newly expanded and remodeled gallery space. We bought a membership, and I hope to go monthly to see all the new exhibits and spaces. Today, we focused on the Rothko exhibit, where we saw examples of this Portland grown artist, from early career to the abstract art he is famous for. There was an adjacent exhibit presenting Abstraction Since Rothko.

I am always attracted to bright colors and patterns. And I love to see the close up view of the texture of the paint layers and brush strokes on the canvas. I am looking forward to looking at a lot of art next year.

Neighborhood walks:

The flowers of December sparkled amidst the holiday and protest decorations.

Holiday decorations somewhat overlapped with the ongoing protest signs. New this year were some birds, and some frogs.

Frog added into to this traditionally elaborate display

Celebrations:

The first December celebration was Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, on December 16th.

Long my favorite author! (Internet meme)

I have her ornament, which I bought at her house in Chawton, UK, hanging on my tree.

I slowly put all the decorations on the tree,

and had a lovely traditional Christmas dinner with long time friends.

We also went on a few outdoor walks and a hike, to be detailed in the next post.

On New Years Eve, we stopped on our way home from doing errands to look at our volcanoes from the top of Rocky Butte.

Clear and cold view to Mt Hood from Rocky Butte on New Year’s Eve.

We had a delightful Thai takeout dinner with our daughter and several of her childhood friends, who also happened to be in town for the holidays. Then they went out on the town for the night, and we were early to bed, ready to say goodbye to this difficult year, with hope for better things in 2026.

November 2025 hiking

January 12, 2026 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

Three hikes in November…

11/11 Dalles Mountain Ranch

We hiked the upper loop from the ranch ( 4 miles, 450 feet). We began the day with fog and mist, which evaporated by lunch time, and we finished our hike under clear blue skies. We visited the ‘one tree’, and had a quiet day on the trail.

Looking up into the Columbia Hills at the start of the hike. Lots of dried balsam root foliage in the foreground.

The hills were still misty when we sat down for our lunch break,

I watched a flock of towhees in the nearby bushes,

By the time we finished our lunch, the mists had evaporated,

and the oak tree was illuminated under a blue sky,

After lunch, we continued our hiking loop, which circles down to a view of the Columbia River and The Dalles. The sun angle was wrong for photography,

but we could see Mt Hood under its cloud cap on the far horizon.

We hiked back up to the Ranch along Eight Mile Creek.

A satisfying hike on an autumn day, with very few other trail users today.

11/25 Portland Arboretum

We hiked a short loop (2.5 miles, 200 feet), past the view of Mt St Helens and our favorite Japanese maple tree, through the Winter Garden, and then back up the Beech Trail.

The snowy top of Mt St Helens was floating like a cream puff on the horizon.

The maple tree was past its prime, color faded, but not yet leafless.

as were the camellias and some of the foliage in the Winter Garden.

Beech leaves lined our trail back to the start.

11/28 Catherine Creek/Rowland Wall

This was our first return to this favorite hike since the Burdoin Fire in July (2.7 miles, 720 feet). The blackened slopes have become green with newly sprouting grass. We passed many charred trees, and many that survived the conflagration.

The area of Lower Trail, south of Old Highway 8, did not burn, so looks same as it ever does in winter, with dried grasses fringing the landscape.

Unburned landscape south of the highway.

North of the highway, where the fires swept through, most of the golden grasses and shrubs were completely removed, and the landscape is covered with blackened earth and newly sprouted grasses.

Looking north from the parking area across the burned slope.

We began by walking up to the Fairy Ponds.

Trees near the Fairy Ponds show fire damage.

We continued walking up the Bitterroot Trail, to the ridge just west of Catherine Creek.

Looking upriver from the ridge, all the way to the town of Lyle, where the fire stopped at the Klickitat River.

Juncos were pecking around in the dirt here.

Looking across to the Arch, which already has new fencing in place.

Wider view of the Arch, and the lower trail in front of the Arch.

We walked up slope, and past the power pylons to the edge of Rowland Wall.

Looking eastward across the landscape, up the Columbia River. Oddly, green areas are burned, golden areas are unburned. Orange pine trees are fire damaged.

Continuing uphill toward the power pylons.

Near our turning place – the golden, unburned area at the top was burned in last year’s controlled burn of the area, and I guess they held a fire line there in July.

Eastward from our high point. It was a gorgeous day!

From the edge of Rowland Wall, we looked at our familiar landmarks to the west to see how they fared.

The tall tree here can be seen from many of the trails in the area – I think of it as the ‘guide’ tree.

Zooming in – it is still standing, but appears to have some fire damage.

Next, we hiked down the Rowland Wall cliffs…

I found bitterroot foliage in the usual places – a good omen!

Chartreuse lichen on the cliffs – not burned.

Wider view: guide tree on the skyline. Lots of burned trees in the volcanic landscape below the wall.

Next, the trail takes us back east toward our parking area. Some of the lower tree stands in this area were very badly burned.

I hope the frogs will be back in this pond, where we often hear them.

This is the first time I have seen the rock cliffs behind these trees – all the undergrowth is gone.

The ponds are still reflective on this beautiful day.

The experience was a little heartbreaking, but also hopeful – there were still birds, and some of the wildflowers were beginning to sprout up in the blackened dirt. We will return in spring to monitor the changes. I’m glad we can continue to hike here on rainy days in Portland!

November 2025 in Portland

December 20, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

I took many neighborhood walks this month, watching the season change, and contemplating sad partings.

Fall colors in Northeast Portland

The leaves…

Berries and late blooming or winter flowers…

Sidewalk square of the month…

This one has a human profile etched in the weathered cement.

And of course, the early holiday decorations…

Santa penguins, wondering where the snow is.

Knitting

I finished one cowl, which I am wearing almost every day. The pattern is Ella Improv by Cecelia Campochiaro. The yarn in Malabrigo Lace.

Reading

I finished six books in November. The most compelling was The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, a saga of family life in Viet Nam in the twentieth century.

Signs of Resistance

My neighborhood is always heartening in the display of signs of resistance. There seem to be more and more all the time.

Window signs, telling the world how they really feel!

These signs were displayed in front of almost every house on this block.

Including this one, with an Anne Frank tribute as well.

The wall mural I see on the way home from the library, in the low autumn light.

Sadness

This month I lost two close family members; one older, one younger, one with a long illness, both quite sudden. This was unexpected and sad and I have been feeling shaken and unanchored in time. As a family we are scattered geographically, but with the miracles of technology, we have been able to grieve together. It is hard. And it is human. We are all on that train. We are stopped in our tracks by the loss. We are determined to live well in response. Both paths seem wrong. But we go on.

Thanksgiving was celebrated with close friends who invited us for the day, and for whom I am grateful, especially this year.

October 2025 at home

November 26, 2025November 26, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

We returned from Philadelphia during the first week in October. I have been at home for the remainder of the month, watching the Halloween enthusiasm and the changing foliage fill the neighborhood with color and whimsy, against a background of quiet and not so quiet resistance throughout our city.

Around the neighborhood…

Halloween decorations. Some folks go all out. New or notable for me this year:

Fall Colors:

Creatures:

Sidewalk of the month:

In our yard:

Knitting

I finished three hats for donation, a scarf, and a pair of socks:

Books

I finished eight books in October:

Ribbitting with the resistance in PDX…

National ‘leadership’ continues smashing everything, like a giant wrecking ball. I am proud of my Portland people for exhibiting a mostly peaceful resistance, responding with whimsy and relentless persistence. Some highlights of the month:

Some of our famous Portland Frogs, from Instagram.

And my son took this picture in Paris, France!

Our hikes of the month are in the next post.

A Walk After A Rain, October 19th, 2025

October 25, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

On the day after more than seven million people marched in No Kings Day protests,

And after a night and morning of pouring rain,

The sun is out, and all the sidewalk windows up to the sky are briefly opened.

I glance into each puddle as I pass to see what is temporarily on offer.

I see clouds, trees and leaves, telephone wires, and a lot of imagined possibility.

There is a glimmer of hope reflected, that so many showed up, peacefully danced with inflatable frogs, and no violence occurred.

I appreciate the glimmers today.

September, 2025

October 17, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

In September we visited an art festival, and went on two hikes in the mountains, and one at the beach. I took my usual neighborhood walks, read a few books, and made very little notable progress on my ongoing knitting projects. At the end of the month, we flew to the east coast to visit family there (next post).

9/1 – Art in the Pearl

Some of my favorite artwork in this year’s show:

9/2 – Crescent and Cannon Beaches, OR

A hot day in Portland. We drove to the coast for a short hike to Crescent Beach in Ecola State Park, then went to Cannon Beach to walk near Haystack Rock at low tide.

View to Crescent Beach and Cannon Beach from Ecola Point.

Trail through the forest, about 3 miles round trip.

Descending to Crescent Beach, looking south.

We walked down the beach and found a spot to eat lunch.

Zooming in on Ecola Point, where we began our hike. We hiked back up after lunch.

After an ice cream break in Cannon Beach, we walked toward Haystack Rock. It wasn’t a particularly low low tide today. My husband took a much longer walk, while I found a good perch right in front of the Needles, and watched several pods of pelicans fly north along the breaker zone.

Zooming in on The Needles, with pelican.

9/10 – June Lake, Mt St Helens, WA

Another hot day. Another relatively easy hike, first to June Lake, then up onto some of the lava flows (Worm Flows) on the south side of the mountain (4 miles, 800 feet).

Some of the late wildflowers along the way:

June lake is calm, reflecting the waterfall coming out of the lava flow above.

Then we went up a fairly steep trail, and onto the Loowit Trail, and the lava flows:

A glimpse of the top of Mt St Helens beyond the clouds.

We went just high enough to get the full mountain view.

Zooming in on a glacier near the summit ridge.

The trail not taken ahead – our knees and balance had enough for the day.

We descended, with another stop at the beautifully reflective June Lake…

9/16 – Little Crater Lake, Mt Hood, OR

And yet another hot day! Another easy hike, first to Little Crater Lake, then to the eastern edge of Timothy Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail (3.5 miles, 50 feet).

This small artesian spring-fed lake is always a treat, with its deep turquoise color, reflections and transparency. An indulgent photo stop.

We walked to the eastern edge of Timothy Lake, then retraced our steps.

Pacific Crest Trail – nice and shady on a hot day.

We were told we could see Mt Hood from the Timothy Lake Dam, so we drove around the lake to see the view – it was just a glimpse over a ridge.

Neighborhood walks

Flowers and landscape elements I noticed in September:

I haven’t done much quilting lately, so I composed a concrete quilt from some of my favorite sidewalk cracks.

September books

I finished six books in September. The most inspiring was the biography of Robert Louis and Fanny Stevenson – A Wilder Shore, by Camille Peri. They were a very unusual couple for their time. He chose writing instead of the family business of lighthouse engineering. She grew up in rural Indiana, spent time with her first husband in the mining camps of Nevada, then in bohemian San Francisco, before going to France with her children to study art. They traveled all over the world, by horse carriage, train and ship, eventually settling in Samoa. It seems amazing to me that they were so widely travelled, and that she lived her own style, ignoring much of the expected behavior of a proper Victorian lady. I was inspired to reread my childhood copy of his poem, The Land of Counterpane, from A Child’s Garden of Verses, with illustration by Garth Williams – this is one of the definitive visual memories from my childhood – the quilt, and the imaginary play it inspired.

Also in Portland…

Things started to heat up. Deliberate misinformation reported a ‘war zone’ throughout the city. The only actual activity is near the Federal ICE facility in southwest Portland, where the true spirit of Portland is on display in peaceful protests that defend free speech and due process. I am writing this in October, when things have gotten crazier but in September, we were just getting ready for threatened invasion! I’m sure I will be adding something about the frogs next month.

The rest of August, 2025

September 24, 2025 / margaretquilts / Leave a comment

August began with a birthday week stay in Bandon on the southern Oregon coast. The rest of the month went by with the usual home activities, in Portland, Oregon, which, contrary to some news reports, is a very pleasant place to live.

Around the neighborhood –

Lots to look at this month while walking – gardens…

Sidewalk art, architecture, and more Portland quirkiness…

Yard creatures…

Homegrown treats…

Asters that survived the roofing, painting and tuck pointing.

Our neighbors shared their abundant tomatoes.

Knitting –

I made progress on my cardigan and a pair of socks. Our local coffee shop, KISS Coffee, has taken to reserving our Friday morning knitting table.

Reading –

Of the eight books I finished in August, my favorite was There Are Rivers In The Sky, by Elif Shafak. It is set in Victorian and modern London, and ancient and modern Mesopotamia, and links several character’s lives through water and literature. There is a hopeful conclusion, despite the hardships endured. I also enjoyed rereading the Elizabeth Von Amin books set in her German garden.

8/19 – A walk in the Wildwood Recreation Area –

This was the only hike for me in August, after our trip to Bandon. Usually August is a prime hiking month for us, but I had to address some health issues. There were many appointments, including PT for my wonky hip. Everything seems to be getting better, so I hope to have many more challenging hikes in the future. But one hot day, we drove up Mt Hood to the Wildwood Recreation Area, which we had not visited before. This is a BLM site, at about 1200 feet elevation, on the Salmon River. There are several miles of mostly flat trails through shady forest, and along the Salmon River. I imagine many school field trips come here because of the easy access, and abundance of educational signage and picnic tables.