Cool Pics

 There are several meanings of the word "cool" of course. In this case both fit. 

My daughter Jill and her daughter Irene climbed Mount Adams this week. Mount Adams is a volcanic peak in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.

Approaching the trailhead on Mount Adams Road. Tuesday morning. 

Setting off. It was 1:00 and hot!

Trail markers. Destination is Base Camp up on that rocky area.

Base Camp at 9200 feet. Sunset and Mt St Helens in the distance. 

Mountain goats, a mama and baby. Irene said ,"Just like us!"

The Milky Way.

Sunrise.

Breakfast. Mount Adams' shadow on the clouds and haze. 

Irene headed up to the false summit. 

A steep climb.

Up on the false summit, 11,500 feet. Still 700 feet to go.

Summit selfie!

Successful summit! Mt Rainier in the background.

Irene's first volcano summit. She is 17. I think there will be many more, just like her mother. 

Looking back down. What goes up has to come down.

Back at Base Camp. Rest, look up at what you achieved, and then pack up and head down. 

Back at the trail head, they packed up and drove to Takhlakh Lake to camp and enjoy the view of their conquered mountain in the alpenglow.

They slept very well in their camp Wednesday night, and then packed up and were back home by Thursday afternoon. We are getting together this afternoon (Saturday) to hear all the stories. 

These are the photos Jill sent me. They are as close as I will ever get to climbing a mountain but I am so happy to share the experience with you. Needless to say, I am proud of my mountaineering girls. 

Slow Days

 You know it's a slow day when the highlight is shopping at Costco. We bought cherries!

At $4.00 a pound they are expensive, but as the package says, they are Nature's Candy!

Tom picked our small but delicious crop of Marion Berries. 

Summer fruits are wonderful.

On our way to Costco Wednesday morning we voted. 

Yes, we used the drop box that our Republican leadership is trying so hard to malign. We vote by mail here, or in drop boxes, and it is all perfectly safe, except maybe for the "surveillance" teams of Republicans who wanted to make sure we weren't dumping buckets of ballots in the box. How could we? We only get one each. Anyway the Sec. of State told them to knock it off. Voter intimidation.

It continues to be hot here.

This was yesterday afternoon. Today is about the same, and on until maybe a bit cooler on Sunday. I got my PT done and a shopping trip at Safeway.

Charlie/Mewdini is not very happy. He seems to want more attention, and his "Wrackp" (or something like that - it is definitely not a Meow) says "My dish is empty. So what if you already gave me a treat this morning. I want more.!"

Heat can make you cranky if you don't take it slow. 

Other Stuff

 While I was busy last week sorting photos and posting blogs and working in the yard, other stuff happened.

I now have lots of appointments in the coming month(s) to investigate those "multi-factors" in the continuing process of diagnosing my ills. 

I have more and more flowers to pick for my kitchen table. 

While I did some yard work last week, this week I'm not. It's too hot. It's currently 89, heading for 94. The air conditioning is keeping the downstairs at a comfortable 75. Sleeping upstairs requires box fans and open windows. 

We made a trip to Whidbey Island on Thursday to spend time with Jill's in laws, who are visiting from Colorado. 

There was breakfast out on Friday as usual. 

On Saturday we went with our garden club to three open gardens and then out to lunch. I was in charge of organizing. Everything went well. I did a lot of walking.

I had time to rest up before heading off to the Sounders match Saturday evening. It was a lovely summer evening. We won! 

By Sunday it was warming up. I did my PT and posted my last Oregon blog. It was too long. A new member to our garden club wanted to see our garden so we gave her the tour. Well, Tom did. 

Monday was laundry and house work day. I didn't do much house work but I did keep up with the laundry. 

Today was PT day again and we had another garden visitor.  I ate lunch outside but then it got too hot.  I do love sitting on my patio in the shade for summer lunches. There is greenness and flowers and gentle breezes. And Charlie Cat. 

The tomatoes are tall! First sign of ripening on a cherry tomato. Peppers are setting. 

It's time to go back downstairs where it is cooler. See ya' later. 

Oregon Trip, Chapter 3: My 78th Birthday

 We had an agenda for this sunny Sunday in July. We planned to explore some favorite and some new places in the Willamette Valley before returning to Washington state to dine at McMenamins on the Columbia River at Kalama.

We started with breakfast at Elmer's in Woodburn, where I promised myself their special German pancake. This one was served with lingon berries. 

Tom did help me eat it.

We checked out of our hotel and were on our way to explore. First stop, an old favorite, Seabright Gardens. 

Seabright Gardens specializes in Hostas, but is now expanding to other specialties that grow well here in the valley. Their display garden is beautiful.

Daylilies

Unusual Dahlia. 

So many different and beautiful hostas. 

Calla lily 

Abutilon

Something exotic

Of course we had to buy a few plants, two hostas for Tom and a Heuchera for me. 

From here were were planning to go across the valley to Heirloom Roses, but alas, the beautiful display garden was gone and it was only a wholesale growing operation now. I guess visitors and pandemic didn't mix well. 

However we did have a great time just driving country roads in the valley and looking at crops.

Hops are a major crop here.

So are filberts, know on the market as hazelnuts. New orchards were popping up everywhere. 

Nursery stock, cane berries, onions, vineyards, grain, grass seed, hay, squash/cucumbers, and clover for seed filled the fields. I was so happy to see how productive my valley still is. 

We stopped and bought berries here, fresh from their field across the road: a pint each of Marion berries, Logan berries, and Boysen berries. 

Our next planned stop was Swan Island Dahlias, but they weren't open either. I guess it was too early for their growing fields to put on their show

We had heard reference to the Canby ferry but had never gone to find it. This day we did. It is a small ferry run by Clackamas County that crosses the Willamette River in an area that never got a bridge. 

From there we found a bakery/coffee shop in Canby, my other sort of home town. We lived between Molalla and Canby, just a quarter mile from the school district boundary, and our address was Canby. It's a quite prosperous farming town, where Molalla is a depressed logging town. 

Next we were planning to go to the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City, another place we had never visited, but, yep, it was closed on Sundays. So we headed back home to Washington, crossing the Columbia River again. I looked at my Google Maps to see what we might find as a place to stop that we had never seen before. Paradise State Park fit the bill so we drove down in and found this somewhat rustic park filled with people enjoying the large swimming hole under the I-5 bridge. It was very noisy but everyone was having a great time.

Because so many places were closed, we were early arriving in Kalama for dinner, but we found an antique shop to spend time in before going to McMenamin's Kalama Lodge for birthday dinner. 

We both had good dinners followed by warm Marion Berry Cobbler and ice cream. Yum 

Then we walked a bit of it off by enjoying the gardens and the views surrounding the lodge. 

This totem pole has been in the adjacent park for many years, but was deteriorating and had to come down. 

Then we were back on the freeway with a two hour drive yet to get home. But we were happy and well fed and had thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Oregon and the special occasions we had celebrated. 

And those Oregon berries lasted for quite a few days as toppings for my breakfast cereal and lunch yogurt. 

And the good memories linger now a week later.