Books, movies and nice weather

From Wunderground.com

This kind of ten-day weather forecast for the Pacific Northwest only happens in the summer. Some people don't think our summer even begins until after the Fourth of July, and you know, this is making a good case for that view. There aren't even any clouds in the forecast! That's very unusual. Anyway, it's good for me, since it looks like this coming weekend will be good for skydiving (and I'm going), and on Monday the Trailblazers will be having our first all-day-long adventure, a new hike for all of us. It's off the Mountain Loop Highway, quite a distance, so we'll be having dinner together as well.

I also wanted to share some movies I've seen recently. First of all, I went to see Ida after reading the reviews and having seen the trailer. It's filmed in Poland, with English subtitles. Everything they say about the movie is true: it's stunning in so many ways, but it's also not exactly uplifting: a young orphan in taken in by a convent and raised to become a nun. The Mother Superior wants her to contact her only living relative before taking final vows, so she travels to meet her. The movie is about what transpires, set in 1962 Poland. The young woman's journey is very vivid in my mind. Every movie I have ever seen about the Holocaust and its aftermath have affected me very deeply, and this one is no different. That's all I'll say about it, except (1) I'm glad I saw it, and (2) I wouldn't see it again. I felt the same way about "Schindler's List."

Judy and I also saw Words and Pictures, and we almost didn't go because the reviews were so uniformly bad. Well, the movie did have a hard time getting going, but by the end I realized I had enjoyed it very much. It's a story set in a high school, with Clive Owen playing an honors English teacher who has some serious problems. A new art teacher is hired, played by Juliette Binoche, who is crippled by serious rheumatoid arthritis. The movie is about their involvement, hence the "words and pictures" of the title. I would see it again; it's billed as a romantic comedy and fills that role quite well.

Now for some books: I got quite involved with the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one long day. My only problem with it is that I was really dismayed by the ending. I guess I like my books in the same way that I like my movies: lift me up at the end! I hear it's being made into a movie now, due out in October, and that the ending of the movie is different than it is in the book. Well, that alone will make me want to see it! Wonderful book, well written and memorable characters.

My sister introduced me to another writer,  JoJo Moyes. (The link takes you to her page that gives a synopsis of each book she's written.) JoJo is a British writer who grew up in London. She now lives with her husband and three children in Essex and has written eleven books. She has learned the technique of drawing very believable and unforgettable characters. She also knows how to write a page-turner of a novel. Norma Jean had just read Me Before You, a book that also captured my interest and wouldn't let me put it down. JoJo has a new book out, One Plus One, and I am on the waiting list at the library for it. One book she also wrote was in the library stacks, so I checked it out and read it: The Last Letter from your Lover. I enjoyed it, too.

Well, that's it for now. I simply must go out and do some work in my garden. All the lettuce has bolted and needs to be pulled up, and I've got to thin my beets. Plus all this warm weather coming means I've got to stay ahead of the unwanted weeds! Till next time.
:-)

A fine holiday weekend

Carol sky gazing

Actually, I took this picture on Wednesday, but I think it can still be added to a post about our long holiday weekend. I was so mesmerized by these clouds that I begged Carol to stand there to give the picture a bit of perspective. When she saw this picture, she said it makes our apartment complex to look much more posh that it really is. I had to agree.

My plate at the potluck

Yesterday, the actual Independence Day holiday, I went to a potluck with the Fairhaven walking group at our leader Cindy's house. She has done this Fourth of July potluck for a few years now, and I joined them for the first time last year. It was so nice that I didn't want to miss another one. Notice all the good food on the plate. I was enchanted by the green stuff that looks a little like broccoli, but not quite. Here's a closeup:

Maria's romanesco

It turns out to be something called romanesco, a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, which, according to that Wikipedia link, has been around for centuries. I simply loved it, and Maria told me she grows it in her garden. She picked it fresh that morning, steamed it lightly and brought it to the potluck. From that link:

Romanesco has a striking appearance because its form is a natural approximation of a fractal. When compared to a traditional cauliflower, as a vegetable its texture is far more crunchy, and its flavor is not as assertive, being delicate and nutty.

This morning, after our regular Saturday walk, I headed to the Farmers' Market to see if I could pick some up. I found that it's not available there until the fall harvest, as my grower told me it's best then, more flavorful and abundant. I might have to go to Joe's Gardens and see if I can pick up some starts for my own fall harvest. If it's more delightful than what I ate yesterday, I can't wait!

In a few minutes I'm leaving to go to the movies with my friend Judy. We're going to see Ida at our independent theater. It's gotten great reviews. I've learned not to trust reviews all that much, but many people have said this is one of the best of the year, not to be missed. Then tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, I'll be heading to the Drop Zone in Snohomish for you know what!
:-)

Church meadows, three weeks later

Fifteen Trailblazers headed up the trail today

It was only a mere three weeks ago that we trudged up this same trail to the Church Mountain meadows, knowing we would be seeing lots of snow. It was no different today, except in those three weeks all of the snow was gone from the trail, and it wasn't until we saw the meadows that we had to move from beautiful woodland scenes to reminders of winter.

Native columbine growing next to a tiny stream

Since we thought that the clouds would clear off (they are probably gone by now, but they never cleared for us to see the mountains) we headed upward in pleasant conditions, hoping for a view. In another three weeks, I suspect the meadow will be clear, or almost clear, of snow. But today, we enjoyed the greenery at the lower elevations, and we even saw some mushrooms thrusting themselves up into the light.

Are these... magic mushrooms?

We made our way across the biggest stream crossing before we hit the meadows without incident, even though some of the rocks were slippery. Thank goodness my boots are waterproof! I was careful, though, not to slip and cause me to have wet feet. That's already happened once this season, and that was enough to make me cautious.

Making our way one at a time

And then we emerged from the trees and the trail onto the snow. Although much was gone from our previous visit, it was simply as if we had stepped back in time. The temperature was not exactly cold, but the lack of any sun and the snow itself caused many of us to suddenly feel much colder. We didn't go too far before we decided to stop for lunch.

Trudging toward our lunch spot

I know you can't really tell by looking at this picture, but the amount of snow has diminished significantly from our trip three weeks ago. We could tell, but the lack of any sunshine, not to mention that it's not easy to walk in this kind of slushy snow, meant we wouldn't make it much farther than last time. At least we were all prepared for snow, and many Trailblazers had strapped cleats and other gear onto their boots to keep from slipping. Here's our lunch spot.

Having lunch and donning warm clothes

No sun, although I was optimistic for much of the time that it would clear enough for us to see our beloved mountains. But it didn't happen, and all of us put on jackets and gloves so we wouldn't get too cold. All except Mikey there on the left, he was still in shorts and a t-shirt. But as I've said before, I don't think he was born on this planet.

The only view we had today

As we began our descent back to the cars, the clouds cleared enough for me to get this partial view. Not much, but I realized that it didn't really matter: it was cool weather for hiking back down, we got plenty of good exercise in the beautiful Pacific Northwest wilderness, and we had lots of interesting conversations both up and down the mountain. We will probably attempt Goat Mountain again next week, since the long-range weather looks good for Thursday and we will see what three more weeks of snowmelt looks like up there as well.

Anyhow, it was a fine way for us to spend our Thursday, one which many of us look forward to all week. Feeling pretty darn satisfied on this Independence Day eve. Hope you have a GREAT holiday!
:-)

I want to be like her when I grow up

From Masterstrack, Olga setting a new world record

I just learned about Olga Kotelko yesterday, when one of my Facebook friends shared a link that Olga died on Tuesday at the age of 95. Her personal story is rather amazing, but when I found that she lived in West Vancouver, Canada, a few miles away from me, I felt humbled to think that I might have actually rubbed elbows with her, if I'd only been aware of her existence. Maybe I did and didn't know it.

Olga was a teacher until she retired at 65. She took up slow-pitch baseball at the age of 70, playing five different positions. Somewhere I read that she was quite competitive and enjoyed it very much. But then when she turned 77, someone suggested that she compete in track and field. She didn't realize, she said, that people her age even did that sort of thing. But boy, did she take to it like a duck to water! She has her own web page, and was just getting ready to start on a book tour to promote her new book, Olga: The O.K. Way to a Healthy Happy Life, and she was looking forward to competing in a new age category, since she turned 95 in March. Actually, she went to Budapest and just recently won a bazillion medals in her new W95 age group.

According to that blog post (linked under her picture, from Masterstrack), her Canadian author friend Bruce Grierson called Ken Stone, who writes the blog, with the news that Olga had died this past Tuesday of an intracranial hemorrhage. She was in a coma for a few days before she finally passed away. From the article, a quote from Bruce:

"Doctors say she would have lost consciousness immediately — zero suffering. It was — albeit premature and shocking — the perfect way to go out. She left nothing significant undone or undreamed. Gerontologists talk about ‘squaring the curve’ — i.e., living life ablaze with little or no decline toward the end, and then an abrupt demise. Olga squared the curve with a ruler. It was a real gift to get to know her. She changed my life, for sure.” Bruce published “What Makes Olga Run?” this year and went on tour with her. 

Anyway, she was definitely an exceptional person, and she was obviously born with the perfect combination of genes and personality to become the outstanding athlete that she was. Right now I'm happy to introduce my blogging friends to a real light in the world. The two books just published will ensure that Olga will not be forgotten for a long time. I found this lovely two-and-a-half minute YouTube video on her website.



Enjoy! Blue skies, Olga.
:-)

Garden news, plus a nice walk

Judith and Meredith outside of Woods Coffee

We expected rain this morning, and it was overcast and doing just that when I left the house early to join the Fairhaven walkers at Woods Coffee. But you can see it turned out to be a really nice day, with lots of blue skies with no more rain. We enjoyed coffee after a four-and-a-half mile walk with lots of uphill, and then I headed over to the Farmers' Market to gather some greens to complement what I am harvesting from my garden. I saw this beautiful sunflower at the market, with the sun shining through:

Smiling in the sunshine

Hmmm, I thought to myself. Nate has planted lots of sunflowers in his garden plot, and I haven't seen any blooms there yet, so I went out to investigate the garden before sitting down to write this post.

Nate's sunflowers growing next to the fence

There aren't even any beginning blooms, so I suspect that the one in the picture was grown in a greenhouse, don't you think? While I was out there, I noticed that the borage flowers in my garden were full of bees, both honeybees and bumblebees. They love those flowers so much that I'll wait awhile before I pull some of them out. Just look:

Borage flowers with bee friends

In the middle of this picture of the borage, you can see a black thing, a bumblebee, with the pollen baskets on its hind legs full to the brim. I figured he would be leaving for home soon, but I tried to get a closeup (all the pictures are taken with my cellphone camera), and this is what I got. If you enlarge it, you can see his left leg basket is so full of pollen it looks like it might overflow.

Look at all that pollen!

I wandered around the rest of the garden, looking at all the vegetables and flowers coming up, which also caused me to notice that I need to get out there and weed. Those blasted buttercups are invading, along with some other unwanted guests. Time to get out and spend some time out there, like maybe this afternoon. The clouds have returned and it should be fairly comfy outside.

Mystery squash

That volunteer squash coming up in the community section has produced blooms, and here's the beginning of what might be a spaghetti squash, or... any ideas? The plant is growing like crazy and has several other blossoms beginning. I've already gathered a few zucchini from the community garden, knowing that they are much tastier when a reasonable size. I remember how quickly they grow. You gotta keep on top of 'em.

Nate's raspberries

I see that Nate's raspberry crop is beginning to ripen, too. One of them accidentally fell into my hand and I was forced to eat it. What an explosion of flavor! Can there be anything more scrumptious than purloined fruit? It was all I could do to restrain myself. Some of them are in danger of falling right off the vine, into waiting hands. I'd better inform Nate.
:-)

A pleasant, different kind of hike

The start of our hike on an old logging road

Since there was so much snow on our last two hikes, with our upward progress severely impeded, Al decided to take us instead of our regularly scheduled hike, up to what we call the "Middle Fork area." We drove up the Mt. Baker Highway to Mosquito Lake Road and then followed an old logging road until we got to where we could walk up to the end, have lunch and then turn around. But we were assured that there would be no snow. Thirteen of us drove in three cars to this spot and began our hike.

The Twin Sisters behind us, to the right

Carl took this picture of me (below) at our first viewpoint. It turned out very nice, I think, so I used it to show the Twin Sisters in all their glory. And you can see that the weather was very nice at the beginning of our hike, although it would change later on. You can also see the bandage from my mole removal. Although I could have taken it off today, I figured I would wait until after the day's activities so it would be well protected.

Me in front of the Twin Sisters

And what are all those people looking at in the previous picture? Well, we finally got a good view of the Black Buttes and a peek at Mt. Baker, who was busy hiding behind a cloud on the left. But it's still a picture I was happy to see in my cell phone. Most of these pictures are taken with my camera, but I always sneak one or two with my cell phone, so I can compare them. This picture turned out to be FAR superior to the one taken with my camera.

Mt. Baker and the Black Buttes

If you compare the sky in this picture with the previous one of me, you can see what I mean. I might just stop carrying my camera and focus on using just the cell phone. I would miss my camera's zoom, but that's just about all.

As we were walking up the road, we saw some flowers (I think these are penstemon) that had taken root on the sheer rock walls. I used my camera with the zoom, so I would have missed this picture with only my cell phone camera.

Flowers taking root on a sheer rock face

After a leisurely lunch, we headed back down the same road we traveled up, gaining just about 2,000 feet in three-and-a-half miles to our lunch spot. I got this picture of Jonelle and Carl just before we left to return to our cars. These two intrepid hikers met a while back on one of the hikes Jonelle led in the Palm Springs area (where she winters), and I've learned there will be nuptials at the end of August, joining their two families.

Jonelle and Carl

You might remember that Jonelle and I jumped out of an airplane together just about a year ago. You can refresh your memory here, or if you missed it, read all about it. Not long after this picture was taken, though, as we were heading back down, there were these little drops of something coming out of the sky. As true Pacific Northwesterners, we ignored it for awhile, but then we donned our rain gear, which we all had with us, of course.

Misty rain, Trailblazers donning rain gear in the foreground

It was not bad at all, and by the time we reached the cars on our return journey, it had already stopped. I learned that down here in Bellingham it didn't rain at all. Since it was fairly early, we decided to stop at Caffe Refugio just outside the town of Deming, Washington, for a coffee and/or an ice cream. What a treat it turned out to be!

Trailblazers enjoying gelato, coffee, and buns

It turned out that they have lots of gelato of every flavor, and freshly made espresso drinks, as well as huge cinnamon/bacon buns, which several people enjoyed right there or took home for later. There was only one person serving, but he did a great job. He asked how our hike went, saw to all our needs, and we left happy and quite well satisfied.

It was a different kind of day from those we usually experience on Thursdays, and I found it to be just right for today. We didn't need to deal with snow and difficult conditions, we had good company, and a really good treat to end our time together. I look forward to more of these one of these days.
:-)

New life and a doctor's appointment

Some new residents in my neighborhood

In the six years we've lived here, I've seen twin fawns twice now. Once, a few years ago I was enchanted by them, and now it seems we have another set. It's even possible that the doe who gave birth to them is one of those fawns, who knows? I watched her for awhile from my parking lot (the asphalt in the foreground), and she washed one of them for quite awhile, not seeming to care much about my presence. And then I got in my car and drove away. They didn't even look up.

The flowering bushes behind them are non-native blackberry bushes, which are abundant and very tasty every year. It amazes me that they can eat the bushes without being bothered by the thorns, which make it very difficult for me to gather the berries myself. I've learned that a big stick to hold back the branches and long sleeves and gloves make it possible to gather quite a few.

The other new life that I see in my neighborhood are the leaves coming back on the trees that were butchered in my front yard. It was in February when they cut off all the branches, and I thought the trees were dead. But look!

Making a comeback

All those remaining bare branches, every one, now has a cluster of new leaves on it. I think these trees look a little like pictures I've seen in Dr. Seuss books. Or maybe a new species. They were full and lush last fall, and I simply couldn't believe they would grow back, but they are. I suspect by the end of summer they will even have new branches. I'll be taking pictures to document their growth.

This afternoon I have a second appointment with my dermatologist. He is going to remove a mole that has an uneven border and is more than one color, just to be on the safe side. I'm pretty much recovered from the first session, when he used liquid nitrogen to burn off a few growths on my face and neck. They blistered and scabbed over, but now they are completely gone. I'm not looking forward to this, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm not sure where we will be headed for our hike on Thursday, since the amount of snow we have encountered on the last two Thursdays mean that our scheduled hike would be too difficult, and we could simply wait a few weeks and enjoy Welcome Pass without all that snow. It melts out pretty fast at this time of year, but we've had below-normal temperatures for a couple of weeks now. I think we are the only place on the continent that is not already sweltering!
:-)