Why I like to ride the bus

I took this picture during the summer of the now-defunct No. 10 route that went right by my apartment complex. Now I walk two blocks to catch the No. 4 to town. Bellingham has a wonderful bus system, but the city's budget woes caused it to be reduced by 14% last October, and Sunday bus service was eliminated completely. Our city passed a transportation tax this month that should allow some restoration of services next year (at least some routes on Sunday).

I have a car that gets used a few times a week, when grocery shopping or driving 75 miles to Snohomish to jump out of perfectly good airplanes in the summer, but mostly I like it to park it in the driveway while I ride the bus. As I've mentioned before, the WTA (Whatcom Transportation Authority) has routes from the Canadian border all the way down to Mt. Vernon, about 15 miles south of Bellingham, and a monthly pass allows unlimited rides for $25. As a Senior over 65, my pass costs me $13 monthly, or $35 for a quarterly pass. It's a deal I can't pass up. But there's another reason I like to ride the bus: the company.

When I climb into my car and drive to the gym, I am encapsulated in my own little world, and I'm responsible for parking my little capsule somewhere once I get to town. From 9:00am to 5:00pm, I need to feed a meter at 75 cents an hour, and some meters require me to feed it every single hour. (There are a few two- and three-hour meters but they are usually taken quickly.) Riding the bus also allows me to observe my fellow passengers.

The No. 4 picks me up on the way to Bellingham Technical College, so when I step on the bus, there are  already a dozen students of all ages scattered among the rest of us heading into town. Some have their noses in text- or workbooks, obviously getting ready for a test. Some young people are alone in their own iPod world with telltale earbuds hanging from under their caps. Sometimes I can hear the tinny sounds and am wondering what it must sound like inside their heads. Certainly these kids are going deaf quickly.

Yesterday was blustery with a fine misty rain hitting the bus' windshield. I watched a man with his daughter get on the bus with her little pink bicycle sporting training wheels. Our buses have a rack in front for bikes, and the little girl wanted to know why hers wasn't put there. Daddy explained that it's too small to fit. "Why?" she asked. I heard him give an explanation to her, and I remembered the age that has discovered that magic question, which she used at least half a dozen more times during the short ride to town. Dad was very patient with her.

An old lady (I mean older than me), white haired and bent, got on the bus and greeted the driver by name. She sat near him and as they obviously see each other often, they chatted amiably before she settled into her seat. The route goes by the Lighthouse Mission, and I see the same young man get on the bus most days with what looks to be everything he owns in a huge backpack. He doesn't ride very far, but I can see he doesn't want to lug that load when the bus can make it easier for him.

Everyone who rides regularly has a pass, but occasionally someone will insert a dollar bill into the slot and receive a transfer to another bus. After the first of next year, transfers will be eliminated, and everyone who rides anywhere will need to pay a dollar for each ride. Another cost cutting measure. The pass is a magnetic card that passes through a slot and beeps when successful. Sometimes a person will forget that it's a new month and the card makes another sound. If it's the first of the month and a regular rider, the driver will often allow the rider on anyway, with a promise that they will buy a new pass in town.

I've been watching for Sonya, who would ride the No. 10 bus with me several times a week, but with the new route and schedule, I haven't seen her yet. There are a few people who have become acquaintances, and we chat and sit together when we happen to ride at the same time. This is, to me, far superior to the other option of taking my car into town and parking it. I am a member of my community, and I feel my connections are stronger by taking the bus.
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Sustainable farming

One of the reasons I felt it was important to retire in the Pacific Northwest is to be able to buy food from local sources and live somewhere that has a rich legacy of sustainable food practices. Being close to the ocean means that the fish I buy hasn't been shipped from thousands of miles away. In landlocked Boulder, it seemed almost ludicrous to go to a sushi restaurant, for example. Where did that fish come from and how fresh is it? Not to mention the fossil fuel needed to get it there.

Look at the incredible variety of squash and pumpkins at the Bellingham Farmers' Market in the picture. I used to frequent the Farmers' Market in Boulder, but of course I never saw such a variety. They had some different kinds of squash and I discovered spaghetti squash, along with several wonderful root vegetables not available in grocery stores. The growing season is different when you live at 5,000 feet elevation. The entire sustainable food and farming movement tries to help us get food that is grown or harvested within 100 miles of our homes. Here in Bellingham, this includes many wonderful farming communities and a wonderful organization, Growing Whatcom CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, which allows a customer to purchase all kinds of foods directly from the local farmers. Whatcom is the name of our county, the northwestern-most county in the nation.

In researching this post, I learned that both the Bellingham and the Boulder Farmers' Markets were started by enterprising college students. Here, two Western Washington University students had a vision to have locally grown food for sale in a convenient area, and with their hard work and ability to draw others into their vision, it started in 1992. I cannot imagine a Saturday during the summer that doesn't include a trip to the incredibly vibrant market.

They also have buskers. Buskers are street performers, and you see them in various spots around the market. Each busker has to get a permit and sign up for one of the spots around the market. They are only allowed to be in a particular location for an hour, and then they move to another spot. Here's a lovely little busker from this summer, with her permit prominently displayed.

Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge

I see people from other parts of my social life in this Saturday community setting. It's a fun place to go for my veggies, and although I pay more for them, they can't be beat for quality, and I'm helping to support the local farmers. Sustainable agriculture and sustainable farming means that this beautiful violinist will have the opportunity to share the same blessings I have with her own grandchildren.

Although this post is getting a little longer than I intended, I also wanted to share with you another organization that I just learned about: the Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network, located in Mt. Vernon, just a few miles south of Bellingham. It is a grassroots organization dedicated to helping strengthen family farms here in Washington. I had been told about it and will be signing up in the spring.

After hunkering down for the winter months, you can bet I'll be there at opening day for the Market in April, heralding the new spring season and all the wonderful foods soon to be available to me.
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Chuckanut Ridge via Chinscraper

Well, it's that time of year again: the snow level in the mountains is down to 2500 feet, rain and snow are due to come our way really soon, too. I figured hardly any of the regular Trailblazers would show up on a cloudy day with rain forecast for the afternoon. But seventeen hardy souls came out to walk eight miles up more than 2,000 feet in our first around-town walk of the fall season. Last week we were supposed to do something close by, but we decided since the weather was so good to take a longer drive up to higher terrain. That's Marjan telling us what the route will be, since she was our de facto leader, with Al out of town.

We went from the trailhead up Chinscraper Trail to Gates Overlook, which shows the gloomy sky and Bellingham Bay in the foreground. Now there is a REASON it's named "Chinscraper": we gained a whole lot of elevation in a very short time, and I was going faster than I should, since Marjan sets a faster pace than Al, and I didn't realize I was running out of steam. I fell toward the back of the group and rested. I also took a few moments to take a picture of this mushroom, which looks so much like a flower:

After leaving the Overlook, we meandered up and down around Chuckanut Ridge, and I was graced with a view of these mountains, looking the opposite direction from the Bay as we walked along the Ridge. If Al had been here, he could tell me the name of these mountains, which look to be in more sunshine than we had all day. You can also see the lowering clouds. Although when the wind blew we felt cold, the temperature was actually quite temperate for the entire hike, and we never had any raindrops to speak of.

You can also see that there is plenty of fresh snow on those peaks, so we were happy to have our hike close to home. We actually began hiking at 8:30am, which never happens when we drive a long distance. We had our lunch at Fragrance Lake, and when we finally sat down to eat, the wind kept us colder than was comfortable, so we didn't linger too long. It was a nice break before heading back to the cars.

Here Ray and Carol, two fairly new members of our group, are having lunch at Fragrance Lake. You can see that they are bundled up and not looking all that warm. It wasn't; I had my gloves off just long enough to eat a sandwich and then back into the warm gloves my hands went. On the way back down, a few of the hikers waited for me to catch up so I could take a picture of this amazing group of trees. Whatever decides a tree to plant itself on a huge rock like this? It makes for an interesting picture, that's for sure.

I suspect that some soil sat on the top of the rock and the seeds latched on. My local wag said the tree did what trees always do, and sent down roots to find purchase, thinking "man, these grains of dirt are really big!" They seem to be doing fine, don't you think?
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Netiquette

Copied from this blog

I realized while signing up to follow a few new blogs that some people are actually not aware of etiquette rules many bloggers observe. Most of the places that I found information about what netiquette is and how to use it are not current, since I guess everybody assumes this information is well known. However, there are always new bloggers joining up in this wonderful blogosphere where I find such interesting and amazing new people, who are also sharing their lives with me and so many others. Most of you probably already are aware of the following information, but I thought maybe it would make for some stimulating comments.

Of course Wikipedia has a page on netiquette. One illustration from that link says, "However, like many Internet phenomena, the concept and its application remain in a state of flux, and vary from community to community." So true. I mostly read blogs that use Google's blogspot or the Wordpress formats. A few years back, my brother created a blog on Wordpress that functioned as our family newsletter, and he made it private so that only the six of us siblings and associated family members had access to it. It was wonderful, until we all joined Facebook and it began to wither on the vine. That said, we could do whatever we wanted with it, say whatever we wanted, and nobody could read it that we didn't want to.

Facebook has some good things to recommend it, but there have been some privacy issues raised lately. I like the fact that I can keep up with family members, people I knew well in Boulder before I moved away, skydiving acquaintances from around the world, and local friends here in Bellingham, all in the same place. I check it daily, or almost daily. But my blogosphere is where I find the most creative and challenging information. Since some people post daily, and others almost that often, my Google Reader sometimes greets me in the morning with thirty-some blogs to read. I usually scan them if I'm in a hurry and have only now and then been forced to declare them all has having been read when I didn't have time.

Queensland University tips

The first and most important thing I hope new bloggers remember is how important it is to any blogger to get feedback. I know that when I read a post that has an impact on me, I immediately leave a comment on it, even if I don't have much time before I need to do something else. Comments are also so much more appreciated when they actually give me some inkling as to who this person is, who found my blog and cares enough to leave a comment. It's also really important to remember that the written word doesn't have any method of communicating sarcasm or one's dry wit, so if you make a witty comment meaning the exact opposite of what you are saying, you might add an emoticon after it, such as  :-)  which might keep from wounding someone unintentionally.

Another thing that usually makes me uncomfortable is to see a graphic that belongs to someone else used in a post without attribution. As a writer/editor in my previous life, I used the Internet often to grab illustrations for my boss' articles, and I always had an email safely tucked away that showed I had permission to use it. Sometimes we even had to pay, to reprint syndicated comic strips, for example, or anything else that might be copyrighted. One blogging friend who travels a lot had a travel agency lift some of her photos and use them, without her knowledge. It's not okay. I remember once when my boss realized that a company overseas had taken an article we had on a blog and reprinted it, in color, and sold copies of it for $10 each!! We were able to make them stop, but we had to know about it first.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have an online community that provides me with thoughtful and stimulating commentary. It adds so much to my life, and I am broadened in the best possible sense by this activity. I also realize that there are some people out there in my virtual world whose names I don't know, who live in some hidden place, but who still capture my imagination and admiration. Isn't that wonderful?
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Those Trailblazers

The Senior Trailblazers (click to enlarge)

Last Thursday when the Senior Trailblazers met to discuss where we would be going that day, Mike (also known as Mikey Poppins, since he often uses a full-sized umbrella on rainy days) gave me a memory stick (flash drive) with a couple dozen pictures on it. I had complained to him that he takes pictures of us quite often and we never get to see any of them. When we went up Heliotrope Ridge last July, he ran ahead and took lots and lots of pictures of the group. This picture is one of three similar ones he had on that drive.

And then in October when we hiked up Rainbow Ridge, Mike took a couple of pictures with his self-timer. That's him on the left, Mt. Baker in the background, and the rest of us smiling on a gorgeous sunny day. We hike rain or shine every Thursday, year round, but during the winter months we stay close to home and don't venture into the High Country, which is everybody's favorite place to go. However, we are planning to take some snowshoe trips this year, since snow is in the forecast. A fairly strong La Niña is occurring through the 2010-11 winter months, which usually brings more snow. Last year, as anybody who watched the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC knows, we were pretty free of snowpack. I'm ready, with virgin snowshoes waiting for an opportunity to be broken in.

This picture was taken last Thursday by Fred, with the Twin Sisters in the background. I like it especially because it shows me wearing (and using) my new batik scarf. I set the camera to use the fill-in flash option so that my face would not be in shadow, and it worked pretty well.

It's now been more than two years since I started these hikes, and they have not only added a high point to my week, but I've learned about so many wonderful places to hike around Bellingham. Not to mention that I've made some really good friendships, which as we all know, adds life to your years. In less than a month, I will turn 68, and I am one of the callow youth in this group, with Frank our oldest at 80, Dan not far behind at 77, and most of the group well into their seventies. This makes me look forward to the years ahead. Rather than bemoaning the approach of my eighth decade, I'm looking forward to it!
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Middle Fork 2010

Today the Senior Trailblazers were scheduled to hike up to Pine and Cedar Lakes, close to home in our area, but today was predicted to be incredibly sunny and bright, after yesterday setting or tying records all over the state. So, I was not surprised when sixteen of us showed up and decided to go, instead, on a 25-mile-long drive up towards the Mt. Baker area to Road 38. It follows the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River up an old logging road. We drove up a long ways and then parked our cars to hike four miles up the road. We knew we would have incredible views. I've done this hike with the Trailblazers before, but never when we actually had a view! Above you can see Mt. Baker on the left and the Black Buttes to the right, with some of the Trailblazers in the foreground. There's also a very interesting lenticular cloud over the mountains that looks like it might be a space ship.

This picture of the trio (space ship, Baker and the Buttes) was taken as soon as we could see them clearly. As you can see, early in the day that cloud was all by itself, but as the day wore on, it was joined by others. Another view we had on this hike was of the Twin Sisters. If I had not known because of help from our experts, looking at the Sisters almost head on, I would not have recognized my favorite girls.

The North Sister is in front, with the South Sister behind. You can see that the clouds are beginning to increase. Once we reached our lunch spot, we could see the Olympic Mountains in the far distance, but we also could feel that our beautiful warm and sunny day was beginning to disintegrate, as the clouds moved in. It was a few minutes before noon when we had finished our lunches and begun our hike back down to the cars, parked on Road 38. The road begins to climb steeply from where we started hiking to the end of the road. We walked it, of course, gaining 2,000 feet in those four miles and then, after lunch, turning around and hiking back to the cars. The trail stretcher was out in full force: it was a lot farther down to the cars than it was going up. It's a strange phenomenon which could have something to do with being tired, but you didn't hear it from me.

You know you can click on any picture to enlarge, right?

On the way back down Road 38, Al noticed that the gate to the Middle Fork Diversion project was open and asked how we would feel about walking down to take a look. The four of us in his car were willing, and I got this incredible picture of the Nooksack flowing under this tree during our extended visit to the diversion. (There's more pictures of that part of the trip on the Flickr site on the RHS under "Trailblazers Fall 2010.") This post is getting longer than I intended, while I sit here drinking my wine and thinking about our wonderful day today. All of us are well exercised and happy we went to the High Country, once again, rather than Pine and Cedar Lakes, which we will visit next month. It was a great day.
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Space Child's Mother Goose

It amazes me sometimes what comes up in my consciousness that I didn't know about. What can it mean that I never heard of this book before today? It is a collection of Mother Goose rhymes written in the 1950s by Frederick Winsor and illustrated by Marian Parry. It was out of print for a long time but has been republished by Purple House Press. It's available in paperback and hardback here.

Here is what happened today. I was at the Food Co-op after my workout, wondering whether to get a bowl of soup or a half-sandwich for lunch. In a conversation with the young checkout man, he mentioned that a regular customer complains almost daily about the soups being too spicy. I told him they are perfect for me, and said off-handedly, "Well, you know the poem about Jack Sprat." I walked off to enjoy my sandwich.

A few minutes later, Chris (the young man) came over to my table and asked if I knew the rest of the poem. I told him what I remembered: "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. And so, betwixt the two of them, they licked the platter clean." He smiled and said that his remembrances of childhood nursery rhymes was skewed by having grown up with the Space Child's Mother Goose, and he knew many of the poems by heart. He gave me a piece of paper with one of them printed on it (in his handwriting):

I was immediately in love with the poem, which says, if you can't read it:
Probable Possible, my black hen
She lays eggs in the relative when
She never lays eggs in the positive now
She couldn't manage to postulate how

So of course as soon as I got home (thinking I have to find out more about this children's book), I googled it and found that it was around at the time when I was a young girl. Where was I that I never learned about it until today? Oh, right: I was a girl and was not expected to know anything about scientific matters as a youngster. Instead, I was given cookbooks and primed to be a wife and mother, not a scientist! What was I thinking?

Oh, how much has changed these days. And not all of it is negative. If you have heard of this book, or better yet, given it to one of your daughters to read, I'd love to hear about it.
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