Being plugged in

Not me, but it could have been

Smart Guy sent me this picture a while back, with a reminder that I am not the only plugged-in person in the world. He found it on Reddit, so I'm not sure where it actually came from, but I couldn't resist using it anyway. She's obviously an Apple person, too, but my hair hasn't been that color in decades. After I put the picture on my last post of two-year-old Lexie playing with her mom's laptop, I began thinking about how different a world it will be for her. She's grown up with no fear of electronic gadgets; they are part of her normal environment. Her mom Allison would quiet her with a Mickey Mouse cartoon on an iPod when she was very small.

March 2011, Lexie staring at an iPod, cousin Annabelle looking on

Most seniors my age are intimidated by technology, since it's not something we grew up with. In fact, I remember when we got our first TV set, complete with lots of snow and incredibly bad reception. Telephones were something that were connected to the wall. I was well into my fifties when I got my first cellphone, and it seemed like magic. Now it's just a part of my regular existence.

Last night I watched "Upstairs Downstairs" (PBS Masterpiece Theater) on my iPad while Smart Guy watched the debate on TV. I got on line to read the spin afterwards. It's hard to make myself sit through 90 minutes of that kind of stuff when I can get the best parts in a few minutes. When I go out this morning, I will take my cellphone with me as usual, because without it I don't feel quite right.

Tomorrow is looking to be quite wet, so I'm not sure what pictures I might be able to capture on a soggy hike. Life is back to normal in the Pacific Northwest! Last Thursday was warm and sunny in the High Country, but yesterday the road to Artist Point was closed for the season. It's hard for me to believe that there is snow up there already! See you tomorrow...
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Blustery October day

A beautiful rainy and windy day, perfect to spend inside and read the paper, play with my camera and spend time with my neglected iMac. These days I spend more time with the MacBook Air and my iPad and forget about this wonderful tool. It's almost five years old now, and the software such as iPhoto has not been updated. I realize how different it is, since I have the newer version on the Air. For a price I could update it here, but I haven't decided whether it's worth it or not.

I remember learning about these, called Mammatus clouds, because they have upside-down bumps that some people think look like breasts. They are usually around severe thunderstorms and I once saw them forming just before I was getting ready to make a skydive. I pondered the wisdom of it, but I went anyway. I sure wish I hadn't gone, since the turbulence I experienced under canopy has never been forgotten. My canopy would collapse and reinflate in a terrible fashion, and there was nothing to do but land. I hurt my right knee when I landed, bursting the bursa sac and having a huge swollen knee for a month. Now when I see these clouds, I remember that day.

Lexie with her mom's laptop

For those of you wondering how Lexie, my grandniece, is doing, here's a picture that Norma Jean sent me last week. Allison had gone into the kitchen for something, and when she came back she saw Lexie sitting here, imitating her mom perfectly. Lexie turned two in June and knows all her letters and is talking up a storm. Needless to say, she is the apple of her mother's eye and is cherished by all who know her. Active and willful, she's also doted on by her grandmother and great-aunt (me). When I iChat with Norma Jean, I hear the latest stories of her exploits.

The wind is blowing hard enough to make the lights flicker every now and then, so I figure I'd better get this post up in case the power goes. My friend Judy and I will go to the movies this afternoon, and until then I'm going to enjoy being inside, warm and cozy with Smart Guy.
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Lake Ann 2012

Right at the beginning, red blueberry bushes on fire!

What a boring title for the fabulous hike we had today! I just cannot think of anything better. I tried a few: "Lake Ann: Uphill Both Ways," and "What a Way to Spend Your Day," but you know, nothing seemed quite right. Today is the last day of a long series of sunny days that we in the Pacific Northwest have experienced. Tomorrow the rain returns. Only eight Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center for this hike, rated "hard." The wet roads and heavy mist on a gloomy morning probably caused some to decide to do something else with their day. They were WRONG. As we drove to the trailhead, the fog cleared and the sun began to shine in earnest. Can you believe the fall colors?

The reason that the Lake Ann hike seems to be uphill both ways is that once you begin, you hike downhill for somewhere around 800 feet before crossing a few miles of fairly flat land and then hiking back up a thousand feet to reach Lake Ann and the glaciers on Mt. Shuksan. Three of our hikers had never been to Lake Ann before, so here they are seeing their first view of the lake as we reached the top of the pass.

The lake is shining in the sun as Jonelle, Ross, and Rita see it for the first time. We stopped for lunch in full view of the glaciers on the back side of Mt. Shuksan. On the way up, we heard what was quite possibly a huge chunk of ice falling into the valley below. It sounded as loud as an airplane going over, but it stopped quickly. We didn't hear any more, but Al got this picture of me that shows the glaciers behind me.

Last year when we reached this spot, it was covered with snow. Although it was almost exactly a year earlier, the difference in the environment was simply amazing. Check it out here. (I was astounded when I looked at the picture of Lake Ann and realized it was covered with snow on October 13th last year.)

There were still a few snow banks on the lake, but its level was low, and for the first time in the experience of many of the Trailblazers, we were able to actually hike all the way around the lake! From this point, those of us who went around the lake headed clockwise around it before joining the others. It was easy and simply delightful.

Here you see Amy and Rita, who were walking along the beach before I asked for a picture. From this point we traversed left and up to the main hiking trail before heading down. This hike is an "out-and-back" so we had to descend to the valley, cross it, and finally climb back up to the trailhead. That makes this hike pretty difficult, because after having expended one's (limited) energy for most of the day, the last part is uphill. (It wasn't as hard as other years when it was full sun beating down and no breeze. At least there was a cool breeze today.)

We were almost back to our starting point when Al stopped to admire the color of these blueberry bushes (I found a few tasty berries). The color we saw today was nothing short of breathtaking. I will put some more pictures to show this on my Flickr site, but not tonight. I'm really tired and ready to take a shower and perhaps climb into bed a little earlier than usual. But it's a GOOD tired!
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The Vashonistas

Deb, Linda, DJan, Sally, Sandi, Jann: the Vashonistas

While we were at the Vashon Island Farmers' Market this past Saturday, I heard the announcer discussing a fashion show that would be held that evening, with "the Vashonistas" being the name given to the ladies who would model the fashions. I thought it was a perfect name for the six of us, bloggers all who have become fast friends after a wonderful retreat on Vashon Island. (For an extended tour of the farmhouse where we stayed, click here.) I am a little sad that this adventure of meeting five other bloggers, knowing little about each other except from our blogs, is now in the past. Please bear with me as I put up my final pictures from the weekend. I usually don't overload my post with pictures, but I've got no choice. You'll see why.

I was enchanted by the morning light coming through the living room. While standing in the dining room I saw the entire area turn to gold. Those curtains are cream colored except when the morning sun sets them on fire like this. There are also two sitting areas, and here's the one where we gathered Saturday night.

The wood in the lower right foreground is one of the arms of a large couch that seats three comfortably and makes into a bed, if needed. Each of us had her own bedroom, since there are two upstairs, two on the main floor, and two in the basement. During the day, we took full advantage of the covered porch, as you can see:

The gourmet kitchen is all it's advertised to be, and we filled the coffeepot with the provided coffee that would have lasted anybody for a week. We were treated to all kinds of tea, and we also had a wonderful time exploring all the kitchen's nooks and crannies. I didn't get a picture of the pantry, but I fell in love with it.

Everything that anybody could have asked for in order to create a wonderful meal was provided. Sandi gave us meals that satisfied everyone, including me (a vegetarian). I had some chicken on Saturday night, but she was willing to separate it if I had a problem with it. I didn't. As you look at this picture, you can see that we were in very capable culinary hands.

And you can see the actual color of the curtains in the living room: cream. It's evening in this picture and we are sitting down for our last dinner together. We did have a wonderful breakfast on Sunday, too. Since Deb and Sandi had to be at work on Monday morning (the only two not retired), we took one final picture before they left, and I used my tripod to get myself in it, too.

And even with all these pictures, I realized I couldn't leave it at this, so I made a new Flickr folder to put up 27 pictures to share with everyone. If you go to the sidebar under "My Relevant Links," choose "My Flickr Site" and find the folder called "Vashon Island." There should be enough pictures to satisfy anyone who needs to see more. The weather could not have been more perfect, and now I am happy to consider my task done. Oh, yes: I need to make sure all the Vashonista blogs are listed under "Fun Places to Visit," and THEN I'll be done!
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Vashon Island retreat

Deb, Sandi, Sally, Jann (standing), and Linda at Lavender Hill

And me behind the camera! I brought along my tripod, but it was buried deep inside the trunk of Linda's car. The adventure began BEFORE this picture was taken of brand-new "skin" friends. Deb and Sandi drove north from southern Washington in Sandi's car, and Jann and I met at Linda's to drive to SeaTac and pick up Sally, who flew in from Colorado. The four of us set out for the Vashon Island Ferry. We promptly got lost, even though we had a GPS and two iPhones with maps. Getting to that ferry was an adventure in itself! We missed the ferry we thought we would be taking over to the island and, thanks to cellphones, we discovered that the other two got lost, too! They even ended up taking a different ferry that stopped at Fauntleroy ferry dock before going on to Vashon Island. By late afternoon, we all successfully ended up together.

And this farmhouse! It is the most beautiful place I could ever imagine. The late afternoon light is coming through the covered porch and lighting up the fall colors of the trees. You will be seeing more pictures of this wonderful place, but this morning we are waking up, taking showers, and getting ready to go out for breakfast. Back to yesterday: we still had the task of preparing dinner. Sandi brought the food, and three of us were happy to chop and stir, while the other three (one was me) sat and watched with admiration as the dinner took shape.

I went outside and caught this picture of our dinner coming together in this magnificent kitchen. Everything we could ask for, plus more! As we got everything together and sat at the dining room table to enjoy a fantastic dinner with each other, there was never a lull in the conversation. There was not one moment of thinking we were with "strangers." Thank you, Blogosphere! This is better than I could ever have imagined, and we have two more days!

Oh, and did I mention that we have a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier from the living room? We are blessed with perfect weather (if a bit on the chilly side), and lots and lots of adventures to come. Before I post this, I'm going to get some feedback from the others, and then YOU can join us!
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Ptarmigan Ridge

Today ten Senior Trailblazers drove in three separate cars to Artist Point to begin our trip to Ptarmigan Ridge. In the picture above, you can see that we had magnificent views of Mt. Shukan today, as well as abundant sunshine on this hike that offers no shade whatsoever for the entire time we were out on the ridge. In the picture above, we had already hiked more than three miles and were just about to begin to follow the ridge to Camp Kiser, five miles from the parking lot and right to the base of Mt. Baker. I knew at the outset that I wouldn't be making the entire trip, since a few of us needed to get back earlier. We decided that three of us we would turn around after lunch at 1:00pm and head back to our car, while the others would go on.

The views were spectacular, and the fall colors blended with the skyline and snowfields left over from last spring. We were surprised to find this trail as free of snow as it was, but we still had to cross several snowfields that were hard as concrete. Last night must have been a really hard freeze up here, because our hiking poles didn't even make a dent in them. Some were pretty scary, but we knew that when we returned the sun would have softened them a bit.

As we followed Al up this snowfield, I thought it looked like we would be walking off the edge of the earth. But of course we didn't, and as we rounded this corner, we saw the final destination of our hike today. That's Ptarmigan Pinnacle on the right and Mt. Baker on the left. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see the faint trail that would take my fellow hikers to their destination.

We made it to a grove of trees that sheltered us from the cold wind and had a brief lunch, before Norm, Liz, and I turned around to head back. The other seven went the other way, and as we made our way back we met dozens of people heading up. It was such a beautiful day that I'm sure there were plenty of people with indoor jobs that simply blew them off and headed up to the High Country. The other seven ended up hiking more than ten miles round trip, but the three of us went somewhere around nine miles. I found this description of the entire hike here.

Just a few minutes before the three of us reached the parking lot, I looked back to take a last look (for today) at Mt. Baker shining in the distance, with the fall colors and our trail on the right. It was a simply wonderful day in the wilderness with my friends, and there was just one other great experience that I had to share: on the drive up to Artist Point, the three of us in Norm's car saw a mountain lion cross the road in front of us! It was huge, obviously a male, a magnificent cat that covered half the road before disappearing in the trees. We could not believe what we had just seen, but each of us agreed that it was a big cougar no more than a few car-lengths away from us. What a treat! And with that last thought, I leave you as I go to pack for tomorrow's adventure to Vashon Island!
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Feeling better today

October roses

Well, I feel almost back to normal today. I went outside looking for something to take a picture of to decorate my blog post, and I saw that there are still some lovely roses blooming in our apartment yard. These are so pretty that it almost makes up for the fact that our daylight is diminishing by more than three minutes per day, every day, as we move inexorably toward the winter solstice.

I spent a pretty uncomfortable Saturday and Sunday, but when I woke yesterday I felt good enough to get back into my routine, but I still didn't feel quite up to snuff. Today, however, I woke feeling much better, so this afternoon my friend Judy and I will go out to see a movie and maybe even have dinner together. I'm pretty sure it was a simple cold, since I never had a fever, but I sure felt awful for awhile. It didn't seem possible to me that I could be so much better so quickly.

At the grocery store today, I mentioned at the checkout stand that I spent the weekend in bed with a cold, and the checker told me she had the same cold: sick for two nights and then waking up feeling pretty good. So it's going around, welcoming us to the fall season. I hope I've been able to keep anybody else from getting it from me.

Sunday night the phone rang about 8:30pm (I was already asleep), and it was Linny telling me what a GREAT time they had at the Drop Zone, making five excellent skydives together, and everything worked so well! She said everybody wondered where I was, and she told them I was sick. Hmmpff! If there had been any way at all I could have joined them, I would have. The least they could have done is not had such a great time without me! (not really)

Our weather has been spectacular for two months now, no rain and lots of sunshine. In fact, we have just had two record-setting dry months here in Bellingham, according to this article in the Bellingham Herald. And next weekend I am heading off to Vashon Island to have an exciting retreat with five other bloggers. I'm really looking forward to it, and of course you will know all about it, too. We're going to be staying at the Lavender Hill Farm on the island. (The link will take you to a photo gallery of this fantastic farmhouse that we're renting for the weekend.) The weather should continue to be good throughout. I've already started to pack. Six women bloggers who don't know each other: this sounds like a formula for a great adventure to me!
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