How far that first typewriter has come

Top row: typewriters - Bottom row: computers

When I was in high school, I was taught to type on that first typewriter, the Underwood, in the upper left. I remember that it took a LOT of strength to depress those keys properly, so that they would strike the paper. My pinky fingers weren't as strong as the others, so I had to work to get those letters to show up. You couldn't type very fast, or you'd find, as you checked your work, that you had misspelled the words. Then my first actual fancy typewriter, still manual, looked like that red portable Olympus.

Most of my working days before the advent of computers were spent typing on that final one in the top row: the Selectric. I supposed we used that one exclusively in our office because all you had to do to change the type was to replace the little ball, and it was electric (hence the name). I actually bought one of these for my home use, and as I remember I paid quite a lot of money for it, even though it was well used.

In the mid-1980s, we moved to computers, if you can call them that when you relate them to what we use today. That first picture in the second row is a Micom computer, which all the secretaries in my office shared. It used 8-inch floppy disks; you put in the disk and launched the program, and it would type out your manuscript. We were producing scientific papers, so you couldn't very well use a dot matrix printer. Everything was typed out, letter by letter. You could finally fix a typo on the screen and not have to start over! Wow, was that ever cool.

Then came my first actual personal computer, an Apple II, which had a 3.5-disk drive and seemed so very small! I had its use all to myself, and my productivity went way up. I loved this computer and was very sad when we moved to PCs with Windows 98. But I did get accustomed to it very quickly. The days of keys striking a paper through a ribbon were long gone.

That final picture is of a MacBook Air, on which I am typing this post. It's all right there in that little tiny flat thing in that last picture in the bottom row. When you open it up, you have the keyboard, and the internet gives me the ability to talk face to face with my sister, import pictures from my camera or iPhone, and basically be connected to the world.

My MacBook Air

How far we have come from those faraway days when I first learned to type on that old Underwood! And now many people type into tiny little phones, using their thumbs, one stroke at a time. But it's all MUCH faster that I was able to accomplish on that old manual typewriter. I found this funny, very short little video showing a woman who was out of the work force for awhile and returned. You would only understand this little 5-second video if you are a Boomer or older.


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Now this is more like it

Light rain and overcast, no view at all

This morning I woke to the sound of rain on the roof. I knew the entire weekend would be unsuitable for skydiving, so I decided to go on the morning outing with the Fairhaven walking group. Since it was raining, I figured only a few of us would show up. But no, 24 women gathered to head up the Galbraith trails together. We walked around five miles or so, with a light rain at times, and otherwise it was just dark and rather gloomy.

The conversation, however, was anything but. By the time we finished, we were all in a pretty good mood and started our weekends on a very nice note. We were all glad we went, despite the weather. It was a first for this particular trail; we will be going back and maybe seeing a view of Bellingham from that vantage point someday. This weather is way more normal that the weeks of constant sunshine we've been having.

From bottom: arugula, kohlrabi, gourmet salad mix, beets, nasturtiums, borage

Not that I'm complaining. It's just that our summer typically doesn't even begin until July 5th, and there were 17 days in a row at SeaTac without any measurable rain. The sunshine has caused my garden to burst forth in a way that has surprised me. I just took these pictures, showing the abundance of my plants. Those kohlrabi starts were just put in a couple of days ago and I do hope they "take." I took out four of my six red cabbage plants because of an infestation of aphids. When I went to Joe's Garden, he told me how to deal with them, and I realized I didn't have to take them out after all: I could use a natural fungicide made of water, olive oil, and dish soap. He suggested going online and learning what proportions to use. Now I have a spray bottle filled with it and I watch my plants carefully.

My first broccoli

And look! I've got broccoli florets beginning to form, making me so very happy. No aphids or mealy worms on them so far, but I'm watching! I gathered the ripe strawberries for the day while I took these pictures just a few minutes ago. The berries are such a nice treat; yesterday I sliced them and mixed them into some plain greek yogurt. Incredibly good and hardly any calories.

Volunteer squash

We've got this squash plant that nobody is sure about, since it's a volunteer and is going crazy out there in our community garden. The yellow zucchini (which is flowering already) is in the lower right foreground. Comparing the leaves, we've decided it most likely is a pumpkin, but nobody is sure. We didn't have any of those in our community garden last year. Who knows?

Anyway, the rain should help my just-planted kohlrabi and beet seeds to do well. Oh, and I also planted some leeks, from starts, so they are taking over the area where the red cabbage used to be. I don't want to waste even a little bit of space in my tiny garden.

Well, that's it from my little corner of the world. I'll watch another episode or two of "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix and read one of the books I picked up at the library yesterday. As I mentioned happens occasionally, I had several on hold and three became available at the same time. I never remember where I first heard of the books, because I sometimes wait for weeks before I get a message about availability, and that's the story with these: The Dinner, and Time and Chance. Hope they are good!
:-)

Just one of those days

Twelve Trailblazers going to Church

Just one of those days when you get to have a little bit of everything! Last year, we had three tries before we could even get to the Church Mountain trailhead. And you never know what you're going to find when you get to Church Mountain meadows. I wrote a post three years ago to show the difference in the conditions at the meadow one year apart, in July. You can see the picture here (be sure to enlarge it to get the full effect). Today, in mid-June 2014, we had a day with sunshine, rain, clouds, mist, and lots of snow to walk on at higher elevations.

Honeysuckle in bloom

Not to mention, at lower elevations, lots of wildflowers, too. We not only saw honeysuckle, but columbines, lupines, fairy flowers, star flowers, and even a few more. However, after we had gone a fairly short distance, our sunshine disappeared and it began to rain. We thought it was the beginning of a downpour, so we stopped to put on our rain gear.

Rich in umbrella and rain skirt

Rich, new last week, has returned to give us an idea of his way to deal with rain: an umbrella (we didn't even have Mikey along today) and a skirt he made to wrap around his pants. We are nothing if not innovative in our ways to deal with rain. But the rain didn't last long as we plodded upwards, finding our first snow at about 4,600 feet of elevation.

Snow crossing

Before we reached the meadows, we had a few snow crossings where avalanche chutes caused the snow to accumulate. But we sort of expected this, knowing that by the time we reached the meadows, we would be in full snow.

Mel at the Church Mountain meadows

These meadows from this point onwards will only become more and more beautiful and green as the summer progresses. But today, we had little sun at this point and went a bit farther along before stopping to enjoy our lunch and head back down. We didn't expect that we might get much farther than this. But we did go a little farther just in case the sun might break through and give us a few of the mountains.

Our lunch spot

It wasn't raining, and there was little wind when we stopped here for our lunch, making use of our blow-up seats to sit on the snow. In the distance we could see the clouds breaking a little here and there, but mostly this was the view we enjoyed as we ate lunch. I thought you might like to see what we twelve had for lunch today.

Quite a variety. Mine was the only one eaten with chopsticks :-)

And then we headed back down the trail, knowing that we might eventually make it to the top later this year, given the condition of the snow at this early date. On the way back down, we saw the misty clouds move in here and there, mixed with sunshine. This picture was quite representative of the conditions of our lovely trail as we made our way back to the cars.

Our trail on the way back down

We traveled a mere three and a half miles (more or less) to our lunch spot before turning back, making our day's total around seven. But in those few miles, we gained and lost around 2,600 feet in elevation. So it was a really nice day, with a little bit of everything in the mix. I am now back home enjoying my wine and soon to have my dinner. Here's a picture of me that Jonelle took while we were having lunch. I kind of like it.

Happy to be here, having fun with my friends

Yes, it was another good day, another good hike into the Mt. Baker Wilderness, and it's not even summer yet! I hope you have a great time until we meet again.
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Time flies when you're having fun

Organic and tasty

I am getting a half dozen ripe strawberries from my little patch every day now. And they are the sweetest and most delightful strawberries I've ever eaten. Could it be because I grew them myself? My garden neighbor Joan transplanted some of her strawberry bushes into my area last fall, and I really didn't think I would get much from them. Boy was I wrong! It looks to me that I might actually end up at some point getting a lot more, if half of the ones on the plant ripen.

I'm so enjoying the garden this year. However, it was about this time last year when I began to get discouraged by aphids and mealy bugs, so I am watching my plants carefully and hoping everything will be better this year. I've planted no kale, no brussels sprouts, since they were basically infested almost immediately. My broccoli and red cabbage are coming along well; I've got my fingers crossed.

In about an hour, I'll leave for an appointment with a dermatologist. When I changed insurance this past January, I immediately called my new provider for a referral, as required. I got on a list to receive an appointment, and here it is June and I'm actually going in to see someone. It's not like I have any real issues, but at my age (and with melanoma in my family history) I'd like to at least have a baseline examination.

I laughed because Smart Guy got a woman doctor (he sees her tomorrow), and I have an appointment with a man. I didn't have any say about it, but if I could have switched, I would have. It's no fun to undress in a doctor's office with someone you've never even seen before! Or is it just me? But at least I've got health care; I should be grateful. The clinic I belong to is a good one, and I really like my primary care physician (another man), even if he doesn't look old enough to drive yet.
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Saturday rolls around again

Edible borage flower

I got up this morning and looked at the calendar, and I simply could not wrap my head around the fact that it's already almost the first day of summer (3:51am PDT, two weeks from today). But then when I go out and look at the garden, it's obvious that we are well into the time when we can begin to harvest our first fruits and veggies. I've already gathered salad stuff three times now, with yesterday the first time I picked any arugula, which is fantastically strong, at least compared to the stuff at the supermarket.

I'm going to be inundated with borage, which is good to eat. I steamed some up and found it to be slimy like okra, and I ate too much of it, I think. Now I almost have an aversion to eating more. The flowers, however, are just fine and will make a nice addition to any salad.

I've finally managed to see some results of my lowered calorie consumption. I see why it's important to weigh myself every day, since the fluctuation from day to day can be as much as two pounds. But the good part is that every day I see the scale trending in a downward direction. I've seen a fairly consistent 3-pound loss, but I've got a ways to go before getting to my ideal weight. And then the hard part comes anyway, which is maintaining it.

This morning I would normally be joining the walking group right now, but my skydiving friends and I will be getting together in Snohomish to have some fun in the air, hopefully. Right now there are low clouds and we're thinking it will be clear by noon. That means I could have gone on the walk, since it's usually from 8:00 to 9:30 or so and then a more-than-an-hour drive south, but I decided against it. I'm in a different mode right now.

Sugar snap peas already!

I went out this morning to check my garden plot and saw to my amazement that I've already got some sugar snap peas that I could pick and eat! But there are only those two, and there will be many more very soon, so I'll wait. I'm now finding a half dozen ripe strawberries every day, but soon there will be lots of them all ripe at once. It's a great year for strawberries.

Broccoli and red cabbage

My broccoli is also doing great, along with the red cabbage. I was disappointed to learn there's not much you can do with those great big cabbage leaves. Every day I peer down into the middle of the cabbages, wondering when they will begin to tighten up and start to make a head. Not yet. You'll know when that happens.

Enough! I'm going to gather my stuff together and start that long drive. After I stop for my latte, that is. Have a great weekend!
:-)

Excelsior Pass attempt, again

Heading up the Excelsior Pass trail

I was intending to lead into this post with a picture of the group of Senior Trailblazers who decided to attempt to reach Excelsior Pass from the Mount Baker Highway today (fifteen of us), but when I looked back to see what I wrote about last year, that's exactly what I did, as you can see here. And it turns out it is just a week earlier than we attempted it in 2013. Today was a perfect day, as you can see in the above picture.

Mike took this, so he's here but behind the camera

We had two new hikers today, Chris and Rich, third and second from the right-hand side, standing. They had intended to join us many times before (they are experienced hikers), but Chris is a teacher and this was the first Thursday she could find where the weather was nice and the hike sounded interesting. Since school will be getting out soon, I hope the two of them will join us on some more summer hikes.

Chris and Jacqueline

We stopped partway up to adjust our equipment and have a quick snack. I caught the two ladies having an animated conversation. The dappled sunlight through the trees made for a perfect backdrop. But it wasn't long after this picture was taken that we began to find a little snow on the trail. By the time we reached 4,000 feet of elevation, the snow was pretty much solid. The trail wasn't easy to follow, and then it was noon and we decided to stop for lunch.

Our lunch spot, sitting on our blow-up seats

These kinds of lunch spots, sitting in the sunshine on snow, is where our blow-up seats come in so incredibly handy. You can enjoy whatever you brought along to eat and be perfectly dry and comfy on the snow. Not to mention the great company and scintillating conversation. We had a conversation about whether or not to try to get a little higher after lunch, but the consensus was to head back down.

Looking up towards the pass, which would be to the right

As you can see, there was a lot of snow that we would be plowing through if we decided to try to make it any higher at all. After we stopped for lunch, the clouds began to thicken and make it seem a lot colder, so instead of trying to gain any more altitude, we headed down.

Some of the group, making our way across the snow

Here we are beginning our descent. As you can see, the sun had pretty much disappeared and the nice dappled sunlight that warmed us was gone. Nobody was cold enough to begin to don cold weather gear. We knew we had about a short mile of this to navigate before we would be back down in the greenery and on a nice trail.

No more snow, and the sun came back out

It's truly amazing, the difference that a few hundred (or thousand) feet of elevation can make in the conditions of the High Country, but that's one of the reasons we love it so much. Although we probably didn't make seven miles total, some of it was on that snow, making it much harder to walk on, and we went up and down 2,600 feet, a significant elevation. Next week we'll visit the Church Mountain meadows near here, for a bit longer and a bit higher trip. I can only hope the weather is half as wonderful as we enjoyed today.

So here I am, finishing up my wine AND my post, and it's not even 6:00pm yet. There are at least three more hours of daylight, time for me to check my garden (especially those strawberries), before settling down for the evening. It was a truly delightful day, one I won't forget any time soon.
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Milestones

My 2001 Honda Civic is into six digits

When I returned from Skydive Snohomish on Sunday, I figured that somewhere along the way my car would turn over from 99,999 miles to 100,000. But when I pulled into the apartment parking lot, it was exactly ten miles short. Yesterday when I went to get my hair cut, I realized that it would turn over somewhere in the short distance I had to travel. I didn't check it when I arrived at the salon, and then didn't even think about it until I was almost home! I looked down and saw that it had turned over to six digits. If I had been paying closer attention, I would have gotten a snapshot of the final five, but I missed it. This is as close to documenting a true milestone as I've ever gotten.

I don't drive much, using the bus to travel to town every day to visit the coffee shop and the Y, but for errands I find it much easier to drive. But still, I don't drive 5,000 miles in a year's time. Saves on gas and wear and tear on the car. I just recently had the timing belt and front brakes replaced and will soon be in the market for new tires. Even not driving it much, you still need to take care of maintenance. And insurance. My little Civic is a great car though (don't tell her I said so or it might go to her head gasket).

Another milestone is that yesterday a few of my strawberries got ripe! I have to say that a sun-warmed fresh strawberry right out of the garden is a real treat. I've got quite a few more that will be getting ripe soon, and then it will be time for a gastronomical explosion of flavor!

Pretty things, aren't they?

We've got another week of beautiful weather ahead, so the garden will be providing me two of my favorite things: some exercise (weeding and watering) and some culinary delights. I'm off to see if there are any more ripe ones, and to harvest some lettuce. I hope you are having a great day!
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