Saturday morning

Changing colors everywhere

This morning, only ten women showed up for one of our favorite walks around Lake Padden. It figures, since our leader Cindy is in Italy right now, and her energy is always missed when she's not here. Our substitute leader did a great job, though, taking us through two loops around the lake. We've done it so often that there's no chance of getting lost, but we still need a leader. The two loops give us 5.2 miles of moderate terrain, with a nice trail and lots of shade.

We didn't need the shade this morning, however, as the overcast skies and a light breeze kept us on the cool side. Perfect for a walk. Afterwards, Lily and I went to Whole Foods where I got a smoothie (Green Goodness with extra kale) while she had breakfast. Then we came home, where I met SG just as he was leaving. It's funny, often one of us is often coming as the other is going. Our neighbors must wonder if we TRY to avoid each other. But no, it's just that we have different internal clocks. I'm an early riser and he's late to bed. We start our days quite differently.

It's hard for me to believe, but October begins on Monday! What happened to September? It flew right by, and now we are truly in autumn. Trees are turning everywhere, and our wonderful Indian Summer is here, which I will enjoy as much as possible before I must adjust to the rain and dark days. Oh, well, I'm feeling grateful and happy to be out and about.
:-)

Ptarmigan Ridge Fall 2018

Colorful blueberry bushes

It was simply a glorious day on Ptarmigan Ridge today. Although we were supposed to head south to the Baker Lake area, some of us decided we wanted to head out to Ptarmigan Ridge, scheduled for last week but didn't go because of weather. Since today's forecast was for it to be sunny and gorgeous, we went. And that it was!

Our Baker's Dozen, taken by a passerby

Thirteen of us piled into cars and made the drive to Artist Point to begin this trip. Several other Trailblazers went to the other destination, which I hope to do next week, if the weather holds like this. Simply amazing warmth and sunshine for the end of September. That's Shuksan behind us.

Heading toward Mt. Baker

It looks dry, and it was, but there was still some snow left over from last year. I wondered if we would encounter any, because I don't think I've ever hiked Ptarmigan Ridge without some. Sure enough, there was still some snow around.

Heading toward the mountain, crossing snow

We had three snow crossings, all of them small and easy to navigate, and we headed to our usual spot for lunch, which is around the corner from this picture, where we would have a full view of Mt. Baker.

Coming into view

There she is, in all her glory, a beautiful mountain that we get very close to on this hike. If we went all the way to the end, we would see the camp used by people who climb the mountain. But we weren't intending to go that far.

Almost close enough to touch

Once we went around the bend and saw this closeup of Mt. Baker, we decided to take a lunch break. We piled onto a hillside and spent quite a bit of time just enjoying the view, the company, and being very grateful for such a great day.

Bob scoring his lunch spot

You can tell by the way Bob is dressed that it's certainly unseasonably warm, with not even a light jacket. We didn't hurry, just taking in the wonderful scenery and in no need to venture much father. However, after a break, most of the Trailblazers decided to go a short distance along the trail, while others (me included) took a nap.

Tarns and Mt. Glacier

Turning to the left of Mt. Baker on the skyline, we saw these two tarns almost completely clear of snow, with Mt. Glacier in full view behind. This mountain is only visible from trails; it's not possible to drive to it. Every other time I've seen these glacial lakes, they have been much smaller, because most of the snow was not melted. Today they look huge!

Farewell to Ptarmigan Ridge for another year

And then it was time to retrace our steps and head back out of the wilderness. It was just the most perfect day possible. I did get home not too late, but I had to eat something and watch the news before I wrote this post. Now I'm ready to relax, my day is done, and what a great one it was!
:-)

What is it about Tuesdays?

Playing with the app on Messenger

Well, here it is almost my bedtime, and I again forgot to write a Tuesday post. So, once I remembered, I put down my latest book and brought out the trusty laptop to write a quick and dirty post. Well, with that picture it's not so dirty, but still.

I think I'm ready to say that the Tuesday time slot is quickly beginning to drop off my radar. If I write one, fine, but if I don't, it's fine too. Given that the world of politics has lately also drawn me into reading the news more than I should, it's becoming obvious that there are other things taking my time away from thoughtful postings.

Maybe if I free myself from "shoulds" I can just go with the flow for a change.
:-)

A good omen

Me and Lily with lovely rainbow

Ten ladies set out from the Farmers' Market area to walk to Fairhaven and back. The forecast was for some light rain showers in the morning, changing to a steady rain in the afternoon. I grabbed my rainhat and a light jacket when we left to begin the walk. It wasn't raining at all, but before too long it did live up to the hype: just a little occasional rain.

When we were on the boulevard over Bellingham Bay, the sun came out. We looked around to see if there might be a rainbow anywhere, and lo and behold, passersby had cellphones out so we turned around to see this lovely rainbow.

We asked one of them to take our picture, since it sure seems to be a good omen to me. Lily, who is from Guatemala and knows English as a second language, had never heard of omens before. After explaining, she agreed that this was indeed a good sign, perhaps of many more splendid things to come.
:-)

Another local hike

Start of today's outing

Our Senior Trailblazers group was scheduled to drive over an hour to Artist Point to begin our annual hike to Ptarmigan Ridge, a very special one I've done once a year with this group. The other group was also scheduled to head up there, to do the Chain Lakes loop hike, which we accomplished a few weeks ago. Since the weather was iffy, we decided to go local, while the other group went ahead with their original plans. That meant several of our regulars went with them instead of us, but we were still thirteen.

Heading up to Raptor Ridge

The nice thing about the Pine & Cedar trail is that we can make it longer or shorter, depending on the weather. It was cloudy but not raining, and we knew we would get a good workout. We decided to include a side trip to Raptor Ridge before heading to the lakes.

The non-view from Raptor Ridge

Nope, no view, but we didn't expect one. After this stop, we headed back to the Pine & Cedar Lakes trail and made our way first to the Cedar Lake overlook (nope, no view there either) and then to Cedar Lake.

The usual Cedar Lake lunch spot

The weather was pretty perfect, with no rain and a light breeze, cool weather and happy hikers. Although we could have stopped here, it was still early, and Al suggested we push on to Pine Lake before stopping for lunch.

Cedar Lake

Although the only way I could tell the difference between these two lakes today is where they appeared in the lineup of pictures, they are both quite picturesque, and as you can see, the green leaves in the foreground are not yet beginning to turn.

Pretty mushrooms

Since the rains have returned for the season, everywhere we looked we could see mushrooms springing up. I don't have a clue what these are, but I like their pretty dotted swiss look. We discussed the efficacy of eating wild mushrooms. It would take someone with a lot more knowledge (and bravery) than I before I would even consider it.

Pine Lake

And then we arrived at Pine Lake, where we made ourselves comfy and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. There was still no rain, and the wind we felt on Raptor Ridge was not evident here at all. It was perfect, once we put on extra clothing because of our earlier exertions.

Woodpecker work?

Melanie took this picture of some big holes in an old tree, and we speculated what had made them. She thought they might be too big for woodpeckers, but that's what I think caused them. What do you think?

More mushrooms

We saw another species of mushroom, this one having been disturbed on the upper left by something, probably critters, but entirely different in shape and form from the earlier ones. It amazes me how quickly they appear once the ground is once again wet from the rains.

Return trip

And then it was time to return to our cars and head back home. Since we didn't have a long drive, it was still early, compared to when we would have come back from the High Country. The cars from the other group were still there when we returned, and I pictured them on the trail, hoping that their day was as good as ours turned out to be. We covered seven-and-a-half miles and 2,200 feet or so up and down. It didn't begin to rain until we were on our final leg, and even that was just a few drops. More rain is expected later today.

So we were more than happy with our day's excursion, and I look forward to better weather and some views when we finally make a Ptarmigan Ridge attempt this year!
:-)

Anniversaries

September 16, 2018 moon, with robin singing,
as captured from Dublin, Ireland, by Deirdre Horan.

I was captivated by this picture, which I found on yesterday's EarthSky News, and I decided I could use it in this post if I gave proper credit to the photographer. The juxtaposition of the robin singing its little heart out, with the quarter moon in the background, is very special.

Every year when September 17 rolls around, it gives me a little jolt of remembrance. That was the day, 53 years ago, that my son Stephen died suddenly of spinal meningitis. He got sick in the afternoon and died that very night. I suppose that's one reason why it took me so long to recover from that terrible event, but it's never easy to lose a child, at any age. Since he was an infant, just over a year old, he was more than part of my daily life: he and I were together from the time he awoke until he went to bed.

It took a long, long time for me to be in the presence of a baby again. For more than a decade I would look away to try to keep the pain at bay. Then one day, without my noticing when exactly, I found myself looking at the sweet little chubby legs of a baby, and... the pain didn't come up. They say that time heals all wounds, and maybe it's true, but sometimes the scars left behind are debilitating.

Somebody asked me yesterday if I had any kids, and I was forced to relay the sad news that yes, indeed I did, but neither one of them is still living. When someone asks, I can feel the hesitation about having to tell the tale, but my sons were both wonderful people and I will never forget (or forsake) them as long as I'm alive.

:-(

Ten years ago today

The beginning of the financial crisis

It was on this day a decade ago that Lehman Brothers collapsed. I remember it well: we had moved in the spring of 2008 to Bellingham, and I'd been retired for several months, with my retirement assets already converted into a monthly annuity income. Thank heavens for that! Although we lost hundreds of dollars of monthly income when everything was refigured in 2009, we still had so much more than those whose savings were wiped out.

Sometimes I wonder about what it would have been like for us if we'd retired a year later, in the midst of the financial crisis. We didn't have any idea of what was to come, nobody did (at least those of us not in the business), so we just hunkered down and rode it out. For one thing, I know that our assets would not have stretched nearly as far, since a third of our assets were in stocks. Today, we are back to the same monthly income of a decade ago, so it took a long time to recover, but we did. And although we don't have lots of money, we are able to pay our bills and not count pennies. I am more than a little grateful for our situation.

After having walked this morning with the ladies, Lily and I got home just in time to miss the rain.

Ornamental gourds for sale

We also admired these pretty fall gourds that were on display outside the grocery store. I think the ones in back, the large ones, are edible. I love this time of year, when pumpkins and squash become available once again. Hope you have a great weekend! Thinking of those in the Carolinas today, hoping they stay safe.
:-}