The seasons shift

 

 

Thirty days hath September, which always flies by way too fast. Tomorrow is October and no more pretending, fall has arrived. 

We were back at the Symphony in our usual seats yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, but with a chill in the air as we walked to Benaroya Hall. That damp Northwest feeling is with us now until early summer 2025. The gloomy weather prediction is for a colder and wetter winter than average.

It was a good program featuring a Tchaikovsky symphony and a Ravel piano concerto, and we met up with Betsy and Paul as usual, to catch up on family news and travels. They are world travelers who have been to every corner of the globe, taking major tours and cruises ever few months.  

Our little vacations seem pretty tame by comparison, although we do have a big trip (for us) coming up in October to Niagra Falls and upstate New York for some leaf peeping. More on that later.

 

Sun trail

 

 "The climb speaks to our character, but the view, I think, to our souls." Lori Lansens

I hiked the Mill Hill trail early yesterday morning, almost to the mountain top. So close to town, it's a popular route for residents of all ages, from athletes to seniors out for some vigorous exercise. To the west, the view looks down on the highway and bustling Twisp, and to the east, quiet ranch land as far as the eye can see. 

We had wind storm last night, and today is cloudy and much cooler. No mistaking fall is knocking at the door.  

I've been on the computer most of the morning. My sister, brother and I are in the process of selling our Cripple Creek house. Real estate transactions are nothing like the old days, when you sat across the desk from a banker in a suit and signed a few papers. 

Anyway, the good news is everything can be done remotely and electronically. 

I am eternally grateful to Marji and Dave, who just returned from an exhausting trip to Cripple Creek. They went through the entire house and sorted out our family treasures from everything else, a poignant and difficult job.

Back to Seattle tomorrow. 

 

Barbarians at the gate

 

The back lot next to our house is empty and filled with debris and weeds (welcome to Twisp.) My least favorite being these Russian Thistles, aka tumbleweeds. A most hateful weed, it's my lot in life to keep them beaten back along the property line. We all know that feeling.

This plant is actually native to Russia and Siberia and was introduced into the United States as a contaminant of flax seed in 1873. Within 20 years, it had spread to 16 western states and several Canadian provinces.

It grows as an annual bush with a strong taproot-- then the prickly dead plant breaks free in the fall to scatter seeds hither and tither. Quite efficient. From Russia with love.

But it looks as harmless as pine seedlings when it first comes up.

Anyway. What a perfect September day yesterday. I took an easy morning walk on the Rex Derr Trail which winds through the sagebrush hills above Pearrygin Lake. The trail looks like a well-used nmountain bike race track, so glad I went early on a weekday. 

No one was out and about; the state park below was almost deserted. The one nice thing about walking alone is you can pause whenever to gawk at this and that without annoying your hiking companions, who might be out for more serious exercise. 

I should do something a little more ambitious today. Since I'm accustomed to cooking for at least two, I've been eating too much just because it's "there." 

My gosh, look at this amazing tofu salad I gobbled up for lunch in Winthrop. 

The round things are crispy garbanzo beans...

Summer's last hurrah

 

The half moon was flanked by Jupiter and Mars early this morning, almost directly overhead. That photo is a screen shot of the celestial show, taken on the "Sky Guide" app.

The sun is coming up now in a cloudless sky, with temperatures in the mid-80's later. A perfect day ahead, and probably the warmest we'll see until next spring. 

Amanda is working from home today, so I'm planning a morning walk at Perrrygin Lake State Park and maybe treat myself to lunch at Jupiter Restaurant in Winthrop. La-di-da. 

I've had more solitary time than usual this visit-- occasionally lonely but exceptionally peaceful.

Habitat

 

The Methow Valley is full of birds in the spring -- some migrating, some staying for the long haul. Most of the time though, our riverfront habitat seems much quieter than it really should be.

But the other afternoon, while I was sitting on the deck, the trees and shrubs suddenly filled with movement and song. Some I recognized, and my Merlin bird song app filled in the rest: 

Belted Kingfisher, White Crowned Sparrow, American Robin, Yellow Rumped Warbler, House Finch, European Starling, American Crow, Common Raven, Song Sparrow, Cedar Waxwing, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker. 

All at once. A truly magical bird moment.

The Land Back Movement

 

In 2022, The Methow Conservancy purchased the 328 acre historic Wagner Ranch, an amazing property near Winthrop that includes almost 2 miles of Chewuch riverfront. The entire ranch, including the houses and barns, was then gifted to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, in honor of the first Methow People. 

It has since been renamed x̌ʷnámx̌ʷnam, or Hummingbird. The Land Back Movement has become a gradual process in some parts of the country, with private land returned to native people, most often through tribal buy back programs. The outright gift of Hummingbird to the Confederated Tribes is an outstanding example of this movement.

It was important to the Conservancy to make the gift without any restrictions, because the Methow people have stewarded the land in the Methow Valley for generations. Now in the care of their descendants, the property is rich with opportunities for conservation, education and culture. 

They held an open house yesterday, and I went with my friend Karen. It was well attended by the community and everyone loved seeing the art and cultural exhibits. 

Bittersweet fall officially arrives today:

"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go."

Law of least effort

 

Beautiful things sometimes happen by accident. I take no credit for creating this lovely plant vignette, other than throwing succulents on top of the bonsai pot many years ago.  

Benign neglect is actually a gardening approach which I intend to embrace as I age. It means plants are left to grow on their own, without much intervention. So if the hydrangeas want to take over the flower beds? Be my guest!

"The law of least effort is based on the fact that nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease and abandoned carefreeness." 

So sez, Guru Deepak Chopra, so it must be true.

And how could it be that I've walked by this common hollyhock countless times, without once paying attention to how beautiful it is. As pretty as the finest tropical hibiscus.

Anyway, I'm off to Twisp today, with nice late summer weather all across the state. Have a good weekend.

Dear old friend

 

The Silver Maple across the street has always been a part of our landscape ecology. It was already large when we moved here in 1980. In the summer, that huge biomass of leaves filters the hot afternoon sun, keeping our house cooler.

Beautiful in every season, the tree gives us a natural view from the living room and front porch. On every other side, we just see other houses.

For years I used the fall leaves to mulch the flower beds, hauling many carts over from across the street. I stopped doing that recently, because there were too many dead branches on the ground to rake. 

The tree is struggling (an arborist euphemism for dying) through a combination of neglect, old age and climate change. The summers are hot and dry now, and the schools don't irrigate their landscaping.

Yesterday I noticed these fallen branches, and it's just a matter of time until someone decides the tree is a school hazard and has it removed. That will be a sad day for us.

In other news-- John mowed and the garden still looks nice. The rain has greened everything up again, and in the Northwest we call this our second spring. Speaking of real spring, I planted 50 tulips and 25 hyacinth bulbs this week. My aching back.

Shine on, harvest moon

 

Today is the Chinese Moon Festival, a holiday second only to Chinese New Year and most famous for the ritual sharing of moon cakes.  Everyone should try a moon cake. Once.

The crust is made with lard, and inside there's a thick filling of bean paste along with yolks from salted duck eggs. That peculiar Asian combo of salty, bland and slightly sweet, certainly an acquired taste. Each moon cake has approximately 1000 calories! but they're usually cut in small wedges served with tea.

Today is also National Apple Dumpling Day, which sounds better. Now when was the last time I made a pastry-wrapped apple dumpling? Since I can't find it searching the blog, it must have been a VERY long time ago. 

But simple baked apples are almost as good, and these I make every fall with new crop apples.

So shine on, whatever this day has in store for you.

Meat deluxe

 

What can you say? A burgundy black pepper marinated tri-tip roast I made on the grill yesterday, and a nice way to celebrate the Seahawks victory over New England. It was one of those shrink wrapped, half price bargain bin finds from Safeway. 

Speaking of Safeway, a lawsuit to block the merger between Kroger (QFC) and Albertsons (Safeway) just went to trial here in Seattle. This is a big deal in our part of the country. Our state attorney general claiming, and rightly so, that the merger of these giants would severely limit shopping options and raise prices. 

Other than the competitive Safeway and QFC, our choices for groceries in West Seattle are the wildly expensive Thriftway and Metropolitan Market, and neither have pharmacies. The nearest Walmart is miles away in Renton.  If the merger goes through, our neighborhood Admiral Safeway would likely close, just because the land the store sits on is much more valuable than the grocery business inside. 

Speaking of food (the healthy variety) here's the Queen of Kale at the Twisp Saturday Market. 

We have a beautiful sunny day coming up, but tomorrow a storm front pushes in from the coast. I had planned a 2-night trip to Seaside, Oregon this week, which is quite a drive, especially in the pouring rain. The month got quite busy and I'm glad I cancelled it. We'll go another time when it's not so rushed, not to mention, drier.
 

On the road?

 

Yes, that serious young lady behind the wheel is our Nova. She's enrolled in driver's education at school, so she could get her learner's/instructional permit at age 15. 

So grown up-- Nova has also started working locally as a horse sitter. That means staying alone at someone's property to care for the animals while the owners are away.

I've watched her working around horses, and her skill and confidence are really impressive. Happy and safe trails to you!

Oh boy, mom and dad. Here it comes.

Watercolor

 

 

Our next door neighbor in Twisp, Bethany Wray, is a well-know artist in the valley. We already have several of her watercolor prints, which she sells at the Saturday market. I bought this new one on a scorching hot day in August because I liked the cool colors of the North Cascades winter scene. I framed it myself to take back to the Twisp house. Nice!

I was out in the yard early this morning, chipping away slowly but surely at the fall chores. It looks like rain this weekend, plus we're getting our annual Covid shots tomorrow, which renders me useless for a couple of days. Shots seem to have no effect whatsoever on John, lucky him.

The roses looked just ghastly, covered in black spot and assorted diseases because I refuse to spray. So I pruned them back, almost to the ground. Tough love works with roses. 

Since we had that rain, everything came back to life, weeds in particular. There are many beautiful and inspirational quotes about September, but I like this funny one:

"September is summer's hangover." Anon.

Chrysanthemum time

 

Halloween and Christmas were in full competition at Costco yesterday, but way back by the paper towels I found a last pallet of potted chrysanthemums. Unfortunately, these impressive greenhouse plants are only for seasonal decoration, but totally gorgeous for a few weeks after they burst into bloom. This one is a combo yellow and purple, a good choice for the indecisive. 

In other news, a big shout out to Amanda. She spent the last two days in Seattle at the University of Washington, attending the kick-off for her Advanced Practice Psychiatric Provider Fellowship Program. 

She was worried that the fellowship would be like an extension of graduate school, with all the pressure and competition, but she's thrilled to be linked up with an amazing group of supportive peers, not to mention, the resources of the prestigious UW advanced nursing program. 

What a perfect launch for these new careers, and what a gift to their rural communities.

The bucket list

 

I've always wanted to ride a camel, and didn't even have to go to Egypt! 

The saying goes, "a camel is a horse designed by committee."

"Clive" was a big sweetheart of a camel, clean as a whistle and polite. Forget the stereotype of all camels being smelly and disagreeable. 

Granted, he had an easy fair gig, and lumbered around the little track a few times with me on his back. Afterwards, his owner pulled his head gently around so I could admire his gorgeous three inch eyelashes. As I stroked his head, he closed his big eyes in pleasure.

Early Monday morning is a popular time for senior citizens, and the fair was doing a brisk business in rented scooters. 

 

But other than dodging scooters and strollers, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. I put 10,000 steps on my watch. 

We saw just about everything we wanted, then took a ride on the Ferris Wheel. In some ways, the fair felt more like a shopping expo, with hucksters selling everything from hot tubs to mattresses. Of course I bought something-- a cheerful fleece hoodie printed with bright birds, no doubt old-ladyish, but I don't care. 

The food was predictably gross, either fried or sweet or both. I wanted a corn dog (hey, it's a fair!) but they were a foot long on a wooden spear. We settled on the weekday lunch special plate at the gyros stand. And then a giant soft serve ice cream cone at the Milk Bar. By afternoon I was dragging, so we left with the trail of senior citizens going out the gate while the more interesting crowds streamed in for the evening. Good timing. 

 

 

"Endless Crab"

 

Red Lobster should have known better, but they were unprepared for their customer's lust for all-you-can-eat crab. They lost millions and abruptly closed a number of restaurants.

We could have told them, it's real easy to gobble up two plus pounds of snow crab in a sitting, which we did on John's birthday. Safeway ran a weekend special ($6 a pound) and I was lucky to score some early Friday morning before they ran out. 

Speaking of excess, today we're going to the Washington State Fair in Puyallup. I can't remember when we went last, but at least 20 years ago. The biggest decision of the day? What to eat. Stay tuned.

Onward and upward

 

I always ask John what he wants to do on his birthday, and he said, "Climb the Howe Street Stairs." 

And I said, "What's that?" You can live in a city for decades and still find some surprises.

At 160 feet elevation and 388 steps, Howe is Seattle's longest outdoor staircase. It was built in 1911 to provide a pedestrian link between streetcar lines, connecting Capitol Hill with the lower Lake Union area. 

Of course, the stairs were built long before I-5 bisected downtown Seattle, so the "trail" now passes right under the elevated freeway.

A strange little world of recreation exists under there (who knew) and quite peaceful if you can ignore the roaring traffic above. There's biking, hiking, picnicking and an off-leash dog area. Strangest of all, no homeless encampments (at the moment.)

The staircase goes straight up past a wonderful assortment of homes clinging to the side of the steep hill, everything from private mansions to intriguing bungalows on heavily wooded lots. Eggs, anyone?

 

No surprise, these stairs are a popular urban training ground for mountaineering enthusiasts.

Yes, I made it to the top with the birthday boy, although the legs were a bit wobbly by the time we got back to the car. 

On the way home, a stop at Pecos Pit Barbecue to quickly replenish those calories burned. A briskett sandwich (shared.)

Many happy returns, John!