Blogtober Twenty: Sunday Walk in the Park

 

Another day of rain and grey skies here on the west coast. Drippy but still beautiful in a muted way. 

Two little girls spent part of the weekend with us, including overnight on Saturday. The routines of bedtime, breakfast, hair brushing and more are never quite forgotten. But they seem to take more energy than they used. With all the rain most of our days were spent indoors. These two have wonderful imaginations. For awhile they were fruit bats looking for fruit, then unicorns, then lions. They made bead necklaces and bracelets. I heard one say, "Mommy will be delighted to see this." They know how to use words well.

When the rain let up slightly this afternoon, we decided to don boots and raincoats and walk around the duck pond. I think the girls splashed in every puddle they could find, jumping up and down and making great sprays of muddy water. They needed dry leggings and socks when we returned home. But oh, the fun!

Wood ducks swam with mallards in the ponds, coming close to see if we perhaps had a few crumbs with us. There is plenty of natural food for the ducks here, and passersby are encouraged to not feed them, but people continue to do so. It is fun to see them all swarm to grain being tossed for them. 

Beautiful views of autumn trees and water reflections. 

It's quiet now at home with the girls returned to their parents. We've watched an episode of Vera and the weather on this episode seemed to be the same as ours - lots of rain. Very atmospheric. 

Settling in for a bit of unstitching as I hope to hem several new pairs of jeans and cords tomorrow. Some for me, some for him. It's the taking down of the current stitching that is the most tiresome. Good to get that job done ahead. Then perhaps some reading before turning in for the night. Will we hear rain trickling in the eavestrough again? I wonder. 

On a housekeeping note, I've decided to reply to comments on the blog, usually within a day or two. If you've asked a question, be sure to check back. 

Blogtober Nineteen

 

Pumpkins are such a cheerful looking squash, round and orange. Five of them grew in my garden and I'm using them up in different ways. One went into a large batch of Pumpkin Herb Soup. Tonight we had family over and I thought the little girls might like Dinner in a Pumpkin. They quite liked the idea, and thought the filling of ground meat, onions and carrots in a creamy sauce delicious, but the scooped out pumpkin wasn't such a hit. The rest of us enjoyed it! 

Usually I discard the seeds, not wanting to bother with cleaning them. However, today I washed them and roasted them with some butter, Worcestershire sauce, and herbs. They are quite addictive once I start eating them. Crunchy and salty are my weakness. 

My cousin from Wales was over about ten days ago. She brought me a current issue (November) of UK Country Living. They are available in some bookstores here, but always a month or two behind. I've been saving the magazine for just the right moment. So far I've just paged through it and will spend more time with it tomorrow.

We are glad we came home from our getaway yesterday. Today the road to Port Renfrew is closed due to flooding. And the town's water treatment plant has been shut down, also due to the rain. It has poured down for most of the day. When I awoke this morning, there was no rain and I decided to go for a walk immediately. Before any breakfast. I'm glad I did for the rain started in earnest shortly after I got home and has barely let up all day. Tomorrow will be the same. 

Blogtober Eighteen: Home Again in the Rain

 

Rain falls steadily in the darkness. Indoors, all is cozy with fresh flowers picked between rain showers and candles lit in the living room. No matter how long or short a time I'm away, coming home is always a delight. I walk in my front door, drop my bags, and take a deep breath. Home. 

Time away allows me to see and appreciate the little things that I love about my home. I notice the graceful lines of an old small brass vase, and I fill it with a few tiny roses. 

I enjoy the novels written by Rosamunde Pilcher, and own most of them. Homes feature large in her writing with descriptions of rooms that wrap themselves around people in cozy warmth. Here in my own home there is a faint smell of lemon oil that I use when I dust the furniture. Orange peels drying in the kitchen add another layer of scent. Cushions are plumped and waiting to be tucked behind my back when I read or stitch. A blanket or two is ready in a basket for a bit of extra coziness. Little things like these all contribute to the sense of being at home. 

We drove home from our short getaway on rain-washed roads where autumn leaves lay shining with wet or flew in torrents from trees tossed by the wind. Unpacking, cooking a simple supper for the two of us, and now a quiet evening in our own home. The weekend promises to be a wet one, good for savoring the blessings of home. 

Blogtober Seventeen: Did Summer Return?

 

After yesterday's "tree day" in the forest, today was "beach day" on Sombrio Beach, part of the Juan de Fuca trail that runs along the southeast coast of Vancouver Island. There is access to the trail at various points along the road. We packed our lunch and backpacks, and were quite shocked to see how full the parking lot was. We soon realized that everyone else was there to surf! After walking 500 metres to the beach, it became clear that we were the eldest people on the beach by far. 

At least two dozen surfers spent most of the day in the water (wearing wetsuits), and trying to catch the waves. Family and friends were on the beach to watch. It felt almost tropical.

After watching the surfers, we walked south along the beach and watched waves crashing over rocks. Mesmerizing. 

A pale empty urchin shell posed very nicely on a piece of driftwood.

A number of golden-crowned sparrows spent the day flitting about the beach, alighting on rocks and driftwood. A large colony of gulls floated on the water just past one group of surfers. Perhaps they were watching, wondering what the strange creatures with boards were doing. A gulp of cormorants perched on a large rock, impervious to the waves crashing around them. I find collective nouns so interesting and wonder how they came about. 

I'll let a few images of this sunshiney magical day speak for themselves.

Tomorrow an atmospheric river is heading this way. Summer is definitely over. We're heading homeward and should miss the worst of it until we arrive home. It's been a lovely little getaway visiting forests and beach, seeing wonderful west coast scenes. 

Blogtober Sixteen: Looking at Trees

 

Port Renfrew lies on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where the river floods into the Pacific Ocean. It's a small fishing town, as well as a tourist hub for hardy souls beginning or ending the rugged West Coast Trail. 

We are here for a few days - a rather spontaneous trip. A small cozy cabin in the woods is our home. This morning we set off across the bridge in search of some very special trees. 

 

 This tiny Douglas Fir tree is growing from a submerged Douglas Fir log. It was not on our list of trees to search for, but I spied it as we drove by. We stopped long enough to take a quick photo or two. If you search for Fairy Lake Tree, dozens of beautiful photos will appear on your screen. Makes me want to go back and see if I can get another photo in different light. 

Deep in the forest, not far from the wild waves of the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island's west coast, stand sentinels of time - magnificent trees, some up to 2000 years old. It was a bit of an adventure to get to the next tree. The logging road to get here is closed. Firmly closed with huge piles of forest debris pushed into an enormous pile blocking the route. Undaunted, we put on our hiking boots and clambered over 500 metres of very rough ground followed by another 1.5 km of walking. The San Juan Spruce tree is Canada's largest Sitka Spruce, and the second largest in the world. You can see my six-foot tall husband looking rather small beside it. 

On our hike to the Spruce Tree, we discovered a road that would bypass the rough terrain we hiked over. We still had to hike back the same way we came in order to get back to our vehicle, but then we drove to the trailhead for the Red Creek Fir. With a diameter of 4.2 metres (14 feet), a circumference of 9.8 metres (32 feet), and a towering height of 73.8 metres (242 feet), this is the largest Douglas Fir tree in the world, and about 1000 years old. It's impossible to photograph it all. The top just disappears into the sky. Yours truly is standing next to it and looks very small indeed.

Rivers and creeks flow through the landscape, sometimes calm and serene, sometimes gurgling as they rush over rocks. Mist hung in the trees for most of the day and there was a little rain from time to time.

Our next stop, after jouncing on a very rough road followed by a 15-minute hike, was to Avatar Grove. This stand of old-growth forest has been protected from logging. It's awe-inspiring to hike through these old trees. Enormous Red Cedar trees are at every turn. We stood in the forest hearing nothing but trickling water, trying to absorb the majesty of this place. The tree above is known as Canada's Gnarliest Tree because of its huge burls and tangled roots.

Wandering through the forest we noticed many nurse logs. The horizontal log in the center of the photo has many small trees and bushes growing from it. What is not very visible is that the tall tree at the end of the nurse log also grew from it. Decades of growth nurtured by one fallen cedar tree. 

Smaller creatures inhabit the woods and I caught this snail creeping along a fungal growth on a tree stump. We saw a few deer, a bald eagle or two, and a grouse. No bears, for which I was thankful. Someone once said to me that our forests and trees are our cathedrals since we don't have the structures people go to see in Europe. I felt much of the same awe and quietness in the forest today. Thank God for trees!

After all that hiking and tree gazing, we're planning a short while in the hot tub outside where we can look at the night sky, followed by reading for awhile before sleep. 

Blogtober Fifteen: October Thoughts from Others

 

"October was a beautiful month at Green Gables, when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy green, while the fields sunned themselves in the aftermaths. Anne reveled in the world of color about her..."I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?..." (L.M. Montgomery)

The words Anne says are often quoted in this tenth month, but I think the description preceding them is equally lovely. 

Listen! the wind is rising

and the air is filled with leaves.

We have had our summer evenings,

Now for October eves.

Humbert Wolfe

October sunshine bathed the park with such a melting light that it had the dimmed impressive look of a landscape by an old master. Leaves, one, two at a time, sidled down through the windless air.”

— Elizabeth Enright

No quote here, but I do enjoy seeing a neat stack of firewood. This small stack wouldn't last long in a cold winter, but the play of light on the logs is pretty. Several of our neighbours heat their homes with wood and they have enormous stacks of it neatly arranged close to their homes. 

We debated installing a wood heater in our fireplaces, but decided on gas. It's cleaner and more convenient, but lacks the crackling of a wood fire. I confess that it is very cozy to walk in the door and see the gas fire glowing without me having to do anything about it. 

Blogtober Fourteen: Visiting a Museum

 

A little armchair travel this evening. During our stay in Leiden, we visited the Young Rembrandt Studio. Rembrandt was born in Leiden and spent his childhood here. The house he lived in no longer exists, but the studio where he first studied painting does. It's very small and most interesting. A media presentation has paintings come alive to tell the story of Rembrandt's youth, and of friends featured in his paintings. It's not very long, but extremely well done. And it is free!

We took the train from Leiden to various cities - Rotterdam, Delft, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. They were easy to use and very reliable. 

Our walk from the train station to the museum took quite awhile, but we had the time and enjoyed seeing various parts of Amsterdam. How fun it would be to have a boat moored right outside your front door!

I had hoped to visit the Van Gogh Museum, but there was a mix-up in our ticket date and we ended up not going there. Instead, we visited the Rijksmuseum. One thing I wish I knew more about is art history. The little I do know is just enough to make me realize how much more there is. I have learned to focus on a selection of exhibits in a museum. If I wander at will, I am soon overwhelmed. 

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem

There are a number of Rembrandt's works in the Rijksmuseum. I love the light and the fineness of the hair in the above painting. Apparently, he often used the sharpened end of a wooden paintbrush to create strands of hair. 

The Night Watch by Rembrandt

The Night Watch is one of Rembrandt's most famous works, and is surprisingly large, measuring 12 by 14 1/2 feet. He must have stood on a ladder to paint it. 

The Milkmaid by Vermeer

Vermeer was another artist I knew of and whose works I wanted to see. 

Still Life with Cheese by Floris van Dyck

I'd not heard much of van Dyck, but loved the subject of this still life. It's so Dutch! Cheese!

We wandered around other parts of the museum and Tim was especially taken with the intricate models of old ships. These technical scale models were built for the Royal Navy and used for constructing the actual ships and training crews. The above model is of the William Rex, built in 1698. So detailed!

Rain fell in the night and today has been softly grey. A good day for puttering at home and not doing too much of anything. 

A number of you asked about the Cranberry Pie my daughter made for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Here is a link: Cranberry Lime Pie. It's on the Bon Appetit site and is sometimes behind a paywall. If you do a search for the recipe it comes up with a list of ingredients in the preview. My daughter also used a graham cracker crust with spices in place of the gingersnap crust. 

Also, the initials I used to mark the places at the table were wooden, not chocolate! I'm sure the children would have much preferred chocolate. I use the letters from time to time at the table, or for making words around the house. 

Blogtober Thirteen: Happy Thanksgiving!

 

There be three gentle and goodlie things

To be here

 To be together

And to think well of one another

L.M. Montgomery (from Pat of Silver Bush)

We put all the leaves in the dining room table to make room for 13 of us to sit down to dinner. Often, we have a children's table in the kitchen. It's nice to have everyone together from time to time. Everyone was very well behaved, even the adults! Lots of laughter and chatter.

It's become usual to eat our main meal, then clean up the dishes before dessert. Today was so warm and sunny that we all drifted outdoors to eat dessert. My eldest daughter made two luscious Cranberry Curd Pies, and my youngest daughter brought fruit with a chocolate dip and a caramel peanut dip. I contributed Pumpkin Pie. There is LOTS of pie leftover. 

Everyone goes home with enough leftovers for another meal of turkey with all the trimmings. Now the house is quiet again. Turkey broth is simmering on the stove.

 "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; 

and that happiness is gratitude doubled by wonder." 

G. K. Chesterton

A quiet evening is ahead. We'll maybe nibble on some leftovers. I'll settle in with a new book. The evening is cooling off and we'll close the windows as dusk settles in. 

Thank you to those who read my blog, and to those who comment. I'm grateful for each one of you. 

Blogtober 12: A Perfect Autumn Day

 

I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as 

autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. 

Nathanial Hawthorne

This morning was taken up with kitchen work in preparation for tomorrow's dinner. Two pumpkin pies sit waiting, a sweet potato dish and braised cabbage will finish cooking tomorrow. But, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, I didn't want to miss being outside on this most glorious day of autumn sunshine. 

On part of the trail around the bog not too far from my house, woodpeckers can be heard tap tap tapping. Today's tapping sounded closer than usual and I stood for some time trying to see the bird. I finally found him, but he was shy and skittish, not wanting to be photographed.

Trees glow in the light. Leaves are getting thinner on the trees and thicker on the ground as October winds on. 

A little rabbit sat motionless beside the path, hoping I wouldn't see him. How pretty are his ears with the light shining through. 

I made a quick trip to the grocery store this morning and as I drove home, a gust of wind blew through the trees and a shower of gold leaves swirled and drifted in front of me. It was a magical moment that I might have missed and am so glad I did not. 

Most of the colour is near to the ground in the woods, shaded by the tall conifers. Light and colour and pattern. I was surprised that more people were not out enjoying the day.

And here at home the light poured in the windows and warming the house so much that I went barefoot indoors for most of the day. What a gorgeous day it has been - one to remember when the grey days and rain arrive.