Preparing

I have been mostly packed for our Kaua'i trip for days, not hard since what I've been reminded that I will wear for the tropics is not what I am wearing for autumn at home. My friend has posted and sent me photos so I am prepared for things to not look postcard-perfect; they are still cleaning up the damage left behind by Hurricane Lowell. We're not sure yet if the botanical gardens we'd like to visit will be open because of that, but we have scheduled a chocolate farm tour, and plan to take a boat and snorkel tour up the Napali Coast if the seas are calm (I'll still have to take anti-nausea meds). Rick and I want to hike and drive to as many scenic spots as we can, and my friend and I plan to ride together as many afternoons (on the beach!) as we can squeeze in. Of course there will be beach/ocean/pool time (my friend has a pool), too, but laying around is not what I'm looking forward to. I want to experience as much of the island as I can on this, the only Hawaiian trip I anticipate I'll ever take.

I picked up some waterproof bandages to wear in the water, because I got a dandy steam burn while canning applesauce Sunday. I need to do at least one more batch of applesauce; I will try to be more careful!

Out of curiosity I contacted my oldest cousin (eldest son of my eldest aunt, who was 18 years older than my mom) to get more information on family history. I knew my aunt, uncle and cousins were missionaries in Hawaii, but that's about it other than these photos of old photos:

My cousin (on far right in first two photos) obliged me with the following:

"Good to hear from you!

1946-1949: Kapa'a, Kaua'i

1949-1952: Hilo, Big Island

1952-1957: Honolulu Central, O'ahu

1957-1959: Traveling evangelist on every island except for Ni'ihau (the Forbidden Isle); home base was Kailua, O'ahu.

"When you are on Kaua'i you can see the church my father pastored. He started a successful poi manufacturing business that helped finance the church school. You will also see a mountain range called Sleeping Giant. High up in it is where we lived when we returned from my family's evangelistic meetings. This is where we had our first horse, Blackfoot."

We were already planning to hike Sleeping Giant, so that will be another fun connection to family history.

I have lots of 'local news' (photos) to share but will pick just some for this post and try to do one more called "Where the wild things are" before we leave. I am not going to take my laptop with me for once, so no posting from Kaua'i! But there will be spinning and hopefully knitting to pass the time on the long flights to and back. Here's a summary of my spinning since the last time I shared my progress:

I used up my blue silk plying (I thought; I found another turtle of it later!)

so plied the rest of this colored merino on itself.

Then I started flick-carding and spinning this darker colored merino.

I might use that found blue silk single to ply some of this!

After some welcomed late summer rain I have been watering the garden again. Harvested some lovely beets to make my favorite raw beet/apple/carrot salad for potluck last Sabbath,

and put the handful of green beans I picked into a delicious yellow curry. Brian won't do anything with/for the garden while we're gone, but more rain is in the forecast, thankfully.

Wool is growing; the sheep are going to need bigger coats soon.

The ground squirrels are moving back in and Poppy is in full hunting mode; she caught and killed two in one week. It's been harder to keep her attention in agility class because of that; we'll see how this Sunday's trial goes!

I don't think Chuckie hunts for anything but attention anymore. He was positively fawning over the farrier this morning!

That's it for now from . . .

Sharing our State Fair....

Our state fair concluded Monday for another year. We were there until nearly the closing bell, attending the last concert (Weird Al) and then walking through for a final look.  I do so enjoy experiencing it (five different times this year!), and several of you have commented over the years that you, too, enjoy it vicariously through my photos. Unfortunately, my devices are refusing to communicate again, so sharing photos will have to wait until they get over their current snit. (The on again off again nature of their spats reinforces a favorite line of mine from Madeline L'Engle: "The animosity of inanimate objects.")

We had a lovely stretch of cool, wet weather that shouted "FALL!" It has warmed up again, but the quality of light has changed, the air feels different, my mare is shedding her summer hair, and the woolly bear caterpillars have appeared; my favorite season is here. 😃 I'm done with prunes and now need to focus on apples, while continuing to harvest and cook what little our garden is still producing.

Oh, and Hawaii, here we come!!!

That's it until I can download photos, from . . .

Summertime, and the eating is easy

Oh, I do love breaking out my favorite zucchini and other garden produce recipes, like Potato Zucchini Bake, tabbouli, pasta salad, chocolate zucchini muffins, zucchini chocolate orange cake, caramelized onion pasta, raw beet salad, Scarpaccia, Greek Salad, black bean zucchini burgers, zucchini brownies, etc., etc. I need to pick and use parsley – I sense another big batch of tabbouli – and basil – pesto, obviously. 😋 Yep, it's summertime, and the eating (well, at least the menu planning) is easy. On top of that, the prunes are ripening; every morning I pick a couple handfuls for Rick's lunch and my breakfast but very soon I'll need to 'pick a peck of prunes' and load our big hydrator a few times. After that it will be time to start on applesauce....

Last night's lunar eclipse was fun; it started while I was in Costco visiting with my cousin after shopping and continued well past the time I got home and could stand out on our deck enjoying it.

The Oregon State Fair officially opened today, but Rick's duties as fair veterinarian started yesterday. Twelve days of getting up early and getting home late take much of the joy out of it for him, but I am looking forward to my visits. You know I'll take photos to share. But in the meantime, here are some recent photos from around the 'farm:'

'tis the season; the Western Gray squirrels are busy putting up hazelnuts and walnuts

Bernadette and her flashy daughter Broadway

Broadway 'playing dead,' with Bernice, one of her twin daughters, looking on

a pretty start here the same day of the horrific flash flooding in Nepal/Tibet😢

The next couple months are starting to develop a travel theme. The last time I visited my mom was last September near her birthday, and I am feeling the need to visit her again soon. I'd get to see my sister and her family plus my friends in the Lincoln, NE area, too, adding to the draw. Next, a dear friend of mine who lives in Kauai has long urged me/us to visit. I was hoping we could make that happen back in June for our 42nd wedding anniversary, but there was hemming and hawing at this end (Rick seemed inclined to take our adult son along), then our friends put their house on the market, and I thought our window of opportunity to use their ahana unit had closed. Turns out we might yet be able to make that happen! It would be the first true vacation (with no continuing education or family obligations attached) Rick and I will have taken since our honeymoon, and the thought makes me a bit breathless. Then, at the end of October an Israeli acquaintance is traveling here to see the sights and attend the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. The weather has usually turned at least somewhat wet by then but we are going to get in some hikes through Oregon's natural beauty regardless; I am looking forward to the cross-cultural experience. Goodness, after that we'll be well into the lead-up to the holiday season!

Speaking of a fiber festival, I continue to play with fiber here. I liked the yarns I shared in my last post so much that I flick-carded some washed colored merino locks someone gave me so I could ply it with my remaining blue silk singles:

That's it for now from . . .

Life as avalanche

Reminder to self: pick a limited topic and blog (like the 'flock and fiber' of my last post). When I 'collect' a bunch of topics to blog about, usually because each one seems insufficient for its own post, it turns into an overwhelming avalanche, picking up more and more subjects and accompanying photos, until the task of covering them all buries me – hence the lapse in weekly posts. Time to start shoveling.

My favorite change of seasons always inspires a flood of photos, some of them related to other topics. For instance, we celebrated Rick's birthday at his mother's house so she and her husband didn't have to drive at night, and I took a walk around her neighborhood and the nearby park while waiting for the birthday boy to arrive.

My birthday gift to DH were tickets to the Fellowship for the Performing Arts' The Screwtape Letters, followed by dinner at a favorite restaurant. No photos of the production were allowed, but the Portland venue (NOT a war zone as those trying to distract would have you believe), inside and out, had lots to appreciate.

As for the colors closer to home....

I finally put the canner away when I filled my available space (on the bottom shelf) with applesauce.

Then there are the sunrises, striking light, cloudscapes, and rainbows visible from our deck,

the colors around the house,

the colors on and from the hill taken during walks and rides,

and the color taken along I-5 on our way back from Eugene yesterday (my son drove Stella and me to a horse show there). The setting sun made the colors glow!

I'll try not to get caught in another avalanche anytime soon. I'll save spinning and knitting for the next post.

That's it for now from . . .