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A Long Ways for a Short Trip

We spent last weekend in Virginia to attend Ken’s niece’s wedding. It was a GORGEOUS wedding in a beautiful setting – Riverside on the Potomoc. Wonderful photos from the wedding can be seen at Natalie Franke’s blog.

The photos here are from the time we spent exploring the countryside in between wedding events. Ken and his brother Carl and I were not directly involved in the planning or the wedding party so we had some spare time to enjoy the Virginia and Maryland countryside. The weather was cool and cloudy unlike home where it’s been unseasonably warm and sunny. We walked around historic Leesburg where we stayed for the weekend. We visited Ball’s Bluff Battlefield regional park and enjoyed a lovely walk in the woods to the shore of the Potomoc River and learned a bit about the battle. We crossed the river on White’s Ferry, a cable ferry quite unlike the Washington State ferries we are used to. And we walked along the C&O Canal along with hundreds of others. It was the date of the annual Sierra Club 25 and 50 mile walk that took participants all the way to Harper’s Ferry. We did not go that far. It’s a great place to walk or bike or bird with a nice path overlooking the unused canal and the deep hardwood forest.

After all the wedding events and staying up too late and over indulging, we were ready to come home. It’s always good to get away and travel often makes me appreciate what we have here ever so much.

A memorial for the confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War
In addition to this one, there were memorials for soldiers who have died in the wars since the Civil War
Dogwood was blooming everywhere
A newer courthouse made to look old
I loved these revolving gates.
National Cemetery at the Ball’s Bluff battlefield
Only one of the fallen soldiers was identified
Lots of stuff grows in the woods of Virginia
It’s so very green
Cool foliage
The Potomoc River
We are not lost
Green
Cool wildflower
Wet dandelion fluff
Deep green woods
Ken knows what tree this is
We crossed the Potomoc on a cable ferry
White’s Ferry
The Potomoc
The C&O Canal
Poison ivy
Black Vultures are common
The shore of Lake Michigan
Lake Chelan
Glacier Peak. See the mountains of the NW is always a welcome sight.

 

Indigo and Balsamroot

A couple of weeks ago I took an Indigo dying class with Sara Ashford at her Culler Studio located at TwispWorks. What fun! In addition to learning about the dye process, we learned how to fold and shape our cloth to make different patterns. There was a lot of experimentation. We used quite a few interesting tools to shape the dye – big metal washers, plastic pipe, string, clothes pins, clamps, pennies; the list goes on and on. When it was over we all had  couple of unique silk scarves. Some of us did some samplers on cotton or linen of our own and some students brought shirts and scarves to experiment with. It is always good to learn something new! Thanks Sara!

The fabric was wound around the pipe and then covered with string before dying
Pulling it off of the pipe
And that’s how it came out
Marbles and clothes pins and rubber bands
to make this pattern
Clothes pins, folds, small pieces of wood to make this pattern on a silk scarf
This silk scarf is incredibly beautiful. I am impressed with my own efforts!
Two big metal washers and three clamps
Made this flower like piece
Yellow and blue – my favorite color combination

April Highlights

The month is almost over and I don’t know where the time went. It has been full of wildflowers and spring tasks and walks in the hills and birds and good times. At the start of the month there were large piles of snow and ice covered puddles. All that is gone now. Here are a few highlights.

Nice sunrise
Vernal pond
Dew covered webs
Mule deer
Female Dusky Grouse
Male Dusky Grouse
Another grouse
Black-backed Woodpecker
Sandhill Cranes flying north
Two dogs on a rock
Lots of water everywhere this year
Snow-capped mountains
Fog
Yellow bell
Buttercup
Balsamroot
Balsamroot
Trail through bluebells
Bluebells
Bluebells
Shooting stars
Lupine
Serviceberry
It’s a jungle out there
New growth
New growth
New growth
New growth
New growth
Painted turtles
Painted turtle
Ken took the dogs fishing. Sky was more interested in the tackle than the fish.

On the Water

It had been a long time since I had my boat out on the water. Last year I suffered from moderate to severe back pain for months on end and I was unable to load and unload the boat on my own so it gathered dust in the garage for over a year and a half. This year I am feeling much better and yesterday I took it out to Patterson Lake and enjoyed the beauty and solitude of an April morning. Two weeks ago the lake was covered in ice.

Serene
The lake is high and those trees are under water
Paddling through the trees
Patterson Mountain is covered in balsamroot on the south side
Balsamroot and Oregon grape
One of the big snags fell over
Waiting for warmer weather
Turtle
Ikkuma
Serenity

Small Spring Wonders

We have had some really marvelous warm spring weather in the last week or two. Temperatures into the 70’s and light to steady breezes quickly melted the snow and out of the wet ground sprouted delightful tiny wildflowers. Lots of insects hatched attracting lots of birds and the honey bees have been busy on the willow catkins, gathering pollen for their hives. For nearly a week I’d go outside a couple times a day and search for my former nemesis wildflower – steershead or Dicentra uniflora – and I was delighted to find it. As the snow line descended down into our draw, I found more and more of tiny plants with flowers the size of a dime. How could they have been here all these years and I never saw them til last year. Were they tucked under the bitterbrush that burned in 2014? Or did the fire stimulate seeds that may have laid dormant?

Steershead leaves emerge as soon as the snow melts
Waterleaf leaves
Bright green moss
Larkspur leaves
Bitterroot leaves
The bitterroot leaves were waiting patiently under the snow
Delightful tiny leaves peaking out from under a rock
Lomatium geyerii, our first wildflower to bloom
Busy honeybee taking a break
Inside the house, the clivia is blooming. My aunt gave me this plant many years ago and now it’s been three years since she died. Where does the time go?
The steershead flower bud
A rivulet running down our driveway from the melting snow
Hmmmm, I should know this one.
And then the yellow bells began popping out all over
The bluebells are now blooming too
And the steershead is full formed!
Lupine
A frozen vernal pond
Another Lomatium maybe gormaii or salt and pepper?
And soon there will be balsamroot on our hill!
Lots of steershead!
Prairie stars in Moses Coulee
Buttercups in Northrup Canyon