Raven and Sparrow

Forts and foxes

Another trip to San Juan Island this weekend took us to the National Historical Monuments there that commemorate the famous Pig War. Not that famous? Let me tell you all about it.

The treaty that designated the 49th parallel as the border between Canada (British territory) and the new United States excepted huge "Vancouver's Island" as belonging to Britain even though it extends south of the line. It didn't specify who owned the smaller islands between Vancouver Island and the the mainland. Of course, both countries claimed them and tensions rose as more people moved in. In 1860 the shooting of an American pig by a British settler angry about its depredations in his vegetable garden resulted in troops being stationed by both countries at the north and south ends of San Juan Island. They stayed there for twelve years while negotiations were conducted. Finally the matter was referred to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany for mediation and he chose in favor of the United States. The British immediately ceded the land their fort was built on and removed themselves. Except for the ones that killed the pig, no shots were ever fired.

Now the two camps are parks. They are from the same time period of course, but their locations make them very different. English Camp borders a protected inlet which is heavily wooded and very tranquil. In the years that they were stationed there the British constructed a log blockhouse, handsome barracks and officers quarters, sturdy stone walls and a formal garden. They took pride in their camp. The Americans built their fort on the open windswept heights at the south end of the island. By all accounts they lived a rougher and less civilized life than the British, receiving much less support from their government which was distracted by the Civil War. Only a few buildings still stand, but the sweeping views are amazing.

I didn't get any good pictures of American Camp this time, but as we investigated the prairie outside the camp we were approached by a red fox. I saw him from a distance and was amazed as he ran straight towards us.

This is a first for me. Foxes are rare on our island and I have never seen one. I thought it was great to meet one up close like this. It was a good day in many ways.


 

Labor Day weekend

Wow. What a weekend. Lots of company, lots of activities, lots of meals, and especially, lots of fun. On Saturday both our boys and their girls came up from Seattle. We invited their aunt and uncle (Mike's brother) to join us for pizza so there were eight around the table that night. Joel's (our youngest son) fiancee Becca borrowed her mother's VCR so we could watch our old family videos. Our VCR broke years ago... its been over ten years since I have seen them. They are excruciatingly boring for those not involved, but I have trouble tearing myself away. Seeing and hearing my babies, the younger versions of me and Mike and my parents and siblings, and the people who have since died is mesmerizing. Fortunately Becca took the magical machine away with her, so I'm not tempted to sit here by myself all day peering into the past.

On Sunday my sister Lisa visited with her husband, her two boys and their girls. We took a hike around Little Cranberry Lake in the local forestlands (the one with the floating bog islands...very interesting) and came home for another dinner. Lisa's boys and mine are very close in age and in feeling. We have always lived near enough to each other for the kids to play and grow up together. It was truly wonderful to have them all around the table again, although twelve people is my absolutely maximum capacity. 

The table setting was dictated by the numbers. I only have one set of twelve plates, my blue and white Spode reproduction set, and only a couple of undercloths big enough for the extended table. I chose the dark green undercloth and a green and blue printed kantha stitched scarf from my Asian Eye stash. When I got them on the table together I decided to add the turquoise square I just had on the seashell table to lighten it up. The flowers were simple white ones from the grocery store that looked pretty stiff until I added some honeysuckle vines from the yard. I asked permission to photograph the party so, by popular demand, can show the table before and the dinner in progress. The girls were so quick to clear up the dishes afterwards that I couldn't document the mess we left. It was a really good day.

Local exotica

We have a free-range peacock roaming about. No one knows where he came from, but he certainly isn't native. Finding a bird of this magnificence in our scruffy parking area is a little surreal. We have a neighbor that feeds him, but he seems to find what he needs to eat in the wild as well. It is always a surprise to see him poking about, dragging that gorgeous tail through the weeds. He never lets me get very close, so I was glad to see him up by the house where I could get pictures through the glass.

Father's Day cruise

Our sons came up to see their dad on Father's Day and since the grass pollen is intense right now and they are all allergic, we decided to escape the sneezes by going out on the little tour boat that runs through Deception Pass. It was a perfect day for a boat ride and although we cross the bridge over the pass quite often, going under it is a special experience.

On the way out we went through the narrow side, called Canoe Pass, and saw the peregrine falcon nest on the bluffs on the left.

There was some slow meandering in search of seals (many) and then we zoomed out into open water and looked for harbor porpoise (also found).

When we turned back we came close to the little island that sits right in front of our house. It is called Northwest Island because it is at the northwest corner of Deception Pass State Park. It was fun to see the back side, with Sare's Head ( a county park) in the background.

It is pretty hard to see our house, which pleases me, but there it is behind the trees. My parents, coming from the Mohave Desert, always said this was paradise, and I think they were right. I am so glad they were brave enough to leave their families and what they had known to come here so we could grow up amid such beauty.

 

 

Walking to Sare's Head

Yesterday I just couldn't concentrate on anything so I dropped my chores and plans and started walking. Just to the north of us is a county park that includes a high viewpoint called Sare's Head. As the crow flies it is very close to our house, but the terrain is seriously rough and I was looking for mental health, not physical challenge, so I walked up the road and used the proper park entrance.

The first interesting feature looked like a field from the edge, but it was a shallow lake/pond/marsh full of reeds and birds. The trail skirted the pond, allowing glimpses of red-wing blackbirds, herons and ducks amid the cat-tails and emerging water lilies before turning into the woods. This island is granite with a thin layer of vegetation, but in the woods the plants rule. The trees are thick, but the new leaves of spring allowed sunshine to filter through and light up the ferns and moss. It was green and very quiet. Rock outcroppings reared up, with tree roots as big as trunks draping over them. The trail had been newly laid with gravel, which made the walk dry and easy compared to the muddy, rooty scramble it used to be, but it was still steep.  

Quite suddenly, the path opened out onto a wide, high rocky bald; Sare's Head. The view was a sweeping panorama of North Puget Sound on a perfect spring day. Sitting alone on this promontory soaking up the beauty of the world was a true tonic for my wandering spirit.

  

 

Tulip time again

Its hard to believe it has been a year since my sisters and I met in the tulip fields, but here we are again. Spring is a month early this year, and we are at the beginning of the bloom instead of at the end like last year, but the color is as glorious as ever. We also lucked out on the weather again. My mom and sisters drove through pouring rain to get here, where the sun shone generously through the brilliant petals.The intensity of the color is thrilling.

We always go to the display gardens where the bulb growers plant over a quarter of a million bulbs every year, and then take a trek out into the fields to soak up the vistas of flowers, mountains and sky. What a grand way to welcome spring!

 

More family, more fun

This has been a busy week with lots of company. Mike and I have birthdays on consecutive days which often results in a heightened social schedule. My parents came and took us out to dinner, our oldest son Brendan and his girlfriend Michele accompanied us to the beach and the arrival of two of my brothers and my nephew prompted a walk in the woods. It has been so nice to see everyone here and be drug willingly out of our usual patterns. I provided several meals in this time, but in keeping with the "its my birthday and I shouldn't have to work" spirit, made no big dinners and set no special tables. (I did make a birthday cake for Mike and felt it was only right to help him with it, since it was my birthday too.) In between visits I have been dye testing some wool and silk for a natural dye class I will be teaching in June and doing some volunteer graphic design work for Mike's local Kiwanis chapter. I feel pretty good about what I have accomplished, but now I need to return to my own projects...cleaning up and Becky's table. Okay.

An unplanned outing

During their visit this weekend, my son Joel and his girlfriend Becca beguiled Mike and me into taking an impromtu morning ferry ride into the San Juan Islands. We walked on without our car and sailed happily for about an hour through fabulous scenery until we got to the tiny town of Friday Harbor. By our combined efforts we made serious inroads on one of the ferry jigsaw puzzles and the weather was mild enough to allow some outdoor photography. The sun shone beautifully, but the scrim of high clouds gave a brassy, wintery quality to the light and the water was dark and cold. 

Once we arrived in Friday Harbor we had a deliciously non-ordinary breakfast of eggs benedict and wandered aimlessly about the town poking into stores and galleries until the Anacortes ferry pulled up to the dock about two hours later. 

On our return voyage we were lucky enough to sight a small pod of orca at very close range, although my pictures don't do justice to their beauty. All orca have fairly impressive dorsal fins, but there was one in this group that was quite large. It was a delight to see them and to spend a morning amongst the wonders of our home. It is easy to become blind to what is always before you, but somehow a ferry ride brings my gratitude and appreciation for this place sharply into focus. It was also charming to spend time with my family unencumbered by agenda or expectations. A good day.

Tiptoeing through the tulips

My sisters and I made plans to meet in the Skagit Valley to view the tulip fields this week, but when I woke on the day, it was raining. Tulips are ever so much prettier in the sunshine when the light gathers in their colored chalices and makes them glow from within. There are few visual experiences in the natural world that are as intense as a tulip field on a sunny day. Having postponed the trip once already we decided to persevere, and I'm so glad we did.The rain went away and the fields were glorious. Some people turned the remaining puddles into recreational opportunities.

My sisters and I wandered amongst the fields and display gardens soaking up the sunshine and the the color.

There is no better way to welcome spring.

Our cameras got a real workout as we tried to capture what we saw.

It was a wonderful day.

My pretty sisters, Erin and Lisa.

P.S. I'm so glad Typepad is working again. What is to be gained by attacking a blog host? It doesn't make sense to me.

An angry day...inside and outside

Some days just go bad. This morning Mike and I got off to an irritable start and spent the morning alternately sparring and avoiding each other. In an attempt to escape the tension, I undertook a number of errands, including a twenty-five mile drive to the county seat to file some plans for a permit. When I finally got there at 3:15, I was told that permit interviews ended at 3:00 and I must come back again. Furthermore, I was told in a condescending tone that this had been the policy for over two years and I should have known about it. Furious at the inflexibility of county rules and the unfairness of life in general I came home and expressed my outrage to Mike. He said he had been told about the three o'clock deadline earlier in the week, but had forgotten to mention it to me, even though I had explained my plan of action to him as I left. At this point I had to get out. I took the camera and walked down to the rocks. The wind had been rising since my return and now it was truly wild. I grew up here in Puget Sound and when I was young I thought it was a dull backwater where nothing ever happened. Even the waves were small and tame in comparison with the ocean, which in fact I had never seen. Now I have seen the ocean and know what a rare treasure this benign, protected inland sea is, viewed from a larger perspective of the world. This afternoon though it was anything but calm. As I tried to capture pictures of the waves as they struck, I could hardly stand up against the increasing anger of the wind. It was a perfect mirror of my inner turmoil. Feeling the power of the waves and the force of the air pushing against me helped to blow some of my distress away. When I finally turned my back to the sea and climbed the hill to the house, I was ready to talk to Mike about what was going on between us and pour some calming oil on our troubled waters.