The Ocean, some Punch, and Shells in Stone

On President’s Day, we were invited by Ivan and Terry to spend the night at a timeshare condo in Depoe Bay, OR. We had a great time there. We left early Monday morning, and came home Tuesday afternoon.

We met up with my dad in Lincoln City. While waiting I took the opportunity to look at the the “world’s shortest river.” This is the D River. Depending who you talk to, this river is about 400 ft. long, or 120 ft. at high tide. However you measure it, the picture below is taken from the middle and you can see both ends (the tide was low).

This is the mouth of the D River:

After meeting up, we headed south to Otter Rock and Devil’s Punch Bowl view point. This is a place I really like and remember coming here several times when I was kid. The Punch Bowl is a large hole in the cliffs carved by the elements and erosion. I like it because there are some sea arches where the waves crash through.

The weather lately had been wintery, but this day on the beach was very nice. There was beautiful sun and only one phantom rain cloud (well, something rained on us for several minutes). It was also a wonderful temperature: mid-40’s. The sun made the water all kinds of colors.

We then went to the beach just south of Devil’s Punch Bowl, called Beverly Beach. We like this beach because it is usually empty of people and fossils are easily found there.

Ruth is enjoyed the warm February day and the cliffs by the beach.

Here are some close-ups of the fossils. Recent storms had taken off many layers of earth and lots of fossils were visible (all the white dots). The fossils here mostly consist of clams and mussels, with other shells mixed in. There were even impressions of much larger shells that had crumbled away, like the one in the bottom right.

Here are the four of us on the beach. This picture attempt went better than the one where the wave snuck up on us.

Dinner was a delicious stop at Mo’s:

Ruth and I then took a nice stroll in Depoe Bay and got some taffy. The city sits on some nice cliffs and rocks and has the world’s smallest harbor.

This was the view behind the place we stayed. Though it was cold, it was fun to watch the waves on the rocks.

And this was only the first day…

Riding on Skis

Last Wednesday, I went skiing with my dad and Terry. This was my Christmas gift from them, and it was wonderful. The weather and conditions were beautiful and made for possibly one of my best days of skiing ever.

This picture was taken as we were getting ready to leave the car, before we were tired. We went to Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort.

To give you an idea how it was, here is a comparison from summer to winter. On the right is Mt. Hood in August of 2009, and on the left is the day we went.

This was Terry’s second time skiing, so she decided to take a lesson (she did not the first time). They have this fun little tunnel thing with a moving walkway in it that takes you to the top of a very gentle slope to help beginners, so we gave it a go. I felt like we were in a carwash.

Part of the reason it was such a good day was the breathtaking views we had of the mountain. Here are just a few shots from various spots. Remember it is about 27 degrees out.

Here is Dad on the slopes:

The snow looks so soft:

Look at Dad go. Thank you for the wonderful trip.

Recent Craftiness

Just a few pictures of projects I’ve been working on recently.

Baby booties. If these booties look familiar to you it may be because I sent you a pair. I am a dog of few tricks where knitting is concerned. These two ended up two slightly different sizes, but overall I was pretty pleased.

Measuring out fabric for a baby sling. I decided I wanted to make a baby sling and made a half-size one a few weeks ago. I made all the mistakes on that one so I wouldn’t have to make any on this one. I am moderately pleased with the result: Yes, I am modeling my sling with a stuffed elephant in it. The baby (at least in the beginning) will be smaller, and so I’m hoping will fit better. The sling feels a bit long and so I may end up shortening it (but that’s WAY easier than trying to make it longer). And it also feels a bit flopsy, like I need to have ties to keep the sling in a shut-ish position… I’ll have to try it with a real infant before I make any real changes, though.

Sunshine, a Fort, and a Volcano

Hello from Vancouver,

Last Wednesday we were out grocery shopping and saw that the sky was quite clear and that Mt. Hood was very nice looking. But since a parking lot usually is not a good viewing of a mountain, I decided to take a stroll around Fort Vancouver. These are some of the shots I got, all of them have Mt. Hood in the distance. The sun was setting ever lower and I was finishing up just as the light went.

This is a place I like to go, since this our local historic area.

These are trellises in the Fort’s garden:

I like to think of this as a view as something that could have been observed 180 years ago:

The Fort’s Bastion and apple orchard:

Mt. Hood is a very nice looking mountain.

Hope everyone is doing well and making life an adventure…

Felting Good!

I had a new knitting experience. Mom got me some yarn, needles, and a pattern (Thanks, Mom!) and I knitted a purse. Due to some counting problems (I can count. I promise.) the increases did not match up to where the straps ended up. So when I finished knitting this is what I ended up with…

        

The first picture has the bag aligned to the increases (where the bottom of the bag says is front). The second picture lines up the straps and tells the increases to lay off!

Because we don’t have a washing machine, I decided to try felting “by hand.” It took 40 minutes of using the potato masher in hothot water (and the purse smelled like a wet dog) but it turned out very nicely. Once the yarn tightens up, you can push it around and make it do what you want, so the discrepancies that existed in the pre-felted project were not a problem any more.

I’m now in the market for a pretty button or pin to decorate the flap. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

We Are Happy in New Year Part II

On my parents last full day in Washington we made them go to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. We hope they’re not sorry.

Before going into the Refuge, we stopped at this very large tree to ogle at it (which is in someone’s front yard in Ridgefield). We think it is a cedar.

In the refuge there were many muskrats, more than we had ever seen on previous trips. By the end of the drive we’d say , “there is another muskrat…” They are pretty cute, though.

This blue heron had no qualms about letting us drive right up next to him and take his picture.

In the winter, trumpeter swans will migrate through the refuge. Here they are standing on part of the frozen wetlands. They had pretty black feet and would bob their heads up and down.

On the path to the duck blind where we learned where the swans were. And Rosanne had fun examining the lichens and mosses.

Dad wanted to know if we’d see any animals on this animal tour.

And here we are back in Vancouver at the riverfront park with the I-5 bridge behind us. Mom and Dad left early the next morning. Thanks for staying with us and helping us have fun times! We love you, family!