Around The Mountain

 I rose early. It was going to be a tall day; a day of renewed friendship, a day of exploration, a day away from the home building job site, a day to celebrate life in the Pacific Northwest. My dried fruit, water bottles and peanut m&m's for the trail were packed in my pack the night before.

I was grateful for the invitation from my longtime friend Ruth and her husband Garry to join them for a day in Mount Rainier National Park. I met Ruth in the summer of 1975 at a National Science Foundation course involving marine biology, oceanography and mathematics held on the Humbolt State campus in Arcadia, California. Ruth and I corresponded over the last 47 years, now mainly on birthdays, but made efforts to visit one another now and again in the course of our lives.

Three adventurers on Mt Rainier for a day

 

Knowing that Ruth and Garry have a daughter living in Seattle, I invited them  earlier in the summer to consider coming to visit me when they are in the Seattle area, once my house 50 miles north of Seattle is finished. Ruth replied that they were going to be in Washington and offered to meet me at the National Park Inn inside the Mt. Rainier National Park. I checked my schedule, no contractors to meet that weekend, so it was a go for me. I checked their location and planned a route the day before. It was a good route.

When I was locking the gate behind me, I audibled into my phone; "Driving directions to National Park Inn, Mount Rainier, Washington." Against my better knowledge and judgement, I followed the directions given to me by my dull-normal phone. If my phone was truly a smart phone, it would have distinguished 'inn' for 'in'. It didn't - my mistake. Result, I came into the Park in the northeast corner and I wanted to be meeting Ruth and Garry in the southwest corner of the park. It is long distance on two-lane mountain roads, one of which was washed out, meaning my navigational no-no was going to take hours from which to recover.

There is limited cell signal around Mt Rainier, but I managed to communicate that I'd made a navigational mistake and it would be a long time before I got to my intended destination to join them. I felt bad about wasting hours of their day waiting for me, I almost just turned around in shame and planned to text them my regrets for getting lost and wish them an enjoyable day to themselves once I got back into civilization with a cell tower. Instead, I tucked my tail between my legs, lowered my head and pressed on in my guilt and was warmly received around 1 PM far from the scheduled 9 AM reunion.

I met Garry for the first time, a dedicated breeder and cultivator of iris species. Ruth and I caught up on families, careers and old memories as I piled into their van and we were off, bound for adventure and sight-seeing on the slopes of Washington's iconic volcano.

Christine Falls, a short hike for our first stop

Upper Christine Falls

Garry drove us to Christine Falls, and we took a short hike across the bridge and descended down the slope to get a great full-faced look at this beautiful cascade.

Lower Christine Falls

We soaked in the beauty and I collected several images on my digital disk before we returned and headed up the mountain for more vantages.

 

Nisqually River rushing down the flanks of Mt Rainier

 

Snow-fed Nisqually River

 One never knows if the mountain will be 'out' from one day to the next. Or for that matter, one never knows if one will have a view of Rainier's peak from one moment to the next. The clouds can cover the mountain for days and then he will show against the blue sky in all of his pristine white mantled glory. 

We lucked out and pulled into a vantage point and got a glimpse of the peak between clouds runs.

 

Snowy whiskers of a wildman against the snowy crown of Mt Rainier

It got to be time to break out the trail snacks for a lunch, Ruth suggested we dine at Reflection Lakes. And so it was done. The peak came in and out of view, the sunshine was bright, the alpine air crisp and the company outstanding.

 

Garry and Ruth enjoy the scenery on the sunny shores of Reflection Lake

Rainier Rises above the crystal waters of Reflection Lake

We parked at the top of Narada Falls, Ruth with a sore knee, was not sure she wished to do the hike down and back up to see the falls at their fullest. But the spirit of adventure prevailed and we all three walked around and over the edge of this magnificent falls.

In the proper spot, when the sun breaks through the clouds, the heavy mist is illuminated with the colors of the rainbow. Ruth was especially pleased at the rainbow spectacle found before us and she declared it was worth the effort to see such a sight. Ruth is a an indulgent fancier of rainbows.

Narada Falls, Mt. Rainier National Park

Rainbow mist at the base of Narada Falls

We concluded our day of excursions with a easy loop interpretive hike across from the National Park Inn where early entrepreneurs and advocates for Mt. Rainier had built primitive mineral baths and tourist accommodations in the 19th Century.

We enjoyed a Sherpa dinner together outside the park before we parted ways. I checked in with sister Sheri for the night in Tumwater, Ruth and Garry had more adventures planned around The Mountain for the morrow.

It was a grand day of reacquainting and sight-seeing - once I overcame and rerouted my phone GPS and landed in the proper place, even if it was beyond the proper time.

Here is to long time friendships and intermittent adventures! 

Enjoy the journey!

Independence Day: High Hopes - Empty Pots

 I enjoy a standing invitation to join by brother-in-law Bob and his wife Ann for a weekly dinner at their La Conner table. One long summer evening Bob says to me, "Mark, you got to get yourself a Washington fishing licenses so we can go out and catch some crabs."

Bob speaks the truth. I want to live the Washington-way and catch crabs and salmon and ling cod and other good and fresh delicacies from the briny depths of Puget Sound. As the first act of an official resident of the State of Washington, I obtain my fishing license using my local Washington address. 

Bob readies his craft to launch from Coronet Bay

 

 

Into the crab waters we sail

My licensed (empty) crab pot

Bob calls me and says that I should come on out for the Fourth of July and we'll go launch his boat from Coronet Bay and pick up the crab pots. The hope is we'll be feasting on Dungeness crab this Independence Day.

Bob navigates using GPS locations marked on his phone toward a 'hole' off the beach of Fidalgo Island where our crab pots have been set. I hold the gaff hook, snagging the buoy. I haul the 100 feet of weighted rope up from the depths, only to be disappointed that we have trapped undersized red rock crab. Not one of the three crab pots has a keeper inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob gives me a boat tour as we sail out under the Deception Pass bridge and then circle back to Coronet Bay. Spending the 4th of July trying to haul in crabs was a new and wonderful activity for the holiday for me.

Deception Pass Bridge from below - I've never seen it from this perspective

 

Bob pilots his boat through the narrow Canoe Passage under Deception Pass Bridge

 

To make things up, Bob grilled and served me a big steak and corn on the cob  and then it was time to take me and the family and his grand kids into La Conner. Between the municipality and the Swinomish Indians on the adjoining reservation, the most spectacular, long-lasting display of roaring, flashing, booming and bursting pyrotechnics filled the night sky in the most impressive show I have ever witnessed.

I love America. 

It was a grand Independence Day.

Little House in the Big Woods - Where the Grass is Greener

Credit to the late humor columnist, Erma Bombeck, who pointed out that 'the grass is always greener over the septic system'. 

Foxgloves

  

Excavator ready to dig the drainfield. 

Looking for optimistic signs of progress and greener grass on this side of my fence; I found such signs in the arrival of the excavating equipment to trench a long, gravity flow line for my drainfield. A big hole for the concrete septic tank and a line that bends around the south end of the house and drops downslope between the [future] garden and [erstwhile] orchard. A design that should serve me well, as we've all known the classic principle since the beginning, that shit runs down hill. 

Daisies grow greener over the septic tank

Diggin' in the daisies and through mid-summer's tall grass, the trench and holes were put into the earth. The plumbing will soon follow. And then can the dream of indoor flush toilets be far behind? 

Ah, civilization.                                                                                                                

Sea of grass on 10 acres to be dug up

Unplumbed house under construction

Trench downslope to drainfield

Little House in the Big Woods - Cabinet Level Decision

 It's what's on the inside that counts.

Superficial conventional wisdom? Or sound advice for the home builder?

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My builder encouraged me to hurry up and get the interior walls painted; he said, "It will be a lot easier to paint your walls before your cabinets are installed, than having to mask off and paint around the wood."

I began to paint the interior myself, saving thousands of dollars. I was then told by my builder that I was painting too slow. But...  but not only is painting a skill (which I can master) but it also involves selecting the right colors. The proper color selection is the difficult part of getting the interior walls ready for the cabinet installation.

I knew I wanted a light blue for the kitchen and dining room, a color that would complement the sense of a marine, water and open sky, feminine space in those rooms on the sunny southern end of the home. I also knew I wanted a light green for the angular, masculine spaces in the living room, to bring in the essence of the surrounding forest, but I also wanted to break up the green walls with an earthen colored accent wall. I was intrigued by the concept of applying an ombre technique to the upstairs studio loft to embrace the colors of the sunrise in this east-facing space.

I ended up spending a couple of days experimenting with the gradational color scheme on the office wall that led up to the studio loft and then I also played with ombre earth colors on my living room accent wall. It took me days and got me scolded for painting too slow, and I may not be totally satisfied yet.

Then it was decision time for colors in the basement bedroom and the upstairs guest room. I was still unsure of the color scheme for the master bedroom. I did finish painting the walls that I needed to paint ahead of the cabinet installation painted in time. But, the stinging remark of 'painting too slow' lingers on as a mark upon my artistic soul. Yeah - If I painted everything in a monochrome beige I'd be done. But I will ever going back to become Mr. Beige. As my paint vendor remarked as I kept ordering a varied spectrum of paint colors for him to mix, "This house is going to me a work of art." Yes, yes it is.

Earthen-tones on living room accent wall.

    

Ombre wall on office staircase; evoking the Pacific Northwest fog lifting from the morning sky.

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It has taken ten, long months to get to this point while building our house. It has been a slog to get all of the exterior items in place before I could finally begin to consider the interior colors and accoutrements of the living space - the things that really matter. Yes, the walls were framed, low-maintenance design elements of a metal roof and durable cement board siding have gone into place. All needful things for the home; but my interests have always been focused on the living space inside. It is what's on the inside that matters, right?

Cabinets were ordered once I had the walls erected and floors nailed down in January. The custom cabinet rep came out and discussed my wants and desires and measured the dimensions for where the crafted woodwork would be installed. The shop drew up the plans, I approved and then I waited until July to take delivery.  

We will have alder throughout the house, with oak being the exception for the cabinets in the mudroom and my basement wine lattice.

Alder kitchen cabinets

Back of kitchen pantry & counter top

Looking across kitchen cabinets into dining room

View from kitchen center out dining room portal

Display cabinet in foyer for our mineral collection

Foyer entry way cabinets

Master bath cabinets

Guest bath cabinets

Mudroom oak cabinets & coat rack

Mudroom utility basin sink & cabinets

Basement kitchenette

Basement bathroom cabinets

Luxury soaker tub in basement bedroom bath

Oak wine lattice on landing downstairs from kitchen pantry

The father and son installation team told me I had a lot of cabinets for a house this size - which I think is a good thing. They were also pleased to be installing cabinets in a 'new build', being rather tired of doing the more difficult work of fitting the pieces into a remodel-job.

When the installation was finished after a couple of days, I had the tangible sense that good progress had been made in transforming the vacant interior into a pleasant, livable home for me and my wife. 

I love using wood and glass to surround me. I love what I am creating out on The Pilchuck. It has a good feel.