Things Are Just Wacko

Where it’s usually hot it’s cold; where it’s usually dry it’s wet; where there is typically no snow it’s snowing.  Seems wacko to me (and yes we believe in global warming).   We have been to Anza Borrego several times in February in the past and have always needed to run to Julian to cool off.  And for pie (Julian is the town of pies).  This year if we ran to Julian for pie, we would need chains and we certainly don’t need to cool off.  It is snowing in Julian.  In Anza Borrego it is raining, and has been off and on for the past several weeks.  It is also cold, not getting above the 50’s today.  Through out the region roads are closed from snow and ice or flooding and slides.

Idyllwild, where we spent Christmas this year, is not accessible due to snow.  The Palm Desert Tram is out of business because the road to the tram is washed out.  The campground we enjoy near Palm Desert floods on these rainy days, as you can see from the photos above.  Our campground, here at Anza Borrego, was evacuated last week because of a flash flood in the nearby mountains.   Everywhere we go we see erosion, slides, road closures, puddles, or sometimes lakes, where for years there has been nothing but draught and hot.   We talked to folks yesterday who reported leaving Joshua Tree because it was so cold.  They came here to get warmth but soon realized they would need to travel to Mexico to find any warmth this year.

The beauty of it all is green describes the desert this year.  It is totally green from tip to toe.   Earlier the green looked like grass but now we can see it developing into small wildflower plants, filling all the bare land between the cactus.   The bloom this year will be amazing and it is slowly beginning with the yellows and whites popping first, then progressing to blues and pinks and finally to the hot reds and purples.     I fear we will depart before we get out of the yellow/white stage, which is beautiful but we’re looking for less subtle.   We head home at the end of next week and are planning to take our time visiting with friends and family along the way.   Will the flowers be out by then?  Who knows, things are just wacko. The fields of poppies we saw in the Julian area a few years ago, at exactly this time of the year, are under several inches of snow this year.

Today it rained pretty much non stop.  We grabbed about 30 minutes for a walk, but that was it.  We are presently in the campground that was evacuated last week, so let’s hope they don’t knock on our door in the middle of the night to move us out.  With roads closed and outdoor options slim we did all the rainy day things — reading, needlework, computing, games, napping.  I spent most of my time on needlepoint promising my family at Christmas that they each would receive a needlepoint pillow from me.  One is almost finished and unless we get sidetracked by the sun this weekend, will be completed by the end of the week.   Ed spent much of his time outlining his readings and taking quotes from favorite books.  

Our wet view:

~~~

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

John  Ruskin

Walls and Gates and more Walls

I, at first, thought Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and the other towns in this area, were lovely.  But, they have not passed the test of time.  Not only do I have to be pounded by the stupid trump wall, but this area is all about walls and gates and security and more walls.  What the wealthy haven’t figured out is if they’d stop flaunting their hoarded goods, they would not be so vulnerable to theft and vandalism.  

Any way, the prominent streets are boulevards — four lanes, often with a landscaped median and lined with one wall after another.  At first, I even though the landscaping was lovely.  But that too has failed the test of time.  The plants are uninspired, the maintenance looks like someone took a blowtorch to the gardens, and I’ve never seen so many poorly pruned trees in my life.  I won’t even mention green lawns and water wasting.

Plus everything is sterile.  Few people occupy the sidewalks and bike lanes, and in the stores and on the roads, the friendly quotient is way down.

Boy, oh boy, do I miss Langley — our funky, friendly, beautiful town.  A community that is mostly “real” and a community made up of loving, intelligent, community-minded folks.  And we’re not hiding from the world but opening our arms wide for all people — rich, poor, old, young, black, white, and brown.  We grow fruits and vegetables and beautiful free-flowing gardens.  We honor the sea and its inhabitants and we love the forest and its inhabitants.  Most of us care for one another in ways that are community events, like Hearts & Hammers.  Other times kind acts are hidden from view, but the generosity flows freely.  We have environmental treasurers and people treasurers all coming together to create beauty and community.   I Love Langley!

Here is a sampling of walls and gates and more walls...

                                                                             ~~~

         Living in sterile man-made environments that are disconnected from nature should
                                                      be expected to lead to sickness.

                                                                      Steven Magee

Summer Catch Up

Where have I been?   

Clearly, missing from my Thistleadventure blog for quite a spell.  I have not been in Thistle writing mode for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of health issues.   Plus I was blocked because of password problems, and it took my dear daughter-in-law, Yessi, to figure it out.

As some of you know, but probably not all of you, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in the fall of 2017.  It had metastasized with growths in my liver and lungs and was also showing up, in a more minor ways, in other spots in my intestinal tract.  It was too deep in the liver to remove with surgery or radiation.  So, I’m on the chemotherapy path of hold-it-back to pick up time to live a bit more life.  My energy is way down, the chemo side effects bothersome, but still I’m getting out and about and enjoying life, between treatments.  

This past summer we made a number of small Thistle trips, like Keystone, close to home on Whidbey Island, for one or two nights.  The North Cascades snagged us as well, as did Lake Chelan and the Olympia area.                                            

                                         
                         


Lake Chelan was fun, sharing the trip with friends, very cold, but very beautiful.

                                    

                             

A trip down to the Olympia area for the Senior Olympic Games, saw Ed receiving two gold metals for race walking.

                                                      

At the end of August I decided I didn’t want to give up my past few years of riding the years of my birthday.  So I did it again, cancer or not.  We camped at Keystone on Whidbey Island, and I rode my birth years. This year I took three days, rather than doing the ride in one, and rode on my new e-bike, but still I rode 78 miles, with lots of support from my family and friends, grinning the entire way.    A wonderful birthday celebration!

We also managed to get to Lopez Island to visit friends and enjoy a kayak spin.

Tiny outings, but wonderful to be thistleadventuring once again. My doctors are impressed and not worried about the fatigue I experience after a ride.  

The summer trips will be local this year, grabbing a day here and there between treatments, but home is a glorious place to be too, so it’s a wonderful combo of good options.    

It’s interesting to note the changes in one’s philosophy when hit with the news of inoperable, metastasized cancer.  Suddenly the small things in life are more important and each day takes on a significance not quite recognized when the end of life was less in view.  I’ve had a truly wonderful life, for which I’m grateful.  

Summer is now over, and we really truly are on another thistleadventure.  Stay tuned.  More postings coming from the SW where we are spending the winter.

~~~

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments

Of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at a time of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King

Sent from my iPad

A Clash of Cultures

I suspect we all feel a touch of disquietude from time-to-time.  Something doesn't feel quite right.  Even before any specific issue is identified, an unease is felt.  For us, as we travel, it happens sometimes when we pull into a littered campground or stop for lunch at a park with dirty restrooms.  Other times it is just driving through a town with an unpleasant smell or vacant rundown buildings.  Perhaps it is being thrust unwittingly into a city's homelessness issues.  The question that we must always ask ourself is this:  is it snobbery or legitimate concern or something else?  

Naturally, hunches like this need to be treated with great care because they can be caused by racial or class biases that we have carefully tucked away out of sight, but that can raise their ugly heads if we’re not alert.  Other times we must pay attention because our senses are warning us of a real danger.  Often we will never know if we were right in our retreat, other times we’re delighted we overcame a nervous hunch.  

Last night we camped along the beautiful Carbon River, just outside the NW entrance of Rainier National Park, in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and the dead-end of Highway 165.  It is both beautiful and a tragedy of human bad behavior.  Each camp is littered with beer and pop cans, bottles and lids, flip tabs and cigarette butts.  Pieces of flotsam hiding in the fire pits and on the ground are everywhere, castoff by campers who do not understand the "Pack It In; Pack It Out" rule of mountaineering.  Yessi and I begin to pick up trash as Brad and Ed set up the vehicles for the night’s camp.  Tomorrow we will explore further up the road for the Green Trails  Maps hiking route Brad and Yessi will map in two weeks.

Thistle always provides a safe, clean, dry home

It is just beginning to rain.  The dog is nuts with happiness and keeps trying to get one or the other of us to throw sticks into the river.

He‘s also interested in a little corner of shrubs near our camp.  When we investigate we’re sickened.    PWFs (puffy white flowers) are everywhere — the tell-tale signs of an area being used as a restroom.

A disgusting collection of PWFs

Lots of people are camping and recreating along this road.  We would prefer a less crowded situation, but with rain settling in along with night, this is where we must stay.  With some disgust and much disappointment in my fellow human beings I am filled with sadness and a bit of trepidation    When I turn away from the mess, without taking a step, here is my view in the opposite direction — an open pit toilet and a river side-by-side.

The river and flood plain

Earlier in the day we investigated a forest service road for a camp site, but gave up.  The entire area was being used for ATV’s and target practice.  I’m not, in a broad sense, opposed to either, done with sensitivity, but sensitivity was no where in sight, although piles of litter were.   Each of the shooting range areas was totally trashed with the accumulation of years and years of empty shells, cans, car parts, old targets, bits of plastic and PWFs.  Each of the parking areas for the ATVs was the same.  Without much comment, we drove on, and then out of this sullied area.   

This morning we continue across the river and up into subalpine forest.  It is beautiful.  More shooting ranges, equally trashed, but we pass by quickly as the semi-automatics blast away, putting miles between them and us as fast as we can on this washboard road.  Toward the top we find the trailhead for Summit Lake and the beginning of a 30 mile loop Brad and Yessi will hike and record in two weeks.  We also found a beautiful campsite, and with a little litter removal we left it pristine.  Our conclusion for this site being in better condition is the location of a National Forest Toilet and garbage cans nearby.   The price we pay for not paying the price for maintaining our public lands is huge.  

Coplay Lake

Benton loving stick chasing in Coplay Lake

Brad and Benton exploring the lake's edge

Fran, Benton, Ed & Brad
Somehow Yessi was always our photographer

Sometimes, finding ourselves ill at ease with those around us is the push needed to regroup, reeducate, and readjust our thinking.  Clearly, all of us working harder to bridge economic and cultural chasms is worth striving for.  

~~~

"Snobbery management is as difficult and necessary as anger management."

~  Michael Foley

 Embracing the Ordinary:  Lessons from the Champions of Everyday Life

Racewalking

Tomorrow we have reservations for the Pt. Townsend ferry, to take a leisurely drive down the peninsula to Olympia.  We will camp Friday night at Millersylvania State Park.  Us, and thousands of others, year in and year out, enjoy this park because of the Miller family's generosity.  In 1921 they turned over this 842 acres, including Deep Lake, to the state, with the request that it always be used as a park.  Thank you John Miller family!

Looking up from our camp site.

We even found a beer garden, in a state park.  Such pleasure sitting
 in the shade sipping a cool one.

The lake was being enjoyed by all manner of people and their water toys.

Early the next morning we make our way to North Thurston High School for the Washington State Senior Games.  Ed, a racewalking enthusiast, is ready for competition.   The senior games start at age 50, and have a class for every four years of age, up through 100+.   The oldest competitor this year was George Rowswell.  He is 100 years of age and throws the discus from his wheelchair.  He also lifts 10 to 20 pound weights, 200 times daily.  Grit comes to mind.

For the past three years, training and practicing the proper racewalking techniques have motivated Ed.  He's been to Green Lake racewalking clinics a few times to learn from the masters.  Otherwise he walks here on the island, as well as when we travel, increasing his time all the while perfecting the proper form.

Doing it wrong can be harsh because the judges, after issuing three warnings of rule violations, will disqualify you, and the decision is final.  There is no appeal.  

You've no doubt seen racewalkers.  They look somewhat strange until you become familiar with their gait.   There are two basic racewalking techniques required:

1) Taking steps so that the walker connects with the ground with no visible loss of contact.

This is the difference from racewalking and running.   The heel of the front foot and the toe of the rear foot must be in contact with the ground at the same time. 

 2) The advancing leg must be straight-kneed from the moment of first contact with the ground until in a vertical position.

This is the difference between racewalking and walking. The rule is that the knee is held straight when the heel strikes the ground, and remains straight until it passes under the body. Then the knee bends and swings forward for the next step.

So here's Ed…

Two gold metals!
 (5k and 1500 meter)

~~~

"Setting a goal is not the main thing.  It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."

~ Tom Landry

                                            

Whidbey Island Summer

A summer right here on Whidbey Island, a summer at home, is unfolding…

Too often it seems to have fun, one is expected to be somewhere other than home.  Flying away to far off lands or driving to exotic places is how to explore and find adventure.   Or, so goes the common story line.  Telling a friend you are staying home for the summer too often is met with words of regret.  "Oh, we're sorry, too bad you have nothing planned for your summer vacation." 

Although we love our Thistle adventures, we also love our close to home explorations.   Despite the push-pull between staying put or another Thistle adventure, we don't think it's possible to make a bad decision.   

Our summer at home, with family and friends will be delightful as well as restful.  Our activities somewhat predictable, but predictability can be just the ticket on occasion.  Although we will not refer to our at-home activities as "adventures" we also will not relegate them to the trash heap of boring.  

Family, always a delight, will be high on our list of "time delightfully spent"…

Yessi, Fran, Brad, Ed

Thistle will rest in the driveway, perhaps a little too much, but we will definitely venture out on short outings, even setting our sights on the not-so-distant, but in a foreign land, Vancouver Island.  We also have visions of more deeply exploring Lake Chelan, the North Cascades and hiking on the ocean beaches…

Digging Brad and Yessi's Klepper out of storage and going for a sail sounds perfect…

And, as always, a bunch of riding is on the agenda.  This year we will repeat a past year's island explorations by again riding all the connecting roads on Whidbey Island…   

Each day we will try to be more like our pup, Benton -- enjoying every minute whether sleeping in the garden or romping on the beach.  Dogs are the prefect creatures to teach us to be happily in the moment…

Plus, what could be more beautiful than our summer garden.  Our Airbnb guests think they are in paradise, and so should we…

So yes, a summer at home is what's happening this year.  A summer of slow, lazy, happy days on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest.   And to enhance our at-home enjoyment we have an outdoor bedroom.  Upstairs, in the building housing our office and carport, that we call the barn, is a recently installed Murphy bed high above the garden…

~~~

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration."

~  Ansel Adams

"Gardening is the Best Exercise of All!"

I don't know why I agreed.  A weak moment, perhaps?   It's not as if life is not busy enough with Thistle travels, political involvement,  running an Airbnb and just plain day-to-day life.  But I did hear "yes" come rushing out of my mouth.   I think it might have been my physical therapist's words, newly delivered, "gardening is the best exercise of all.  Keep gardening!"

So here I am, day in and day out, gardening my body into some semblance of fit as I prepare our garden for the Whidbey Island Garden Tour on Saturday, June 17.  As the day draws near,  preparation panic sweeps over me.  I rush to eliminate all weeds, prune all trees and nudge each and every garden corner into a thing I know doesn't exist, but I'm still striving to achieve, perfection.  Ha!  Both my garden and my body resist mightily.

But, despite the work-in-progress nature of a garden, welcome to our Fredley Garden.  Our home and garden are in the city limits of Langley, on Whidbey Island.  We have 1/3 acre of peace and quiet, hidden from neighbors, yet a short walk to town.

This is the front gate, built in our son's wild and playful style. His company, dbBrad, built our home and Brad is our family's creative genius.

First couple of steps through the gate…

A little stroll around the garden…

Our pond…

Please, come again…June 17?

Tickets are now on sale for the tour.  Proceeds from the annual Whidbey Island Garden Tour are donated to selected causes and non-profit organizations that support the improvement, restoration, and maintenance of our common island habitat. Projects that emphasize public space enhancement and education are of particular merit in the eyes of the WIGT Board.

~~~

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk;

happy for a long time, fall in love;

happy forever, take up gardening."

~ Arthur Smith