Happy Valentine’s Day!

A bouquet from my honey.

~~~ 

Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.

Katharine Lee Bates

Ojai Beckons

A few days after my last treatment, we headed for Ojai to visit with Skip and Sheila.  What a lovely break from the desert and a wonderful visit with friends.  The driveway of Skip and Sheila is flat and perfect for Thistle.  It’s almost as if we have our own condo-in-a-driveway getaway.

Ed and I spent several mornings walking to town for coffee and a pastry plus exploration.  Ojai is a charming small town, situated in a valley and surrounded by mountains.  Idealyic, might be the right word.  Of course, I have a special feeling for Ojai, because I lived here as a kid.  My memories are fond ones, and I cherish my childhood experiences of running pretty wild exploring the nooks and crannies of my east valley neighborhood.  But Ojai is not just fond childhood memories.  It is also  the welcome we receive and the outstanding hosting poured forth by Skip and Sheila.

Going back in time is always so very interesting.  What we remember and what we don’t, with the memories helped out by the trauma or attention a certain activity generated.  I remember getting in serious trouble a few times.  Once when I borrowed a horse from Thatcher School, but my mom insisted I stole the horse and I was forbidden to ever again  go to Thatcher Scool.  I also received quite a lot of attention when I helped my Dad (who was at work)  burn trash.  The fire escaped it’s container, almost scaring my mom to death.  My sister, mom and I carried buckets of water to put it out, fortunately succeeding as Ojai is a wildfire waiting to happen.  My punishment was to sit all day (which is really, really hard for a five year old) at the scene of the crime to make sure it didn’t flare up again.  And then there was the time I walked to the main road to meet my sister coming home from school but instead went home with another friend who came by.  Getting home late, I found my parents fit to be tied, waiting with both worry and anger clearly displayed on their faces.  Isolation in my room for this one.

Small towns were like this back in my childhood.  Lots and lots of roaming freedom, but the rules  were not to be broken.  We needed to be back home for meals, and on time.  We needed to tell our parents where we were going and when we’d be home.    And, as I found out we were not to steal horses or start fires or wander away with a friend.

Anyway, my memories are fond memories and our visit with Skip and Sheila was wonderful and got even better when Sharon and Charlie joined us, adding to my warm and fuzzy feelings about Ojai.

Look how green the hills are.

Riding the orange groves splendid...

Hiking the hills beautiful...

Visiting with friends devine...

And then, there’s silly Ed...

~~~

Never stop screaming, playing and laughing,

 it’s part of our childhood which will always be with us.

Romina Noriega

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

Life is a Dance

Our last night on the road we camped at Dungeness Recreation Area, where Clallam County provides 66 beautiful camping sites right next to Dungeness Spit.  The spit is walking paradise, plus there are other walking trails and equestrian trails throughout the park.

Both Ed and I were astonished when we compared notes and discovered neither of us had walked the spit.    Five and one-half miles of narrow spit beach walking, with unlimited views, culminating at a light house.  We did not walk the entire eleven mile round trip because tide and dog issues forced us into restraint, plus provided me with a good foil against needing to blame my ankle.   And then there was the threatening rain.

Clallam County camping opportunities are vast.  They have about 16 county campgrounds so for camping close to home, head for the peninsula.  

Ed and I did our usual turn into homing pigeons once we finished our hike on the Dungeness Spit.  Although we thought we'd stay another night or two exploring the peninsula, instead we headed for home.  Before hiking the spit, we visited the Elwha Dam visitor's kiosk (dam removal recovery is impressive), walked the beach at Salt Creek Campground, camped one night at Dungeness Recreation Area, then hiked the spit the following morning.   But our hearts had already returned to Whidbey Island.  By mid day we were on the ferry to Whidbey.  By 7:00 we were enjoying dinner with our kids, Brad and Yessi.

~~~

"Life is a dance between making it happen and letting it happen."

~Arianna Huffington