Life's a Stitch

Days of Swans and Eagles

The  mild, but rainy, NW part of Washington state, is a wintering ground for Bald Eagles and Trumpeter Swans. Despite the weather we've made it a point ourselves, to winter by exploring the small towns of Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties. Our first stop was on an unusually dry and warm day where we saw the sun, eagles and swans.

It reminded me of the time in January, when we lived in Nebraska oh so long ago, when the temperature reached nearly 60 degrees F. We decide to go camping at nearby Waubonsie Sate Park in Iowa. The things you do for your boyfriend.  Stop me if you've heard this story. I guess you can't, so skip it if you have. It seemed like a good idea at the time and on this very blue sky mild day, listening to Judy Collins on cassette tape singing the Rainbow Connection, an actual sun dog type of rainbow appeared in the sky. Come on, how romantic is that? 

Very romantic, until 1:00a.m., when the temperature dropped so drastically, I spent the night with severe shivers. Nothing would warm me up. In fact the next morning we built a roaring campfire that, although huddling close to each other and to the flames, did nothing. After C dropped me off at my house, I took my temperature. It wasn't the weather, but a 104 degree fever that was the source of my misery. 

The funny part, there is a humourous ending to this story, is that when I returned to work after this bout of flu, I noticed that my gait was off.  Turns out I melted the bottoms of one of my wavy soled Famolare shoes while sitting up close and personal to the campfire. Heavens, they're back, those Famolares. Back then they went well with Huk-a-Poo stretchy man tailored shirts and bell bottom jeans. 

That was a digression par excellence.  Back to now, when we actually had a similar January 60 degree day, and the opportunity to explore the abandoned grounds of WA's Northern State Hospital. Now a ghost town, it was a thriving residential community for the mentally ill, from the early 1900's until the deinstitutionalization years of mid 70's. On their farms in the 1930's, the residents and staff produced, over two years, almost 1.5 million pounds of vegetables and 80,000 pounds of berries.

The grounds include five miles of mostly flat hiking trails, abandoned buildings that serve as excellent subjects for painting, and several geocaches, all-in-all a perfect combination.

From down under to the desert

One more post from the past, this one from California, then back to the very rainy Pac NW, where we've sought comfort in cooking....in our...wait for it...Instant Pot. Yes, I've fallen prey to the epidemic of home chefs who have bought this Canadian invention. Did you know it's Canadian? I did the patriotic thing by buying one, but on Black Friday, an American institution. More on that in a later post.

Back to the Coachella Valley. This is expanding from a knitting blog, to cooking, painting, geocaching and travel - all antidotes to life (my blog tagline). Truthfully, retirement has been quite the antidote, allowing time for all the rest (excuse the double entendre).

Cooking: 

M & KC were responsible for Christmas dinner. They have a unique foolproof way of cooking prime rib, the reverse of my standby recipe where you put it in the oven at a very high temperature for 30 minutes then turn it way down for two hours. They cook it ever-so-slowly at a low temperature then brown it up on the grill. I concede, their method works better than mine.

What was Christmas dessert in the desert? Poached pears in blackberry wine with custard sauce. We received a box of Harry & David's pears as a gift from my sister and put them to delicious use:

Painting:

Besides the acorn, I was able to finish two more watercolours during the three weeks of our stay:

Geocaching/travel:

C finally convinced me to ride up that extremely winding road to visit his favourite place: Idyllwild, CA, elevation 5000ft.

They bribed me with geocaching, the most popular one there at the squirrel statue.

I was doubly rewarded by a 70% off sale at the local art store without considering the 40lb  limit for checked luggage on Allegiant, the airline that charges for everything: $2 for water and $16 for carry ons.  We nailed it weight-wise but some had to be left behind for next year.

We flew from the sun, over the snowy mountains and back into the greeny greys of coastal Washington.

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney

Sydney, Australia (as opposed to tiny Sydney, BC, population 11,600) has 4 million people in its boundaries. Although only a third larger than Melbourne, it feels like a crowded place. After docking early in the morning, and locating our hotel for our one night stay, we texted our Aussie friend back home. If you had only one day in Sydney, what would you do? Her answer: take the ferry to Manly Beach. 

The hotel was dead center in the middle of the city and was located next to a demolition site. The din of deconstruction filled all daylight hours so we were quick to take our friend's advice. It turned out that the private high speed ferry was less expensive than the public transport variety, which was slow and required a minimum purchase for a transit card. That was a smart moneymaking scheme for them.

They ferry took us past the Opera House (smaller than I was expecting) and onto quieter, more attractive-to-me parts of the area.

Upon arriving at the Manly Beach ferry terminal, I saw a small horseshoe shaped beach. This is pretty I thought, but wondered what made it so special. I looked down the next street and discovered what we were really looking for, a few blocks away - beautiful huge surfer's paradise Manly Beach.

It was a glorious last day of vacation in Australia. We stopped in the grocery store to pick up a few souvenirs and gifts. I usually go for local spices, but this time it was the failproof Pavlova mix-in-an-egg and for the chocolate lovers in my life, some "Aunt Betty's Oh So Good Chocolate Steamy Puds."

Tomorrow we'll be back on Air New Zealand for our long flight home flying back to our next chapter in the year of drifting aimlessly.

(11-21-17)

Eden - not in the garden of - but beautiful just the same

Eden, Australia is a pretty area with rolling hills and sapphire coloured bays, but was not named for the Biblical garden, but after George Eden, the first earl of Auckland. Outside of Eden we were escorted by dolphins.

We took our only shore excursion of the cruise, as I had wanted an up close and personal experience with the local fauna. People we met on the ship asked us why we wanted to spend money to see kangaroos when all you needed to do was visit a golf course when they are quite common and pesky, similar to the Canada geese and deer of our home courses.

I wanted to see more than roos. My daughter and niece both have had their pictures taken cuddling koalas and for some reason it appealed to me. Turns out that these photos are now outlawed, out of concern for the animal's welfare, in all but two Australian states. I'm OK with that.  So off we went to Potoroo Palace in Marimbula, an animal education sanctuary.

Sure enough there were Kangaroos, very gentle sweet animals when you are hand feeding them and they're not off marauding the golf courses.

And the koalas, still adorable from a couple of feet away.

The rescued three legged spiny echidna was quite entertaining with its wormlike anteater tongue.

There was a good range of birds and animals: potoroos, wallabies, emus, and others we learned about way back when in geography class. It seems like a well run place and was worth the visit. 

Only one more port of call - Sydney, and then it's back to Canada.

 (11-20-17)

Melbourne

If I were to return to Australia, Melbourne would be at the top of my list for go-to places. I generally find a population of over 3 million daunting, but this city had appeal. Then I realized that it has something in common with Vancouver - both are considered in the top three of most liveable cities in the world. I knew it felt familiar. And Canada and Australia are the two happiest countries according to the UN.

Melbourne has an interesting architectural vibe - spanning the range from colonial to ultra contemporary in a way that works. It's a beautiful city with lots of green space and an in-town beach.

The only hitch on our daylong visit was a sudden severe thunderstorm in the middle of a bright 82 degree day. That doesn't capture the scenario at all. Imaging being on the top outside level of a hop on hop off bus in the sunshine and minutes later being pelted with hail amidst the flashes of lightening and roaring thunder. This storm produced flash floods and a lightening strike of one of Melbourne's quaint streetcars, resulting in a couple of passengers missing the ship's departure. We decided not to take our chances and Ubered back to the port with time to spare.

And then, it cleared up as quickly as it arrived, right in time for sunset. Crazy weather that Melbourne has. 

(11-18-17)