Mount Si

Last week we hiked up Mount Si, a little 4000 footer in the foothills of the Cascades. The doorstep to Snoqualmie Pass, which had about a foot or more of snow last weekend. We had cancelled this trip twice already and we were not cancelling again-rain or shine..or snow.

So, we drove out and started here-This is the trailhead.

But the trail looked more like this-

Very beautiful with big trees, ferns, and little waterfalls.

Then we hit climate change-

 

Yep, snow. But at least the dripping stopped when we hit snow level, about 1/2 way up.

The amazing thing was all the people running up and down the trail, and what they were wearing, which was a lot of shorts. Shorts! Even many of the non runners had shorts on. Wow. I had my flannely pants on with long underwear, a turtleneck with a tank liner and a wool sweater under my waterproof shell. Although I did take off the sweater until we hit the top. Still. If I could have taken a picture of some of those shorts I would have.

 

Dave, pushing up the last quarter mile.

And at the top-

I think the views are spectacular-when there are views. There are kind of views-a bit of a teaser I suppose. But even so I thought the walk was worth it and wonderful.

Best of the whole thing, though, was that Julie and I continued our “Knitting in the Wildnerness” series, part 2.

 

Are you kidding me? Imagine how impressed the other hikers, upon cresting the hill, were to see the dedication we had to our craft. Or they just thought we were a wee bit, um, strange. No, knitters cannot be defined. Stay tuned for part 3.

We also had a group shot on the way up. A hiker passed us and offered, and we couldn’t say no.

 

I got a mug shot of Dave.

I was trying to get him to do a regular smile, not so much.

These little birds, I call them Camp Robbers, were waiting for us at the top. Dave (S, not Dave M) said Look out because they’ll dive right at you to get food-and right then one dove right at me to get a taste of my peanut butter sammy.

 

They look so sweet-but not so much.

This one is still looking at my lunch.

And after a quick snack, back down we went, back through the weather in reverse. Until we were back out of the snow and down to bare ground.

Dave (M, not S) said it sure was weird to walk into snow, then be able to walk away from it.

I suppose he’s right, for him. But I’ve always known that secret-that you could go to snow in the winter-AND get away from it. Here, in the PNW.

A little bit of color in the woods.

Actual Conversation between Dave and Me

Actually, there are two conversations. Which is why we should take separate cars when we go anywhere.

Driving to Mt. Si last weekend.

Me: Look, the John Wayne Trail.

Dave: Wow. I did NOT see that coming.

Wha..where….Do you expect to see the John Wayne trail in the mountain passes of Washington? What kind of answer is that? Not as good as this one.

Me: Look at the houses for sale out here in the woods. I would love to retire out here. But then you’d be sort of isolated and it would always be a drive to get anywhere.

Dave: Yeah, like when you had to get to a Dr. appointment, you’d have to get someone to take you. That’s why I am getting a condo at the hospital. I’ll just walk to my appointments.

And he didn’t even formulate that answer. It just came right out. Like maybe he’d already thought it through…a lot.

Please Stop Talking

I don’t feel like I have much to say right now.

I’d like to talk about my itchy stress rash, but really? TMI. Anyone listen to This American Life last week-because they were speaking to me. It was called “The Seven Things You’re Not Supposed to Talk About”. The host of the show, Sarah Koenig, lived by this set of rules imposed by her mother. And when her mother was talking about said rules, it started like this:

Don’t talk about your health. Nobody Cares.

Don’t talk about your period. Nobody Cares.

Don’t talk about your dreams. Nobody Cares.

It wasn’t so much about the topics, but the fact she repeatedly said “Nobody Cares”. Because, as everyone knows who’s been with me for more than 10 minutes, “Nobody Cares” is my favorite saying, seconded only by “I’ve lost interest”

But, if you do choose to talk to me about those topics (and by dreams she meant sleeping dreams, not life dreams-however, you may want to consider not bringing that up to me either) I will likely be thinking “Nobody Cares” and will probably say "I’ve lost interest” after a polite amount of time, say, 3 minutes.

I finished and sent off a quilt last week-

 

This is the back-

I think it might be a little shiny and maybe not the exact match, but the fabric and pattern are about 8 years old. Hard to match that anymore.

We got a load of wood and built the first fire.

And we built a second fire too. It got pretty hot in our little living room.

Tried to get Jack’s reaction to fire but again got photo bombed by Beta’s big face.

But when I went to take a picture of Beta because he wouldn’t leave me alone, well, I guess he doesn’t care either. Plus he hates to be photo’d from his eyeless side. Or perhaps he couldn’t see me taking his picture. Just a thought.

Oh, and we got our pictures from the Gala a few weeks ago-

Seriously, could I look any dumpier. Nice sweater effect. What’s up with the leg pose? God. Maybe I could crop?

Giant faces anyone? Sigh, I look shell shocked. No comment about Dave (because I wasn’t really looking or thinking about him in the picture)

And now? I’ve lost interest.

November

Already. Although I have much of my Christmas done, I still feel like I have  a lot to do to get ready. And it’s two months away.

But the events are commencing. Blane’s birthday is two weeks away. Which means I better get cracking on the packaging of the presents. I have them. I just need to send them. And I have a Ravelry Swap to complete. I have the stuff, just need to send. And a quilt top to finish tonight and send.  There seems to be a common send theme going on here. And I don’t like to feel rushed with my sending.

So, last week was Halloween. That was fun. We had a big party at work with costumes and lots of food.

This would be Lizzie Borden doing a little styling on the zombie

 

LIzzie with Miss Kitty, a Witch, and a Pirate

And Viking Man. I guess there’s lots of the Norwegians up in Ballard. Who knew? 

The food was unsurpassed.

I ate my own lunch as I was sticking to a diet. I was so good sticking to said diet I ate about 5 desserts.

Like who’s passing up the chocolate fountain??? In my defense, I only ate the fruit.

Saturday was wiinnddyyyyyy. I posted my new windblown hair bouffant on Facebook--

Pretty Crazy.

I, however, wasn’t the only person braving the wind. These people braved the rain too. (It didn’t rain the whole time I was out)

Because we can….

I went up to Seattle on Saturday too. Traffic was unusually irritating. The 520 bridge to the East side was closed due to wind, and there were massive power outages north of where I was going. And just the weather itself seemed to confuse drivers. Unknown to the cause of that as weather like this happens every so often here. Maybe like drivers when the first snow falls. Over and over again.

I finally got to my event, Knit Fit, met up with my homies, browsed the market, and had this delicious pumpkin latte….

Almost too pretty to drink. Almost. I also found a nice quilt store tucked away right next to the coffee shop. Sweet.

Sunday was relax in front of football day, after running 9 miles and grooming the dog. You have to love the Soggy Doggy. It makes life so much easier.

And I had a lovely chat with Laura, who remains my blog muse, even though I have no recent picture because of my lack of blogging skillz the last two times I was there. Still, the chat was lovely.

Even the cats were relaxed

Sort of.

Photobomb

 

Lastly, I never posted the deer who was crashing the Halloween event at the elementary school.

 

On my way…….

                           Hey, wait up

That would be life in the city.