Return to Farragut State Park

Wednesday was the first day of fall, and mother nature set aside her cool and damp weather of last week to bless us with a perfect day for hiking. I traveled back to Farragut State Park to take up where I'd left off along Shoreline Trail two weeks ago (see this post). It's looking a bit more like autumn, with these sumacs working on turning red.

Gee, that's a bit of a drive for such a short hike, but I knew I could justify the 30 mile drive by checking out other unexplored parts of the park afterwards, so off I went.

This part of the Shoreline Trail does not hug the shoreline quite like the rest. The stretch to Buttonhook Bay is higher up on the mountainside through more wooded sections, with a few more ups and downs, but still a pretty gentle walk.

Half a mile is normally about a ten minute walk for me, and I was questioning that the bay could be that close. Remember the picture I took from the lagoon showing the point beyond which the bay lies? I thought the trail would go around that point of land, but instead, that point is more like a little island, with the trail coming out to the right of it onto the bay and these public docks. You are looking at the southernmost part of Lake Pend Oreille.

On the highway leading to the Park, there's this sign telling of a former town somewhere near this spot. I'd have to agree that a cruise up the lake would definitely have been more attractive than the overland slog back in those days!

I noted a bridge to the left, over a bit of swampy land between the main trail and that island-like point that turns this bay into a buttonhook. I could see a narrow steep trail taking off around the point and decided I'd check it out on my way back. For now, it was continue on another half mile to the viewpoint.

These two birds had the bay to themselves. Don't know what they are.

Looking at the southernmost shore, I was struck by how green the water was. Well, maybe some of it was due to reflecting the pine trees.

A sudden movement startled me as I made my way between the trees. Ah, just a squirrel, and none too happy at me being there.

Finally, the trail gave up on the shoreline and turned back into the woods and started up. I was hoping for not too much steepness and not for too long but what did I expect? You've got to be up a ways to get a view. After several twists and a look at my watch to see if I'd made a wrong turn or overshot the viewpoint, I faced this incline and thought, "That viewpoint had better be up there and there had better be a bench to sit on!" Surely I'd come the half mile beyond arriving at the bay indicated on the sign back at the start.

Huff, puff...I reached that farthest point I could see when I made my threat and behold! Here was the viewpoint, and yes, there was a bench!

Here's another shot that shows better how the bay wraps around that point in buttonhook fashion. I paused for a bite to eat and to rest before making my way back down. Just a beautiful peaceful place to just be.

And while I watched, I single boat made its way around into the bay, cut its engines and tossed out a line to fish.

On the way down, my eye noticed how very green these pine boughs picked out by the sun looked. So much looks very dry right now, but here in this cool shady spot, they looked quite fresh.

And now back along the shore and looking at what I'd walked through, I was surprised to see so much color and how the reflection looking this direction was so different from. Same deep green waters but now with something sun drenched and fall-like mirrored in them.

Let's take a closer look.

And a bit closer. I'm seeing some tree trunks rippling a bit like the boat masts in the waters at city beach.

Moving to another spot. My poor camera was about to have a nervous breakdown trying to figure out how to focus and deal with the light!

Another section - it was like eating potato chips, I couldn't stop...

And I also couldn't help thinking of Monet and the Impressionists. It is easy to see where the inspiration for the movement might have come from. I'm pondering how I might use these if printed on fabric.

From this spot I could look across at that bit of point and knew I'd leave unsatisfied if I didn't walk its trail too. So I put the camera away and continued on to that bridge that would lead me there.

And this tells me that the bridge has a connection to the Naval Station that once occupied what has since become a State Park. My question is, was the bridge built for this spot or was it repurposed once the Navy left?

I was hoping that after the initial steep climb, the trail would level off as it circled round but boy, was I wrong. It was a real up and down scramble that had me wondering what I was thinking since I'd already taxed myself a bit getting up to the viewpoint. But it was one of those things that once started, it didn't make a lot of sense to turn back and I knew it wasn't very long. And the views were certainly worth it. The only thing that would have made it better - to see a mountain goat scrambling in the rocks across the way. No such luck.

Goodness - did I mention how green the water is down at this end? I just couldn't get over it.

Well, that's it for the Shoreline Trail. I'll share the rest of the park in the next post.

An Update

No hiking this week as the weather returned to cool and rainy. The mushrooms like it though, pushing up through the backyard lawn in a thick clump like I've not seen before.

Nearby a different variety.

And this lone one pushing up through the dirt nearer the house, amusing me with its tuft of grass making it look more like a leek emerging upside down.

The birch I view from the studio is succumbing to the shorter days.

But not without a fight - note the two leaves that are part yellow, part green while others on the same branch remain one or the other.

I'm very much drawn to the richness of these yellow leaves this year, the first streaks against the green a sign of the coming end to a cycle, much like the first streaks of white in our hair as we age.

I puttered more with Masks, finishing the beading on a section, trying to visualize other additions, and experimenting with how I can give this button more presence. I can also see I need to add another round in the "hat" itself but not sure which quilting lines to follow.

So I put another disc from my audio book in the laptop (I'm now into the last book of the 5 book series) and turned to my sketchbooks. The very rough sketch of my Blizzard treat was more easily transformed with watercolor than I'd anticipated. The red and blue in my small travel set were exactly the right shade and it didn't take much mixing to match the little bit of orange on the cup. All that was done with a tiny travel brush without wetting the paper. The shadowing around the outside and along the "surface" the cup is sitting on is diluted Paynes Grey. Ooo I like Paynes Grey a lot! The black outlines and lettering are done with a pigma pen.  I'm encouraged by how enjoyable this process was and a growing sense of understanding how to work with this medium.

And yes, I couldn't leave well enough alone, nor convince myself to spend time re-sketching the steeple, but got out my colored pencils to transform it a bit. I definitely like the way the steeple now stands out from the background and that the roof is now darker. And I am not unhappy with the trees greened up, but this whole matter of foliage is a place where I need to improve. You can compare this version to the original here. 

Published!

Now now, don't get too excited. I'm referring to the beautiful book Sacred Threads has published which includes all the quilts in this year's exhibit. Still, this is the first time I've been included, or rather my quilts, in any kind of book. And I do know artists who choose exhibits to enter based on whether or not they publish an exhibit catalog. It's something they want to be able to put on their resume. Me - not so much. But it's still a thrill.

And I couldn't be more pleased. Look! There's Bubble Prayers featured on the leading page to the section on Grief.

And my quilts are the first one's in that section. It takes away some of my disappointment in not being included in the traveling exhibit. The layout is pleasing and the photos I supplied printed true to color and in focus. I was really sweating that.  It tells me I can trust I'm seeing the rest of the quilts in this book just as they were in the exhibit. And at over 300 pages, I have hours of enjoyment ahead of me as I take in the variety of expressions and read their accompanying stories. If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, just follow this link.

I also sprung for a thumbdrive of the audio tour - why not? I'd recorded a little extra myself and am curious to hear the other artists' voices and the additional things they wanted to share. However, I was really puzzled when I pulled what looked like a credit or gift card from the box. Wondering if my lack of smart phone would mean I'd have no way to play it. I certainly couldn't think of anything I had on hand that might work.

It took me forever to realize that the little black rectangle on the back actually rotates out to be inserted into an SD card drive. Whew! I'm not as technically out of it as I thought.

Thank you letter & picture of antique quilt on my repro version

Although this is my first time to be published in a book, I have been published in a magazine a long time ago. This was back when I was making traditional and repro quilts and collecting antique ones. I was commissioned to make a copy of an antique Forbidden Fruit Tree quilt for an historic building in Wisconsin. Their budget only covered materials; good cause or not, I was not willing to donate all of my time for such a labor-intensive project. It was with great reluctance that the owner of the quilt with whom I was negotiating agreed to let me have the antique quilt as partial payment. Its value was not equal to my labor costs but it meant a great deal to me to add it to my collection. And my name and info about the reproduction got posted along with the quilt.

This really was a major undertaking, figuring out how the original quilt was constructed and making my own pattern sized to their specifications. The block itself is a complicated one and it was a challenge to convert the hand quilted design to machine quilting. I wanted to share all this so I submitted pictures and my story to Traditional Quiltworks magazine, thinking it might make it into the Letters from Readers section. Instead, they wanted to feature it and me along with a pattern. I'm still pretty pleased and proud about that. Look! The antique quilt made it on the cover.

And look again! Both antique and reproduction are shown with the pattern (you better believe it's a three thimble difficulty rating) and a small photo of me! My 15 minutes of fame... Click on the pic and any others for a larger view.

You can't see it in these photos, but looking at this diagram from the magazine pattern instructions, I am reminded of one of the things that made me want to own this quilt and that made reproducing it a challenge: as the magazine states "an extraordinary setting." I'm so happy that this antique quilt also got its 15 minutes of fame. Wonder how many quilters actually gave this a go or at least made a single block as those brave enough to sign up for my class did? It makes a lovely pillow cover - one I still get out each Christmas.

Thanks for suffering through my sharing of my several experiences of 15 minutes of fame. How about you? What brief rise to prominence have you had in you quilting career that makes you beam with pride?

Play Day In The Park

Lake Pend Oreille - Farragut State Park Shoreline Trail

Goodness, I've let the week get away from me. I partially blame it on the sudden change in weather from cool 50's and rain to high 70's and mostly clear skies. Feels like summer has returned and I'm taking advantage of being out in it when I can. As I studied the forecast for the week, Wednesday looked an excellent day to get out hiking on a new trail. Yes, along my beautiful Lake Pend Oreille again.

Top arrow shows my hiking route near home, bottom arrow shows this day's route

But this time, I'm exploring the opposite end of where I live and walk along it, another gem in Northern Idaho - Farragut State Park - a 35 mile drive away. Yes, this lake is huge...and deep as well. Click on the picture for the details. Originally the site of a Naval training base during World War II, it now provides civilian recreation in the form of a museum, camping, numerous hiking trails, beaches and boat launches.

For this maiden adventure, I settled on hiking a portion of Shoreline Trail, because you know how I like my water views, it is rated easy and can be accessed from several different spots. Didn't feel like I could commit to the full 5.6 mile round trip hike but by starting near Beaver Bay Beach, I could keep it to about 3 miles. I headed what felt like north but actually more northeast according to the map, pleased to find the trail actually does hug the shoreline and provides the uneven ground and gentle inclines to give my legs some exercise.

Another reason I picked this trail is because it is one included in the book On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods by Bruce Bjornstad & Eugene Kiver. The guide tells you what features to look for along the way that ties in with the Ice Age activities in this area. I had an excellent junior high school geology teacher who really sparked my interest in the subject, and I always like to know and understand what I am looking at if I can. For instance, the book tells me that these rocks were probably brought here from a nearby limestone quarry to use as riprap to control erosion and are "composed of unusual, zebra-like-striped rocks of Cambrian-age limestone." They certainly caught my eye and would still be puzzling me without my handy guidebook.

Can you say "Shibori" ? That was my first thought!

This is a huge boulder easily 4 ft high, which the book refers to as "granitic glacial erratic." In this shaded spot it is covered with pale bluish-green lichen.

No help in identifying these much smaller rocks. One looking sheered off to expose many lines going every which way like quilting stitches in an abstract piece, the other having a strong lavender hue and a single horizontal white vein - quartz perhaps?

Too late in one season, too early in the next for a great deal of flora excitement. However, I did spot these daisy-like flowers - just these two and no others along the trail - notable for those deep reddish orange centers. There were also a few asters here and there but not much else flowering.

And then there were these big and bright rose hips trying to steal the show!

But then the reminder that autumn will soon arrive in a blaze of a different color.

After about an hour of walking, picture taking and absorbing the peace and beauty of this section of the trail, I arrived at a boat launch. The trail continues out of the frame to the left, I later discovered only another half mile to it's northern trail-head. Had I known I was that close, I might have continued! Instead, I took a break and watched the loading and unloading of a few boats before turning back. Across the way, you can see how steep the mountain is, and along the craggier spots, one might be lucky enough to spot some mountain goats of this variety. Note to self: remember to bring some binoculars next time.

I would have liked a different return route, but then again, you always see something a little different looking the other way. There were several huh-I-didn't-notice-that moments. This is looking back toward the end of the lake and Buttonhook Bay, the mountains losing their steep cragginess.

Near to where I parked and started my trek is a walk-in picnic area, the perfect spot to have a bit of lunch, enjoy the view and read just a bit. Ahhh - so peaceful...

Then rather than return on the upper trail to the parking lot, I followed the Shoreline trail as it skirts below it and around to Beaver Bay Beach. I'm unclear as to whether this is a natural little bay or man-made one, but whichever, its greenish waters were a surprise - like a lagoon on a desert island.

This is a swimming spot, although the beachgoers I'd seen upon my earlier arrival were now gone. I'm not sure I'd want to swim in there though. What's making it so green? Swim they must though, if the building with large changing room, showers and toilets is any indication.

So a little sandy beach on the right and a more substantial thumb of land surrounding the swimming area on the left where big pines gave shade, a lovely wooden bench beckoned, and beyond that point of land just left of center - Buttonhook Bay and the farthest southern reaches of the lake. On my way up to the parking lot, I passed a sign where the Shoreline Trail continued saying it was only half a mile to the bay, a mile to an observation point. It was tempting...but I decided to save it for another day.

Instead, I got back in the car to check out the rest of the park. I saw several groups of deer feeding along the way, none of them the least bit worried about me encroaching on their space. They have learned there is safety from man within the boundaries of the park.

And finally, the last item on my list, to drive out to this observation point for a panoramic view.

And also to see for myself the damage from a forest fire earlier in the summer that threatened the small resort town of Bayview (also site of a US Naval Acoustic Research Detachment where large-scale submarine models are tested) and prompted evacuations of the park. Indeed - I could now see just how close it had come, Bayview being more or less behind and below those trees on the left and at the base of the mostly charred hillside. That hillside is also the site of the aforementioned limestone quarry.

Taken from my front steps - look closely for the faint line of the mountain in the center left

Also from my front steps looking more or less north

The smoke from this fire and the many others in Washington and northern Idaho in August filled our valley with smoke for several weeks, even though the closest fires were not even in range. It became so thick as to register in the extremely hazardous to all people range - particle readings as high as Beijing on its worst day. We'd had some smoky days last year when I was shocked to see how much it was obscuring the mountains near my house. But this year was worse, lasted much longer and gave a feeling of apocalypse. On the worst days the sun shown blood red through the pall. People were warned to stay inside and going on a hike of any kind was totally out of the question. So you can understand my added appreciation for a day like Wednesday and my eagerness to take advantage of it, because of all those terrible smoke-filled days of August.

Not the moon but the sun sinking behind the heavy layer of not clouds but smoke

 

 

Carrots

1 podcast interview and two audiobooks later...

It's a sad state of affairs when I find myself resorting to carrots in order to progress on this beading. Not edible carrots, mind you, but the sort of carrot dangled in front of the recalcitrant donkey to get it to move forward with its load. I'm still unsure why a task once enjoyable to me feels like such a burden to get rolling and one for which I haven't the patience to stick with once I sit down at it. Where did the me go who could get lost for hours in the quiet meditative embrace of handwork?

But that is my reality at the moment so I am looking beyond my usual tricks which fail to work right now. In a moment of equal impatience for sitting through a lengthy podcast (I have things to do besides sit here!), I decided to try combining a session of beading with a session of podcast listening. I wasn't sure it would work as I've noted, to my dismay, that I can no longer do two things at once; I either lose the train of what I am listening to if my hands are engaged or find my hands have stopped moving as I concentrate on what I am listening to. But maybe since the beading did not require decision-making or even close attention, this could work. After all, it is one of the reasons I purchased a laptop to use in the studio, so that I could listen to music or the radio or possibly audio books while working.

It worked amazingly well, the interview being a sort of distraction while the beading making me feel productive. However, I don't have a line-up of podcasts waiting to be listened to (I'm more apt to have short videos to be watched). I thought about audio books, as I have a good friend who does a lot of her sewing while "reading" with her ears. But I wondered if I could truly follow the plot of my usual character heavy and convoluted plotline books without finding that my hands had stopped moving. Or that when I put in the next disc a day or two later, I'd have lost the train of the story line, no way to "flip back" to review.

At this same time, I'd started another book series quite by accident. I did not realize that the free books I'd snagged at the library were the first in a series of five. Wasn't even sure if they would appeal but they looked promising. The first one turned out to be a quick read with an uncomplicated plot and interesting characters I could relate to. Thought provoking but not overly so. And leaving me anxious to continue the story in the next book. Yes, in many ways I'd rather be reading these days than plying my needle. As I checked my library for the 3rd book in the series, the first thing to pop up was an audio version. Hmm - might this be the perfect book to listen to while beading? Five cds, each an hour in length, of a story I couldn't wait to continue - but could only access in the studio when I beaded - yes, it was the carrot I needed to settle me down and keep me beading beyond a few minutes. In fact, there have been times I've beaded beyond the minimum 1 hour cd, if I couldn't wait for the next installment. Or beaded slightly longer after a cd went silent in order to finish a section.

I'm hoping I won't always need a carrot like this, but for the moment, it is doing the trick and killing two birds with one stone. I'm finally making good progress, seeing my vision taking shape. Also breathing a sigh of relief as I finish up the areas those trade beads were earmarked for. I came a little too close for comfort to running out!

All that's left of the 4 strands of trade beads