shrooms

The morning started with waffles.  Waffles are a good way to start the morning.

This was followed by mushrooms, which is a good way to continue the day.

It finished with s'mores, which is an excellent way to finish.

pumpkins, owls and skinny owls

Eugene, OR, has a totally cool Saturday Market. It's kind of like Davis' Whole Earth Festival, except it's apparently pretty much every weekend, and it's a whole heck of a lot bigger. There is a farmer's market associated with it as well. I recognized more than one booth at the Saturday Market from the WEF, in fact.

owls, marshmallows and a capella

My friend works at the Portland Audubon's rehab center, so I spent the morning with her, seeing the birds they have at their center.  I got to see some neat animals - among other things, a saw whet owl, a flammulated owl, some Canada geese wandering around the treatment room, a brush rabbit.

fog and leaves

I woke up in the morning, and took a peek out my window - the Space Needle was beautifully visible.  I went to take a shower, intending to take some pictures once I was out... and it was foggy.  Over the next hour or two, the fog shifted and the Needle was visible on and off.

water still comes from the sky

I chose to take the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen to the mainland, rather than the same ferry I took coming in (Victoria to Port Angeles, WA) for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it appears that Seattle (my next stop) is on the other side of some random water from Port Angeles, which seems to involve another ferry or something.

fish, tea, and checkers

Brady's Fish and Chips provided our lunch today, which we shared with my cousin near the water. It was very tasty - not too much batter (a common failing of fish and chips), plenty of chips, still hot and crunchy by the time we got to our lunch spot. After lunch (and delivering my cousin back to work), my aunt and I walked along the water near downtown Victoria.

plastic and salmon

After a waffle breakfast (homemade waffles + whipped cream + strawberries + blueberries + bananas = happiness), my aunt and I spent a bit of time helping my cousin, who is in the process of renovating the kitchen of his (and his wife's) newly purchased home.  They've gutted the kitchen, and taken it down to studs.  He wanted a little help with getting the plastic up prior to the drywall going up, so we helped.  Apparently, being tall is occasionally useful - he was able to staple the plastic to the ceiling without needing a stool of any kind.  The dog helped by trying her darnedest to get us to play with her.

fudge

One of my cousins lives in Nanaimo (home of the Nanaimo bar), which is about an hour's drive north of Victoria, where my aunt and grandparents live. We got going in late morning, and made our way up island. We had brunch at the Longwood Brewpub, which was wonderful. It involved a buffet with lots of tasty food, and far too much dessert. :-)

water comes from the sky

So driving through Oregon and Washington isn't very exciting, though it takes a while.  It turns out that you're not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon.  That was a little weird.  The internets tells me that apparently, the general public can't be trusted to pump their own gas (even though 48 other states think it's ok... it seems New Jersey has a similar law).  It was a bit odd.  I'll just have to try to avoid getting gas in Oregon on the way back.  At least it's not any more expensive than it is anywhere else.

travelling pumpkin

Shiny phone

This morning, I went to the pumpkin patch with a small child.  We found him a pumpkin, though he was much more interested in holding my phone.

Preparing for travel (don't worry, it was not on the dashboard while driving)

Then we got back to my friend's house, and I acquired a travelling companion in the shape of a pie pumpkin, grown by my friend.

road trip

I am driving to visit my grandparents in Victoria, Canada. I decided to drive because I have friends along the way.

This morning, after many delays that involved not having cleaned sufficiently and not having packed prior to this morning (the planned departure date), I finally got on the road.

cotton musings

I have been knitting an inordinate number of dishcloths recently. This means that periodically, I'll do pictures of too many dishcloths :-) Boring post, but hey, it gives me something to put here :P

monkeying around

A few days ago, I finished my Monkey Socks.  They were quite fun to make, and I rather like the way the colors worked out.  These happen to be the socks I wore while sailing - and while my feet and legs got damp, my feet were never cold, so I consider them to be a triumph.  These are the same socks I was working on in the post about heels.

Perry helped.

sailing

Crowds on Pier 39

Yesterday, my father and I had an opportunity to go sailing out on San Francisco Bay on a catamaran.  The group we were with had arranged for the sunset tour - and it was spectacular.

rain

With the advent of the rainy season comes hot chocolate and blankets.  It's easy to make hot chocolate without resorting to overly sweetened instant packets.

blocks and turns

Tube pre-turn (i.e., the leg of the sock)

The heel turn is one of the niftiest parts of a sock.

The outside of the heel turn

A sock is essentially two tubes that go around a corner with one end closed off.  The tricky part, when knitting a sock, is how to get around that corner.

hawk trapping

 Falconry* is the art of working with a bird of prey (an animal that does not necessarily want to work with you) to go hunting.

In order to do this, you need a bird.

There are two common ways to acquire a bird - buy one, or trap one.