Fall Photo Adventure

This past weekend was a "Fall Photo Adventure" with 3 very good photographer friends that came to visit Grand Portage for a couple of days. My good friend Roger was accompanied by his brother Ralph from California, and Jake (Gary Jacobson) joined us from the Twin Cities. We had loads of fun, not nearly enough sleep and came away with more great shots than we can count! The fall colors this year have been incredible and their visit on this weekend couldn't have been timed more perfectly for the peak color. If you'd like to check out some of their photographs, here are their websites:
Roger Nordstrom: http://www.rogernordstromphoto.com/
Ralph Nordstrom: http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/
Gary "Jake" Jacobson: http://www.frozenshutter.com/

Above: Jake: "Some people hunt with a rifle, I hunt with a Canon."

Above: Roger capturing the view of the Pigeon River valley

Above: Ralph and Jake enjoying a roadside lunch

Above: The whole crew on one of the local fire towers. From left to right: Me (Travis Novitsky!), Gary "Jake" Jacobson, Ralph Nordstrom, Roger Nordstrom.

Above: Jake shooting the waterfall

Above: Jake and Ralph figuring out their next shots

Above: On Friday night we were doing some star shooting and were treated to a nice surprise showing of the Northern Lights!

Above: Roger is always looking for unique angles

Above: Photographers all in a row!

Above: The guys posing with their cameras

Above: Ralph photographing fall color reflections

Above: Jake takes in the view at Esther Lake

Above: Jake and Ralph shooting along the shoreline of a beautiful Northwoods lake!

Jurassic Way 2 - Chipping Warden - Charwelton

With Marta. A bright sunny day - begun by scraping ice from windscreen. Ideal walking conditions, especially with base layer to keep me warm. Underfoot generally fine - some mud, wet grass. Between 8 and 9 miles.

Photo taken when we arrived here on Oct 2 (yup - rain on lens :-( )

We set off from Chipping Warden, where we finished JW1 on 7th October . We took the road towards Culworth, ignored the first footpath sign, but took the second path, about quarter of a mile along the road, left on a metalled track. Not marked as Jurassic Way - do they mean to test our map-reading?





We followed this track round to the right, through a small wood, crossed a couple of fields and a minor road, and climbed up to around 500 feet, stopping to admire the view behind us.

Looking south going up hill towards Warden House Farm. There's still a trace of the fog I drove through near W. Haddon!

We'd built in a bit of exploration time, so turned to investigate the Cool Contours arts centre, part of the farm. Although nothing was happening today, we rather liked the wooden pigs.

After this we returned to our route, which took us through some trees and past a large pond in a dip below the farm.





Then, gradually downhill, making sure we took the left-hand path over a small hill, where the Macmillan Way goes right.





Then we walked across a small stream and on until we met another road, where we turned right, and ignored footpath signs until we saw a Jurassic Way sign at a right turn into the hamlet of West Farndon. The path starts by a row of stone cottages, turning left across a couple of fields, before crossing another minor road.





With a little imagination, I could have been in Provence? Replace poplar with cypress, let the sky deepen its blue. . .

Lookin down from the old railway bridge

We had no problems following the path as it took us over a disused railway line and towards a farm track, where we made use of a roller for a snack stop.

A short walk from here and we were at Woodford Halse, which has a variety of shops - we called in at the Fleur-de-Lys pub, but they don't do food. They recommended the Tea Station, a small friendly cafe, so we had lunch there, rather soon after our snack stop!





We left Woodford Halse by the path at the bottom of the hill, crossed the road and walked past the industrial estate, turning right just before a radio mast, along a track which eventually turns up to Charwelton Lodge, up on a hill. At that point we continued ahead, alongside a hedge, then over another dismantled railway.









The path took us past spoil from railway construction, the deserted mediaeval village of Charwelton, and its fishponds to Holy Trinity Church and the nearby farm.







Across a field or two, we joined a lane then took a small footpath through a field of calves/small cows, then one with goats and horses, and emerged next to Charwelton's packhorse bridge over the infant Cherwell - probably 15th century. It's very small, and the road hides part of it.









A wise observer approves our achievement.

A Gift

I'm making a romper for Bauer, my youngest grandson, for Christmas.  I haven't sewn anything for him since he's been born.  Laurel's three boys have worn all the clothes I made for my three boys.  They had daygowns, button-on suits, John John suits, and much more.  They were all smocked or French handsewn.  I saved them all and passed them along when my grandsons came along.  
Therefore, there was no need to sew for them.  But I wanted them all to have one special outfit made just for them by me.  So this is going to be Bauer's.  
The smocked toy soldier insert and collar used to be part of a plaid button-on shirt I made for my boys.  Over time, the buttons up the back were ripped out of their holes which made the shirt useless.  So I salvaged what I could and saved the pieces for such a time as this.  
The black and white gingham lining is made from a pair of curtains I saved from the trash heap at one of Laurel's former houses they were restoring.  I knew they would be useful someday!
I tried the unfinished romper on Bauer today to see how it would fit.  It fits perfectly, which isn't a good thing.  He'll outgrow it in a month!  So, I'll have to add some extensions to the crotch area.  I'll have to finish it tomorrow as well as begin cooking for the twenty-two people coming over on Christmas Day.  Oh, and Mallory's present (my future daughter-in-law) isn't finished yet either.  And Darcie's got a giggly eight year old BBF spending the night.  Ain't life fun?

Follow Us … to Alaska

4 September

We go away on vacation and come back to four followers. Thank you for joining us on our “Phaeton Journeys.”

I wish I had some exciting trip in our condo on wheels with which to regale you. Alas, I do not.

As great as the weather forecast is for this weekend, we would like to be in a campground somewhere, enjoying the Phaeton right now. Having just returned from a two-week trip to Alaska a week ago, however, it seemed like a better idea to stick around home and tackle chores. (OK, OK … we did try to go away, but all the campgrounds within a reasonable distance were already booked … sigh.)

So, while I’m doing chores like laundry, ironing, and cleaning at home (and yes, blogging too), Mui’s at the storage facility, giving the Phaeton a good wash and wax so it will look great when we take it out for a spin next weekend.

Got to keep the rig looking shiny clean.
[taken with the blackberry]

Mui does a gleaming good job!
[taken with the blackberry]

A portion of the top of the rig showing the skylight over the shower,
the TV antenna, the two Fantastic fans in the lav area, and one of the two
A/C units. The other A/C and the DirecTV satellite dish are forward of this area.
[taken with the blackberry]

I mentioned that we were in Alaska just a week ago. It wasn’t a Phaeton Journey; that’s simply going to have to wait until we're retired. It was a great trip nonetheless. Here’s a teaser photo …

Yummmmmy!

If this image whets your appetite, hop on over to Two to Travel, our non-RV travel blog, and follow along. You can start with this post. I had no time to blog while we were traveling, so you have plenty of time to catch up to our adventure as I write all about it. (All of the posts will show up in the August archive where they belong.)

Avy Activity from Last Week

Last week was quite the occasion for avalanches. The pictures below are of some crowns that are still visible from activities on February 21 and 22. Good visibility yesterday allowed full views of the crowns. There was widespread avalanche activity elsewhere on the mountain as well as in the Tatoosh but many of the crowns have been altered by erosion.
Just below Panorama Point. The alternate/winter route experienced some activity.
Taken from the saddle of the Edith Creek Drainage below Panorama Point. Most of the upper Edith Basin is now covered by avalanche debris.

Another view from the saddle looking down at Mazama Ridge. Debris from slides off Mazama Ridge also swept the Paradise Valley road in several places.I hope your Monday was as good as mine. The forecasted 6-9" of new snow for tonight has started.

Solidly Summer

It was pretty late last night as I put away the garden fork and picked up the hand tools, trying to find them all with the light fading fast. There was a flash, and another, and another as the fireflies lit their lamps. I was tempted to try to catch a few and see whether my camera could focus on them, but decided that such treatment of these small sweet visitors would serve no purpose but to ‘feed the blog’. So they flitted unmolested and I watched them and was happy to live where they live.
We called them lighting bugs when I was a kid, and they were around every summer in Illinois. When we moved to our first Austin house, for five years I saw no fireflies. Was it the rocky terrain? Drier weather? Whatever the reason, May has brought us fireflies in the three springs we've lived at this house, and their appearance also confirms that we have crossed the line from Spring to Summer. The butterfly plants that were mere buds in the last post have opened and the garden is alive with bees and butterflies. Buddleja “Black Knight” has exploded in dark, blue violet wands, with the Achillea Moonshine adding golden landing pads for insects. The Verbena bonariensis is able to pull passing butterflies right out of the air – do any of you grow this plant? Philo took this photo of a swallowtail seeming to caress the flower.
This verbena was an annual in the north, but once you got it going, it almost always reseeded, even after below zero winters. Here it acts like a short-lived perennial, tall and bony in nature, useful for the edges of the border, where it acts as what Allen Lacy used to call a ‘scrim’ plant – a see-through curtain, softening the view and adding to the drama. The seeds tend to sprout at the edges of the bed, so as old plants die and new ones grow to blooming size, the curtain moves to work its effect on different scenes of the garden’s stage.With no satin pillow for the first tomato, I looked around for something special enough. This rosewood platter was made by my daughter in wood shop a few years ago. At that time, the philosophy of the middle schools was that every person should know how to do basic things – so all the students, both boys and girls, learned how to do some cooking and some sewing. Everyone took shop, everyone had some personal finance instruction and all students got basic consumer education. This little platter wasn’t a regular project – my daughter loved woodshop so much that the teacher allowed let her make this as an extra treat, and let her choose from a cache of small pieces of unusual wood. I loved it from the minute she brought it home, and could think of nothing finer as a salver for the Juliets. They tasted just fine! And the Early Girl might be ready tomorrow.The Salvia guaranitica seen in the last post has opened more flowers, and on the opposite end of the bed, the Salvia guaranitica cultivar called ‘Black and Blue’ is now open, too, ready for bees and hummingbirds. The flowers are very similar, but this one has dark stems and the calyx is very close to black
Some of you in cooler climates are planning to grow Salvia guaranitica as an annual - I wish you lots of luck and hope you get to see these Salvias yourselves. Down here they grow so well they take over whole beds, needing to be pulled up like weeds before they smother their neighbors.
There’s another flower looming over us – the Pecan trees are in flower, too. The female flowers grow on spikes that emerge from the ends of some branches, but the male flowers hang down like this, in long trailing bunches, wafting pollen in the wind like cheerleaders shaking their pompons. Soon the long strands will turn yellowish-brown and drop off by the hundreds, covering the area under the trees and inducing allergy headaches in the gardener who is trying to clean them up.
Congratulations and many thanks to Pam from Digging, who wrote a very cool story about the Austin Garden Bloggers. Some photos were taken the day we had our Ground Robin and they appeared in the paper, along with Pam’s article which was printed in the Austin American Statesman last Saturday. We promised not to say anything before the article came out in print, but now we can proclaim it – you’re wonderful!