That's Gneiss! #46 ~ Fungi, fire, and failure
I must admit, it’s a bit depressing to come home from our camping trip. It’s the last trip of the season, and summer is really drawing to a close now. Tomorrow it’s back to the grind of work and whatever.
We did have a great time out in the woods, despite the intermittent rain (which was a bit more than intermittent some days). It was really pretty peaceful. My goal was to relax and read a lot, which I managed nicely. I sent out some postcards, and met up with a friend for a drink at Lake Crescent Lodge. I have no tales of weird or obnoxious camping neighbors. I guess those folks have already retreated to their lairs for winter.
This was probably the most unusual thing we saw. All I could think of was how careful they would have to be with low overpasses. Quite a rig.
The bluff at Dungeness County Park has been eroding away year by year. The first year we camped there the path was complete. Then it wasn’t. Now, nature is making a move on one of the parking areas.
There was one lovely sunset.
And one mushroom.
After three days in Sequim we drove to the west end of Lake Crescent and camped at Fairholme campground. Very different there - moss, ferns, and WET. I didn’t see as much fungi as I had hoped, but there were a few, and some were gigantic! These spread out to at least a foot across when fully open.
Lots of cool polypores on the trees too.
It finally cleared up enough to have a fire, so we burned up all our wood! It was nice to sit outside and read by the fire.
Now, sadly we are home and camping season is over for another year. We’ve got so much going on the next few weeks we won’t be able to squeeze on last trip in, not even to Deception Pass (15 minutes from home). Oh well, it was fun and I’m already looking forward to next year.
Since I was gone I’ve not got much else to share this week. Cutting myself off from FB and Twitter was a nice break. The week ahead looks to be a busy one - I hope I can survive!
See you next week!
Tidbits
Maps! Beautiful maps!
Lesson learned: turning off the wi-fi when you leave for vacation prevents the weather station from uploading data. OOPS
Recently sipped: the Bourbon Baked Apple, a very tasty drink at Lake Crescent Lodge.
Recently read: I consumed several books while on vacation! It was lovely. I finished two I had been working on, Dog Symphony (weird) and Where the Sea Break Its Back (fascinating). Then I plowed through two more, Vox (mostly good and a little too close to home these days) and The Wild Dead (post-apocalyptic mystery, quite satisfying). I thought I was going to run out of books, and we made a visit to Port Book & News to stock up. I started London Fields by Martin Amis, in which all characters are horrible in some way or another and they have excellent names (Keith Talent, Guy Clinch, Nicola Six).
Making: I did do one larger drawing while we were away, along with my daily drawings. I’m starting to get in the mood for a crochet project, and more stamp carving now that the weather isn’t so nice. I’ve got a few malformed zucchini from the garden that will be good for bread, too - uses 3 cups of zucchini!
Question AND Videos of the Week
Each week I ask a question - just hit reply to send your answer if you're so inclined. I'll share your answers next week - anonymously of course!
The chill of fall is in the air - what is your favorite flavor of tea?
Last week I asked about your favorite childhood toy.
Loved my Green Machine. The classic “no steering wheel” 4 wheel peddle cart from the 70’s; which before I was able to ride a bike-took me everywhere.
I remember getting a coveted Crissy doll for Christmas one year. I think I played with it for about a day before I cut the “growable” hair off so it looked like a fountain on top of her head. Here’s the ad, which is exactly as I remembered it.
Just as we were moving from Corpus Christi to a small college town in West Virginia, I received a Kodak camera with flip flash for a birthday present. When our family moved, we did so in epic road trip fashion, a la National Lampoon’s Vacation (warning: salty language). We stopped at every “attraction” along the way. I still have the phots from that trip, and many others taken with that camera. I loved the cute little plastic flash bulb on my mom’s Kodak camera. The commercial was infinitely groovier for hers.
One of my favorite toys was my BigWheel! I rode that thing down the driveway and wore a hole in tire from so much skidding. I can’t help but notice that the girls in the advertisement are watching, and not playing along. Harumph.
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