I have to wait until at least 10 pm before going to bed, elstwise I’ll just wake up at 4 am. Sooo… now’s the perfect time to catch up on everything that’s happened since, ouch, Wednesday. I am a Bad Blogger, sorry.
Let’s see… Thursday was a bad day, so we’ll skip that entirely. Friday, though, was much better. Industrial-strength pain killers and a full night’s rest set me up to attempt the foolhardy with Mum. We drove out to Mount Hood, along the Columbia Gorge, and spent the day scouting suitable landscapes – for Mum to paint this spring and summer. And, boy, did we find some. Armed with her ancient, but kick@ss, B&W Nokia 35mm, Mum photographed everything that stood still long enough. Me? I just used my digicam to the best of my (admittedly mediocre) ability…
At the Bridal Veil Falls, I was beyond ecstatic to discover an entire grove of Trillium (Trillii?) blossoming, representing the encroaching Spring. I even managed to get a decent shot of one of the open flowers:
Amazing, really. The Bridal Veil was gorgeous, but overrun, so Mum and I sallied onward in search of greater horizons. Along Highway 30, I literally made Mum stop the car, to look at this amazing series of sedimentary rock caves that had been, somehow, turned on their sides.
Being the idiot I am, I immediately set out to climb up the rock face to get a closer look at them…
Which I managed, slipping and sliding on my way up. None of my macro photos turned out well, alas. When I turned to go back down, it became apparent how far (and how steep) the climb had been:
Oops. I did manage to make it down in one piece, but succeeded only by the hair of my teeth and ended up covered in mud and slightly bruised. I’m still feeling the affects today. Next time I’m bring a rope or something. And wearing decent boots. I need to hit REI before I do this again. (Notice that the possibility that this won’t happen again never entered my mind…)
From there we discovered the Oneonta Gorge, which was lovely – and cold. And wet. And slippery. I even managed to not kill myself on the rocks there, either.
(Water-proof hiking boots. That’s what I need.)
Just look at those pink-tipped branches! Color, that’s not grey or green! It’s Spring, Spring, Spring. (Can you totally tell this winter has been too long??)
Anyway… from there we drove up to Mount Hood, which is always an impressive journey. Especially in the late winter (in the mountains) when there’s still a good 5 – 6 feet of snow and a wind-chill factor not to be sneezed at (thank goodness for polar fleece). And, yes, I even managed to slip and fall down on the snow. 3 times in one day – it was a personal record.
But here was the curious thing. The entire damn trip to the mountain, the skies were clear. The moment we started to climb in altitude, clouds started to pour in. Soon, we couldn’t see the summit, or much of anything else, really.
The Weather G-ds were clearly against us. Oh, well. As it grew dark, snow started to fall and we made a quick escape. No way in Hell were we getting trapped up there. The snow turned into pouring rain and then, finally, mist as we entered Portland.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad trip. The weather, for the most part, was beautiful and I spent the majority of the trip in jeans and a sweatshirt. A major improvement over the last few months of shawls and scarves and mittens and caps. Being able to feel my hands is nice. The only problematic result of our expedition was the fact that I managed to batter and bruise myself impressively. I still can’t kneel or handle stairs well, but it’ll pass.
Alas, on Saturday, the cold-wet weather returned. Poor St M. She got in and it was freezing and pouring out (not acceptable March weather, IMHO). We made the best of it, anyway, by hitting Powell’s. I think (hope) she had a good visit. We saw her off tonight, after a trip to the Museum of Contemporary Craft (new exhibits are up!) where we were photographed by the Oregonian (Hashem help us), lunch at the Tea Zone, and a stop at both Knit Purl and Twisted. St M, who works at The Knit Shop in Eugene, ending up taking a bag full of yarn with her. Hehehe.
I am such a bad influence.