Most of our Christmases are spent with our friends, a couple who live nearby, where we eat together, exchange gifts, and spend the day talking and playing with the dog. This year one of the gifts from our friend was this kit to make a model- a miniature bookstore in great detail.
Read more2024 is Here!
Cory and I kicked off 2024 with our traditional hike up Multnomah. This time we did it for sunset.
Hello all! I hope your 2024 is off to a good start. Let’s catch up!
Each year Cory and I have a goal of going on 100 hikes. Last year I went on 107, and Cory on 102. So far as of today January 8th, we have gone on 6! We might go out tonight for one yet, but I’m a bit unsure of our plans. Sometimes I get asked what constitutes a hike for us? When is it a walk, and when is it a hike? How do I track our hikes? Are we out on 100 different hikes or are some repeats? Starting off a new year I thought I would explain as it’s a yearly goal we have and is not only a huge time commitment, but my main source of inspiration for my art and what keeps me moving and able to paint!
We live near several hiking trails and so do repeat hikes with our evenings being limited to how far we can drive after work. A hike as we define it is picking a hiking trail and generally going as far as we have time for or doing a loop hike. For us it’s a few miles or can be several miles (especially when we have time on the weekend). Hiking is time out, walking in nature. We don’t count walking around the city with a very small exception- in snow. When it snows it adds enough of a challenge so if we have to put on snow shoes or cleats and go a distance of at least a couple miles we would likely count it. Once it snowed and we strapped on our snowshoes and hiked up to Mt Tabor to the top and back home, about 7 miles we later calculated. That definitely was a hike!
Now, to track hikes I am old-fashioned. When we come home from a hike I write down where we hiked in a planner I keep at my desk. At the end of the week I count how many hikes we went on and add it to a running total that I write at the top of the next week. I really like to do most things this way. I write out my day in a planner, I keep a paper calendar at my desk, I write notes on sewing plans in a sketchbook I keep for that purpose and, biggest of course- I am a painter. If I can do it by hand I prefer it that way.
Here I am hitting hike 100 in 2023 at Rooster Rock state park.
This is Cory on his 100th hike in 2023 at Powell Butte.
To hit our goal we hike while on trips to see family of if we go on vacation, so it’s something that we are doing all the time. Hiking has been such a help for managing my scoliosis, I can’t say enough good things about it!
Powell Butte
Powell Butte is a park in Portland, OR where we hike on occasion. From the top of the butte you can see many cascade peaks on a clear day, but I would recommend the park in most any weather- clear or not! In spring going into summer there are wildflowers, including wild irises which I don’t see as often at other parks around town. The terrain is varied so hiking there you can hike through forest and prairie, have views of the city and views with no sign of town at all. Park entrance is free, but mind the time as there is a gate and they will close it at the time posted!
Read moreForest Floor and Red Wolf with Bald Cypress
Christmas is almost here so I am closing out the year with some new art up at Lady Fern before I have to finish up some Christmas presents.
Read morePolish Casserole
I don’t know the origins of this recipe other than that my Mawmaw used to make it. It was a favorite dish, so we still make it and think of her. With cool weather in full swing, Polish Casserole is sounding really good. Maybe you would like to try making it also?
Leftovers are just as good as if it was just made!
Sliced:
4 lg russet potatoes, 1/2 head green cabbage,1 yellow onion, polish sausage- fry a little after slicing
Mix together & cook til thickened:
1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 2 c milk
Layer in sprayed 9x13” pan:
1/3 cabbage, 1/3 potatoes, 1/2 onion, 1/2 sausage. Continue until done then pour sauce over top. Cover with foil. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hr 15 min, uncovering for last 15.
Reheats really well!
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park is thirty miles outside of Moab, Utah, and in my experience, far less crowded than Moab’s nearest park, Arches. Canyonlands looks something like a Western movie set, so of course I have a few pictures saved in my to- paint folder.
Read moreArches National Park
Arches National Park is one Cory and I have been to several times, and while I think each National Park is special, I feel like posting about the ones I’ve been to that I have photo albums of as they are a source of inspiration in my work. As of my time of writing this I have been to Arches three times and Cory has five. It is in Utah, just outside of Moab, so is a place we have been able to go while on road trips to see family, and have made a point to while on vacation. Arches has the densest concentration of natural arches in the world- more than 2,000 - per nps.gov.
Read moreGrand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is located right next to Yellowstone in Wyoming and is Cory’s favorite. When we went together we took the boat ride across Jenny Lake to hike on the other side. We hiked to Hidden Falls and up to Inspiration Point. The air there smells sweetly of pine and the views across the lake to the mountains are unmatched. Each lake in the park is beautiful. I can see why it’s Cory’s favorite!
Read moreYellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is America’s original National Park, and it’s my absolute favorite. The landscape is so colorful, at times noisy, even smelly in parts, both sweet and stinky. It’s a rainbow you can walk in and as a painter I daydream about it often. I’ve painted several scenes from my trips to Yellowstone, and I believe I will continue to paint scenes from there for a very long time.
Read moreOlympic National Park
Olympic National Park is HUGE. It covers a large chunk of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, and has snow-capped mountains, Pacific beaches, rainforest, rivers, with little road access except from the edges. We have been to Hurricane Ridge, a popular spot that leads to many mountainous hikes and even more mountain views , and Staircase, a section of the park that takes you along the Staircase Rapids of the North Fork Skokomish River.
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