Tag Archives: wildflowers

Wildflower walk, dry side

Posted on May 17, 2025 | 10 comments

Last week (May 7), I went on a wildflower walk in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. That’s the dry side. I was enticed by the pictures of balsamroot in my Facebook feed.

Yellow balsamroot flowers and a view of Mount Hood at Catherine Creek, Washington

I wanted a view of Mount Hood, so we crossed the river to Washington. This was one of the only clumps of balsamroot left this spring. I don’t know if it’s warmer/dryer this year, but last year there were a lot more! I’m going to have to put a note in my calendar to go in April next year.

Poppies, Columbia River, Mount Hood in the background

There were a lot of poppies, though! I didn’t see any of those last year.

I love how luminous bitterroot flowers are.

The bachelor’s buttons were also out in force.

So good to have friends that I can talk into excursions! I promised that it was a walk, not a hike. With views of Mount Hood and the Columbia River! We stopped in Hood River, Oregon on the way home.

We saw wing foilers, which seem to be the next interatiion after the windsailers. Pretty cool!

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We chatted with some of them, and checked out their gear.

It was a lovely day for an outing. Are you out and about this spring?

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Posted in Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, mount hood, wildflowers, wing foiling

Chickalong Day 1

Posted on May 10, 2024 | 10 comments

I’m on my way to an Emotional Support Chicken. I’ve been seeing these pop up in my Instagram feed, and they’re all really cute. I bought the pattern last month, but I wasn’t inspired to actually knit…until Franklin Habit announced a chickalong on his Patreon. Sold!

My chicken will be mostly purple, because it takes about a full skein of worsted (200 yards), and that’s what I have in a full skein. It’s Malabrigo Rios. My stripes will be that blue/purple and orange/purple; I don’t have enough of either color for all the stripes, so I’ll need to choose one for her body stripe and one for the 2 stripes near the neck. The orange stands out more, so maybe it should be by her face, but there will also be a yellow (?) beak and red comb and wattle. Too much excitement all together? Would the blue/purple be better by her face?

This half of her tail is almost done, then I’m on to the other half. This is definitely a short row eggstravaganza, but it’s wrap and turn in garter stitch, so no big deal. I’m working on a name for her, maybe Egglantina Rose, or Aubergine (a shade of purple, and also EGGplant!).

What else have I been up to in my nearly 3 week radio silence? DH and I went to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Lots of music, and we made time for beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, and crawfish-stuffed beignets and cocktails, too.

I went hiking with a friend in the Columbia River Gorge yesterday; the wildflowers were beautiful on a perfect spring day.

Catherine Creek trail, Mount Hood in background

So much variety.

I’m also still knitting my brioche and assigned/algorithmic knitting shawl. It’s a really fun knit, but I haven’t had a lot of time for it in the past couple weeks. Now I’m back at it, and I have chicken knitting, too. Which isn’t the same as yarn chicken. Yet.

What’s on your needles? Are you tempted by the chicken?

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Posted in KAL, Knit, travel

Tagged beignets, chickalong, columbia gorge, columbia river gorge, emotional support chicken, hiking, New Orleans, wildflowers

Wildflower hike

Posted on May 12, 2023 | 4 comments

It’s wildflower season on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The balsamroot and lupines are at peak bloom, a little late this year after a colder than usual spring.

The kids and I went to hike the Mosier Plateau Trail, and it did not disappoint. (Mosier is a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains just past Hood River. That’s the dry side of the mountains; we live on the wet side.)

There’s even a waterfall, Mosier Creek Falls, along the way. It’s just 3.5 miles, which is about what I like.

So nice to be out on a gorgeous day!

I’m adding a few pictures from May 2019 when I hiked with friends across the river at Catherine Creek. I went looking for them, and found that I never posted them.