April 2010May 2010 June 2010

05/24 - Elwha Tiarella

The tiarella are coming into bloom on the Elwha Trail. There was also a bit of dogwood blooming here and there. This seems to be a good year for dogwood. As for the trilliums, they seem to have passed for the season. We'll have to climb higher.

Some tiarella in bloom

More tiarella in bloom

A spray of dogwood

Keywords: elwha, trillium

05/23 - Sol Duc Falls and Beyond

We drove out to Sol Duc and took a walk up towards Deer Lake. We got nowhere near the lake. We climbed perhaps 500', to the bridge over Canyon Creek, but things look promising. The one mile walk from the trailhead to Sol Duc Falls was in great shape. There's no snow down on the valley floor, but once we started climbing, there was plenty of wet snow, though it was melting rapidly. There were also trilliums and waterfalls, but we'll let our pictures do the talking.

There was a dusting of snow on the higher mountains.

There was no snow down on the valley floor.

There was snow a bit higher up.

That's the bridge over Canyon Creek with its snow as yet untromped.

The Canyon Creek falls.

We could get glimpses of snow covered hills from the trail.

All the little creeks were full.

We saw strange fiddleheads, ferns ready to leaf.

There were trilliums. They were wet.

A view of the Sol Duc.

The main falls were as spectacular as ever.

Keywords: deer lake, sol duc, trillium, waterfall

05/23 - A Note On Lake Crescent Cottage

We've done some remodeling out at Lake Crescent Cottage. We redid the downstairs bathroom, and we put up a shed roof over the entrance. We told our contractor in the statement of work, "It must not look like a snout." We've seen ugly entryways that do look like snouts. This one does not.

It does not look like a snout.

Keywords: lake crescent cottage


Two trilliums of many

05/22 - Lake Angeles Trilliums

The trilliums have been marching up the Lake Angeles Trail. They were blooming down towards the start of the trail, but ten minutes up the trail, there were none. That has changed. They are flowering just fine even up towards the little bridge. That would be around 2600' above sea level, though we tend to think of it as 700' apl - above parking lot.

Keywords: trillium, lake angeles, spring

05/20 - Hurricane Ridge Update

The snow melts apace up at Hurricane Ridge, but there is still lots to go. We're still getting a fresh fall now and then. The webcam has been down lately, but you can watch the snow melt thanks to the snow sensor.

Right now, the little shop at the lodge is open on weekends, but it will be open all week starting on May 29th.

A wall of snow in the Hurricane Ridge parking lot - that looks like more than 78"

Keywords: hurricane ridge, weather

05/19 - Another Market Update

While the farmers' market is mainly about local produce, it is also about regional food and crafts. The Elwha Apiary people are there with their honey, and this time they brought one of their combs, sort of a factory tour. The Salish Sea Cheese people, who sell a variety of cheeses from the region, had a stand and were selling cheeses from the Pleasant Mountain Dairy. Tuna Dan, who sells all sorts of seafood including salmon and halibut, had long lines at his stand. He has great fish at great prices. Wild West Seafood is a bit more expensive, but sells the kind of fish you get in fancy Seattle restaurants. Now if we only had a great seafood restaurant out here on the Peninsula.

The open market - The Family Farm and Wild West Seafood

The Elwha Apiary folks brought in some of their little friends.

Salish Sea Cheeses presents some cheese from the Pleasant Mountain Dairy.

Keywords: farmers' market, salmon


The old Blockbuster Video

05/16 - The Video Store That Would Not Die

The death of video stores is big news lately. Between movie downloads, falling DVD prices, one dollar movie rental kiosks, and the collapse of Blockbuster Video, one wonders how many video stores will be around in a few years. We remember way back before Port Angeles even had a Blockbuster that there was a video rental store on Lincoln Street that had a great VHS tape collection. That store turned into a Blockbuster, and many of their VHS tapes are at our local library. Now Blockbuster is gone, and that video store is still doing business, now as The Movie House. We'll see how they do.

Keywords: port angeles

05/15 - News From Seattle

We were in Seattle recently for a lightning visit. Everything was a bit of a blur, but we did note the curious sign on the right. It seems to be for a law office, but a closer look reveals a chapel. An even closer look reveals that the chapel offers food and a bar. That sounds like full service to us.

Below we offer our update on Spinasse. They've changed seating plans. Gone are the long communal tables. They now offer more private seating options. The food is as good as ever. That's a shot of their Russian salad with fresh English peas, pickled beets and tuna. We can hardly wait for the local peas to be ready, so we can try this at home.

Food - Chapel - Bar

Tables at Spinasse

Russian salad

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

05/14 - French Fry Folly

These may look like mild mannered french fries with ketchup, but appearances can be deceiving. They are actually strips of pound cake with some raspberry jam for dipping. The genius behind this conceit is a retired chef. Her big thing is pizza, and she's even produced a book on the subject. Sorry, we don't have her recipe for pound cake, but if you want to try this, consider using this recipe from Edna Lewis.

These are not french fries. No, they aren't liberty fries either.

Keywords: food, recipe, kale


Bay leaves with flowers

05/12 - Bay Leaves in Bloom

Our bay bush is in bloom, so now our bay leaves have blossoms on them. They are definitely prettier than just plain bay leaves.

Keywords: flowers, food

05/10 - The Commodities Market

We've decided to go for some commodity trading, so we bought some hog belly futures from Johnston Farms. Right now they are just piglet futures and are as cute as anything.

Oink, oink, oink!

Keywords: farms, johnston farm

05/06 - Elwha Adventure

Our big excitement was a bear we saw along the road to Whiskey Bend. The folks in the car ahead of ours got a better view, but this fellow, poorly photographed, was retreating into the woods as we passed by. It is just as well we were in the car. That's an awful lot of bear. (We'll use this as an excuse to post another couple of pictures from our hike.)

Terrible photo of a bear - or is it Sasquatch?

Mountain view

Yes, we post this shot too often, but it is an Elwha River classic.

Keywords: elwha, animals

05/05 - From the Air

Yes, we post an awful lot of pictures from our Kenmore Air flights to and from Boeing Field, but we can't resist. There is some amazing scenery around here.

Port Angeles, banking after take off

Sequim Bay

Hood Canal

The Hood Canal Bridge - It looks closed.

Our evening return to Port Angeles - sunset

Keywords: kenmore, flying, port angeles

05/04 - Second Beach

We'll start by apologizing for some of these photos not being quite level. The wind was just too fierce to hold the camera steady. That said, the scenery was pretty spectacular at Second Beach the other day. Even at low tide, the waters were wild, and the wind had the sea foam flying. We didn't even walk all that far down the beach. The winds from the south were just too much for us.

On the plus side, the big pile of driftwood seems to be shrinking. The clamber out to the beach was much easier than we had expected, and several of the really big logs seemed to have drifted back out to sea.

Fewer logs than last time

Low tide

Wild weather

The arch

A starfish

Wild water

Gray skies

Keywords: second beach, weather

05/02 - The Port Angeles Farmers' Market

The asparagus are out in force, as are the salad greens. We are big fans of West Wind asparagus, which may be the best on the peninsula, but the ones from Johnston Farms - this is their first year - were not far behind. We also bought some great looking black cod from Wild West Seafood, and a big eye round roast from Clark Beef. If you get some of the tender little turnips from the Korean garlic lady, consider simply scrubbing them, slicing them, and sprinkling them lightly with some fancy salt. You may have gottle some fleur de sel or the like for Christmas. Just a pinch or two will bring out the flavor of the turnips. Think of them as quick pickles, only better.

Now playing: parsnips at West Wind Farms

Keywords: farmers' market, johnston farm, garlic lady

05/01 - Johnston Farm Greenhouse

We dropped by Johnston Farms and checked out the greenhouse which is full of little plants in big flats. We bought some greens, and we bought some hog futures, that is, we put down our deposit for a half a pig, suitably butchered, to be delivered this fall. We were going to buy a tranche of collateralized farm animal securities, but we'll settle for a tranche of pork.

The ventilation system

Flats

More flats

Keywords: farms, johnston farm, spring

April 2010May 2010 June 2010