More of Bend

Yesterday we drove down to Lava Lands National Monument. Central Oregon is one of the most seismically active places in the world. The kids house is less than a mile from the edge of a lava flow. The top of Lava Butte is also a functioning Forest Service fire lookout.
It sits on the upper side of the caldera. The flow from this cone was something like 180,
000,000 cubic yards, enough to pave a 24" wide road, 6" thick for 160,000 miles! That's just one cone and there are 400 associated with the main volcano, the Newberry.
This is the caldera that spewed that massive amount of lava. There's a 1/4 mile walk around the perimeter with signs to let you know what you're looking at. You could spend days in Lava Lands.
I started to doctor this in Photoshop to accentuate the snow-
covered volcano peaks on the horizon. The south peak is Bachelor and the north peaks are The Sisters with Broken Top in the middle. Had I chosen the doctored image, I wouldn't be able to show you the lava flow there in the foreground. You have to click for big - it's astonishing. Lava flows in the Deschutes River have created dramatic rapids and water falls.
We decided to take a drive on the Cascade Lakes Loop, and when we got to the South Sister volcano, we just had pull off for photos. The ragged bottom of the photo is snow - there is still a lot of snow in the Cascades.
This is Devils Lake. It's a local favorite. I bought a sweatshirt at the Columbia Outlet store, and when I told the cashier that we had driven the loop up to Elk Lake, he asked me if we had seen this lake. He said the same thing as my son - you can see to the bottom!



You know boys. There were snowballs involved. The reflection on the lake was my favorite part, right behind seeing the rocks on the bottom. If there is such a thing, these are daddy's boys. My grandsons adore their father!

Loving Bend even More

Josh and Missy have only lived in Bend since December - all new city, all new friends. Missy has been able to make friends with the kindergarten mommies, and at their encouragement, signed up in February for a training class to run a half marathon. She has never run before this.

Last night Valerie, Jen and Miss had dinner here to "carbo load." Josh cooked and the husbands and children came. It was the first party in their new house, and we felt fortunate to be able to be part of the pre-race dinner.

It was a 13.1 trail run through the pines, many shadows and tree roots across the trail. We saw many bleeding and dirty runners, so the closer their predicted time came, the more we got anxious. No need to worry - they are coming.
Here are the girls. I think Josh's spaghetti must be the secret of their success - just kidding. They had a training coach and have carefully followed their conditioning schedule. They are thrilled at their results - look at Missy's face! And more important, they have deepened their friendships.
Bend is a socially and environ-
mentally conscious com-
munity. They came out in droves to support this event, also a fundraiser to support the land trust, allowing them to donate $75,000. If my kids had to move away from me, I cannot think of a place I would more rather they live.

We came home after the race, Missy grabbed a quick shower and we took off for a a drive around the Cascade Lake Loop. Home again, Missy is putting some ice on her sore knees, and look what it's in her hands - what a perfect activity to do while icing knees. This is her first lace and it's in silky drapey Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo. It is sooooooo pretty.

It feels as soft as it looks!

Loving Bend

I wanted to finish spinning up the merino before we left home. I have some fiber to spin in Oregon and I'm sure I'll buy more at Black Sheep. I'm looking at slip-stitch patterns because I think it will show up the silk and merino and still stretch this into a vest or bolero. l but didn't have time to swatch - bummer.


I knitted on my second Walk-for-the-Cure scarf during the drive to Bend. I just kept knitting one more pattern because I had so much yarn, and it really didn't seem to getting long enough. I finished it before we got here so washed it and put in the lawn to dry. It's 90" long!!


In spite of being so long, it sure is pretty. DIL Missy was so taken by it that we went to the yarn store and she has started on one of her own in bamboo. Knitting diagonal wash clothes has taught her all the stitches she needs to know. She is off and running. I will post a picture later.


The night we got here was coincidentally Young Author's Night for grandson Logan and we got to attend. I love the boys' school and getting to see Logan with his friends just six months after moving here was a real treat.
The following morning we went back to the school for Evan's kindergarten graduation, which was really more of a program followed by a slide show the teacher had prepared. I don't know those children and found myself with leaky eyes anyway, watching that little show.

Son Josh, DIL Missy and grandson Evan after kindergarten graduation!

Sunday Morning

Now it is June again, one of those
leafy Sundays drifting through galaxies
of maple seeds. Somewhere, a mourning dove
touches her keyboard twice, a lonely F,
and then falls silent. Here in the house
the Sunday papers lie in whitecaps
over the living-room floor. Among them floats
the bridal page, that window of many panes,
reflecting, black and white, patches of sky
and puffs of starlit cloud becoming
faces. On each bright brow the same light falls,
the nuptial moon held up just out of sight
to the left. The brides all lift their eyes
and smile to see the heavens stopped for them.
And love is everywhere. Cars that have all week
lurched and honked with sour commuters are now
like smooth canoes packed soft with families.
A church bell strides through the green perfume
of locust trees and tolls its thankfulness.
The mourning dove, to her astonishment,
blunders upon a distant call in answer.

-Ted Kooser

And then some

Ian and I were surprised by this new wildflower as we drove home after our trip. I took my camera when walking the dogs yesterday to get pictures. It's looks like icing on rocks.

Instead, look at these sweet blossoms, growing in impossibly hostile conditions. It's why desert flowers are so wonderful. They bloom where it doesn't seem possible. Life lesson??






And then there's this bank of flowers. Their presence is so subtle.









It takes so many plants to make a field of color. This is just one plant.









The unusual spring rains have blanketed us with three unwelcome weeds, one of which you can see here - wild mustard. It's the yellow in the picture and a big fire hazard. The other two are cheat grass and crane's bill, which are there but you can't see. Our animals won't eat any of it. Hmm, I wonder if goats would like these weeds, I mean wildflowers.
These are our two wonderful house sitters - I love them soooo much. Emily on the right takes the first four days after which she is headed to art school in downtown San Francisco. Dana is headed to graduate school at a latter date, and without them, there would be no Black Sheep Gathering for us this year.
I did get the baby blanket warp on before we left for Redding and was able to get at least a start on it yesterday before we leave for Oregon. I ran out of the variegated cotton but I'm confident that it's going to be a nice gift in the end. I love my new Jenkins shuttle, heavy and perfect to toss at this width. If I were on a desert island and could only have one one shuttle, this would be it.

I'm sure you have all seen national coverage of the Nevada primary races today. It appears it's not legal to stand outside a prescient in a chicken costume to express your distaste for Sue Lowden, but you can vote wearing one. The thing that frosts my hide is that many years ago, I lived in central Nevada and attended the same church as Sharron Angle, now running for Senate in the primary against Harry Reid. In fact, we were part of the trio we called the Sharon Sandwich, along with our pastor's wife, and sang at a wedding at a Baptist church in Elko, Nevada. She played 12 string and I a mere 6 string. I am not fond of that memory, but it did get me a job at the University when it turns out the woman interviewing me was the pastor's wife of that very church in Elko where we sang.

And from my job, many years later, my daughter was hired by a woman I had hired. Funnier things have happened. And because my daughter was hired, both of her children were able to attend the University preschool education program. So while I want to hate Sharron, I have to go on the hate-light program. But I will say, that the nose I sang with and the nose you see on TV and not the same. Just sayin'.

High School Graduation

We drove over Thursday morning, graduation day, to Redding but made a pit stop in Old Station at Hat Creek, which is at flood stages. This is a fishing favorite and there were many out that day, including a young man trying to teach his girlfriend how to cast a fly rod. I think that was more about the hugging.

This huge tree was no match for the river and toppled across the stream when it's root system was under-
mined. If you click for big, you can see they are trying to cut the tree to open up the stream again. That doesn't look like fun.
This is the first time I've seen snow flowers in June. It's still cool and rainy here. In fact, we were unable to take the river walk along the Sacramento River because of the rain, so took our books to the beautiful new Redding Library to kill a couple hours before the Saturday barbecue.



Grandson CJ is filing in with his class, Pomp and Circumstances style. We forgot the DSLR so I'm thrilled to have caught this picture with my old camera before he walked out of the frame. That auditorium pulsated with energy. It was fun to be a part of it.


The barbecue was small and the only graduates were CJ and his friend and teammate Mikie, along with lots of family and friends. We have a big and successfully blended family. It was a wonderful time.

CJ hadn't started school when I met Ian and now he is a man, starting at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon this fall on a dual scholastic and athletic scholarship. He's scared to death, but he can't wait to go.
It doesn't hurt that Amber, his girlfriend all through high school, has been admitted and will begin her junior year this fall. She graduated a year before CJ and has knocked off her first two years already! I know I'm bragging, but the thing that I like to brag about most is what good and kind young people they are. Thanks for indulging me.

Swiftly Flow the Days

Care to take a guess what this is? While it may look like nothing, it is something and it's not that easy to make.

It's an origami box from waxed butcher paper that I fold, then tape inside my soap mold. It's the thing I like least about soap making and I don't know why since I enjoy making ornamental origami boxes. I hate this part. There. I said it.
This morning I made the soap I call Bar None. It's such a wonderful soap and I've always used a combin-
ation of essential oils to give a citrus scent, thinking that some people might not like florals. So why do I add the lavender flowers? Don't know.

I started thinking that maybe the ticket would be to change to a straight lavender essential oil, since I think of the citrus as being for men and the lavender for women. This is bad time to retool a recipe, when pouring enough for 50 bars.
Today was so busy - so much to squeeze in since we're leaving in the morning. Ian bought me some Mir-Acid yesterday and I had to get it on all of our pine trees - I'm already late. In all of that activity, I stumbled onto this wild pansy. Isn't it sweet? How about those teeny yellow stars, less than 1/4".
All of that, plus laundry and packing, I thought it was only fair that I should have loom play time. I love it when the weather allows me to open the window and hear the wind in the trees and the songbirds. We'll be home a couple of days next week before heading to Oregon. I'm set to start weaving and looking forward to it. I had to stop somewhere so stopped here.

Tomorrow morning I'll cut the soap into bars to cure. After that we will drive to Redding for Ian's grandson's high school commencement, a remarkable and most unusual young man, headed to Oregon in the fall on an athletic and academic scholarship. He hadn't started school at all when I married Ian. Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years~

Soap, Soap and More Soap

I have been a soap making machine this week, trying to get caught up after a winter that was consistently too cold to let me work in the garage. Half my work is done there, with pretty much only the heating and mixing done in the kitchen. I burned out my electric stick. It was on its last legs anyway, and I had a upscale replacement in the wings - thanks Costco. I have one more batch to go before we leave on vacation which is why I'm trying to get everything done. It takes a month to cure and it would be convenient to have everything all cured at one.
Yesterday was another of those all-day in town things, so to sweeten the pot, I stopped by my daughter's for a visit on my way home. Lexy-Lu wanted to show me how she had cleaned her room - open for interpretation. We went to the local park after, so she could show me how she goes up the climbing wall, and in all of this conversation, I ask how Auntie Athena's pregnancy is going - due in August, right? Mother! Ever hear that? Mother!! She's about to pop! So how did I confuse August with June - I plead retirement. That baby blanket that I had planned to weave by August was frantically thrown at the loom today. It's so much faster than knitting a baby present, but still.
And if you can believe it, this is how the sun set in May. We know that sun will come with June, but is has been an astounding month and winter.

I finished my book today, a romp by William Boyd, shortlisted for the Booker Award. Who knew a literary author could also spin a complex tale of suspense. I've read several of his books and was completely entertained - suspect there might be a sequel and certainly hope so. It was Ordinary Thunderstorms and I enjoyed it totally. I was almost put off by the Amazon comments and am glad that I trusted my instincts. It was a blast.

Colors of May from Big Sky Country

Desert Peach is the first to bloom here. It's part of the prune family, attracts bees and is wonder-
fully fragrant. Whole banks explode in pink as this bush struts its stuff.

The color ranges from a light pastel to a hot bubble gum pink - don't know if it's a matter of different soils or different plants. It's showy and short lived, about two weeks, and after the blooms fade, little peach-like fruits start to appear. They must not taste good -the birds don't touch them.
The plants are covered in long spikes that are wicked sharp. Click for big. They'll tear your clothes and you too. That said, the sheep and llamas think they're delectable.
Just as the pink begins to fade, the Bitter-
brush, a member of the rose family, begins to bloom and sometimes, alongside a lingering peach. It's always a treat to see them in bloom together. I don't know where bitterbrush got its name, as our sheep and llamas love it too.
The blossoms are tiny and the brilliant color is from the mass of them. These shrubs also bloom for about two weeks and then they return to ignominy.

Mormon Tea (ephedra) produces beige as a dye plant - blah.

Lupine, Indian Paintbrush and wild phlox.

Brown's peony, the only peony native to the Western US.

The blossom which hangs down and does not display.

And this is my favorite pink, any month of the year! For more colors of the month, checkout Sue's blog