09.20.09
Kayaking to Illahee
On Friday morning, B. and I paddled from Point White Pier to Illahee State Park and spent some time in the sunshine, reading this and taking in all the beauty:
Illahee Pier. Illahee apparently has various meanings, all having to do with the land. Place of rest, heavenly world, earth, or country. Section 1.2 here has an interesting history of Illahee.
We even had a visit from an otter, who swam under the pier to crack his shells and munch noisily beneath our feet.
09.04.09
Beachcombing
We decamped to Fay Bainbridge at high tide this evening for a little sea air and beach combing. I was looking for smooth, round, flat, thin rocks (I kept the best and B. skipped the rest–he’s a champion rock skipper, making them jump 4 and 5 times across rolling waves).
Some of them are as delicate as mermaid coins.
And my favorite image ever of my S. girl:
07.30.09
Miscellaneous summer
Cruel heat wave in the NW = keeping doused with water, either by hose or by wave.
The kids’ sand castle at Old Man House Beach.
Point No Point was a great outing a couple of days ago with lots of Bainbridge friends.
Last night’s concert at the park was Louisiana zydeco with Whozyamama, perfect music for a hot summer evening.
The kids found a water source right away, and yep, the one manning the watergun sprinkler would be mine.
06.19.09
The life of the senses
In an 11-year-old who thrives on both order and free time, imagination manifests as fairy houses in the backyard:
The photographer at the beach, being pulled away by her small son (there are such interesting things to see, and they both see so much):
If you listen when the tide is coming in at Fay Bainbridge Beach, you’ll hear the sound of a thousand rain sticks. The water tumbles the smooth rocks over each other and the sound of them growing smoother yet is a beautiful thing.
Cracking pecans with my five-year-old (who’s a whiz nut cracker like no other) is a 5-sense immersion.
And on a rainy day in June, reading in warm wooly socks next to an open window makes me feel like I’m living in a tree house.
05.11.09
Mother’s Day at the beach
You can see the azalea K. gave me tucked into my bun.
And just because color is lovely, here’s last night’s dinner (the grill’s first use of the summer!) 
02.17.09
A Short Stay in San Francisco
If you drive down the Willamette Valley in February you’ll see lots of new little lambs in the fields, wagging their long tails and never too far from their mamas.
And here we have Baker Beach, just down the hill from C. and T. (thanks again for having us, guys!), where we started off a very full Saturday.
This is the cable car we rode (behind it is the restaurant where we lunched–their asparagus in oyster sauce was very, very good).
A mandatory visit to Boudin’s sourdough bakery:
While we looked at maps, architecture, oceans, and people, A. found mouse holes all over the city. Here’s one, sprouting a bit of mouse salad.
Along Fisherman’s Wharf (noisy, bustling) there was an oasis in the form of Franklin Bowles Gallery, which had a collection of Chagall lithographs. My favorite was Le Songe de Daphnis et les Nymphes.
On Sunday, we drove north of the city and visited Muir Woods.
It was raining pretty steadily, so the only clear photo I got was standing inside one of the giant redwoods and shooting upwards.
Funny that such a huge tree grows from this little thing that S’s holding:
02.09.09
Blue Mussel wreath
I collected mussel shells along with the kids last Wednesday at Fay Bainbridge beach. It was low tide and a good day for finding sea glass, too, though I don’t have enough of that yet for a project. The mussel muse in me produced a wreath, after playing with various configurations and adhesives.
Good to know:
*hot glue just won’t stick to mussel shells. Peels right off.
*A fine-gauge wire can be threaded through the ones with whelk holes. One could make some interesting sculptures that way.
*plain old Elmer’s glue holds just fine, and doesn’t obscure the nacre very much.
02.04.09
Morning at Port Madison
There’s a beach access just down the hill from A’s preschool–I went prowling about this morning with the bright sun in my face and beautiful stuff to notice:
Isn’t this shell a beauty? I kept it.
08.06.08
Busy day at the beach
Yesterday, hot and sunny as it was, drew lots of beachgoers. I didn’t make it to the group outing at Point no Point, but we did hang out at our very own Fay Bainbridge again.
Overheard: (from a shivering would-be swimmer): “I’m from Minnesota, and this is damn cold!”
Once again, my kids don’t care. They just run right in, and when it dawns on them that it might be a little chilly, they hop out and roll around on the warm sand.
Yesterday’s beach snacks: blueberries and lychees. Can’t ever have enough.
07.07.08
Sand, sun, and strawberries
Fay Bainbridge was on the agenda for today. Here are all three kiddos trying to get their driftwood log launched. “That’s far enough!” I called when they actually did get it afloat. I know, I know, but they didn’t have life jackets on and I didn’t want to go fishing them out of the water.
On our way back, we stopped at Suyematsu Farm on Day Road and bought a flat of raspberries. The farm stand lady told me about U-pick strawberries over at the Manzanita Road farm, so we headed over there and picked a flat in under half an hour–thanks to my three great little pickers! They’re going to keep it open for U-pick throughout this week, and we may be back for more later. There can never be enough strawberries in the freezer in February .
