Rainy Day Exploring

 

We have been exploring on this rainy weekend.  My husband participated in a bike "ride" (it was not a race!) in Leavenworth, WA, so we joined in for one big family road and camping trip.  The rain mainly came overnight, so it didn't bother us in our nearly-new family camping tent.  My husband had a whopping six flat tires on the 85-mile ride, and his riding partner was besought with a gear shifter malfunction and chain issues.  So we were pretty amused when hubby won the grand prize in the raffle drawing:  a toilet paper roll dispenser made of bike parts (quick release changer, no less).  

While they were riding bikes, the rest of us were exploring Wenatchee State Park.  Four little boys, one very cold lake.  A long, flat beach perfect for swimming--if you could take the freezing temperatures.  The boys couldn't resist, even as their lips turned blue.  Luckily, when they got cold, there was lots of shoreline exploring and fort building to be done.

This is definitely a spot we will have to adventure back to!

A Bit of Sun

I think this will be the winter we remember as the winter we were constantly sick. It's exhausting.  It seems that at least one of us is ill at any given time point, leading to restless nights and cranky days.  I've heard that there are over 700 cold viruses on the planet, and I swear at least a quarter of them must be circulating on the Palouse right now.  On the positive side, I've also heard that you only get each cold strain once in your lifetime, because after that, you've built up antibodies to it.  I wonder what the maximum number of cold strains any one person has had in their lifetime???

Despite the obstacles, we've managed to have a good time.  We've been skiing and sledding multiple times since the snow began in December.  I just wish we felt better so that we could take advantage of the generally good weather and enjoy ourselves more fully.  It's frustrating, when you're an active family and you aren't feeling terribly motivated.  Or the combination of sleep deprivation-illness-work travel-holiday stress is just overwhelming.  Today the sun is shining and the temperature is in the 40s, meaning under most circumstances we would be on a bike or at a park...and we're not.

But sometimes the sofa is good, too.

We've used enough wood that we can park the commuter bikes in the shed again.

Gardens are still sleepy...

A chore to tackle, someday.

  

Happy New Year 2013!

I am so excited about the start of a new year!  We traveled to Seattle just after the first of the year to visit our good friends and experienced the most beautiful January weather I'd ever seen for Seattle!

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Winter's Eve

When I am coming back to Moscow, and I see Moscow Mountain, I sometimes have a sense of home wash over me, just as I used to when I would see Sharp Top and Flat Top in the Peaks of Otter where I grew up in Virginia.  It's funny how your adopted home can become just as comforting to you as your native soil, as the years wind by.  

So beautiful today, in the last light of the day.

 

Winter Solstice

 

To keep back the long winter's night, we had a solstice party with the neighbors.  We made sun cookies, and bright colored play dough.  Then, we turned off all the lights, and turned on the sun!

Winter Roadtrip

Last weekend we took a roadtrip to Bend, OR for the USA Cycling Gran Prix of Cyclocross.  I had long wanted to visit Bend, having built it up in my mind as the penultimate small Northwestern city.  

It's funny how when you built something up in your mind, it often comes out differently in reality.

Bend had way more sprawl than I was anticipating.  The downtown area was nice, but I'm not sure I'd consider Patagonia to be a local merchant.  And what the heck was up with all the traffic circles?  

However, Bend also has some really lovely features.  I love the fact that the Deschutes River runs right through downtown, and I love even more the fact that for much of the downtown stretch, a public park and walkway line the river.   We didn't even begin to explore it to satisfaction.

Bend also has big, pointy, white peaks going for it.  These should warrant future exploration.  Of course we didn't see them until our drive home, but they were lovely never the less.  And the desert is its own form of beauty.

Of course, we were also quite pleased to be back on the Palouse.  Back home.

Fish ladder on the Deschutes

The deserts of Eastern Oregon

Mt Hood

Mt Adams

Fog as we enter the scablands

What a beautiful sunset...we were amazed by how nice the weather was for mid-December!

My son took this picture!

Lights and Whites

Every day from now until the winter solstice we lose two minutes of light per day.  This week we've had wonderful unseasonable sunny-ish November weather, and it's been great.  This sunny weather has corresponded with a full moon, so it seems unusually bright.  

We spent a little bit of time decorating this weekend.  Not the tree yet...that is still coming.  But a few things.  White linens, paperwhite bulbs, lights on the house.  Enough to make it a little brighter.

Still too dark to take pictures!

 

November Snow

We had another wonderful cyclocross weekend.  My husband raced in Spokane at what is definitely my favorite venue, Walter's Fruit Ranch.  So much fun!  I have to say cheering for a bike race in the snow and mud and 30 degree weather is much more fun when you've had hot spiced wine with your lunch!

But oh, winter, you are already making yourself known!
 

 

Idler's Rest, Late Winter

In a parallel universe, we have a cabin on the mountain.  Except that in my mind, it's a farm, and in his mind, it's a yurt off the grid.  Hmmm.  Not close to resolving that yet!

Rainy Days Are Knitting Days

Apparently if you walked into the Yarn Underground today and said "Rainy days are knitting days" you received 30% off bulky yarns.  I showed some amazing restraint by not going (although truth be told, the graupel coming down sideways was also a bit of a deterrent)!

Mourning the loss of the warm weather from yesterday, I spent some time today knitting and crafting.  I worked on my St. Patrick's Day garland.  I finished cutting out the shamrocks and sprayed them with stiffener. 

I'm also getting MUCH closer to finishing a long overdue baby gift!  I have plans to modify the original pattern a smidge.  I'm going to omit the hood and I'm planning on either doing a zipper or a button row in place of the hook and eyes. I just can't imagine trying to close a hook and eye on a squirmy boy!