Ajourney again...

I'm a travelin'. You? If you are, I hope you're safe, and enjoying yourself half as much as I am. I am posting this from the infamous Green Tortoise Hostel, a block away from pike's Place market. I caught a ride to Seattle with the Athairs, who Maggie lives with, and who I've been spending lots of time with. They're pretty fantastic people, and I've no doubt you'd get along with them just fine(Mindy, this means YOU). We rode the ferry into the city, which was a fun new experience for me, and a great view, but one I didn't bother to take any pictures of, since I was busy crying from the cold breeze, and just enjoying the sight for myself.

I spent the ride from the peninsula sewing a carrying case for my knitting needles, because I'm apparently a big old nerd...who would have guessed? As you might have figured from my last post things are slow these days, and until I have more definite plans for my future, they'll continue to be that way, and frankly, I'm OK with that.

What sort of things have I been up to since last we spoke? I finished that hat I was working on, only it was so large I turned it into a bag to hold my knitting projects.

I went out to Lake Crescent this week, the first time I've had a chance to get out there in a while, and boy am I glad I took the opportunity. Storm King was covered in snow, as all the peaks were, and it made for some fantastic viewing. Take a look; these shots are all from around the OPI campus:

A couple of shots from the trails around the campus, proving once again my theory that all you have to do to take a beautiful picture in the PacNorWe, is to point your camera in any direction, and hit the button:


What's that? Have I been fermenting things no normal person would even consider? Come on now. This is me we're talking about. Of course I have. I give you parsnip wine:

In the further adventures of Aaron and the Olympic peninsula, Maggie and I went out onto forest service land, and got technically lost, although we were in no danger of not finding our way back to civilization there was a period of time(an hour, maybe two) when where we thought we were, and where we actually were, didn't exactly coincide. What were doing out in the hinterlands? We were finding, and killing, a Christmas tree. My first non-plastic tree in as many years. We call her Lucille(Maggie is the one wearing boots. Lucille is wearing branches):

I'll see what I can do to get a picture of her all gussied up for the holiday for your edification.

What have I done since I arrived in Seattle...Not a whole lot. Hung out at a coffee shop(this being Seattle, after all) that I like, earlier. Did some research, and failed to find a show to check out this evening. Failing that I got all gussied up, went to a fine dining establishment, and ate expensive and refined food, and drank cocktails and had a wonderful relaxing evening. We will not discuss how much I spent, or whether I could afford such luxury. Spur Gastropub, check it out. When my meal was done I emerged from the restaurant to find the city streets awash with rain, which as you all must know, brought me great satisfaction. I walked back to the hostel, grinning like an idiot, wrote this blog, and once it's done, I'm going to do some knitting, and then hit the hay.

Going to see if I can do a little more adventuring in the morning before I head to the airport, but even if I have no time for it, I'll call this leg of my trip a success. I can't wait to arrive in San Diego, and I can't wait to see you all...in the meantime hope all of your journeys are safe, and as satisfying as mine has been so far.

In which there is a reunion, between man and machine...

It's funny how as soon as you give something up for lost, it will show up again. Thank you to Kay for finding my camera, and returning it safely to me; I hadn't realized how twitchy it's loss had made me, until it was returned.

I'm doing well, although the lack of a job is starting to become a concern. All I really need is something to get me through the winter, and once the spring rolls around again, finding something to do, shouldn't be a problem, it's figuring out what to do until then, that is proving to be a challenge. That being said, I'm curiously unstressed by the fact of my pending unemployment. Part of it must be that so many of the people I'm surrounded by are doing jobs of a similarly seasonal nature, and we're all in the same boat, right now. The park season ends this coming Thursday, and this will leave essentially everyone I know, who isn't farm folk, unemployed.

It's a fascinating dichotomy in this part of the world. There are park folk, who are here because of the park, and they are liberal, progressive twenty-first century people, MY people, and there are the locals, conservative old-fashioned people, and oddly enough, they are MY people, too. It's weird because to them the park is nothing special, it's the background of their world, but to those of us who came here because of, or have chosen to stay for the park, it's the center. Enough pontificating...my thoughts on the subject haven't gelled yet, but they keep circling around my brain, and there's something there, although I don't know what it is yet.

I've written a couple of short stories I really like, lately, and I've got a couple of cool ideas in my head, waiting for characters to give voice to them. I think one of them might be a novel, but I can't say for sure, yet.

I went to my first Country(pronounced Contra) dance last weekend. I was assured over and again by the girls that it wasn't a square dance, but there was spinning around, and changing partners, and a man giving instructions(not to mention several square dances), which I would say qualifies. It was, and I still can't really believe I'm saying this, a lot of fun. Some days I wonder what has happened to me, and others, most of them, really, I'm just enjoying it.

As for life on the farm, it's good. There are still many crops to be harvested, and although the hot-weather crops aren't really performing to expectations, there isn't really much we can do to change the weather. The age old lot of the farmer. It has been gray and rainy for most of the last week, with only a day or two of even partial sunshine in the forecast, which I love from an aesthetic point of view, but from the perspective of a farmer just hoping for the tomatoes to ripen, it's not so nice.

We started going to the farmer's market in Sequim this week, in addition to the one in PA, and we're all excited about that. It's great to have another chance to sell some of the produce we've all worked so hard to grow. We harvested our first brussel sprouts this week, and we've been picking apples and pears for a while now. It's autumn, there's no more denying it. The leaves are changing, and combined with the misty atmosphere it allows for moments of peacefulness, anytime I pause, and look around me.

Now for the picture posting portion of our post(You like that alliteration? Pretty good, huh?), I'll start with a couple of shots from my last trip up Storm King. I really love that hike, and it presents surefire proof that a summer of working on the farm has left me more fit than I began. I almost made it to the top of the mountain this time, but realize when I got about three quarters of the way up, that I was free climbing in my sneakers, without a buddy, and without anyone having any idea where I was, and prudence won out over the desire to say I did that.

The view from the lower peak:

A view of the upper peak, from the lower peak(see if you can figure out how high I made it based on the pictures from where I stopped climbing):


A view taken while hanging onto a rope on the trail(well, techinically after the end of the sanctioned trail, but there's a rope, so it's a trail of sorts):


Le Sage, from across Lake Crescent:


The chicken coop, which we spent a day cleaning around this week, and extended the fence to give our ladies more room:


Our pigs have a new home, which I've been calling the Sty-stead('cause I'm a nerd), pretty snazzy, huh?:

Flowering parsnips:

Canadian thistle(our weed nemesis), and another, altogether more pleasant thistle(did you know artichoke blossoms smell fantastic? Me either, until now.):



Weird looking mushrooms:



Some views of the farm in the gray:






Pickles - onions and watermelon rind:

Harvested lunch yesterday:

I think that will cover me for now. I'm going to go bake some bread, get some grub, and take a hike. I probably won't do another post until after I get back from Rachel's wedding, so I'll probably see most of you before I write another one of these. I can't wait...

In which I find myself atop a mountain, and achieve, momentarily at least, enlightenment...

Or something to that effect. This past Sunday I found myself with an afternoon to do whatever I wished, and what I decided was to climb a mountain. So I loaded up my van and drove west until I arrived at Crescent Lake. The whole drive I found myself remarking "Hey, you're in the Pacific Northwest." This revelation keeps surprising me, and making me grin like an idiot. I arrived at the Storm King Ranger Station, to hike to Merrymere falls, which was supposed to be short, sweet, flat, and as easy as walking to the mailbox. It was, but that came later. First, as I was leaving the parking lot, not half a minute from my car, and five feet to my left a doe, and her faun.

Isn't that precious? ::shrugs::


I also decided to take a little side trail that went straight up the side of Mount Storm King. That trail was two miles long, and one mile straight up the side of the mountain. It was a short intense hike, and by the time I reached the end of the trail I understood, or at least felt the compulsion to make it to the top that plagues mankind under those circumstances. So despite the trail ending, and the sign posted on the tree warning of steep, rocky, unmarked paths, I trod on.

Some shots I took along the way. I broke out the camera whenever I had to stop to catch my breath, which was rather more often than I'd like to admit. This was a serious trail, unlike the suburban trails back in NoGa:




It wasn't much farther from the end of the trail to the top of the mountain, but I had no choice in the matter. I had to do it. I had to, if not conquer the mountain, share a little triumph, a victory, with it. There were several stretches that would have been impassable if it were not for the courtesy of those who went before leaving ropes strung along the several parts of the trail to allow for successful crossings. I met a pair of rockclimbers just before I made my final ascent. They seemed surprised to find me there without so much as a bottle of water, but I could only shrug. Once I started there was no way I could let myself stop until I had reached the top. Everytime I thought about it, it made me laugh, and at the same time, it made me feel more human. To share this compulsion with so many of my fellow hairless monkeys.

And here we are. Doofy grin plastered on my face, and I'll tell you I couldn't wipe it off the whole way down the mountain, or on the way to the falls. I was probably still smiling like an idiot as I drove back to the farm after the hike ended:


I didn't get any shots of the waterfall, my camera died, but undoubtedly if you'd like to see it you could search for it on Flickr. I saw plenty of people with much nicer cameras than mine taking pictures. So aside from my mountaintop adventure, how am I? I'm really quite well, thank you for asking. The work on the farm is hard. Really hard. I have never been half so dirty, and for such an extended period of time, in my life. We're still getting this place cleaned up from the winter, but we're starting to put more food in the ground, and it's taking shape before my eyes. It's really cool. I'm eating ridiculously well, and as the seasons turn, I have no doubt the food will only get better.

I promise my next post will be more farm centric and less about taking a walk in the woods, but after all, how often does one find ones self doing the things you've always wanted to do. I've spent much time lusting after the PacNorWe, and now I'm here. Simple as that, but it still has only just begun to sunk in. This is beautiful country, and I feel genuinely privileged to be here. On the other hand, privileged my but; I earned that hike. Just ask the pigs, or that chicken that keeps escaping.