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Recently, several friends have had some major stressors/challenges/sadness in their lives: injuries, relationship issues, job stress/unemployment, financial/mortgage problems and one friend who just had to put her beloved fur child (a beautiful dog) down because he had cancer.
When the girlfriends are sad, there’s only one thing to do.
Host a “Girl’s Night”.
Several years ago, I started this tradition as a night to drink wine and watch chick flicks.
It soon became apparent that movies were never going to be watched. One year, we went an entire year without actually watching “Under the Tuscan Sun”. It made it into the DVD player but was never actually played.
So we dropped the movies and just made it about eating, drinking and giggling (which is all we ever did anyway)
But since this was a difficult time for so many, I wanted to do something special.
Taking a cue from Sonja Silver who had been talking about tiaras and wanting an excuse to wear one, I went down to the party store and bought a bunch of the ones designed for little girl’s birthday parties. I also bought some shiny pink princess plates and matching napkins.
Who says that princess parties are only for little girls? Big girls like to wear tiaras too.
Kathy brought the fixin’s to make “Rachel Ray Basil Martinis”. It was “shake shake shake” baby… (never stirred stirred stirred)
Janice brought over a kit to make Tarantula Blue Margaritas which were also quite tasty
California Pizza Kitchen pizzas, fresh local salmon, salads, various cheeses and crackers and other treats made up a very tasty buffet.
Betsy brought a little friend (who laughed and rolled on the floor when his motion detector was triggered) along as well…
It was just what everyone needed; a chance to relax, unwind and talk smut in the kitchen.
“What happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen”
Here’s to girlfriends and getting to be a princess for an evening.
~
Yesterday I dragged my exhausted carcass out of bed at the ungawdly hour of 3:30 AM in preparation for a 4:00 AM departure from Tacoma to head up to Mt Rainier National Park to photograph the sunrise (the event) illuminating the mountain at Sunrise (the place
I managed to get everything ready the night before (which is why I stayed up too late) including the espresso machine so that I could brew up some “essence of the sacred bean” (with milk, vanilla syrup and a drizzle of caramel of course)
Since moving, I have not yet gotten my hiking/backpacking/snowshoeing/skiing gear organized; it’s in various piles and tubs in the gear room in the basement.
It was going to be below freezing when we got up there, and I needed gloves. Since I could not locate my fleece mittens that convert to fingerless gloves that I use for photography, I settled for the next best thing.
I grabbed a pair of gardening gloves which were quite “spectacular” with my ugly robins egg (yeah if the Robin was on LSD) blue TNF Flight Series jacket.
How’s THIS for a Mountaineer/Urban Farmer fashion statement?
It was clear when we left Tacoma, turning cloudy about the time we hit Bonney Lake; I did not despair since Sunrise is on the East side of the mountain and the weather is usually different there.
As we wound around the hairpin curves of the road to sunrise, we could see peeks of the peak alternating with fast moving clouds around each bend.
It was going to be a crap shoot.
We arrived to heavy mist and fog. We were IN the clouds. Drats!
Having the reputation of “weather witch” and insanely good luck with weather on trips, I did not give up. After a disgusting visit to the pit toilets near the backpacker parking (we discovered that the regular bathrooms closer to the visitor center were in fact open [smacks self on forehead] I gathered my photo gear and headed out towards the trail to see what I could see.
The lady Tahoma was being a tease…
As the wind whipped clouds raced past her summit, a stunning pink and orange glow began to appear.
“Don! It’s happening”.
I ran down the trial to snap a few pics, and when I realized how cool it was going to be, I raced back up the hill towards the Emmons Glacier viewpoint, camera gear, tripod and trekking poles swinging wildly.
The usual cadre of photographers was not there because of the clouds.
Myself and only three other people witnessed THIS stunning, if not unusual sunrise and magical moment in wondrous silence.
We headed down to the lower parking area where we saw the last of Tahoma for the day
An ungawdly early trip to Sunrise is never wasted. We had lakes to bag and meadows to explore before the hordes of screaming visitors descended on the park (I normally won’t go there on a summer weekend) and we headed off down the trail to Palisades Lakes.
We only saw one other person in the parking lot and he was long gone when we hit the trail. We soon discovered the tracks of a large bull elk and a couple cows. We were not far behind them as the tracks were fresh and so was this elk pee… (we found a big steaming pile of elk poop too, but I’ll spare you that photo)
We had a lovely view of Sunrise lake coming down the trial, but we bypassed that cutoff and visited Clover Lake
The wildflowers were lovely (they are past their peak, but still plentiful) along the ridge
The moon although no longer full, was still gorgeous
The meadows were absolutely stunning.
I couldn’t help but do my best, bad Julie Andrews impersonation…
We found something interesting in this little pond
Tadpoles! Seriously, you’d best get to growing legs little guys, your season is almost over, even though it just started. These have to be some seriously bad-assed frogs to live up here.
We checked out Upper Palisades Lake as a spot to come back to camp on a backpacking trip and ran into some folks I know. It appears that I can’t hike anywhere in this state without finding someone who knows me from organizations I’ve been involved with or recognizes me from my blog/magazine/website stuff. I honestly don’t know if I should be flattered or creeped out. (ran into a blog reader two weeks earlier at Spray Park)
Here’s the lake
On the way out, the pikas were frantically nesting to get ready for what appears will be an early and hard winter.
It was an AWESOME trip; 7;43 miles including a short sojourn to check out the lower Palisades lake, 2,246 feet of cumulative elevation gain, and off the trail by noon when most of the other folks were just starting out. We had the trail completely to ourselves. It was awesome.
One of the best things about living here in Tacoma is that in addition to the lovely water surrounding us on three sides, we have Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park and a host of fabulous National Forests as our “back yard”
I FINALLY got some hiking in for the first time since May when a chain of events including house buying, escrow, moving and a fractured foot/big toe kept me from getting out and doing things.
On Friday, a couple friends and I headed up to Mount Rainer National Park to photograph the wildflowers up at Spray Park. The areas on the Carbon River side of the park have always been my favorite because it is the least accessible area of the park which cuts down on crowds, litter bugs, trail cutters, flower pickers, marmot feeders, and tundra trompers (all of which drive this former NPS Ranger batshit crazy)
After a long drive in on the washboarded dirt road up to Mowich Lake, we started the ascent up to Spray Park.
We took a brief stop at the Eagle’s Lookout for the obligatory photo op with the lady Tahoma (Tahoma being the mountain’s true name) who was in her full glory.
We continued up the trial and hit the “longest alleged 0.8 miles of trail anywhere” up to the plateau.
That last bit of climb up sucks pond water, especially on a hot day, but it was worth every bit of it when we left the cover of the trees and entered the first meadow.
There were wildflowers everywhere…
And bugs… OMG the bugs. I have given up on folk, natural and less toxic methods of dealing with bugs. I’ve found that what works best for me is the standard 30% DEET (hey, I’m not going to reproduce or lactate so no harm done) Even with three doses of the stuff, I got chewed on (or sucked on in the case of mosquitos) pretty badly in areas I didn’t get enough DEET on. (above my socks, my elbows which apparently are quite tender and tasty) and behind my ears.
And a cute chubby marmot
Of course, no trip to Spray Park is complete without the short side trip down to Spray Falls.
The hike was an 8 mile round trip hike with 2,543 feet of (cumulative) elevation gain on the first day of the heat wave.
We got down about 3:30 PM and stopped in Bonney Lake for Mexican food and margaritas on the patio.
I don’t know what happened to Mazatlan after they moved to their new location, but the drinks, food and service were terrible; seriously, this was the worst Mexican food I’ve ever had, bland, tasteless and the margaritas tasted like grapefruit soda (at least they had a decent alcohol content).
*this margarita was so ashamed of the way it tasted, it had to hide it’ identity
We enjoyed our time on the patio, but from now on, we’ll wait until we’re back in good old Grit City and eat at Taquera El Guadalajara on 6th Ave.
On Monday a friend and I braved the heat and did an early morning run (5:30 AM departure) up to Snow Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest up off of Snoqualmie Pass.
I won’t get near that (or any other insanely popular) place on a weekend because I don’t care for crowds, but early on a Monday was nice, quiet and almost cool.
We were mobbed by swarms of mosquitoes in the parking area. (7:00 AM WTF?) but I had gotten better at applying bug spray so I escaped this trip with no angry itchy welts.
The heat didn’t start to hit until we were just cresting the ridge to drop down to the lake, where we were treated to blessed shade. We knew that the hike up and out would be hotter than heck, but we did manage an early enough trip that we’d be out by noon.
We walked around the lake to the junction with the trial that heads over to Gem Lake. This lake was every bit as stunning as I’ve heard.
Along with a BBQ with friends on Saturday and volunteering as a Swim Angel for the Danskin Triathlon on Sunday (that inspirational event will get it’s own post), I couldn’t have asked for a better long weekend.
I’m tired, sore, achy, bug bitten and slightly sunburned. THAT’s the way one should feel after a weekend.
~
Although there were some “glitches” to the weekend, it was a pretty awesome time to live in Tacoma.
I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning ready to go to the farmer’s market with Francine.
As I walked into the living room, still slightly blind and not yet caffeinated, I heard an odd noise in the living room. I wandered in, dazed and squinting thinking that I was going to have to deal with a mouse or something.
The sound was too distinct, too rhythmic, as I got closer, it sounded like “drip… drip… drip…”
It was barely drizzling outside, nothing should be dripping.
That’s when I found the leak just inside my front door (the only flat part of my roof)
a few buckets and an emergency call to Guardian Roofing and my house is now graced with a lovely white tarp (hey, it’s only ghetto if you use a blue tarp right?)
At least it didn’t happen during the actual rainy season. It will all work out.
I still managed to have a lovely girls afternoon with my long time friend Betsy having her birthday pedicure at Club Biella and a nice lunch at Dukes on the waterfront.
I came home to catch up on writing and to clean my office (my desk now resembles and archaeological dig: I think my PSE bill is in the Precambrian layer)
Ah, but that was not to be. My phone rang and it was my manager. She has only called me at home twice in the last five years. The last time was an emergency with a suspect in the act of committing fraud. This time was no different and after three hours, I had the satisfaction of seeing someone who has been the bane of my existence for the last three years lead away in handcuffs.
After that, I headed North to meet up with some friends from high school for a mini reunion. We graduated [cough] 30 years ago in Ventura California, but two of us live up here in the PNW and another friend who now lives in San Francisco was up visiting family
Sunday morning was another (unfortunately) early wake up call because the guy that was going to stain my fence and pergola couldn’t do it on Saturday as planned and came early Sunday.
I was ready for a slug day, when my friend Janet showed up on her bike wanting to go for a ride. It was just what I needed (to get off my ass) after 3 months of escrow, moving and rehabbing a fractured foot/big toe.
We wandered around the garden grazing on blueberries and peas and marveling at how Tagro creates mutant like vegetable growth.
We rode out to Proctor to check out Jubilee Cupcakes. I had tried the place once under the old name/recipe and was disappointed by the dry (almost stale tasting) cupcake. I had heard that they reworked their recipe to make it more moist, so I was anxious to try it.
We arrived at 11:45 to find a huge sign on the door saying that they wouldn’t be open until 11:00. The door was unlocked so we went in.
We were excited to try the cupcakes and sip some coffee on the porch.
We chose our cupcakes and asked for cups of drip coffee.
They couldn’t do it because their espresso machine was “being serviced”.
They had “french press” coffee on the menu so we said that we’d like that.
They couldn’t do that.
So is it that they can’t boil water without the espresso machine (no stove, no microwave?) or that you can’t grind coffee without the machine.
I can tell you that if it was my business, I’d have walked the one block over to Metro Market or Safeway and purchased ground coffee. If it was a water issue, I’d have grabbed a microwave or teapot form home.
Sorry Jubilee, but this may have been your last chance.
It’s too hard to try and love you.
We rode out to the Antique Sandwich (where we have NEVER been disappointed), and had pie and coffee out in the garden.
After that, we had a lovely ride around Five Mile Drive amongst the old growth trees and Puget Sound and then headed over to the HUB to enjoy a happy hour Buffalo Chicken Pizza and a Harmon beer.
We meandered back towards my hood (Hilltop) and stopped off at my friend Francine’s house. I could smell the unmistakable scent of roasting coffee beans.
We wandered her garden for a while and then headed back home.
Francine and I then went foraging.
The alleys of Hilltop are ripe with opportunity and culinary delights. We picked (and ate) our fill of blackberries, checked on the overgrown grape vines that will provide us tasty treats in a few weeks and also visited some apple trees.
When I got home (with the few berries I didn’t eat) I engaged in an experiement.
I didn’t have any small tart pans, but I did find a funky little pan that bakes little bundt cake shaped brownies.
I rolled out some pie crust with a bit of extra butter and moisture, cut it into little circles with my water glasses and lined the mini bundt forms with the crust.
Then I made a tart filling out of sour cream, fresh eggs (from the back yard, it doesn’t get any more fresh that pulling it out from under a chicken) flour, sugar and vanilla. I topped the tarts with blackberries so fresh and sweet that they didn’t need any sugar.
They turned out awesome (now I just need to figure out how to replicate the recipe).
I know most of you (those who won’t be home comforting terrified pets) have big plans for the 4th of July.
I tend to avoid the large crowds (especially down at “Freedom Fair” on Ruston Way unless I’m dragon boating and only stay down there long enough to race and get the heck out).
Normally, I’d escape for a backpacking trip like I did last year. Not knowing the illegal firework situation in my new neighborhood (so far much better than the last place I lived), I’m going to stay home and watch the house.
If anyone does want to come over at or after 6:00 PM (don’t come early, I’ll be at another event and won’t be home until then) I’ll be BBQing out in the back yard and will have the hot tub fired up. There’s still plenty of food left over from the house warning party. Those who live in super loud neighborhoods are welcome to crash the night at my place (I actually have guests rooms now; first come first served for futons)
Some neighbors have advised me that there are often some kids and parents that light off low key stuff in the park (we’re big on calling the cops, but not for that), so we might want to sit out in the front yard and watch the sparklers and such.
Also, my new greenhouse arrived (in two boxes) and I want to have a “greenhouse raising” which is now scheduled for Friday July 2nd at 4:30 PM
It’s light weight polycarbonate. I carried both boxes to the back yard by myself, and it should only take 2-3 people to put together (after building the chicken coop and pen alone, I realize how helpful it is to have another person around to balance things)
I’ll have already leveled the area and laid pea gravel down for the base, so it’s just a matter of (allegedly) “snapping it together”. The rest of the evening will be dedicated to the consumption of charred food and tasty adult beverages.
Please let me know if you are interested in either “event”.
If you haven’t been to the new house yet, please email, message, comment or text for my address.
* please note my home (and yes the yard) are NON SMOKING – Please leave cigarettes at home. Thank you.
Of course, it always is. Despite what some “Johnny-come lately” detractors might say, the Tacoma art community is vibrant and filled with amazing people.
However, this particular event, was even better than usual. I attribute this to two main factors; first, it was at Speakeasy and 2nd, the 100th monkey tiles were SOCK MONKEYS. This was a total act of genius!
Seriously, what an ice breaker (s)…
“Show me your monkey!”
“Wow, you can tie it in a knot”
“Monkey? What Monkey?”
“Is that a monkey in your pants?”
“You want to know my connection to the art community? Check out my butt” (explanation below)
“Why yes Sonia, I will chase your husband across the floor to take a picture of the monkey on his back for your amusement”
“Why yes, I do like to play with my monkey”
“My monkey looks just like me? Really?” (most of us)
“Yes, I stuffed the whole monkey in my mouth eventually” (Steve Dunkelberger)
“Of course, you can spank my monkey Paul (can I take a picture?)”
Although, I already have my own icebreaker. At “the monkey” you put your name on the front, and your connection to the art community on your back. Well with my long hair, I can’t put a sticker on my back, so it goes on my backSIDE… “I take pretty pictures”. It’s a great conversation starter, gets my butt patted when I show up to have it applied and doesn’t get covered up by my hair.
I got to hang out with some of my super awesome friends that I met through Speakeasy/100th Monkey
Margie (a recent monkey who’s tile graces my end table and NOT as a coaster) and Cindi
~
I don’t have time to post until after work (and likely after the Tacoma Beer Runners get together) but decided to post some pictures from last night’s 100th Monkey event at Speakeasy.
The “tiles” this time were sock monkeys (how cool is that?)
There was much networking, socializing, celebrating the art community in Tacoma, and of course… monkeying around.
Pictures are here…. check them out and see who spanked the monkey last night.
I’ll try to get a post about the event as well as Drama Free Thursday up later.
~
Yesterday started out with a torrential downpour at about 5:00 AM which scared off most of the people from my Boulder River Falls hike (those that hadn’t already been scared off the day before by the forecast) That left three of us; myself, Don and Eric.
My backup plan in case of uber crapy weather was to bag some falls closer to home with hikes which were too short to make a day of in themselves.
We chose three waterfalls in the Snoqualmie Pass corridor: Twin Falls in Ollalie State Park, Franklin Falls in the Denny Creek area and Snoqualmie Falls.
Eric and I headed up I-5 blasting “Born to Be Wild”; uh yeah… we were in a mini van, which makes it that much funnier.
We picked up Don at the Eastgate park & ride, grabbed some coffee and treats at Tully’s and headed for our first target, Twin Falls.
The rain from earlier in the morning had tapered off to a light mist. I didn’t even need the rain cover on my camera bag and Eric didn’t have to play Mary Poppins holding the umbrella for me when I set my camera up on the tripod for slower exposures (to get the movement of the water)
I saw my first Trillium of the season
The falls were STUNNING!
and look, we’re DRY
By the time we were done with the hike, the rain had stopped completely and there were patches of blue sky peeking out.
We observed a moment of silence (followed by proclamations of “Sucks to be You” & peals of laughter) for those who wimped out on the trip because of the weather.
Fall #1 bagged!
After some brief snacking, we hopped into the waterfall mobile and headed over to the Denny Creek area to bag Franklin Falls.
Once again, there was no rain.
There was a bit of compact snow in some areas of the trail, but we didn’t even need Yak Tracks; it was easy hiking.
The falls did not disappoint. There was a lot of spray coming off the falls, so if we got close our lenses got soaked in short order making it difficult to get sharp photos. It was better when we backed off a bit.
We stopped along the way back to the car to take more pictures and it started to lightly rain when we got to the car.
Fall #2 bagged; and once again, we didn’t get rained on.
We weren’t too worried about getting rained on at fall #3 as the main overlook is very close to the parking area and the hike down to the bottom of the falls is only ½ mile
Luckily, my reputation as a “weater witch” held. (I always have good weather or at least better than forecast on my trips) As we drove towards North Bend/Snoqualmie to hit “the big falls” the rain stopped. We got out of the car and it was perfectly dry. (we wondered out loud how much fun the weather wimps were having at home while we were out bagging falls)
We hiked down to the bottom of the falls; it was only ½ mile, but it was quite steep.
Snoqualmie Falls are always impressive and today was no exception.
We finished off the day with well deserved munchies and beverages at the Salish Lodge (more expensive that we usually go for, but so worth it and we deserved it). As we looked out the window of the lounge we noticed that the torrential downpour had begun.
We had some great “debates” on freeway exits, directions and trailhead locations, but we all got the chance to be right at least once.
Yeah baby, we bagged THREE falls and didn’t get rained on.
~
On Sunday, a group of friends (new and old) and I hiked up to Wallace Falls.
We got an early start and it was lightly raining (which actually makes waterfall photography better) which meant that we escaped the most crowded part of the day on a very popular trail.
We arrived at the trail at 9:00 AM to gentle rain, and the “morning shift” heading home.
We geared up and hit the trail.
I was testing out two new items I’d recently prodealed.
First was the LowePro SlingShot 300 it’s a sling style pack (only goes over one shoulder) and slides to the front where you can pull your camera out quickly without actually opening the pack. It holds all my lenses and will actually fit the camera with the 300mm lens attached. It also has a built in rain cover which came in quite handy on this trip. This thing ROCKS!! It’s actually way more comfortable than a backpack style camera bag.
Of course, the best “rain cover” was Eric (who looks very much like Mary Poppins in this picture) who was kind enough to hold my umbrella over mine and John’s cameras so that our SLR’s didn’t get wet (I was doing slow exposures to get the motion of the water)
The other item(s) was the totally awesome pair of LaSportiva Thunder II GTX backpacking boots. They are lighter than full grain leather boots but have a steel half shank and are good for moderate backpack loads on moderate terrain. These are the first backpacking boots that don’t tear up my heels. I am sold Sold SOLD!
I wore them to work for two days to help break them in, and on the trail today there was NO pain, NO pressure/hot spots, NO heel slip and NO toes jamming into the front on the downhill.
I LOVE these boots.
OK, so the boots took us up the powerline trail and we gradually wound our way up through the lovely forest alongside Wallace Creek.
One of the guys found a pretty little side waterfall.
I also noticed that the currents are blooming. Eric’s pretty sure they are salmon berries. He may very well be right. In any case, some tasty berry is blooming.
The little Yellow Wood Violets were blooming as well.
Soon there will be trillium, and [gag] skunk cabbage [ouch] devils club, and blueberries/low bush huckleberries (oh, how I love to graze on low bush huckleberries which in my opinion are tastier than blueberries)
The true (and sad) sign of spring was the two mosquitos that Eric killed. Yikes it’s early for them. I don’t even know where my bug juice is at this time of the year.
It was an easy walk to the lower falls where the picnic shelter was. We were able to get out of the rain/drizzle/mist/insert your favorite name for precipitation here, have a snack and wander around for pictures of the falls.
And of course, pose… (you can see the upper falls in the backgorund)
After our photo ops and munchies break, we headed another .3 miles up towards the middle (and reportedly the most photogenic falls).
Photo by Mike & Lin
Photo by John L
Where of course ,we had to pose… (again)
Some of the boys scampered fairly close to the edge…
A couple of us stalked each other
These falls did NOT disappoint!
and of course, more photography had to happen
(photo by John L)
We wandered down the trail taking pictures of things we didn’t the first time up because the light was better and the rain was ending. It was fresh, and green and gorgeous.
Here’s a topo map of our Garmin Track
And what does any good meetup hike need to be complete?
A palce we’ll all fit where they don’t crinkle their noses up at the smell, good food, and …
tada!!!
It was a great day! If you don’t mention the two accidents on 405 and the big cluster fornication on I-5 near kent that made it take way tooo long to get home.
Erik on 
Kevin Van Dyke on 
Randy Weiser on 