REID has ARRIVED

photo supplied by his proud mama

I am thrilled to introduce you, my Dear Readers, to my newest grandchild, Reid.  He was born on Friday evening, a little early (36 weeks 2 days, but who's counting).  He weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces and is 20 inches tall.  A most handsome lad, as you can see.  My daughter is well and reported a not too difficult time of the birth.

Reid is my husband's middle name.  He is, as you might imagine, quite thrilled.

This latest perfect addition to our collection of grandchildren brings the total to seven!  One for each day of the week---five girls, two boys.  I'd say that was just about perfect.

Up date:  4 days old and home from the hospital....and still sleeping!

Discharge Nature Printing Fabrics

As I promised, here are a sampling of the different fabrics I printed in Sharron Huffman's class the other day in Ocean Park.  I was surprised at how well batik takes to discharge printing.

We used Soft Scrub (which contains bleach) and just painted it onto leaves, ferns, feathers, etc.  Then we placed the object on the fabric and pressed all over with our fingers.  Depending on whether or not you used the side with the most veining, you got various amounts of detail in the prints.

i enjoyed working with the salal leaves the most, I think.

The square around the leaf on the right was done with masking tape.  I just taped it off and then applied bleach to the area between the two strips of tape.  It worked like a charm.  Thanks for the idea, Sharron!

This print was done with dandelion leaves.

Of all the prints I did that day, I think I like this one the best.  It was a fabric I really didn't like all that much, but the way the bleach reacted with the different colors in the batik was interesting and the overall print, when it was completed, was very pleasing to me.

Ocean Adventure, Day 7

I took a nature printing on fabric class from Sharron Huffman, a long-time member of the Nature Printing Society and a wonderful teacher.

Sharron showed us how to use Soft Scrub (containing bleach) to remove dye from fabric.  We used leaves, grass, flowers, feather and shells as the vehicle for the bleach.  I have quite a few little pieces of different fabrics that I discharged printed but I don't have them handy.  (We have to leave in the morning to return home and we're in the process of cleaning up the condo and packing up the car.  Unfortunately the fabric is already buried in the car and I am too lazy to go dig it out to take photos to show you what I did.  I will post photos in the next day or two, once I return home.)  I got the best results from salal leaves, I think, which surprised me.  I did some prints with a dandelion flower that turned out quite well, too.  The batik fabric I used discharged very well and I got some really pleasing results.

Nonie and I ran into this fellow on a walk this afternoon.  He, too, is not the least bit afraid of us.  I must admit that I greatly admire the velvet on those antlers.  Quite a handsome fellow, don't you agree?

Our last dinner on the peninsula was stellar.  We dined at The Depot in Seaview.  We'd been told it was  a foodie's dream and we were not led astray.  Nonie had a steak that, judging by the way it disappeared, was very much to her liking.  I had Willipa oysters and they were wonderful, served with a light garlic aioli.  I was so full I couldn't even consider having any of the delectable desserts I saw pass the table.  It's a cute place and the food is worth the drive.  If you are in the area, don't miss dining here!

Heading back north to home soon.  Don't forget to stop by again soon to see the fabrics I discharged dyed in Sharron's class....

Ocean Adventure, Day 6

fence surrounding the field attached to the School House property

Oysterville is a cute little historic village on the shores of what was once called Shoalwater Bay and is now known as Willipa Bay.  Oysterville was founded in 1854.  The tide lands were coved with small local oysters and down the coast in San Francisco, the gold rich diners were oyster mad!  The walking tour pamphlet I picked up stated, "A peach basket filled with oysters brought a dollar in gold on delivery to a schooner anchored on the tide flats in front of town.  That same basket brought $10 on arrival in San Francisco, and the epicures in oyster bars and seafood restaurants there would pay a silver dollar for one oyster---an oyster smaller than the dollar!"*

The Baptist church was founded in 1892 with a donation by one of the founders of the town, R. H. Espy.  It no longer serves as a working church, but I noticed that there is a Vespers service on Sunday afternoons.  I wish I'd known that; I would have gone.

 I found the hardware on the door in the church building to be fascinating.  They are beautiful examples of late Victorian detail and decoration.

The homes in Oysterville are very well kept and many have lovely gardens.  One home had this growing in the front yard, right along the fence.  I do not remember ever seeing it before.  Do you know what it is?  I'd like to know.

This home was once an inn.

tide flats in front of the village

We also spent some time on the beach at Leadbetter Point State Park.   There were many herons fishing along the water's edge on the tide flats.  To the north of the park is a national game refuge and it is a snowy plover protected area.  Lovely to walk along the beach and watch the birds!

           *"Oysterville 1854, National Historic District, Walking Tour & Map," by Sydney Stevens & Patricia Fagerland, 2006.

Ocean Adventure, Day 5

Many, oh very many years ago, I visited Cape Disappointment State Park with my Dad.  We had been charter fishing out of Ilwaco for salmon and after we'd done our "work" for the day (read: Dad fished, I was ill) we filled the afternoon hours with a visit to the north jetty along the Columbia River, which is in the park.  I remember walking on the rocks with Dad and how he told me about the Columbia and how rivers silted up and building the jetties  helped keep the river in a more narrow channel and how it would scour out the channel with the force of the flowing water.

What Dad and I didn't do was visit the North Head lighthouse and take the scenic loop road through the park.  Nola and I had a good time exploring there yesterday.

The North Head lighthouse is in a beautiful spot.  But, really, can you think of a lighthouse that isn't?  It was 69 steps to the top.  The view south to the river as wonderful.

Flocks of pelicans were passing by, every few minutes, as well as a glut of gulls.

The cliffs are steep and the surf crashes into the rocks at the bottom in a most pleasing way.  It is truly a beautiful place.

This is the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, also within the park boundaries.  There is also a very interesting interpretive center.  Lewis and Clark finally reached the Pacific here on their expedition with the Corps of Discovery, in 1805.  This state park is a part of the larger Lewis and Clark National Historical Park that spans both sides of the Columbia, in both Washington and Oregon.  It is the newest of our national parks.

To cap off a lovely day, another stunning sunset.

Ocean Adventure, Day 4

On Saturday, in Ilwaco, there is a very nice market at the Port of Ilwaco.  There were some veggie vendors, some with berries that looked totally delicious and made me want to make jam and lots of arts and crafts.  It's a nice selection.  You can get something to eat, either from a tent or from one of the restaurants located along the way.  There was even a chowder truck!

I love to photograph artist's palettes and Don Nisbett kindly allowed me to get a shot of his.  Don is a local Northwest artist.  I love that palette!

Don Nesbitt in his gallery/studio

There was a lovely little independent bookstore tucked in among the shops and restaurants, called Time Enough Books.  I loved the Mark Twain quote they have painted on a wall in the shop.  Sadly, it is so very true.  I found some books I had to have, of course.  What are you reading right now?

Ilwaco is a true, working port and there are many charter companies available to take you out for some salmon fishing or sturgeon, is that is your preference.  (Not mine!  No sturgeon for this one.  Hate the stuff!)

We had a truly fabulous dinner at Jimella & Nanci's Market Cafe in near-by Klipson Beach.  We'd been told that was the place that all foodies must visit and we were not led astray.  I had the pan fried oysters and they were just about the best plate of oysters I have ever had, and certainly the prettiest.

The oysters were crunchy on the outside and like hot custard on the inside, just the way I love them.  I bought a couple of jars of their jam to take home, one huckleberry and one Bing cherry.  Doesn't that sound good?

The sunset wasn't bad, either!

Ocean Adventure, Day 3

We visited Loomis Lake State Park and took the trail to the beach.  It wound through a little bit of forest and then opened up to grassland and dunes, then the beach proper.  The whole walk was, maybe, three minutes.  A blustery day, with rain spitting at us occasionally, left us with a big stretch of completely deserted sand.

Except for the birds!  There were large flocks of pelicans flying into the wind, down the surf.  And father out, some sort of seabird in large flocks.  Frankly, my eyes are good enough to figure out what they were.

Lots of pelicans!

There is a big arch leading to the main beach access in Long Beach that proclaims the peninsula the "world's longest beach."  I'm not sure that the statement is not hyperbole, but it is a massively long stretch of sand, that's for sure!  And about the last stretch of sand that  you can still drive parts of in Washington State.

This is a beautiful place, especially when you are all alone with all that water and all that sand.  This part of the coast is called the "graveyard of the Pacific" and it's easy to see why.  There have been a  phenomenal number of shipwrecks here, for as long as man has been sailing by.  (Okay, okay, some of you Dear Readers will say, "Gee, not that long, really, in the course of human history."  I know.  I admit it.)

Miss Velvet-Eyed Doe keeps stopping by for her close-ups.  She is not the least bit afraid of me.  In fact, someone in this condo building was throwing something down into the grass for her to eat the other evening.  We do not feed the animals.  We photograph them but we do not feed them.

There is plenty of good, appropriate eats around for this doe and her friends.