Uncles

Day 51: Uncles! I had a favourite uncle who used to tickle me, play games with me, spin me around in circles; who read science fiction to me while I was still in a crib, who taught me algebra when other kids were struggling with long division, who took me to stay ten days with him at his duty station on Mount Rainier the summer after my father died (and thereby set the course of my life). Some uncles are just blah. Others are Special, always to be remembered with great fondness. Such was my uncle Gus. Merry loves uncles, and especially his uncle Kevin who he sees most often. Kevin gets down on the floor with him, shares his toys, tickles his tummy, and Merry soaks it up. He recognizes Kevin's car (or the sound of it, perhaps) and gets excited when Kevin pulls into the driveway. "Here comes your uncle Kevin!" I tell him, and then grab him to be sure he doesn't dash out the door (he's not allowed outside). As soon as greetings have been exchanged, the fun begins. And the one time Kevin came in and could only stay for half a minute, Merry watched at the window as he drove off, sad little cat-nephew meowing his unhappiness that uncle Kevin went bye-bye without a proper visit.

Fungal Find

Day 50: There are far too many orange or pink/orange Ramaria species in the Pacific Northwest which are almost identical in outward appearance, and my skill with the microscope is probably not good enough to sort them out, but that doesn't prevent me from admiring their graceful forms. It should be obvious why they are generically called "coral fungi," and some can be told apart by the way the tips branch (but of course that can be tricky depending on what growth phase they are in). Some are edible. Some are not. Both my conscience and my confidence keep me from temptation. In any event, as I was meandering through the ferns to reach yesterday's geocache, I passed this lovely specimen by without taking a photo, saying as I did so, "I bet I can't find it again." I should have known better, because when I put myself on auto-pilot, I invariably retrace my steps with amazing precision regardless of the terrain. After finding the cache, I began working my way back to the car. "Oh, there it is!" I said, having put my foot down on the same patch of moss I'd stepped on earlier, and even if I don't know the exact species, this fungal find was a perfect companion for my geocaching find.

Looks Like a Cache!

Day 49: I don't do a lot of geocaching these days, but when a new one popped up this morning only a few miles from home, I decided I had to go after it. "First to Find" honours can be very competitive, although there aren't a lot of contenders out here other than Kevin, but even so, I had no idea how long the notification had been out. The cache sounded fairly challenging...fallen trees to climb over, lots of logs to look under, at least according to the description...but when I got there, I discovered it was only a couple hundred feet from the path, through ferns in the kind of terrain I'm accustomed to when mushrooming. I did have to sit on one mossy log to get over it, but a damp butt is something I accept as a matter of course when I'm out in the woods. The cache was brilliantly made and quite well hidden, but my instincts had kicked in and I was fairly certain of what I would find. Look at the photo and tell me, does that look like a geocache to you?

Forming Attachments

Day 48: At some point in my illustrious career, I identified this lichen as Parmelia hygrophila, and I choose to believe that I would not have ventured out onto a limb without being 99% sure. This post, however, is not so much about one particular species, but about forming attachments, and trust me, lichens are amazingly good at it. They can grab onto almost anything: wood, rock, bone...even metal or plastic, as can easily be seen on my garden gate (above) and the vinyl siding on my house. All it takes is a film of dust and a tiny bit of texture/porosity, the latter not something one generally associates with painted surfaces. The trick to their tenacity lies in rhizines, root-like structures on the underside of their lobes. In many cases, these rhizines are too fine to be seen with the naked eye. Unlike roots, though, rhizines are not concerned with nutrient uptake. They're there solely to hang on, and if you were to try to peel this delicate Parmelia away from its metal friend, you'd be in for an argument which might surprise you with its vehemence.

All About Leftovers

Day 47: Predictably, everyone is posting photos of yesterday's Big Dinner, so since I'm short on material, I'll jump on the bandwagon to offer my twist. First off, let me say that those are popovers, not Yorkshire puddings. To the best of my knowledge, the only difference is that butter is used for popovers,, whereas meat drippings go in Yorkies, and mine were made entirely from scratch (recipe is in "Joy of Cooking"). They reheat well by being placed in a 325-degree oven for a few minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

And Thanksgiving is all about leftovers, isn't it? For that reason, I made a 16-pound turkey which I shared only with Merry because in my opinion, the best part of the holiday is Carcass Soup. Oh, I'lll nibble bits of meat over the next few days and possibly put a little in the freezer, but every bone, every piece of gristle will be saved for the stock pot. It will be boiled for hours until the meat has the texture of wet cardboard, at which point, the crows get a feast. When congealed, the broth will have the consistency of set gelatine, thick enough to cut, and that will form the basis for a simple noodle soup. I prefer to use small shell pasta, seasoned only with salt and pepper, but you could add veggies if you wished. The remnants of a turkey this size should make about a quart and a half of gelatinized broth, hearty fare for those cold days we know are coming in January.

Happy Thanksgiving

Day 46: "Autumn Oranges" just seemed to me to be the perfect backdrop for Thanksgiving wellwishes, so to start, let me say that I am thankful to have the quilting almost halfway done. I won't have it finished in time to be a Christmas gift for its designated recipient, but it is still going way faster than I'd anticipated.

The Nisqually Land Trust amused me by including slime molds in the list of things they are thankful for, so let me include them here as a special note among the other abundant gifts Nature gives me daily. Lichens, mushrooms, wildflowers rare and common, birds of all sorts...these are all things I am consciously thankful for every day. I am thankful for my friends, and for my continuing health which, given my age, is far better than it might be. I am thankful for a roof over my head, and for the comforts we take for granted, like heat and running water. I've lived without both. I am thankful for the food on my table, another commodity which has sometimes been in short supply, and yes, especially for homemade bread. I am thankful that I live in the Pacific Northwest despite the occasional earthquake and/or volcanic eruption, because it is the most beautiful place on Earth. I am thankful for the furry and feathered companions who have walked through life with me over the long years. And I am especially thankful for the great, rumbling purr which occurred with Merry laying on my chest this morning, nose to nose in our wake-up-time ritual of sharing a snuggle. I would not trade a single one of these things for all the gold in the world.

Quilting - Rock or Stab

Day 45: There are two principal ways to stitch the layers of a quilt together by hand. The first is with a "rocking" stitch (upper photo) and the second is with a "stab" stitch (lower image). The rocking stitch has an advantage in that it is faster (i.e., several stitches can be made before pulling the needle all the way through). Its disadvantage is that the stitches on the reverse side of the quilt are usually noticeably smaller than those on the top. The stab stitch is slower, but with care, the stitches top and bottom will be almost identically sized. The rocking stitch is preferred by people who quilt in the lap, and the stab stitch is not generally done without the quilt being mounted in a frame. I have seen quilters who "rock" when the quilt is stretched taut, and I've often wondered if they have looked at the back side to be sure their stitching has caught through all the layers. Because of the advantage of the rocking stitch with respect to speed, those of us who stab are becoming an endangered breed.