Lozenges Lap-robe

Day 104: As you might expect for someone who knits and crochets as much as I do, I wind up with a lot of tag ends of yarn in a very wide array of colours. Thrifty Scot that I am, these can't just be assigned to the bin. They have to be used down to the last few inches. One of the ways I use up the longer pieces is in "scrap-ghans" where each horizontal row is a different colour, but usually with a unifying colour repeating at regular intervals. Here, seven rows of lozenges are separated by an eighth row in black. The edge of the afghan will also be worked in black. This one is destined to be sold at Mount Rainier National Park's Christmas party silent auction. Proceeds benefit the employee fund which in turn pays for the Christmas party. It's a self-renewing loop!

Magic

Photo courtesy Kevin Bacher

Day 77: Everyone needs a little magic in their life. How else could it have come to pass that a person who asserts that she loves children best when accompanied by a hot, sweet chutney and side salad flew into a role as Evernia the Christmas Faerie? There certainly had to be a lot of magic at work to effect such a dramatic transformation. The young lady in this photo (daughter of a Park employee) approached hesitantly at first, skittered off as soon as the Faerie had given her a gift, but minutes later returned to remark in utter awe, "Your hair is WHITE!" The ice broken, her confidence increased and she engaged me in an animated conversation while other kids gathered behind her. Their faces were lost to me in myopic blur; in fact without my glasses, I could barely tell that my little friend's dress was blue and sparkled like the midnight sky. It is impossible to say which one of us felt the magic of this moment more strongly.

Mount Rainier's Christmas Faerie

Photo by Kevin Bacher

Day 67: My duties at Mount Rainier National Park are varied. Most of the time, you'll find me in the office, seated at a computer and entering information from the dozens of volunteer applications we receive every year. You may also encounter me in the field, often as not flat out on the forest floor with my camera trained on some rare plant or specimen of lichen. You might also see me in the campground, gathering storm debris or putting up tents for our summer volunteers. I've often said I'll do any task assigned to me with the exception of plumbing, a subject I learned to avoid when working at Carbon River in the late 70s, but the latest addition to my growing list of position descriptions is truly unique.

Santa's schedule is pretty full at this time of the year, and some kids (most, I think) are a bit leery of the jolly old fellow, particularly when they're very young. But what child could be afraid of a faerie not much larger than themselves? As it turns out, Mount Rainier National Park has its very own Christmas faerie who appeared magically at the holiday party Thursday night to hand out bags of treats and toys to the children of our employees. Only one youngster was nervous about approaching her, but with a very small nudge from dad, came forward to accept a gift. Several were intrigued by the faerie's wings, touching them gently, as if afraid they might frighten the woodland sprite away. Once her bag of surprises was empty, the faerie disappeared from the hall as mysteriously as she had arrived. Unfortunately, I was absent while she engaged the children, and have only this photo taken by Kevin to prove her existence to me.

The Greeter

Day 65: We enlisted the help of a special volunteer to serve as greeter at the Ed Center for last night's Park Christmas party. The event was attended by about three dozen guests and featured children's activities, a silent auction (my hand-knit socks were a big hit), door prizes and enough food to throw us all into hibernation until Spring. Bear was not allowed to partake of pulled pork and may have been somewhat disappointed at being stationed next to a bear-proof bin.