My Favorite Christmas Tradition

Here is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions. The reason I must post about it TODAY is to give you some time to prepare, (in case you love this idea too)!

His name is "Mr. Peeps". He's an ELF from the North Pole, who shows up each year the day after Thanksgiving. He stays with us until Christmas Eve, let's Santa know how the children behaved the last few weeks, then goes back home in Santa's sleigh. Mr. Peeps has been coming to our home for several years now. He even brought a new elf with him a few years ago named Stanley. Click HERE to meet my elves and see the Mr. Peeps explanation poem.

"Mr. Peeps" was not my idea of course. The tradition has been around a long time. In fact, we had an elf named "Lucky" growing up, that still hangs out at my parents' each year.

If you love this idea and want to start this tradition, these little guys can be hard to find!! (You can check your local craft stores. That is where mine came from.) But here are some great online links to check out as well...

The Crazy Quilter (I think this is just for the pattern, to make your own)

Ragamuffin Designs (You can order Mr. Peeps, made by a gal named Kristen)

Elves Around the World



Elf On the Shelf

Sailors take warning

I remember hearing, for most of my life, the saying, "red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning." This is what the sky looked like this morning when I left for my Saturday walk. Then the sun came out and it was cold but really sunny and beautiful. Now, however, at noon, the skies are beginning to cloud over and rain is forecast for this evening. And it's supposed to continue into tomorrow evening, right when all the kids are supposed to be out on the streets having their trick-or-treat fun.

One of the ladies brought her dog in costume this morning. It also helped to keep him warm (or even hot). He didn't seem to mind, anyway. Afterwards, I headed over to the Farmers' Market to have my favorite Ethiopian breakfast. It's made of lentils, cabbage, carrots and potatoes spiced with turmeric. I had to ask because I thought maybe it was saffron, which also turns veggies a yellow color. Some information about turmeric from Wikipedia:

Turmeric is widely used as a spice in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking. In Nepal, turmeric is widely grown and is extensively used in almost every vegetable and meat dish in the country for its color, as well as for its medicinal value. In South Africa, turmeric is traditionally used to give boiled white rice a golden color.

This food is served on teff, a strange spongy kind of bread, and the whole meal has become my favorite food at the market. It turns out that teff is a kind of wheat widely cultivated in Ethiopia and Australia. We don't seem to grow it much here, but traditionally Ethiopian food is served with the bread, which is torn off and used as a kind of edible utensil. I use a regular fork, though. You can see the teff bread behind the closed container.

Under the covered section is a chicken dish that I don't eat, but these veggies and lentils can be made more piquant with the addition of the green stuff in the jar in the back. I'm not sure what it is; at first I was hesitant to use it, but now I add it onto everything. After buying a couple of delicata squash, I headed back home. Now I'm beginning to see the "red sky in morning" turn the beautiful sunny day into the harbinger of rain, rain, and more rain. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, after all.
:-)

Snowshrooms and Sasquatch

Today only seven of us diehard Senior Trailblazers showed up for the hike to what was advertised as the "Middle Fork area." It was raining when we woke up. And rain was forecast for most of the day. (Actually one other Trailblazer showed up but promptly left before we decided where to go.) Nobody really wanted to go on a hike around town, because none of us were truly ready to give up on the High Country. After a fairly long discussion, we decided to head up the Mt. Baker Highway and go up to Church Mountain, for our third time this season.

We hit the trail by 9:40 am without our rain gear on, as it was only spitting very lightly when we started out. Of course every one of us was prepared to throw on plenty of rain gear, but it wasn't really needed. I began to notice a preponderance of mushrooms of every sort, pushing up through the ground with little heed for the mulch and leaves on top. This picture looked to me like just the sort of place a leprechaun would love to inhabit.

Our hike started out at 2,300 feet elevation, through yellow leaves and occasional low light shining through. I managed to keep our hike to a slow crawl as I would spy more and more mushrooms to photograph. There was such a profusion, and my friends began to discourage me from taking more pictures so we could actually make some progress up the steady grade. We climbed through 17 switchbacks on our way to the meadow.

At about 4,300 feet, we began to see evidence of the recent snowfall here in the High Country. It was very wet snow and would have been perfect for a snowball fight, but we kept climbing. The trail is very good, with nobody ready to turn back. It wasn't even lunchtime yet! But the higher we went, the more snow we encountered.

By the time we reached the meadow and 4,800 feet of elevation, it was snowing, and we were walking through snow up to the top of our boots. In some places it was even deeper. Here's Mikey Poppins with his umbrella and shorts while the rest of us are donning our coats, gloves and winter hats. Mike, Earl and Fred are already thinking about lunch. Since it was breezy and NOT WARM here, we retreated a couple  hundred feet and stopped for lunch. In no time at all, we were all very cold and ready to head back down.

I managed to get more pictures of the myriad mushrooms on the trail (more of which are available if you click on the "Trailblazers Fall 2010" link in the right-hand side of this blog) as we descended out of the snow back into more hiker-friendly terrain. I noticed that Fred kept hanging back, but as we descended further, I wondered who had joined our group:

He looked vaguely familiar, had picked up some shrooms, but I really didn't recognize him. It was a Sasquatch from the Pacific Northwest! Okay, I'm new to the area. When someone suggested this was a Sasquatch, I said I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, thinking this was the name of a PNW tribe, but it's the name of BIGFOOT here in the PNW!! Then he revealed himself as none other than FRED from our group. You can easily see why I was fooled. But I was even more fooled when I realized I didn't know who Sasquatch is. That link will tell you, if you don't already know.

It was a great day, with more than six miles in our High Country, with snowshrooms, Sasquatch, and weather better than we had hoped for!
:-)

HaLLoWeeN TrEaTs

I was asked to bring a sweet treat to my son's Halloween "Harvest Party" on Friday, so I started looking around for some fun ideas. Here were some of my faves (in no particular order)...

1. Krispy Apple Treats from Gourmet Mom On The Go

2. Grandpa's Popcorn Balls from AllRecipes.com

Just an update... If your child has a loose tooth and wants it to come out, this would be your recipe. It's really hard (which I'm not a fan of), but if you like rock-hard popcorn balls this is a good one. (I prefer the soft, gooey ones.)

3. Best Ever Popcorn Balls from AllRecipes.com

4. Forked Eye Balls from Family Fun

5. Daddy Long Leg Cupcakes from Family Fun

6. Two Caramel Apple Recipes (one using wrapped caramels and one from scratch- I'm anxious to try both and see which one we like best)

7. Kittencal's Caramel Apples from Food.com

8. Candy Apple Recipes from AllFreeRecipes.com

Random acts of kindness

I was turned on to a wonderful blog the other day by Linda at A Slower Pace. She wrote about an Oregon physician, Jill Ginsberg, who began a blog last month after deciding to honor her mother's memory by giving away a $100 dollar bill to a stranger every day during the month of October. She is unsure how or whether to continue her blog after the month is over, but I was so fascinated by the idea and her story that I went back and read every post. She calls the blog (at least for now) My Month of Hundreds.

Every single entry has been interesting. She is a good writer and communicator. Jill calls herself a "fifty-something physician" who inherited some unexpected money from her mother and wanted to do something special with the money to honor her. The story was picked up last Sunday by OregonLive.Com and now Jill has become something of a celebrity. The link takes you to the article and to some of the comments left by readers. What surprises me is how many people seem to think this is a terrible idea; some even find it reprehensible, which flabbergasted me.

It has also made me think of how a random act of kindness can be construed, or misconstrued. I've done my share, brought flowers to a friend for no reason, given money to a homeless man on the street, or befriended a stranger and given them food and other sustenance. I haven't done it for awhile, but I notice that since reading her blog, I look at the people on the bus or in the coffee shop with a different eye, wondering how each one of them might act and feel if Jill were to walk up to them and give them a C-note.

Thinking about these unique and individual lives, who are precious to their loved ones, and hopefully to themselves, makes me realize that we are each separate and connected at the same time. Although I don't know any of the people on the bus personally, I could sit down and start a conversation at any time. I usually follow the custom of taking a seat on the bus with nobody in the seat next to me, until all the spaces are taken and someone needs to sit beside another rider. If the bus begins to fill, I always pick up the packages I might have placed next to me so someone can sit down. I fantasized this morning about Jill sitting down next to me and offering me a $100 bill in honor of her mother. How would I feel?

It's interesting to wonder whether I would feel honored or somehow seen as needy. That money would certainly not change my life (and would probably be spent on a pair of cargo pants at REI), but some of the people who get on the bus at the Lighthouse Mission might not feel the same way. Jill embarked on an adventure that has changed quite a few lives already, her own included.

If you want to be inspired or have time for a good read, I highly recommend My Month of Hundreds.
:-)

Great Video for Teaching Selfless Service

It's that time of year again when we get to focus on Gratitude and Selflessness. I plan to do a Family Night lesson/activity this week about Annonymous Acts of Service, to try and get my children to think more outward. (I will post what I did later.) This short video is perfect for this teaching. Enjoy...

Fall at the Market

You know you can click any picture to enlarge

Visiting the Bellingham Farmers' Market in the fall is a different experience than in the summer: even though it will remain open until the Saturday before Christmas, the kinds of merchandise and the types of produce have changed a great deal. Here you see some Brussels sprouts trees for sale, gourds, pumpkins, potatoes, squash. All of the luscious fruit and most of the veggies, except for a few wonderful hothouse heritage tomatoes, are gone until next year.

Many of the outside booths have moved inside, where overhead heaters become places for people to congregate. Vendors are beginning to market their wares to holiday shoppers, with all kinds of homemade soaps, creams, jewelry, and the like. I was simply mesmerized by Margot Bianca's wonderful handmade batik display. I spent quite a while looking through her bandannas and table runners.

Each one is unique and beautifully finished. After perusing them all, going through and looking at each one to see the differences between them, I chose one. It was not easy to do! You will be seeing this bandanna around my neck on upcoming hikes.

Visit Margot's Etsy website here

And then, just when I thought I had finished looking at the wonderful batiks, I saw on the way out that she had another entire table of silk batik scarves and runners. Although I didn't buy that beautiful grey and white silk neck scarf, it was only because I had run out of money. I will bring more money next time I visit the Market and maybe this one will still be available.

As the season changes from the bright colors of fall to the more muted colors of winter, this scarf will probably be warming my neck, if there is any justice in the world. It was hard to leave the sunshine and clouds of this glorious Saturday to come inside to write on my blog, but now that the wind is picking up and once the rain that is forecast to move in tonight arrives, I'll be happy to visit all my blogging buddies and hang out inside curled up in front of my iMac.
:-)

"Flax" Eggs

My sister, who is "vegan", shared with me an insightful tip to cooking.
Using Flax Seeds combined with water to = eggs.

She made this Chocolate Zucchini Bread that was great and I didn't know it didn't have any eggs in it. Flax Seeds(when ground) are supposed to be really healthy for you. [She mentioned she got her seeds at Winco in the bulk section. Then you just grind them up. Best kept in frig to keep the nutrients though.]

I so excited to now try different recipes to put these in (plus if I run out of eggs).

Rainbow Ridge 2010

Last year when we did this hike to Rainbow Ridge, I fell in the slippery mud on the way down and managed to make my shin into mincemeat. Today, however, as fourteen Senior Trailblazers began our hike to the ridge, it had been rain- and snow-free in this area for at least a week. Therefore, everything was quite a bit drier than last year. Witness our clear blue skies, and what Mt. Shuksan looks like from this side. I almost didn't recognize my old friend from over here.

One of the things that makes this hike so special is that after hiking through mud and roots and a pretty terrible trail, after a 70-mile drive from Bellingham, the incredible views you get from the ridge are spectacular. Baker Lake is in the picture above with fall colors in the foreground, and Mt. Baker in the background in the picture below. But you can also see that the clouds have begun to move in. It was a sunny hike to the ridge, however.

With Mt. Baker in the background, Frank who is now 80, is in the foreground showing that he's still got a year or two (or ten) still in him.  The hike up to the ridge was better this year than last, when it had snowed and made the trail even more slippery and treacherous than today. No mishaps at all!

We went farther along the ridge this year, and here I got a great view of Rainbow Creek, with fall colors and an old tree that was only missing an eagle's nest to be absolutely perfect. The dropoff from the ridge was steep enough to make me a little nervous; Al was holding onto my camera strap as I leaned out as far as I could go to get this picture.

Here is our beautiful lunch spot, surrounded by amazing views, a nice breeze and a temperature close to 60 degrees. Several times on this hike I was contemplating the end of the season, and thinking it could not have been more perfect than this hike together. Next week we begin our hikes around Bellingham. Now, not to lessen the actual experience of getting to this amazing location, which was hiking through mud, roots, steep terrain, and the occasional slip, here's a picture of what the trail looked like in places, for us to gain the ridge:

If you can believe it, last year was even wetter and muddier than today. I just had to show you one of the more icky spots. That said, if I see another chance like we had today to hike up to Rainbow Ridge, I'll do it. With my trekking poles and my hiking buddies, I feel a whole lot more secure. What a great end to the 2010 season of High Country hikes!!
:-

Halloween with {Witches}

Some of my Witches:



Clay


Wooden

Backside

Close-up of the face

A very special day

Because of the next few days of forecasted weather, Al of the Senior Trailblazers sent out an email asking if anyone would be interested in taking a rather long trip on Tuesday to the North Cascades National Park, a good 90+ miles south of us. Since our regular hiking day is Thursday, not many people answered his email. But I did, having missed out last Thursday because of illness. Fred and Mike, two more Trailblazer regulars, joined Al and me on this absolutely magnificent day. The sign at the trailhead gave us a good idea of what we might be able to accomplish: a fairly easy hike to Cascade Pass, and then we hiked from there up to the Sahale Arm, up a ridge that follows a trail to the Sahale Glacier.

The initial part of the hike took us up 36 switchbacks and a long gentle slope to Cascade Pass. The entire mountain range we saw is dominated by this beautiful Johannesburg mass. We also saw Sahale Peak and glacier, as well as Boston Peak, many new (to me) vistas. When we reached the Pass, we had a wonderful view at these mountains as well as access to several trails.

Fred and Al arriving at Cascade Pass

After a short rest, we headed up Sahale Arm, an old prospectors' trail. After a steep climb of around 800 feet, we saw the cirque of Doubtful Lake (a strange name, it is definitely a lake) and looked down into the Stehekin River Valley. You can sure tell that the area was carved by glaciers, as many are still around. We looked across at Inspiration Glacier, which can't be seen from the Pass. Here's a picture of Doubtful Lake.

Although you can't see it here, the lake has several waterfalls heading into it, but you could hear them very clearly. The day was bright and sunny with a light breeze, almost perfect hiking weather. Al and I rested and had our lunch while Fred and Mike decided to hike on to the end of Sahale Arm to the glacier, with an agreement that they would head back to join us by 1:30 or so. After we ate lunch and had rested a bit, Al and I walked a little ways further along the Sahale Arm trail. We saw Fred and Mike in the distance, standing in one spot for a long time, and then they headed back to us earlier than planned. This is why:

We learned that this big bear (VERY big, more than 300-400 pounds, they estimated) was in the trail ahead of them. Not having been spotted by him, they watched him in amazement for a long time. Of course I wasn't there, and they had no camera with them.  By the time they had reached us and told us the story, we got out binoculars and saw him on the ridge. I took this picture with my telephoto, and we discussed going back to get better pictures, but this was as close as I wanted to get. At one point, Fred and Mike were within 250 feet of him!! I have one more picture that shows him:

Isn't he beautiful? And scary?? Wouldn't you go the other direction? I sure did. However, this was just about the most perfect day I can remember in awhile. I am tired, but not terribly so. We hiked nine miles and gained 2,700 feet in elevation. After we drove down the road to Concrete (yes, there is a town named Concrete), we stopped at Annie's Pizza Place for dinner together. We left town this morning in the dark and arrived home in the dark, but what a day we had in between!

As you can see in this picture, the colors are still vibrant, if not as abundant, and if we can have a day even HALF as wonderful on Thursday as today was, I will be a very happy and grateful Senior.
:-)