Blackberry Couch Bed

Looks like this couch bed -- on the corner of 8th Ave N and Valley St -- has a couple of strikes against it: graffiti, trash and missing cushions. Still not a bad find? The blackberry vines creeping out from under the bed part would likely appreciate the removal of the couch.

The Smell of California

The smell of California hits me as I exit the plane in Burbank late one evening in March 1987. I know it's different right away, but I don’t know why. Not until years later can I name some of the components of the smell: eucalyptus, palm tree, ocean breeze, and a dollop of smog. Knowing the ingredients now doesn't diminish the impact of the first whiff: exciting and exotic.

I'm there to visit Caltech in Pasadena, a graduate school I'm thinking about attending. My graduate school decision will change my life, but as I walk on the warm tarmac, I only think of the smell and how different it is. I left Rochester, New York, 6 hours earlier. It was snowy and cold. In California, it's dark and sultry. Impossibly tall, Dr. Seuss-like palms sway in the breeze.

I would eventually attend Caltech, leave after 3 years, and move to Washington State. My trips to California - be they Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Eureka - always bring me back to that first smell at the Burbank airport.

If the literal smell of California is land, sea, and smog, then the metaphorical smell represents escape. My exact prison and wardens are not clear or fair in retrospect, but in 1987, I named them as family and the non-life that I had on the East Coast. The smell that first evening on the West Coast hinted at a new start. Besides, California was where one of my troubled (and in trouble) uncles went to live in the late 1970s, and he turned his life around as everyone in my family claimed. California held sway over my imagination as a place of renewal.

Trust in my senses for guidance and inspiration started that night as well. The new smell woke me up. Sights, sounds, and smells are crucial to my method of finding out about the world around me. Physical perception of place leads to exploration, and exploring is when I'm happiest. Why does a place look, sound, or smell like it does? The first whiff of California was a key moment in a gradual awakening of my physical senses and the ability to begin asking these questions.

Mount Pugh Hike

Hike Notes

Length: 10.4 miles roundtrip (turn around after Stujack Pass, before exposure point)
Duration: About 6 hours, 9:00 am - 3:15 pm with a break for lunch
Elevation: Starting 1,883 feet,  max at 6,246 feet.
Location: North Cascades, Mount Loop Highway

Overview

I'll confess right up front: we did not reach the peak. Because of pending dinner plans back in Seattle, we turned around between Stujack pass (5,500 feet) and the the exposure point -- as one experienced climber we talked to called it.  All in all, getting to Stujack Pass and beyond was still quite a bit of work. The Washington Trails Association page for the this hike says 11.0 roundtrip to the peak. We were on the high side of mileage because of a detour around the right side of Lake Metan (nothing to really see there). The trail up goes around the left side of the lake.

The first part of the hike has the usual plant suspects of lower elevation forested areas: Mahonia, Maianthemum, Linnaea, and Tiarella. We saw Corallorhiza on the way out and Goodyera coming into the bloom, and we saw a few Listera specimens. 

At a boulder field beyond Lake Metan, it's all sun and high meadow plants like Achillea, Artemisia, Agoseris, Aquilegia, Castilleja, Campanula, Chamerion, and Luina to name a few. The abundance of flowers gives you lots of photo opportunities and opportunity to rest on this steep section before Stujack Pass. Of note is that while relatively small as meadows go, this one had a large number of butterflies, and they did not seem as frightened by our presence as butterflies on our other hikes.

Plant List

Photos in next section.

[Asparagaceae] Asparagus Family
  Maianthemum racemosum - Feathery False Lily-of-the-Valley

[Asteraceae] Aster Family
  Agoseris aurantiaca - Orange Agoseris
  Anaphalis margaritacea - Western Pearly Everlasting
  Artemisia ludoviciana - White Sagebrush
  Cirsium edule - Edible Thistle
  Luina hypoleuca - Little-Leaf Silverback

[Campanulaceae] Harebell Family
  Campanula rotundifolia - Bluebell Bellflower

[Caryophyllaceae] Pink Family
  Silene latifolia - Bladder Campion

[Melanthiaceae] False-Hellebore Family
  Veratrum viride - Green False Hellebore

[Orchidaceae] Orchid Family
  Goodyera oblongifolia - Western Rattlesnake Plantain
  Platanthera orbiculata - Lesser Round-Leaved Orchid

[Polygonaceae] Buckwheat Family
Bistorta bistoroides - American/Western Bistort

[Rosaceae] Rose Family
  Rubus parviflorus – Thimbleberry

 

Open, Mountain High Plants

Left: Agoseris aurantiaca - Orange Agoseris; Right: Artemisia ludoviciana - White Sagebrush

Left: Grasshopper on Indian Paintbrush; Center: Bistort; Right: Luina and Anaphalis

Left: Campanula rotundifolia - Bluebell Bellflower; Right: Veratrum viride - Green False Hellebore Flowers

Left: Cirsium edule - Edible Thistle with Ladybugs; Right: Old Thistle

Left: Rubus parviflorus – Thimbleberry; Right: Silene latifolia - Bladder Campion

Lower Elevations, Forested Area

Left: Maianthemum racemosum - Feathery False Lily-of-the-Valley Berries; Right: Platanthera orbiculata - Lesser Round-Leaved Orchid Close-Up


Left: Old Coralroot; Right: Ariolimax columbianus - Banana Slug

Trail Shots

View from Stujack Pass Looking West Over the Sauk River

Left: Trail – ridge walk part – up to Mount Pugh; Right: View North with White Chuck Mountain and in the background Baker and Shuskan

Blue and Brown

Corner of 49th and 1st in Fremont: a blue fainting* chaise on very brown grass and dandelion seed heads. Whether you want this piece or not, you must admit it speaks to our summer this year in Seattle with blue skies (chaise color), high temperatures (fainting weather for Seattleites), and little rain (parched lawns). If only the donor had included a fan.

* Always thought this was "feigning couch" as in someone who uses it is pretending to be affected by something.

Reykjavik Street Art July 2015

Back in 2012, we visited Iceland (Golden Circle and Reykjavík) for a scant 4 days and barely got to see much in terms of street art. See A Few Reykjavík Murals. This time, we spent 12 days in Iceland and 4 of them in Reykjavík, so a little bit more street art to show. Turns out the many of the key murals from 2012 were in the Heart Park (Hjartatorg) or Heart Garden (Hjartagarðurinn), which is a big (controversial) construction site now.

I've grouped the street art photographed in to the following (perhaps nonsensical categories):

• The Writing on the Wall
• Sara Riel Work
• Faces
• Creatures
• Spaces

The Writing on the Wall

Sara Riel

Left: "Acorn" [2010], Laugarvegur, Reykjavík, Iceland; Right: "The Mushroom" [2012], Hverfisgata, ReykjavÍk, Iceland

"Animali" [2012] with Thomas Korn, Njálsgata, Reykjavik, Iceland

"Cultivate your own garden" [2012] in collaboration with Davíð Örn Halldórsson, Seljavegur 42, Reykjavík, Iceland. More info on graffiti in Reykjavik.


Left: "Fönix" [2012], Nýlendugata, Reykjavík, Iceland; Right: "Hands" [2008], Around Reyjkavik, Iceland and "Micrometeorite" [2012]

Faces

http://www.guidovanhelten.com/gallery/
http://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2013/11/21/australian-artist-reclaims-reykjaviks-rough-walls/
Guido van Helten

Guido van Helten

Guido van Helten

Other faces…




Left: Mind Games; Right: Indie

Creatures

Spaces

Center and Right: Underwater World by https://www.facebook.com/raffaella.sigurdardottir


RWS – reminds of “springs”