Catchemups
Jul. 24th, 2016 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
christopher575I post at least something here every day and have for years. And even for quite a spell before I made that commitment, there were only a few days here and there that I missed. It's important to me mainly because LiveJournal consistently provides us a platform that works the way we want it to. Everyone is mad about algorithms and sorting on other sites, but left this one that shows us everything in order, behind.
A nice thing about having features on Friday and Saturday is that I can postpone some stuff if I'm busy. Now that Sunday has rolled around, though, I've got a lot to catch up on.
Friday morning was a typically lovely walk over at Lowell.
I spotted a Honey Bucket off in the middle of the residential construction site.
At the end of the trail, I noticed that you can keep going if you follow the fence. And at the point where you can't go any further in that direction, there's another Honey Bucket!
It's possible to head back via a gravel access road instead of the trail, but that's where I saw some evidence of camping last time, and didn't really feel like checking it out. The other end of trail was lovely, as usual.
4.99 miles in 1:48, 11,452 steps
My rescheduled massage was at 11:30, and it was great. I'll definitely see that guy again next time I want one. It was a deep tissue massage, and he was very good at pushing right up to the point I could handle, but not beyond. I felt really great afterward. From there, I drove over to Mukilteo to have my car detailed, and walked to get lunch while that was being taken care of. The distances in that part of town are much longer than they appear on the map, and the place I chose to eat was a mile away. The trip there and back brought my daily total to seven miles, which was pretty cool. Lunch was ok. Nowhere near as spicy as the menu indicated. Mostly I wanted the photo because the plate looks so '80s.
Traffic is really bad in that area, but thankfully there's a sneaky way to get to the next road over, behind where the auto salon is. That allows you to get on the main road at an intersection with a light instead of trying to turn left into stop-and-go traffic. This sign is on the way out that back route, and it cracked me up.
Here's the latest group shot of my air plants. This is all of them except for the dozen butzii that arrived this week, and the free medusa they included with the order because I subscribe to their newsletter. So, this amount plus 13 is the new total. I've upgraded the bathing supplies; there are now three of the large green bowls instead of one plus two rectangle containers.
Saturday was Bev's 70th birthday and we had a hot dog party over at their place, so here's the obligatory shot of Bella.
And here we are.
Bev's mom lives in a group home in the cul de sac right across the street, so it's really easy to pop over and see her whenever we visit.
The mandatory cake photo.
Garrett and I really enjoyed sitting around listening to Bev and Dennis chat with their friends they've known since high school. It was great to hear about their mischief and misadventures, and funny to hear them correct each other's false memories. Really heartwarming. After everyone was gone, I asked Bev to get her yearbooks out, and we got to see photos of several of the people who just left. Here's Bev's senior photo.
This morning I woke up thinking about Lord Hill Regional Park, but not really planning on going. When I got on the road and saw that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, I knew my typical Sunday walk wouldn't be great, so I went after all. If you never watch any of these videos, this is a good one. The fields near the road were foggy and I saw a train running alongside the road for the first time. Never even really noticed there were tracks there.
That park turned out to be a great choice. The sun barely made it through the trees, only a couple of times. It's funny, when you first arrive, there's a trail off to the side, but it's clearly marked as being off limits. I'm curious if a nearby property owner has their own personal entrance.
I've only been there one other time and decided to go a completely different route. I'm sure whoever named this trail wouldn't appreciate the fact that I leave my earbuds in.
I don't see myself going on that particular trail again because I really didn't care for this bridge.
And on the way back out of that area is this, which got my feet very wet.
No matter. That's a very small part of a very huge park.
I thought this might be the largest mushroom ever.
And then I saw one even bigger. About 18 inches wide!
And this cool group of them.
Something I've never seen before, a trail made of sandbags.
Another scary bridge.
This pond or lake or whatever it is isn't on the map. I took a trail that's also not on the map, and it turns out that particular trail makes a loop around it.
It's weird to see just a couple of foxgloves. I'm used to seeing huge groups of them or none at all.
This boulder was very impressive. Probably 15 feet tall!
Right before this was when I finally started seeing other people. A guy by himself, and then two women with dogs. This is the view looking back from a huge, steep climb.
You can see that climb as the hump above the 5.46 on the elevation chart.
6.82 miles in 3:26, 19,363 steps, 590ft gain
As you can see, that's quite the trail system. I think now I've done about 2/3 of total. Maybe.
I made us a very hearty post-hike meal: Soyrizo poutine! Crinkle cut fries, Soyrizo, cheese curds, and gravy. Plus a mix of black beans, onions, and salsa off to the side. I knew that would taste good with it but I also wanted to eat a lot of it without that. Corn would have been great on this, but I couldn't find any in the freezer.
Today's walk was extremely blissful for me. I was already really happy after Bev's party last night, and I couldn't stop thinking about how great it is to live here and how much better my life has gotten after my first few years here. Life's good.
A nice thing about having features on Friday and Saturday is that I can postpone some stuff if I'm busy. Now that Sunday has rolled around, though, I've got a lot to catch up on.
Friday morning was a typically lovely walk over at Lowell.
I spotted a Honey Bucket off in the middle of the residential construction site.
At the end of the trail, I noticed that you can keep going if you follow the fence. And at the point where you can't go any further in that direction, there's another Honey Bucket!
It's possible to head back via a gravel access road instead of the trail, but that's where I saw some evidence of camping last time, and didn't really feel like checking it out. The other end of trail was lovely, as usual.
4.99 miles in 1:48, 11,452 steps
My rescheduled massage was at 11:30, and it was great. I'll definitely see that guy again next time I want one. It was a deep tissue massage, and he was very good at pushing right up to the point I could handle, but not beyond. I felt really great afterward. From there, I drove over to Mukilteo to have my car detailed, and walked to get lunch while that was being taken care of. The distances in that part of town are much longer than they appear on the map, and the place I chose to eat was a mile away. The trip there and back brought my daily total to seven miles, which was pretty cool. Lunch was ok. Nowhere near as spicy as the menu indicated. Mostly I wanted the photo because the plate looks so '80s.
Traffic is really bad in that area, but thankfully there's a sneaky way to get to the next road over, behind where the auto salon is. That allows you to get on the main road at an intersection with a light instead of trying to turn left into stop-and-go traffic. This sign is on the way out that back route, and it cracked me up.
Here's the latest group shot of my air plants. This is all of them except for the dozen butzii that arrived this week, and the free medusa they included with the order because I subscribe to their newsletter. So, this amount plus 13 is the new total. I've upgraded the bathing supplies; there are now three of the large green bowls instead of one plus two rectangle containers.
Saturday was Bev's 70th birthday and we had a hot dog party over at their place, so here's the obligatory shot of Bella.
And here we are.
Bev's mom lives in a group home in the cul de sac right across the street, so it's really easy to pop over and see her whenever we visit.
The mandatory cake photo.
Garrett and I really enjoyed sitting around listening to Bev and Dennis chat with their friends they've known since high school. It was great to hear about their mischief and misadventures, and funny to hear them correct each other's false memories. Really heartwarming. After everyone was gone, I asked Bev to get her yearbooks out, and we got to see photos of several of the people who just left. Here's Bev's senior photo.
This morning I woke up thinking about Lord Hill Regional Park, but not really planning on going. When I got on the road and saw that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, I knew my typical Sunday walk wouldn't be great, so I went after all. If you never watch any of these videos, this is a good one. The fields near the road were foggy and I saw a train running alongside the road for the first time. Never even really noticed there were tracks there.
That park turned out to be a great choice. The sun barely made it through the trees, only a couple of times. It's funny, when you first arrive, there's a trail off to the side, but it's clearly marked as being off limits. I'm curious if a nearby property owner has their own personal entrance.
I've only been there one other time and decided to go a completely different route. I'm sure whoever named this trail wouldn't appreciate the fact that I leave my earbuds in.
I don't see myself going on that particular trail again because I really didn't care for this bridge.
And on the way back out of that area is this, which got my feet very wet.
No matter. That's a very small part of a very huge park.
I thought this might be the largest mushroom ever.
And then I saw one even bigger. About 18 inches wide!
And this cool group of them.
Something I've never seen before, a trail made of sandbags.
Another scary bridge.
This pond or lake or whatever it is isn't on the map. I took a trail that's also not on the map, and it turns out that particular trail makes a loop around it.
It's weird to see just a couple of foxgloves. I'm used to seeing huge groups of them or none at all.
This boulder was very impressive. Probably 15 feet tall!
Right before this was when I finally started seeing other people. A guy by himself, and then two women with dogs. This is the view looking back from a huge, steep climb.
You can see that climb as the hump above the 5.46 on the elevation chart.
6.82 miles in 3:26, 19,363 steps, 590ft gain
As you can see, that's quite the trail system. I think now I've done about 2/3 of total. Maybe.
I made us a very hearty post-hike meal: Soyrizo poutine! Crinkle cut fries, Soyrizo, cheese curds, and gravy. Plus a mix of black beans, onions, and salsa off to the side. I knew that would taste good with it but I also wanted to eat a lot of it without that. Corn would have been great on this, but I couldn't find any in the freezer.
Today's walk was extremely blissful for me. I was already really happy after Bev's party last night, and I couldn't stop thinking about how great it is to live here and how much better my life has gotten after my first few years here. Life's good.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 12:45 am (UTC)And it makes me very happy to hear that your life is so much better since you moved. We can certainly tell from what you post.
And that 'another scary bridge' pic is kind of fantastic. Copyright it, and sell it to Getty or something, so that you can monetize it.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 12:51 am (UTC)I'm very fond of saying the only way I'd move back to Seattle is if I could afford this place (http://seattle.curbed.com/2013/8/22/10205612/first-hill-plaza-penthouse-available-for-47m).
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 02:09 am (UTC);-)
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 06:36 am (UTC)It sounds like a really great weekend. I really like the misty fields in your video.
I love Lj. It's a 'proper' journal or diary of life and so easy to go back and see comments etc. I'm never leaving!
no subject
Date: 2016-07-25 11:13 am (UTC)