Touring the Gorge

Our neighbors invited us along to the Maryhill Museum of Art last night for a chamber of commerce event and celebration of the museum's new wing.  We boarded a party bus in Stevenson and the adventure began. 
The drive east through the Columbia River Gorge is beautiful.  The scenery changes dramatically from the dense conifer forest of home to open high desert.  Ancient floods of the river expose a cutaway of lava layers in the canyon.
The museum was built by Sam Hill (not of "Where in Sam Hill?" fame, in case you were wondering) and has an interesting history. It sits on 5,300 acres with a sculpture garden and a full-size reproduction of Stonehenge. We will surely be returning to explore further.

 photo from Maryhill Museum website

We enjoyed wine and cheese in the museum's expansion.

We checked out the view from the new deck and posed for a family shot.  You can just barely make out a few of the dozens and dozens of windmills over Alex's shoulder.

We loaded back into the bus and headed for home.  Someone suggested a spontaneous stop at Schreiner Farm.  A quick turn off the highway and I spotted a herd of buffalo on the left, then a zebra in the distance, a bunch of reindeer...what is this place?

Basically a mile long road with huge fenced areas on either side and a turn-around at the end for gawking tourists, Schreiner Farms is a privately owned 12,000 acre cattle ranch with over 20 different exotic species of animals including ones I'd never heard of like wallaroos, watussi, and muntjac.  It's such a surprise to see these animals in the middle of nowhere Washington.
Then walking down the road we see this guy:

Oh, just out taking the camel for a walk.  And not one of those boring one hump camels...this is a quality two hump Bactrian camel.  John was nice enough to stop and give a us a informative spiel about camels and the ranch, and given the inebriated state of the party bus, this was no small task.  A few people went in for a camel kiss, and here someone gets a camel nibble. 

 Get a load of how tall Calypso is!

A fun evening was had by all!  Ole basked in the attention as he was doted on by the chamber members.  Our neighbor (and Chamber President-elect) Dale shows that he's a natural politician. 

My pair of keets

I've been a bit nervous to let the parakeets out of their cage for some exercise.  Their previous owner let them fly free weekly but told me I'd have to catch them to get them back into the cage.  "They'll bite," she warned, "especially the green one." 
I could tell they enjoyed stretching their wings as they flew loop de loops around the master bathroom.  They'd perch on the shower ring or the fabric banner tacked to the wall momentarily and take off again for another lap. 
After an hour or so I moved the open cage to the middle of the room and pointed at it hopefully, "Okay, birds, back in your cage.  Go."  No such luck. 
I've caught the odd bird that got into the house through an open door before using a dish towel, so I felt like I already had the relevant experience to get this done.  These parakeets, though, have humans all figured out.  They gauged my arm's reach and hopped around the shower ring just beyond it, their two pairs of birdie feet in unison.  So I resorted to swishing the towel around, sending them into panicked flight.  It's great exercise, I rationalized, for them and for me.  After a few attempts I gently caught the green one against the windowsill and cradled her in the towel.  I released her back into the cage.  The blue girl squawked loudly a few times, flew over to the cage and jumped inside to join her friend. 

A sunny weekend on the farm

Alex fired up the old Montgomery Ward tractor to till the garden this weekend.  First we pulled down two sides of the old fence and then spread out the compost that has been cooking all winter.  I drew up a garden plan and sorted the seeds.  Next we'll replace the fence and form the paths and planting beds. We've got high hopes for the best. garden. ever.

Our country bumpkin enjoyed the summery weather.

new spaces

I set up the new playroom this morning.  There's still a bit of trim to paint, but the floor and walls are finished.  Ole spent a long time looking around, then scooted all over checking out his toys in their new locale.  I think he likes it!  And I'm frankly a little jealous of his cool new space.

He's becoming more interested when I read to him.  Sometimes he lets me get through a few pages before he grabs the book to shove it in his mouth.

Here's a sneak peek of the new kitchen.  I still need to paint the window trim and hang a curtain, but it's getting there.

Savory, salty, and sweet

I've been enjoying this cooking blog by a former co-worker and it seems to have inspired me.  I just can't stop taking photos while I cook lately.  So here's the salad I made for dinner last night using beets from the garden (yes, those old beets from last year).

Beet and Orange Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Cook and slice 1-2 pounds of beets (I used 3 big ones)

Peel and slice one big orange

Whisk up vinaigrette:
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp raspberry vinegar (I used raspberry balsamic from Navidi's in Camas, WA)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper

In hindsight some orange zest would have added a nice citrus kick.

Mix it all together and refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors combine.  Voila! 

Oh well

I love finding little surprises.  While out and about running errands, something caught my eye outside the Rite Aid.  Do you see it?

There's a bird nest perched inside the 'e'.  What a nice sign of spring optimism!  And knowing the state of the Rite Aid, I can't really see anyone rushing out to remove it.  Live well baby birds.

My, Oh My!

Baseball season has officially started.  Today the Seattle Mariners played the Oakland Athletics at home and we brought Ole to his first baseball game. 

We caught a ride in this cool pedicab from our parking space to the stadium.

Once inside the stadium we headed to guest services where Ole was presented with a personalized certificate commemorating his first baseball game.  There was also has a nursing lounge for mothers. We hung out for a while waiting for the game to start.  Isn't this cute?

Soon the players began to enter the field, a procession of serious athletes.  Wait..what the hell are they wearing on their backs?  Is that a Patrick the starfish backpack?  Hmmm.

Here my favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki, warms up by tossing a ball back and forth with a kid in the stands.

Ole enjoyed some people-watching.

We visited the statue of Dave Niehaus, famous Mariners radio announcer from 1977-2010.  He was known for his catchphrases:

"My, oh my!"

"Swung on and belted!"
"Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time!" 

Ole caught a nap while we walked in the sunshine and checked out the many, many food options in the stadium.  I doubt that most baseball stadiums serve sushi.  I went for a salmon caesar salad and ice cream.

Good news!  The Mariners won five to three with two home runs. 

And we had a great day!

Cough sniff ah-choo!

My sweet boy is under the weather this week with a cold.  I hate that he's feeling poorly, but in his misery he has started crying "Mama" for me.  Last night it was even "Mom mom".  It is great to hear his first word, but I sure hope he feels better soon!

Tweeting

Ole, Pepper, and I headed into town the other day to visit Stephanie at home.  She had a busy day planned but was kind enough to let us barge in for a bit and say hello.  Pepper was thrilled to romp with Jackson and Stella, and Ole soaked up the attention.

Then we hit Woodlawn Park, right in Stephanie's backyard, for a swing.

Ole and I met up with Alex for an al fresco dinner at Screen Door, soaking up the spring warmth.  I had an evening appointment with Claudia after.  She was adopting out her two parakeets and I, strangely enough, wanted to take them home.  It seems that "the divas", as she calls them, were conflicting with her hipster aims of mixing and editing music--they tried to drown out the music with their singing.  Annoyingly loud birds?  They sound perfect, I said.

They've been nervous since I brought them home.  It's probably because Fin pounced on top of the cage within minutes; apparently he can jump much higher when there is tasty avian incentive.  So today I hung the cage up high and left the radio on for them when I went out, and they really seemed to appreciate the jazz station.  I've set them up with a nice view of the gorge, and Claudia sent along lots of toys and accessories for them.  Hopefully Mariah and Aretha (you can blame Claudia for that) will be very happy here.  Tweet!

Waitin' around

The electrical inspector was scheduled to come today to check out the work we've had done in our kitchen.  They didn't tell me what time to expect him, so I knew I was in for a wait.  I resisted the urge to venture out or even take a shower lest I miss him.  I tried to enjoy the day while I waited.

 I took advantage of the sunshine to hang the cloth diapers out to dry. 

Ole did some swinging in the sun and his new shades.

 We checked out the garden.  Last year's beets are still looking pretty good.

 I love these bright spring colors--very carroty.

 Milton's curls are starting to grow in again.  I just love the way his ears flip out at the end.

Ole spent a long time flipping through the Poky Little Puppy.  I've always had a sentimental spot for this cute book, but I'm not sure I'd ever read it.  Now that I have, I must say the plot line is not very compelling; the naughty puppies go to bed with no dessert and the poky puppy shows up late and eats it all until eventually the naughty puppies reform and then they get dessert and the poky little puppy gets none.  Is that it? The illustrations are great, though, and Ole sure seemed to enjoy it.

So we had a great day.  Of course, the inspector never did show up.