4/11/14

A New Way

Today Sue and I walked a new trail for our Friday morning walk. We decided to try out the trail through the Cooper Mountain Nature Park about halfway between our two homes. It was quite a find, and it was a beautiful day to give it a try. Here's a screen shot of the trail map:


I put the little pink arrows to indicate where we walked. We did most of it, and it was very enjoyable. As we approached the end of the sidewalk (transitioning to a gravel trail), we saw these bird tracks in the concrete. (I love this kind of stuff.)


And just a few feet further, the trail begins. Here, you can see the view of the Tualatin Valley.


We went by a meadow and saw this doe. She was more and more nervous as we approached...probably because we were talking and laughing. (Ya' think?)


There were lots of wildflowers in bloom. Here is a trillium. They start out white and then turn purple.


This is a blooming Oregon Grape...our state flower. They were abundant along the trail.


Anybody know what this is? A woman walking along the trail was curious what we found "picture worthy", and she thought it might be a cowslip. Nah. I looked that up, and that isn't right.


Here's how it looks if you hold up the flower.


I don't know what these are either, but they were pretty.


Wild iris.


Wild strawberries.


Wild yellow violets.


Sue really, really, really wanted this to be something. Can anyone name it? To me, they're weeds. It's what grows in our field when it needs mowing.


We saw quite a bit of these meadows with young stands of oak.


A sign explained that the pond below was man made. This area was logged off at one time, and when the logging road was built, this pond was formed. These ducks couldn't be bothered even to turn around to look at us. Show me a pond, and I'll show you some ducks.


This next image was what we saw when we walked out to the "Larkspur Overlook". We thought the view was better at the top of the trail, but the sign below explains its significance.



On another part of the trail, we found this megaphone looking thing. This was really kind of cool, and I wonder why this isn't done more commonly along nature trails. Have you ever seen one of these before?


Want to know what it is? Here's what's at the skinny end:


Okay, we bit. It's like listening to a seashell, but it rotated, and it did magnify the sounds...especially bird calls. It was kind of fun.


And no walk would be complete unless one happened upon our famous Oregon slugs. Huevos sluggos, anyone?


And that was pretty much our walk. It was fun! We'll definitely be doing that again. Next week, we're going to walk out by my place, and it's looking so pretty now. More pictures next week.

As for my day of sewing, I finished the latest Vintage Tin stitchery.


Linking this post to:



And I have just three peppers left before I finish the Chili Rounder. Remember yesterday's post when I left you in hot suspense wondering about the "smoky" motif? I'll bet you stayed awake all night wondering about it. Well, here is is:


And here are the other peppers I did today:







I just have the three green peppers in the outer most ring to do now, and so I should have this finished by tomorrow.


Here's how it's looking from the back...not so different from yesterday.


And Mike just called to say he was on his way home, so I guess I'd better get going. We're expecting beautiful weather this weekend and through the next week. We are both looking forward to it.

21 comments:

Scrapatches said...

Thanks for taking me along on your beautiful nature walk.
The quilting on your chili peppers is looking good! ... :) Pat

Vroomans' Quilts said...

What a lovely walk. Your peppers project is really quite unique.

gpc said...

What a lovely walk! I remember the first time I saw one of 'your' slugs, I had NO idea what it was, I thought it might be a snail that had shed it's shell, it was a total mystery.

WoolenSails said...

That is a gorgeous place for a hike, always fun to find new places to explore.

Debbie

crazy quilter said...

You are very lucky to have such a wonderful place for a walk. The flowers are wonderful looks like spring has sprung in Oregon. The rain you have sure has helped the beautiful flowers. I sure love the chile rounder , this might have to go on my bucket list, you are doing such a good job with the quilting, keep up th,e good work!

Junebug613 said...

What a lovely walk! I can't get over how large your slugs are out there. You are kicking butt on the finishes lately!

Brown Family said...

I do not know what those flowers are, but they are beautiful. I think I would walk more if I had a great trail to walk and it did not get so hot here!

Cath said...

Great post....sorry, I can't help with any flora identification as it is nothing I see here in my part of the world. I loved the megaphone idea!
Have a great weekend!
Cath @ Bits 'n Bobs

Sharon said...

We have a lot of those same wildflowers on the "mountain". I sometimes dig some up to bring up to the yard, because if the deer leave them alone in the woods, they should leave them alone in the yard. We call the white ones wild lilies. Their variegated leaves are the bet part - just beautiful. They spread very well. The next blue/purple ones are very pretty, too, and the blooms look like fake wax flowers. Their seeds spread very readily, too. Sharon southwest of Eugene

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Superb walk with Sue. So many lovely sights and sounds to be had and to share with a friend is to see twice the beauty.

Tami C said...

We had a beautiful day here today! I just loved all the pictures that you took. You peppers are almost there! They are looking great!

Dasha said...

The walk is lovely Barbara! I think the white flower is some kind of lily, and the purple one looks vaguely like a violet from here. Mind you your flora is different to ours.
We have slugs like that here. They are gruesome!! If it rains heavily, we sometimes get them coming inside. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk!! The organic way of ridding your garden of them is to put some salt on them. Probably not humane though LOL.

Barb H said...

What a beautiful trail for your walk. Love all the wild flowers. I don't have any idea what the white one is but the purple one looks like Spider Wort. The Trillium blooms here in WI in late May and the Spider Wort in mid June. Enjoy your weekend.

Doris Rice, The Quilting Queen said...

Wow, such beautiful scenery! I felt like I was walking with you. Sure wish me knee would let me. I'm lucky to hobble from the house to the quilting studio. The peppers are looking good!

quiltzyx said...

I do love going for photo walks with you & Sue! I tried to find that lily-looking flower, but couldn't find anything close on the Oregon wildflower sites.
The rounder is looking better & better with all your quilting! And the backing fabric is perfect - sort of a raw guacamole!

liniecat said...

I was going to say the white flowers looked lily like and the blue looks a bit like a borage flower, not sure if grows over there though?
Its a herb of sorts I think here and makes good wine I believe!
Such beautiful flowers to see......the walk looks delightful!

Dana Gaffney said...

So beautiful! Our walk this morning had trees on one side and highway on the other, ugh.

Olinda said...

Hi Barbara,
I'm Brazilian and I love your blog.
I think that the flower is Begonia. You can search this name in Google. The colors and leaf formations are different. I have 3 diferents kind of them in my garden.
Hugs,
Olinda

Quilter Kathy said...

What a lovely walk... thanks for taking me along!
Congrats on finishing the two license plates!

Kate said...

What a gorgeous place to walk. Thanks for sharing!

creativecallings@gmail.com said...

Love the chilli rounder... And. Your walk was awesome.. Thanks so much for sharing.