A Walk in the Sunshine

It's been kind of a rainy week, here in the Pacific Northwest. It poured off and on most of the day on Thursday. Blessed as we are with grace from the Universe, Sue and I walked in what turned out to be a mostly sunny morning yesterday. Just as we were returning to our cars, we thought we felt the heavens spitting on us a little...or maybe it was just thick fog. In any case, we managed to get through our walk without getting wet, and the rest of Friday was lovely. We're promised a beautiful weekend. Mike and I will work together to finish off the catio. It'll still need "furnishing" over time, but it will be a safe place for kitties to be, day or night.

Before I left for my walk, the kitties were all wound up, running from window to window. They were excited enough that I had to check and see for myself. Well. The squirrels were all over out front, and there was one, in particular, who sat mocking the kitties and me.

You should know that someone, or something, has been stealing and eating the cherry tomatoes as they ripen. I think I have a pretty good idea who, or what, it is.

Sadie saw it too. Sadie has been wanting very badly to go outside.

They had to wait for me to get home, however, and then, only Smitty was allowed out while I filled the bird feeders and checked on the greenhouse.

To return to the walk, however, I took photographs of every blooming thing, as you might guess.

This walk below the hillside where we live starts all uphill, with a rather steep climb. My Fitbit logs 30 floors as we climb the hill. Once we get to the top and start back down the other side, this is the view we see. On a clear day, you can see Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier from this spot.

We pass by an historic, if small, cemetery. Yesterday, I noticed there were some flyers and so I picked one up.

It seems two acres of land were donated from the north side of their homestead by this couple . The Baptist Church was to use it for a burial ground and the Mt. Olive Baptist Church was erected during the summer of 1878. Church services were held there until 1916. After that, the building was used primarily for funeral services, and it was dismantled in 1953.

The first burial was in 1879, the infant child of the John W. Fleming family. The most famous person buried here is Roy Heater who became the world champion pole-vaulter at the 1905 AAU Track and Field Championships. Our local newspaper wrote that he was "recognized as the best all-around athlete ever turned out in the Northwest". Now that got me curious, and so I went on a Google search for anything else I could find about Roy Heater, and I found this picture of him:

Also, his headstone.

Have I said lately how much I ♥ the internet? The flyer also describes this as a "tranquil resting place." And you'll get no argument from me.

Some of the dates on the headstones are downright ancient...born even before me! In fact, these folks were born before the Civil War. Pretty amazing to think about. The Oregon Trail period ran from around 1811-1840. Were these some of the first new babies born here? Oregon didn't even become a state until 1859, and so these two people were teenagers when that happened.

Walking on, we saw what appears to be an old root cellar. There are lots of old and abandoned little buildings like this in the area.

Some of the wild Oregon blackberries are beginning to ripen.

I've shown you pictures over the past several months of our state flower, the Oregon grape. Here's how it gets its name. Beware, however...these are not grapes, and they are not good for eating.
They aren't poisonous, but they are very bitter.

Nothing to see here...just a cat on the side of a truck.

Walking on, we were amazed at the colors of the fields. These are crappy iPhone pictures, and so they are a little pixelated when I try to take a landscape shot. You can see the colors however. That was a pretty mint green off in the distance there.

Here's my favorite barn in yet another season.

When I got home, I prepared dinner ahead, and then got to work finishing up the fusing on Scooter's pawtrait. 

When I had taken it this far, I was ready to peel it up off the pressing sheet and fuse it to the background. Scooter was looking out the window of my friend Marei's car, and so I used the color of the car as my background.

Sometime this weekend, I'll stitch down all the pieces and then start adding details and shading with thread. The hardest part is done.

Also yesterday, I traced out Block #4 of the Bee-utiful Quilt-A-Long. This block is called "Bee Humble".

This morning I stitched everything that fit inside the first hooping.

As I've been writing this, my furry pal has been waiting impatiently for catio construction to begin. He's ready to go outside and hunt up some squirrels.

And so I can't keep my furry pal waiting. Time to get outside and become Construction Man Assistant Woman.