Healing and Low Ceilings

Part of my retreat to Washington from Colombia has been to find some solutions for my persistent back ache and I am happy to report that the various activities, one of which includes regular trips to the local whirlpool, seem to be doing some good.

Looking toward the upper end of the Olympic Peninsula under grey skies.

It has been a bit of an adjustment to wake up day after day in the dark, and sometimes grey, skies. That also seems to be making a turn as the days get a little longer and the low clouds occasionally rise up above 1000 feet. Today, while coming back from attending to some things in town, I could see Mt. Rainier very very clearly. The skies surrounding this massive ancient volcano were the palest of blues and the top two-thirds of the mountain are white with accumulated snow. Truly impressive.

There are signs of spring coming here with medium green shoots of narcissus and daffodils trying to push up through the earth, the lilacs and rhododendrons are filling up in preparation for their colorful displays and on my table, as a valentine gift to myself, is a lovely blue hyacinth - a reminder of the ones that used to pop up long ago in our NH garden, sometimes still with snow around their little roots! (The scent of it is just divine!)

Blue Hyacinth on kitchen table offers up hope of spring.

Due to sightings of cougars in the woods nearby, and the movement of male elk with their spring-time desires overriding their good sense about staying away from humans, I have not been able to do much walking out and about. The malls are too small for any really good striding, but I am making friends with people who have some safe trails so gradually I am increasing my outdoor activities.

My watercolor art classes are intriguing and I really enjoy the teacher's methods, even if she does go on a bit about things unrelated to art. Tonight I went to the Museum of Art & History in Sequim and heard a presentation by a quilt artist on how to incorporate photographs into a quilt... it is totally amazing what people are doing with fabric and thread and other things here! The local Episcopal church, St. Luke's, has created over 50 quilts this past year and had them blessed and delivered to people in the community who needed a prayer quilt. An astounding amount of work, in my opinion. So there are vast groups of artistic people here on this 'spit' of land in western Washington, motivating me to be even more creative.

The ancient volcano called Mt. Rainier loomed out on the horizon as
some of the grey clouds lifted for awhile from the Olympic Peninsula.

The biggest challenge has been that I am not doing much photography as the greyness makes the images less than sharp, more often than not, and I never seem to have my tripod ready for those days when I see something worth photographing. But the Sequim-ites (??) assure me that sunnier days - or at least brighter ones - are just around the corner. So come back and see if they were right and if I have indeed started finding some interesting things to photograph.

Ohhhhh, and lest I forget... my sister is celebrating a big "0" birthday today. In order to protect the innocent, I am not going to reveal which number precedes the zero, but I am intending it is a day filled with happy surprises... hugs to you, dear little sister!