Wedding Song - God Knew That I Needed You

Saturday, August 13, 2022

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS ~Shabbat

Joe Satriani – ‘Blue Foot Groovy’ tune:

I love spending time in the country 😊

Though I live in the outskirts (rural area) pretty removed from actual ‘downtown’ … Longview is significantly expanding this year – and that expansion is seriously biting out a huge chunk of my {rural} area: the West End is starting to mimic downtown

Heron Point is located this side of white boundary line shown on map.

So, when I get a change to flee the encroaching city sprawl … and spend time where the trees grown tall and thick, and screen doors offer a country welcome and a resounding whack sound when they shut; I’m out my front door and on my way with no time wasted πŸ˜‰

But before I left home this afternoon, I made another batch of homemade Oat Milk for the coffee in my thermos travel mug; this time using a different recipe – I only strained it once through a cotton bandana; I don’t mind a thicker ‘milk’, and I don’t find the thicker style “slimy”, at all. I heat it a bit (30 secs) in the microwave before adding powdered creamer, 2 packets of sweetener, and a dash of cinnamon. Maybe heating the oat milk a bit before adding it to the hot coffee keeps my oat milk from the dreaded sliminess everyone else on the recipe pages keep yapping about … all I know is my method works for me. And I’m okay with being ‘different’.

DIY OAT MILK Recipe:

Today is my Sleuth Sister get-together.

I had time to spare before our 1’noon sit-in, so I drove the long way to get there πŸ˜‰

Beaver Creek Road; Longview to Cathlamet-WA
Erosion on Beaver Creek Road; 269 feet elevation – not a very steep incline, but the road is narrow and unstable on the lower end.

This way is less stressful that back-to-back traffic below, on Ocean Beach Highway (which is the scenic route along the Columbia River). Long scenic drives on winding country roads relaxes me; so, I will always take the country route. – some country routes will take me miles and hours out of the way, but to me those backroad routes are worth the extra time and gas.

Linda couldn’t make it to our get-together this afternoon; but Ramona, Becky, & I spend 5 hours of enjoyable chit-chat, laughter, sharing, and sleuthing 😊

Joe Satriani – ‘The Elephants of Mars’ tune:

It was 6 PM when we parted ways and I nosed the Highlander home. Coming over the top of scalped KM (recent logging allows for good viewing now), the sunlit waters in the distance winked at me, so I pulled over to the road shoulder, and contemplated which part of the river was being shown.

Bob would have known.

But I am not Bob. And Bob is no longer available for questioning.

I could only guess.

Columbia River seen from top of KM; 760 feet elevation.

Further along; driving through Skamokawa, I saw that Moe Hill had also been recently scalped. It was weird to see it nakedit’s always been swaddled in forest as long as I’ve been in Washington, which is 56 years now. That hill holds a memory for me: not a memory shared with Bob, but a good memory, just the same πŸ˜‰

Moe Hill seen from where my childhood home used to stand ...

One summer day, we 5 kids (my mother was 30 yo; I was 10, ramona was 9, Mahlon was 8, Carla was 7 & Sam was 5) hiked with my mother, from our home on Ingalls Road in Skamokawa, across the highway and through fields, up over Moe Hill (Moe Hill is 883 feet in elevation – and it was pure shale at the peak; but we crested it 😊) to my Aunt Terri's house (long gone), where the Skamokawa Vista Park Trail is now. I remember there was a wall of what I would describe as {glass} in the forest of one of those fields – that ‘glass’ was probably sunlight quartz: but it was long, and tall, and very bright in the sunlight. Like a wall of mirror glass; very beautiful, and I’ll never forget that sight.

I also remember my youngest brother was 5 years old when we made that lengthy hike, and my sister ramona had brought her little Dachshund (Snoopy) with us. The shale was deeper and slicker the closer we got to the top of Moe Hill, and we took a breather break for a bit when we finally crested the top. Just as we cleared the bottom, and started walking down the logging road towards Aunt Terri’s house behind the old school house, my father and Uncle Don were walking up the road to come find us. But my mother just laughed, and we laughed with her. We had been having fun on our long, exploratory hike. And my mother could read the sky – there was no chance we would get lost. But the men were very seriously worried (our breather break had put us behind arrival schedule), so we stopped laughing and meekly followed them. Every time I drive through Skamokawa, and I see that hill, I think of that hot summer hike over Moe Hill.

And I smile 😊

Continuing along Ocean Beach Highway home via the Cathlamet route, I passed through the wildfire section of the route.

WILDFIRE!
Site of the recent wildfire; Wahkiakum County.
Boot trail blazed by the firefighters ...

Coming around the corner at Stella – about 5 minutes from home – I saw a red ship: this is a new sight. A red ship is not something one sees every day unless you happen to be a captain or deck hand on this ship πŸ˜‰

It was kinda startling. Interesting, too.

This bright red ship caught my eye; seen from Stella.
Stella from Heron Pointe; via Ocean Beach Highway - 7 min (5.1 mi) via WA-4 W

I had a great time with the gals. I enjoyed a relaxing countryside drive with scenic vistas. I smiled when reflecting on good memories. And my attention was snagged by a red ship highlighted by sunlit waters and a green forested hillside.

My Shabbat Rest began with a restful day; and I am thankful 😊


No comments:

Post a Comment