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 ☹
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 😉
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’.
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 😉
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 😊
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.
Further along; driving through Skamokawa, I
saw that Moe Hill had also been recently scalped. It was weird to see it
naked – it’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 😉
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.
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 😉
It was kinda startling.
Interesting, too.
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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 😊
