Flamethrowers and Umbrellas

I'm going to try from now on, for better or for worse, to post a photo every time I post. This will either stop me from posting entirely, or help me take more photos on a daily basis of ordinary things instead of just when Lady and I go do something fun.

We get a bi-weekly bin filled with local fruits and vegetables and it's been overly excellent. Certainly during the winter we had more than our full of kale, chard, and cabbage, but beyond that we usually receive a nice variety. This week in our bin were blueberries, nectarines, plums, corn, zucchini, carrots, beets, cherry tomatoes, grapes, and spinach. It's a lot of deliciousness and I've learned how much I love fresh produce. Zomg. Just look!



I'm looking forward to fall and all the wonderful things that will come then. Specifically the squashes. We had so much fun with the squashes last year. Butternut squash curry...mmm.

I've had food on the mind a lot lately, mostly because I'm just starting a sort of diet, so of course I want what I can't have. It's nothing drastic; just calorie counting and a little reduction to help rid myself of these extra pounds I've gained since moving here. Hopefully I'll have them shed by December. In the meantime, no pastries, no cookies, no vending machine snacks, and as many fruits as I can stomach. Which is quite a bit, so I might still have to be careful.

This need to take control of my weight stems from a need to take control of my life, and an introspective-ness that has been plaguing me since I didn't get into grad school. I figured turning 23 was a good time to start these kinds of things. Moreso than the New Year, which has never had much impact for me. So instead I will take this upcoming year in which I will be older to achieve some goals that have been eluding me for a while. Like losing the ten pounds I gained sometime in college. And finishing a complete edit of a novel. And writing another. And finishing the edit for that. And becoming more proficient at photography. I'm looking to even take a class at the community college, money permitting. I will probably apply to grad school again, but I have no hope of getting in. I will also, most importantly, spend less time on the computer. Two hours a day at reading up on photography or writing, yes. Like studying.

Counting down to a splendid weekend on the coast...

I had many things on my mind, but they're all dreary and hard to write, so I'll write instead about this weekend.

It was a delicious weekend. We went to Greenlake on Saturday and walked around the whole thing, taking a whole too many pictures of ducklings along the way.



On Sunday we drove the two hours to the Mt. Rainier national park. I'd borrowed my boss' year-round pass to go there, so naturally we were expecting some sort of gate or entrance. Instead we found our turn and a small sign next to the road which said "road closed." Figuring it couldn't be serious if they didn't actually close the road, we kept going. Up a gravel and dirt road, past precarious falls, one-lane bridges, and acres of logged forest, until twenty minutes later we were greeted by a gate across the road. No automobiles, said a sign. No dogs, said another. Nothing about no hikers. So we parked, got out of the car, went around the gate, and hiked up the road.

It was quiet and beautiful and just warm enough. Lady spotted a patch of snow on the side of the road.



She got excited, but I told her that that would be all the snow we'd probably see. Most of it should be melted by now, of course. We kept going, past a pretty wall and a number of tiny waterfalls, rounded a corner and promptly found out why the road was closed.



Yeah. That might do it. It was around then that we also pulled out the map for the park and spotted "open July-October" next to the road we were on. Oops. Minus one for reading comprehension. Still, I don't think all that snow is going to be gone by Wednesday. It started out a foot or so deep but a mile or so later was five feet deep in places. We only turned around when the road decided to go steeply up the side of the mountain.

On our way back, in the car, I also finally spotted the lurking volcano. Such a beautiful mountain.