Last Wednesday we celebrated our 26th anniversary! I know, it doesn't seem possible to us either, but there you go ..
It does not have a traditional material theme, but it is officially represented by the modern gift of art, the gemstone jade and green as the symbolic color.

In comparison to last year's 25th extravaganza this year was a lot less exciting but we made a special day of it by going for a little road-trip to the Tillamook forest.

                        

And although there was no jade gift-giving going on, the dense forest definitely made up for it by surrounding us all day with the color green!
We loved driving the winding Wilson River Highway through the forest. Such natural beauty as far as the eye can see.

       

It took us about 1.5 hours to reach the area at the Wilson River where we wanted to take a look at the Bridge Creek Falls.
Unfortunately we were not able to see the falls because when we arrived at the trail leading up to them was blocked off by a rope and a sign saying access was not allowed due to maintenance of the trail by inmates!
Well, sjeez, bummer! Now what?

Not to be discouraged we looked around for maybe something else to see and discovered a parking lot on the other side of the road.
It so happened to be the start of the Footbridge trailhead where an easy, short trail led you down to the river below. 

                                          

There was even a small 'fall', well .. it was more like a rapid.

Moving on, we drove a few miles down the road to get to our coffee destination: Alice's Country House.                                                      

Besides the coffee, their main attraction, at least for us, was the promise of home-made pies and pastries.
And we were not disappointed!

See that little sign on the second tier on the right that says: 'famous Carrot Cake'?

I had a huge slice of it while James went for the Bread-pudding:

                                 
It took us a while but yes, we both ate the whole thing!

Needless to say, we were stuffed! Time to work it off by getting some exercise.
A short, 5 minute drive brought us to the Tillamook Forest Center:

 

The Tillamook Forest Center is the region’s largest forest-based learning center, and outdoor classroom if you will, to learn all about the forest it is in.
Lots of interactive displays (good for kids and adults both) about plants, animals, pioneers, early timbering history, and the big fires that shaped the landscape are all covered in the very modern and set-up building.

                                                 

There's a fire tower to climb, which in the end we didn't do, from which apparently you have a nice view over the top of the surrounding trees .. 
(We were going to but went for a hike first, after which we didn't have the energy left to do so. Yes, we're getting old ...)

A voluntary $5 donation (p/p) gained us two coasters made from branches of Douglas Fir, the dominant species of this forest:

On the hour and half-hour there's a short, very well-done documentary about the big fires (-with smell-O-vision - !) that have gone through this forest.

 

           

                                                   

The Tillamook Burn was a series of four massive, catastrophic wildfires that destroyed roughly 355,000 acres of prime old-growth timber in the Northern Oregon Coast Range between 1933 and 1951, which became known as the 6-year Jinx.
The initial fire started on August 14, 1933, from a logging operation and exploded into a historic firestorm.

It is actually quite surprising how beautiful the forest is only 80 years after the initial devastating burn.

After the film we spend about an hour checking out all the exhibits:

   

           

                                        

Big doors at the back of the building open up to an impressive bridge over the Wilson River, and gives easy access to the river.

You're allowed to swim in it, but the water was too cold for us wimps ...

        

Several short trails go out from here, but we choose to go on a little longer hike (1.7 miles) to the Wilson Falls.
Since we missed the Bridge Creek Falls we thought we might as well go see another one!

            

The trail was fairly easy going, not too many ups and downs, but it seemed a little longer than we had anticipated. 
In fact, we almost walked all the way back to the rapids we'd seen earlier that morning.

                                                                  

When we finally reached the falls we almost missed them, they fell down from high up in the forest and you only saw them when you accidentally looked up.
There wasn't a sign or anything that said these were it, but pictures we saw when we came back at the visitor center confirmed that they were!                 
                          

Like I said, it was a little further than I liked, and it got rather hot in the afternoon, but we were glad for the exercise and the scenery was absolutely beautiful!

         
 

We drove back the same way as we had come, but like I said, it's a beautiful drive and coming from the other side you always see things very differently.

We'd decided not to go for a fancy dinner this year but, of all places, go to IHOP!
We loooove breakfast and we drive by the place often saying that one of these days we should eat there again (last time we did was about 20 years ago!), so finally we did!

 

  

Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes ... world-famous even! You can't beat that!



We split a savoury one and a sweet one for desert:

                           

    

                                                                         

             All in all, we had a great time on our 26th! Let's go for many more!                                  

 

I finally managed to take a picture of 'our' Green Heron' at 'our' pond.
He's been hanging out at the ponds here for over a week now but he's awfully shy and flies off when only seeing the slightest movement.
 
This small heron is named for the deep, iridescent green feathers on its back and cap. 
Since he likes to hide in the dark, thick shoreline vegetation you usually only see a stocky, dark-bodied bird with a chestnut neck until you get a close-up view in bright sun.
Obviously it was overcast when I took this picture so no colors were seen. 




The weather is still very un-August-like, with temps in the high 70s and low 80s, and in the afternoon it can get very windy ...
During one of the sudden gusts this old apple tree in the lower part of the property got blown over:

                            

It doesn't get pruned and grows wild and is absolutely loaded with small apples. I'd noticed that the branches were starting to bow down to the ground and this wind finally appeared to be the last straw to bring it down completely.
It looks like half the roots are still in the ground though, so it might be OK for a while. Hopefully these apples will still ripen ..

The blackberries are ripening like crazy and they're big and juicy. 
We're enjoying them fresh from the shrubs in our daily (home-made) yogurt and I've started to freeze some for future pies, preserves and cobblers.

                                                                                   

                                  

But of course we had to test-taste them so I baked a peach-blackberry pie .. delicious!




My weekly Saturday walk around the pond in town resulted in pictures of an Egret ..

                                                

... and this funny gatering of ducks on a tree-trunk that had fallen in the pond:

                           

Yup! I've got 'all my ducks in a row'!

                              

And today we got to see another play at the Gallery Theater in 'Mac':


 
We hadn't seen anything since February so it was high time for something fun!
And Steel Magnolias certainly delivered! 
Made famous by the 1989 movie starring Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton and Sally Field this play, written by Robert Harling, is a mixture of laughter and tears when
six women in a small Southern town share gossip and solve problems at the local beauty parlor, helping each other through life's ups and downs.

   

As usual the cast was outstanding:

                      

Unfortunately we arrived a little too late and ended up in the back of the theater in the last row where I, despite my new hearing aids, still couldn't understand much of what was being said. 
(I've learned that hearing aids are great indeed, I can hear much better, but I cannot all of a sudden understand everything. A mumble just becomes a loud mumble. It's still a mumble!)

But luck was with me for the second half when I ended up in the front row due to a seat that became vacant when somebody had to leave in the intermission.

Lesson learned, arrive early!

 

Due to several forest fires in eastern Oregon, and the wind changing from the usual SW/W to an E/SE, our valley slowly filled with smoke this week.
The light turned into an eerie orange at sunrise, followed by more of a yellow during the afternoon. It almost felt like fall, with that warm, low light ..

The Cascade mountain-range in the east and Mt Hood, which is usually visible on clear days, was completely gone ...

                               

 

As was the same towards the Oregon Coastal range, which was only faintly visible:

                              

Temperatures were high (low 90s), even more so with the smoke which acted like a blanket and prevented the nights from cooling down.
Fortunately it only lasted a couple of days and by now the wind has turned and everything is clear again.

My zinnias don't care about smoke or low light and are putting on quite a show: 

              

They're wildly popular these days, everybody wants them. 
No wonder since they're sturdy, they're flowering reliable and for a very long time and they don't need a lot of water.
And they're so cheerful!

Most of the Teasels are done flowering but I found a few near the pond in town with still some purple color on them.                                      

 

                                                                        

Fun fact: its unique hooked seed heads inspired the invention of Velcro! 

The Ospreys still act nervous when I come around the corner towards the train-tracks. 
One of them landed in the tree I stood under at the pond to check me out and I finally got a decent shot of him:

We have a lot of Leaf-cutter bees buzzing through the Queen Anne's Lace and they fly of and on to my little bee-house to build their individual brood cells in the tunnels:

They line them with plant materials (leaves, resin) or soil, provide them with pollen/nectar, than lay a single egg, and seal them ...

                                                

They're very busy bees!

      

They're very important pollinators for squash and melon.
Case in point:

Yes, that's the beginnings of a Honey-dew Melon! And there are several more! Whoohoo!
Only problem ... they need a long, hot, 90–100 day season. 
So I doubt we'll have an edible product in the end, but we'll see ... it'll be fun to see how far they'll get.

I did pick my first green beans though. How cool is that?

We ate them with some mushrooms and onions, hamburgers and small potatoes. Very healthy!

I also tried my hand at a 'bowl', another highly popular item these days to eat, especially in vegetarian/vegan circles.
I cooked carrots, broccoli, edamame and brown rice, air-fried some salmon, added avocado and drizzled it with a simple mayo/sriracha sauce:
 

                          

Instead of piling everything in a bowl I spread it out on a plate. I think it eats much easier that way, when you don't have to dig for what's at the bottom.

I bet it just tastes the same .... m-m good!