Tillamook Bay at Garibaldi

Well obviously the above picture is not of our usual digs but was taken during a day-trip to the coast on Wednesday!
We hadn't been on an outing in forever, the forecast promised a beautiful sunny and rather warm day and James was caught up with work and had no new orders, so we went for it!

First stop: Garibaldi, where we had a first cup of coffee and pastries at the harbor ...

                                     

                                     

After which we continued our drive north ..

An hour later we arrived at our end-destination of the day, Indian Beach at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach.

After some more coffee we set off to hike one of the trails, the 'Indian Beach Trail', considered to be the prettiest of several trails that start from here.
The 3.8-mile out-and-back trail is considered a moderately challenging route and takes an average of 2 h,1 min to complete with views of Haystack Rock.
(a sea 'stack' is a tall, steep column of rock that juts out from the sea, they are created by wave erosion over thousands or millions of years).

                                    

Due to a big storm of a few days ago the trail was a little muddy but nothing we couldn't handle and it led us through beautiful old-growth Sitka spruce forest which opened up here and there for views of the ocean and the beach below us:

                              

                          

Unfortunately we had to turn around when we were about halfway, due to a land/mudslide that had wiped out the trail!
I later read on the park's website that "this park was built on top of active landslides and unstable coastal rock formations. The park roads were built in the 1930s before the nature of the coastal geology in the area was fully understood. Because of this, the park often experiences landslides."
I guess I didn't read the fine-print before we took off on this trip!

Oh well .. when we returned to the trailhead and the parking lot we decided to hike part of the Canon Beach Trail instead that starts there as well and which leads you north along the shore for a view of the historic “Terrible Tilly” lighthouse.

              

Apparently he lighthouse earned the nickname due to the local erratic weather conditions, and the dangerous commute for both keepers and suppliers.

 

The views from the many viewing points along the trail were absolutely spectacular!

Afterwards we slowly made our way back along the coast, had a late lunch in the small beach-town of Manzanita, afternoon coffee in Pacific city and took a short detour to drive through quaint Neskowin before heading home.
All in all a wonderful relaxing and beautiful day at the coast ... just what the doctor ordered!

The weather stayed beautiful, almost spring-like, this whole week.
Sunny days with temperatures of around 62F and blue skies made these Starlings come out to gather in large, extremely noisy groups in the treetops.

Some of the Maples are actually starting to flower, believe it or not:

  


And it the meadow of our next-door neighbor the first calves are starting to show up!

                                                               

                                                               


On Saturday we had our first 'al fresco' coffee of the season!

Of course Coco immediately showed up. Apple pie? Count me in!

 

Spring is just around the corner, although I have no doubts that we'll have some more wintery-weather to endure before the season will officially start.

Somewhere during this last week the skies cleared, temperatures rose above freezing, even at night, and all the snow quickly disappeared.
Everywhere but at the higher elevations of the Pacific Coast Range, which you can see there in the distant view, which still has a little bit left!

I've noticed lately that there seems to be some activity amongst the geese around here, their honking and characteristic V-shaped flying formations always a dead give-away.
Could it be they're already getting ready to move back north to their to their breeding grounds in Canada, Alaska, and the Arctic?

                       

I know geese are sensitive to changes in temperature and daylight hours, changes that trigger their migration instinct, but this seems very early.
The large groups at the big pond in town were gone, there's only this small group left.
Oh well, I guess they know what they're doing ..

Besides Buffelheads and Cormorants I noticed a few very pretty 'new-to-me' ducks, Common Mergansers, aka Sawbills:

Just for comparison, pretty much the same day a couple of Hooded Mergansers landed in 'our' pond, next to the RV!
This male didn't have his hood up when I finally was able to take the picture, he kept hiding behind the blackberry bushes, but it's a pretty bird regardless.
You can just see his very wide tail-feathers behind him, resting on/in the water and which he uses for great maneuverability when he dives .. or fights!

Sunday afternoon we once again went to Mcminnville's Gallery theater. We had tickets for the (almost sold out) matinee performance of Fiddler on the roof that day.

I'd only ever seen this wonderful musical once before on TV starring Lex Goudsmit, a dutch/belgian actor, who became quite famous in 1966 for playing Tevye, which role he performed some 1100 times in the Netherlands and in London.n.

Set in the little village of Anatevka, the story centers on Tevye, a poor milkman, and his five daughters. It explains the customs of the Jews in Russia in 1905, where their lives are as precarious 'as the perch of a fiddler on a roof'. .
With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, Tevye tries to protect his daughters and instill them with traditional values in the face of changing social morales and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.

The play was 3 hours long, including intermission, a little longer than usual but as usual it was sooooo good!!
The cast was excellent and the set, costumes and acting/singing were all amazing!
Everyone was giving it their all and especially the voices of the ensemble blended beautifully together. 

What a treat! As usual!

At home, the new puppy is starting to find his place in his new pack.
He knows who we are by now and frequently comes by either with one of his owners or accompanied by his dutiful 'babysitter', aka Coco, who patiently endures (mostly) his tireless playfulness::

                                                  

This is what he's here for though: keeping a watchful eye on what's going on!

Just in case someone dares to set foot on the property!
Like this large herd (also called 'gang') of Elk that showed up at the meadow next-door one evening:

I

 

The light was getting low but I could make out several males and I think this was their leader:

                                                            


I'm still trying to find my way in baking a decent, and consistent, sourdough bread and I finally might have found a winning recipe (so far).
It's by Gemma Stafford, an Irish Chef at 'https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/sourdough-bread-for-beginners/'.
Besides what seems to be the perfect recipe (at least for me), she gives you a clear and easy to follow schedule to follow, something that I found lacking, or being overly complicated, in all others.
Just look at this sandwich-bread I baked:

It tastes as good as it looks!

Finally, I think my Amaryllis bulb, which I bought in December, is finally opening up:

                                             

I'd almost given up hope but 3 days ago the buds cracked open and I see a little more emerging every day.

It's nothing but a (belated Christmas) miracle!

Much of last week looked exactly like the one before that .. grey and even more snow!
After a day or 2 of reprieve, during which the snow had all melted away and we actually saw some sun, it started coming down again early on Thursday morning and although the flakes weren't very big, there sure were a lot of them!

                                

It took only a couple of hours until everything was neatly covered up again and by coffee-time we were once again looking out onto a beautiful white world:

I went for a nice walk up the road. It's a lot harder to walk in the snow especially with my snow-boots so I have not gone for my usual longer ones this week, but it was still so pretty and felt so good to be out in the cold, fresh air!

 

                                                     

As you can see, the road dips up and down the shallow hills and the property we're on is similar 'hilly'.
Just perfect for .... sledding!

Serena (our landlord) has several sleds and invited me over for some back-to-your-childhood, good old fashioned fun!
(At least, it was for her, my childhood was of course spend in Holland, which is as flat as a pancake, so I had never done this before ..)

                                                                        

And fun it was! I had a ball! That little slope there turned out to be rather steep and we gathered some unexpected great speeds.
I'm afraid I might have screamed like a girl going down!

Here's a few of the prints I found around the RV.
Snow is a great give-away of who's coming by in the night like raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, mice, dogs, lots of birds and of course .. me:

To brighten up the dark days I brought home some daffodils from when I went grocery shopping on Wednesday, the one dry day of the week ...

            

Most of the days I spend inside though, nice and warm and cozy, working on several of my (way too) many hobbies, like my newest one .. embroidery.
Of the four I bought this one, of a snowy little town, is very appropriate at the moment of course but at the speed I'm going it probably won't be done before next winter!

   

I enjoy it very much though. Like most of the things I do it's the working on it that I like the most, not the end-product.
I doubt I'm going to display this anywhere when it's ever done, besides .. I don't have room!

I finished my latest puzzle, which I think might be my favorite of all:

It's not an easy one but not too crazy either and I love the image.
Again, very appropriated with all the snow!            

And that's all for this week. Tomorrow we're going to see another play in the theater in McMinnville ... 'Fiddler on the roof'.
                                We're really looking forward to that one!

That's us there in the middle and the 'big house' above us

Finally there it was! Snow!

The first day we didn't have a lot and it melted away quickly once the temperature climbed above freezing during the day ...

 

                                      

But the next morning, after a night of 27F (-3C) we woke up to a decent layer .. 'decent' meaning that at least it covered everything in a thin layer:

                        

                                             

It all looks so pretty doesn't it, such a difference with the dreary, dark and muddy colors of most days of winter.

The little oak grove, always a favorite of mine to photograph, looked especially pretty all covered up:

 

I hope the rows of newly planted fir-trees, barely visible in the fields up above, will have no problems with the cold.
The snow will most likely only be beneficial, adding more water when it melts, but the frosty nights might be more of a shock to their young roots.
I guess they'll be OK though since all this will only last a short time, if we may believe the weather-forecast ..

I was surprised to see a new sign already up at out landlord's driveway, replacing the old one of their roofing business:

                                                           
 
My understanding was that those trees have about 5-7 year to go before they can be harvested but I guess it's never too early to get the word out?

On most mornings this week the puddles on my walks were frozen over, I liked how the forces of nature had turned them in a sort of abstract art:

And despite all the cold weather and being covered in snow a couple of times these daffodils are still happily growing ..

Many bulbs will actually not do well without a sufficient cold period so this is just what the doctor ordered.
The snow cover acts as a protective blanket, shielding the emerging foliage from extreme temperature fluctuations and allowing them to continue growing underneath.
Nature .. never seizes to amaze!

Of course 'my' birds are a hungry lot these days.
I hung some suet and placed a small patio table in between the feeders to make it easier for more birds to get their share. Especially the little finches who always get bullied by the blackbirds ..

Good idea, but of course the blackbirds don't stick to the feeders .. sigh!

They are all being watched though! Every now and than I see a fast flash coming down from the trees surrounding the pond and everybody scatters ..
The pic is a little fuzzy (taken through my dirty windows) but I think this is a Red Shouldered Hawk:

                                        

Last but not least, I did some more baking in my new microwave/oven.
The temp still doesn't want to go much past 420F or so, and pre-heating takes quite a while, but for most things that is quite enough and these little cherry hand-pies came out perfectly fine:

          

                                        

Next up: Oat-bread and chocolate chip cookies. 'Should be easy' .. she said. Ha ha!