Magnolia Grandiflora
(it's smell is wonderfully fruity, lemon-like!)

This Sunday we decided to finally hike the trail at the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lafayette, situated only a mile or 10 from us in the low hills of the Willamette Valley.
Since I'd read about this abbey, already quite a while ago, I'd wanted to go for a visit but either the weather didn't cooperate or we didn't have time or we were tired .. etc, etc., you know how that goes.
So, no more excuses, despite the weather being a tad too hot, and of we went.

            

The abbey began in 1948 in Pecos, New Mexico as a foundation established by the Trappist community and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, owing to the Mexican influence in the southwestern U.S.
In March 1955, the monks, not finding farming sufficiently productive in northern New Mexico, sold the property to Benedictine monks and moved the abbey to its present site in Oregon.

The current, rather new 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) church was built in 2007, combining traditional Cistercian architecture with Pacific Northwest design elements.
Currently the Abbey is home to about 28 monks, who live communally in the abbey. Their day is balanced by prayer, work, reading, and contemplation.

The abbey serves as a spiritual sanctuary for guests. The monks operate a non-denominational retreat facility for both men and women who stay in small cottages and make use of a library and a meditation hall.
The abbey is located on 1,300 acres (530 ha) of forestland and is the basis for a sustainable forestry enterprise that provides income to the monks.
Other income-generating enterprises include a book bindery, a wine warehouse for local wineries, and a fruitcake bakery(!).

It being a Sunday, there was a service going on, which the public is welcome to attend by the way, so there wasn't a monk in sight.
Not being religious ourselves, we passed the church and went to the trail-head right away.
If you want to hike the entire trail it's a 3,5 mile loop which is classified as 'intermediate' and has an elevation gain of 815 feet.
It's very easy to vary the distance and scenery by taking one of the several shortcuts between the looping main path and since we're not in the best of shape at the moment we took of just seeing how far we could get.

The first part of the hike goes through what is called 'oak savanna', with tall grasses and White Oaks, after which the trail enters a Douglas-fir forest ...

It's rather uphill from there until you reach the ridge crest and a viewpoint from where you have a view over the vineyards in the valley below and, on a clear day, Mt Hood!

Obviously, although it was a very warm day, it also was a 'hazy' one, as so often in the summer and Mt Hood was not visible, unless you had a very sharp eye ..

It's there, just a hair right of the middle of the sky, see?

Just a little further down the trail, signs pointed us to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadaloupe:

  

I must say I'd imagined a sort of chapel, but if it was a chapel they probably would have said so, duhh ..

The, very, simple shrine was covered in little tokens of piety such as crosses, small images of the Lady, flowers and shells.
Not to be disrespectful but we set down on a few rocks in front of it and had our coffee and pastries. I don't think the Lady would've mind ..

The view was rather grand, although we would have pruned some of those bushes in front ..

OK, moving on .. from here on out the path started to go down and led us through a beautiful shaded Douglas-fir forest.
Some of these trees were huge!

Not too many flowers anywhere but I found some berries, like these Elderberries:

       

                                                           

And some Red Blackberries ..

                                                 

Here and there some Big-Leaf Maples started to pop up:

And when the forest opened up a little more we even saw some butterflies (of which I have seen very little so far this year!)
This is a Lorquin’s Admiral:

                                  

                                                             

And this is a Western Tiger Swallowtail

When we finally reached the meadows down below we realized we'd made a wrong turn somewhere and cut about 3/4 of a mile of the loop .. oh well, a good reason to come back!

There's a nice pond at the Abbey where we found a few chairs. A perfect, very peaceful spot to finish the rest of our coffee!

I'd hoped to have a look at the little gift shop but, of course, it was closed, it being a Sunday.
Another reason to go back because I'm one of the few people that actually loves fruitcake and I've read these monks make a mean and hefty (brandy-soaked) one!

Other than that I really don't have much to tell about this week.
It was a hot one, and I saw that we have another one coming so we basically just

"keep calm and carry on!"

This week felt like summer already. The days were warm, high 70s, and even the nights didn't cool down too much. 
The bullfrogs in the pond are fighting for territory and who's getting a girl ... I wouldn't mind at all but they're making an awful lot of noise doing so, especially at night!

        

        

We went for another 'repeat' hike on Sunday, this time at the Trappist Abbey in Lafayette.

    

Last time we were here we hiked part of the outer Guadeloupe Loop, the Hermit's Trail and the St Juan Diego trail but this time we took the Monk's trail and the rest of the Guadeloupe Loop.

                                       

Just before we took of we came across this sign:

They only strap that sign on the gate of there were actual sightings so we were a little more cautious and on the lookout than previously.

We were early enough for the morning to be still nice and cool and very quiet:

                 

It's a beautiful area and you often see wildlife. We only came across one deer but there were lots of birds everywhere.  
It was a beautiful hike!                          

     

Back at the ranch we'd planned to clean the RV and the car and replace all four of the old, leaking awnings with new ones I'd ordered last year from Sunwave on E-bay.
Priced at $100 they're cheaper than most, where an 18' one usually costs somewhere around $200!

The original ones that came with the RV aren't made anymore and these new ones are slightly different in color and material but they work just fine with the blue and green striping and decals of the RV.
The smaller awnings over the slides were all white and cost even less.

The top picture is the old and the bottom the new one:

                                           

                                               

It was a lot of work though and it took us longer than we thought but we got them all done!
By the time we put the last one up we were pros!
We didn't manage to wash the RV, or the car, but there's always tomorrow ...

I've been reseeding, for the third time, some lettuce, arugula and spinach and finally, finally some are coming up. Third time's a charm!

That weird, tall green stuff growing through the roof of the cage there in the picture on the right is an Egyptian Walking Onion or Tree onion.
Yeah, I hadn't ever heard of it either!                 

         

They grow like normal onions but instead of growing bulbs on the bottom they form small, marble seize bulblets at the top. 
When they get heavy, the stalk bends over and the bulblets grow roots. They can walk almost 3 feet in one season!

You can eat the whole plant, they're like spring/green onions when young and like leek when older, as well as the little onions from the top.

These are my berries, 2 blueberries on the left and 2 raspberries on the right (a red and a yellow one).
They flowered well and I can't wait for the first fresh berries!