September 2011October 2011 November 2011

10/27 - We've Been Falling Down On The Job

We try and keep up to date on the Port Angeles Farmers' Market, but we've been awfully lazy about it as of late. This isn't because we haven't been shopping at the market. We've been there every Saturday, usually around ten when the market opens, and we've been buying a lot. The vegetables are out in full force, with brussels sprouts, garlic, collard greens and lacinato kale. There are winter squash and arugula and all sorts of wonderful things.

Maybe we just haven't been getting very good pictures. It's tricky taking pictures at the farmers' market. If nothing else, people are shopping for produce, and surely they have priority over a pushy photographer. In any event, here are a few pictures, a few good words, and we'll try to do better.


Nash Huber's stand is probably the easiest to photograph since everything is all bunched up nicely.

The Mystery Bay oyster stand is in operation.

This is what happens when we don't focus carefully. We can blur perfectly good Clark Family Farms beef.

Keywords: clark family, farmers' market, farms, nash huber, port angeles, shopping, winter, kale


10/25 - Beads of Rain

The bird netting on our strawberry boxes had collected great glistening beads of rain. Usually, bird netting is pretty ugly, but the autumn rains and morning light made it something special.



Keywords: port angeles, art


10/20 - Our Last Klahane Ridge Climb of the Year

Well, probably. There was a bit of snow and ice on the trail, but it was melting rapidly, so we might try to climb Klahane Ridge one more time. Already snow is building up on the north face and Mount Angeles, and all but a few flowers are gone. There is moisture, but not the green moisture of spring. It's the cool gray moisture of approaching winter. Right now the trail is clear, so we have hopes, but conditions can change rapidly, so we'll have to see.

Snow to the north

Snow on Mount Angeles

Snow on a sheltered tree

The mountains

More mountains

The trail, good footing, no longer just dust

Folded rock

Cow parsnips in passing

A few stragglers

More stragglers

Shadows

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge


10/14 - Journey to the Land of the Snows

We recently returned from a journey to the land of the snows. We climbed Hurricane Hill, starting in autumn and climbing up into winter. It was something of an adventure.

The short, wet summer kept the hillside vegetation green late into September, but now it had all turned to gold. Here and there we could see the fall colors with browns and golds and here and there brilliant red. Above us loomed the bulk of Hurricane Hill, its summit dusted white above us.

We walked through autumn, but as we ascended, panting and wheezing as is our wont, the season changed on us. First there was first snow by the trailside, then on the trail itself. The golden grasses were covered with a lacework of light snow. It grew colder.

As we neared the summit we were in winter, surrounded by snow, with snow dusting the gnarled trees. At the peak, it was winter. We were in another land, the land of the snows.


The looming snowcap of Hurricane Hill

A hawk of winter

Fall colors below

White lace on the golden fields

Entering winter's frigid domain

More lacework

Towards the summit

The view from the top, in the land of the snows

More winter in the high country

The side spur

Mount Angeles and a deer family

Keywords: autumn, high country, hurricane hill, trails, winter


10/11 - Nash Huber's New Farm Stand

The folks at Nash's Organic Produce have been talking about opening a new farm stand for a while now. Well, they've done it. It's just down the Towne Road Extension from the old stand, but it's much larger with lots of room for expansion. We stopped in, did some shopping and took a few photos. Now that the fall harvest is coming in, we'll be dropping by more often.

The front with pumpkins

Vegetables ...

... more vegetables ...

... even more vegetables ...

... so, what did you expect?

Keywords: dungeness, shopping, nash huber


10/07 - Signs of Christmas

While we were hiking on Hurricane Hill, we couldn't help but notice signs of the season. Yes, there was some autumn color, but when we Kalebergs say "season", we mean "Christmas season". So while the stores are still pushing Halloween candy, stage makeup and costumes, we Kalebergs are already leaping ahead to the real thing. We usually don't jump the gun like this, but there were the signs: the first snow and the brilliant red and green of the season.

Snow by the trail

Snow on the trees

Look, Christmas trees

and more Christmas trees

We've really got to start decorating.

There's the red and green.

Deck the trails.

OK, so this is a bit autumnal.

That might make a nice tree blanket.

Keywords: autumn, christmas, hurricane hill, trails, kale


10/06 - Hurricane Hill in Autumn

This year the high country grasses stayed green until almost the last minute. Usually they turn to gold by late August, but this year was much moister, and the snows melted much later. Now, they are turning golden with a vengeance.

We were a bit disappointed with this year's crop of corn lilies. We took the side spur and found a number of spikes, now dried and brown, but the taller corn lilies were fallen with no signs of their blooms. Even the mouse on a stick seemed a bit dispirited, but there were a few flowers left including yarrows and harebells.


Scenery

more scenery

and, good grief, more scenery.

The little snow melt lake is gone. The snow you see is old snow that never melted.

Golden grasses

A last harebell, almost translucent

Some corn lily spikes

We love the way water beads up on the lupines.

Wild flowers

Wild fields

Yarrow and harebells

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, autumn


10/01 - First Snow on Klahane Ridge

This has been a short season for the high country. Already, there is snow on Klahane Ridge. Granted, it was just a sprinkling and seems to have melted in all but the shadiest areas, but it was snow none the less. The recent rains and snow made climbing much easier. The trail was turning into soft sand as it does late in the season, but this time the footing was good.

We saw three bucks chowing down for the winter, trying to put on some weight. They largely ignored us, shuffling a few steps away as we passed. Their attention was on the vegetation, and we weren't vegetation.

We're hoping for one more visit to the ridge, but a lot depends on our oomph. That and the weather.


These towers of stone are always inspiring.

A peephole view

Enjoying the buffet

It's still very green. The grasses and the like never turned golden brown.

Mountains and clouds

A bit of snow by the trail

Old snow and new snow on the north face

A bit more snow

The last fields of flowers

More inspiration

A few late harebells

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge, weather, winter


September 2011October 2011 November 2011