Paul Peak, Peak Flowers, and Favorite Foods.

It has been a strange time. I think that is true for everyone, but I feel especially grateful that we have no worries about finances. I used to be concerned that we would retire into a recession, and boy have we ever, but because it was a concern, we planned for a long downturn early on in our retirement. Planning for the worst has paid off. Of course, we also are not spending on travel as we had expected, which helps. We are staying close to home, but trying to enjoy what is right in our backyard.

Our first mid-week adventure turned out to be on a rainy Tuesday. We planned to go to Twin Falls at Snoqualmie Pass, but it was raining so hard that Russ just said he wasn't going to hike in misery and kept driving. He drove all the way over the pass until the rain stopped at Cle Elum, Washington. We hiked the hastily found Coal Mines Trail, which turned out to be a gem.

An old coal tailings pile.

We have started to drive slightly longer distances to hike in some of our favorite areas: Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, Snoqualmie Pass, and at Wright Park and Point Defiance (city parks). When we went up the Mowich road at Mt. Rainier, it had just opened, but the last five miles were closed because of snow, so we chose the Paul Peak trail, which goes around Paul Peak and down, down, down to the Mowich River Camp on the Wonderland Trail. We did this section of the Wonderland years ago (backpacking), and I remember climbing up the ridge to finish our hike at Mowich Lake. I definitely remember how sustained and steep the last uphill push was. It wore me out! The Paul Peak trail was marvelously soft and great hiking, but down to start and up to finish trails are my least favorite. It was still a great day out!

Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River

Upper Twin Falls.

Lower Twin Falls

Lower Lena Lake in Olympic National Park. Russ models his mask.

Selfie at Lower Lena Lake during our lunch break.

Friends we hiked with to Lower Lena.This pic is the only one I took without masks.

Me standing on Cathedral Rock with Lower Lena Lake.

The Paul Peak Trail and Mt. Rainier. Log Bridge.

The Mowich River. We hiked down to it.

Mr. Rainier from the Paul Peak trail.

We hit peak wildflowers at Paul Peak.

I infused more vinegar for cleaning the kitchen. I use the lavender from our yard to improve the fragrance of the vinegar. The internet suggestions were to use either lavender or rosemary. I find the lavender works better to take the sharp bite out of the white vinegar fragrance, plus I like that it turns bright purple.

Before.

After one week.

 

This should be enough to get me through to next year, which is good, since the lavender plants are looking like they are done for the year. I've continued my cooking adventures. My garden tomatoes are ripening, so we are moving into a new season of old favorites.

The first two. I always grow cherry tomatoes.

Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella from the farmers market.

Green chile Boca burger with Tim's chips.

Fresh blueberry pancakes with fake link sausage.

Salmon chowder with toasted garlic bread.

Whole wheat crust pizza with zucchini, spinach, and chanterelle mushrooms.

 

I'm amazed, a bit, with how much time I use to just keep our regular home life going. The routine chores, making yogurt, making vinegar, refilling bird feeders, shopping, preparing food, keeping the tea pitcher full, laundry, cleaning. I sometimes try to remember how I got it done when I was working a full-time job and had a 3 hour total daily commute. Mostly I remember that I did less. We went out to eat a lot, plus the house was never really clean. Maybe it was tidy... as minimalists, we don't usually have excess stuff around cluttering up our space, but the floors got cleaned once per year if I was really disciplined during the winter holiday break. I'm discovering the pleasures of simple chores done regularly.