Oh my Gosh, Ohanapecosh. Plus a Rose Garden.

We hiked the Silver Falls Loop Trail at Ohanapecosh with a friend who took the day off work to join us at Mount Rainier. It felt cold when we started out, since it was cloudy, but I quickly warmed up as we got moving. I also tested the waters from the hot springs at the start of the hike, so it wasn't all cold. This is my favorite type of trail, under trees with a fast moving river. It smells so fresh, like damp wood and with the taste of water in the air. We also took a spur trail to the Grove of the Patriarchs. Our friend proclaimed it to be her happy place. It was something special; plus we got to use one of the famed Mount Rainier steel cable suspension bridges.

Testing the (warm) waters.

Silver Falls. The cataract was narrow in places.

Crossing the bridge.

Western Hemlock. The boardwalk protects to tree roots.

Western red cedar.

Steel cable suspension bridge over the Ohanapecosh River.

Red huckleberry. They were plentiful.

Russ and I went to a brunch for retirees of a company that we both worked for. I worked there for 15 years. We stay in touch with and have several close friends that we made at the company. This brunch takes place every two months and people attend as they can fit it in around their travel schedules.

Lots of conversation and catching up.

Dinner at Cooper's in Tacoma.

Breakfast at the Original Pancake house in Tacoma.

Concert in the Park at Fort Steilacoom. The salsa band was amazing.

On on way to our regular hike a Point Defiance, Russ and I went early and stopped at the Rose Garden. The Tacoma Rose Society prunes and deadheads the roses every Thursday. I was impressed with the scale of the garden and the many varieties of roses blooming. Sweet!

I think there are many weddings in the pavilion here.

Smells like a rose.

Profusion of pretty.

We've been going out to eat more, but I'm still cooking at home with the fresh food from our garden and the farmers market. There are too many cucumbers and a flood of tomatoes. We eat tomatoes every day and I still can't keep up. I'm considering making some sort of pickled cucumber and onion condiment to use up the bounty. I did manage a cucumber sauce that went well with the grilled salmon.

Harvest.

More tomatoes just three days later!

Potato and squash torte.

Chanterelle and green pepper pizza with red wine.

A soy bacon BLT with avocado and cauliflower cheese soup.

Grilled salmon with roasted potatoes and sauteed kale.

Caprese salad, fresh spinach fettuccine with corn and summer squash.

I have another tomato harvest ready to bring in. I do love fresh tomato everything, and wouldn't trade this problem of too many for the opposite one. My philosophy is to eat so many tomatoes when they are in season that I don't want any more until they come back next year.

Refilling the Social Calendar

We had a big Independence Day Party on July 4th. It was mostly outside, and we watched the fireworks show provided by the baseball stadium nearby. We grilled Beyond Burgers and ate potluck salads and desserts with friends we haven't seen in over a year. Everyone is fully vaccinated, so it felt safe, especially in the yard. I'm a very social extrovert, and one of my biggest fears about early retirement was that I would lose most of my daily interaction with other people. I put together a master schedule and added as many events as I could squeeze onto the pages. I joined the Board of Directors for Symphony Tacoma, a book club, maintained a weekly visit with a friend for "craft time" and set myself up with a Pilates class. When COVID-19 took all that away, it felt fine at first, since I was more concerned with other things and grateful that we didn't need to worry about our jobs or finances, but after a few months, my mood darkened. Looking back, I feel like I lost my optimism because I lost my social circle. After this past month, I can celebrate getting my mojo back.

Party around the fire pit.

Party on the deck.

Grilled hot dogs at Mom and Dad's place.

At McMenamins with a friend

McMenamins has some great lighting.

Relaxing on the lounge with a full moon rising.

We are still hiking regularly, of course, but now we also hike with friends more often. We do the outer loop trail and Point Defiance every Thursday with friends. One Thursday in July we finished our hike only to bump into more friends at a Model A Club of Tacoma event at the park. We also hiked at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge at the perfect time to see barn swallow chicks in their nests. We did the Naches Peak Trail at Mt. Rainier National Park during peak wildflower season and got some amazing views.

Nisqually delta boardwalk.

Feed us! Barn Swallows are messy and loud.

The twin barns field at Nisqually.

Bald eagle at Point Defiance.

Ford Model As

The parking lot was full of them.

Lupine and Paintbrush were abundant.

Dewey Lake. Note the flowers along the path.

Selfie with a mountain hat.

Mount Rainier.

In between the social events and hiking, I've been keeping up with the cooking and doing some deep cleaning chores around the house. Russ cleaned the roof (time to get rid of the moss), I dusted, decluttered and reorganized our main room bookshelf. I finally washed all the upstairs windows. The grow window in the kitchen and the big front window are the worst to clean We need the tall ladder for the grow window, but I got it done. Hopefully we won't wait another five years to do them again! We also washed and waxed the R-Pod, but I didn't get any photos of that - I was too occupied with scrubbing.

Russ cleans the roof.

We slept in the cool basement during the heat wave.

The bookshelf and front window

The grow window. It's the worst to clean.

Italian style bean and spinach stew with couscous.

Pancakes for breakfast with veggie links.

Broccoli cheese soup.

The garden bounty. I have too many cucumbers.

Grilled tomatoes on an English muffin. Heaven.

Squash and green chile casserole. Spicy!

Summer vegetable tart. It's a favorite.

Blueberry scones.

Beyond Burger with summer vegetable and farro salad.

Pasta with vodka sauce and green salad.

Broccoli and shrimp with couscous and gazpacho soup.

Pasta with sage and morel cream sauce with the gazpacho.

Greek pasta.

Potato and fennel gratin. Fennel is from the garden.