Bluebirds and Books

Today I spent five hours hauling fir branches and digging out thistles with my hori-hori.  But this time the work was not on my own property.  I was with a bunch of Soroptimists doing community service for the Land Bank on Cady Mountain.  The project is a restoration of Garry Oaks which is where the bluebirds come in.  I must admit, part of the reason I signed up for this activity was that I had never been up Cady Mountain before and I was curious.  So I was delighted to see all the wildflowers in bloom:  avalance lily, fritallarias, camas, shooting star all over the place.  And a fabulous view across San Juan Valley to the Salish Sea.

Another plus was a guest lecturer who came to describe the ongoing bluebird project here on the island.  A few hundred feet away from our worksite sat an aviary with a nesting pair of bluebirds due to be released tonight.  It turns out that bluebirds LOVE Garry Oaks.  But as many of you know, the oak population has been overshadowed (literally) by Douglas Fir.  Bluebirds like wide open spaces and hollow trees to nest in.  They like places that are burned frequently.  That used to be the situation here before white men came and the Indians stopped burning the camas fields.  But even as late as 1960's, bluebirds were much more prevalent on the island.  So--restore the Garry Oak, restore the bluebird as well.blue bird project

Speaking of fires, and especially, wilderness fires, I read a great book a while ago by Timothy Egan called The Big Burn.  It is about a huge forest fire in 1910 that burned Northern Idaho and parts of Washington and Montana.  But it is also about Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and the beginnings of the National Forest Service.  It could be considered the beginning of conservancy movement here in the United States.  I recommend it.

Another good book I am reading currently is Winter Brothers A Season at the Edge of America by Ivan Doig.  It was written 30 years ago about a pioneer by the name of James Gilchrist Swan who settle with the Makaw Indians for a few years in the 1850's and later moved to Port Townsend.  But it is so much more than that.  It is history/anthropology/philosopy all rolled into one.  People familiar with the area around Cape Flattery and Lake Ozette will be fascinated.

And coincidentally, the book I read just prior to the Doig book was a memoir written by a friend and neighbor who starts his story off with a misadventure canoeing down the Ozette River.  This would have been in the early 70's just about the time my brothers and I rafted down the Ozette.  I'm feeling all wrapped up in this Pacific Northwest History, from Missoula to Neah Bay.  My friend Jim Lawrence's book is called Callous Hands, Hungry Heart.  He was raised on Mercer Island and came to San Juan Island as a back to the lander.  But he had so many adventures and problems to overcome, I'd use up all the space in this blog just listing them. 

The last book I'd like to review here was set in Upper Wisconsin, not the Northwest.  It is the The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel by David Wroblewski.  It is a fabulous retelling of Hamlet, only the hero is a 14 year old mute dog trainer and Ophelia is his companion dog Almandine.  Oh, it makes me weepy, just thinking of poor Almandine. video discussing Almandine  This was a very good read.

So now you know what I've been doing this wet, cold April, although much of this reading was done in late March on planes coming and going from Hawaii.  It is just me and my companion dog, Suzie, here at Thornbush for the next few days as Roger is at a "Food Forest Workshop" at  Wild Thyme Farm near Olympia.  Tomorrow is MayDay and I plan on celebrating at the bonfire/potluck of friends down the road aways.  I made a pie using the first of this season's rhubarb yesterday.  Goodbye to April, the cruelest month and on to the merry month of May!