Mind Boggling Month

How do I reconcile all death and destruction that went on this month with all the good, creative events?  As the beautiful golden leaves of October gave way to the bare branches of November, friends and family gathered together to celebrate the harvest, and to comfort each other in their loss. 

Good news first.  Roger and I are heading up our respective organizations this year, he is Master of the Grange for the third year in a row, and I will be the President of the SJC Textile Guild for 2014.  They won’t be easy terms, we are lucky to have great boards to help us through. 

Roger has been busy this month, first he built a root “closet” in our basement—it has a fan that will come on with a thermostat to keep it cold enough for potatoes, etc.  Then he built a new craft table for me so I could donate my bigger worktable to a new food prep area in the basement.  Then he built a new front end on the outdoor boiler for our radiant heat system.  And he’s brought in a lot of firewood on top of that.

I attended a Micro-Macrame/ cavandoli workshop by a nationally known teacher, Joan Babcock from Santa Fe.  Since the class I’ve finished a pendant and two bracelets.  I hope to have earring to match before too long. 

Check out her work at Joan Babcock's jewelry 

Roger’s birthday fell on the day after Thanksgiving this year.  Two days packed with family and friends and great food.  Our friend Shann returned to the island after ten months bouncing back and forth between Fred Hutchinson and University Hospital.  She made an appearance at the Cask and Schooner and made all of our days.

friends celebrating Roger's 58th birthday

 The major event of this past month, my sister Jeannette and my quick trip to Kansas City for the funeral of our Aunt Ruth was really a celebration. My mom and my aunt Ruth were very close growing up so we felt it was important to represent Mom's side of the family.  Aunt Ruth lived to one day shy of her 97^th birthday and was beloved by her children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  It was a privilege to be a part of that.  Jeannette and I immersed ourselves in family lore for three days.  

Jones cousins at Aunt Ruth's funeral

Evelyn and Ruth Jones, ages 14 and 18
 

 A weird week of communication blackout overshadowed this county of islands this past month when the cable connecting all of our long distance and most of our internet was severed, supposedly due to an earthquake.  Everyone experienced the outage differently, I could call Orcas Island for instance, but not anyone on a cellphone in Friday Harbor.  Here is an article in the Atlantic Monthly that describes the situation pretty accurately.

Atlantic Monthly article

The news was bad that week.  For one thing, Eric’s beloved lab, Pepper died suddenly on November 5^th.  My father-in-law made a trip to the emergency room,  two of my aunts were in critical condition one in Kansas City and one in L.A. This same week we learned that a friend’s son had died in a head-on collision on Maui,, and a horrible typhoon hit the Philippines, killing perhaps 10,000 people.

It’s hard to discuss quince/apple pie and macramé in the face of all this mortality.  And yet, I feel so blessed, to be surrounded by all this natural beauty, the great people in the Grange and the Textile Guild and my yoga class, all our dear friends, and large, loving family.  It's incongruous.  It boggles the mind.

 

 

 

The Roger Issue

Roger meets Nate at April's wedding in August
 

This post is intended to highlight whatever the heck Roger has been doing.  He always seems to be in the background on my blog but is very much in the foreground in what has been happening around Thornbush.  Roger, this blog’s for you.

 

Stripping Bark at English Camp for Weaving Weekend

You can describe Roger’s life in recent years as being divided into three parts—running his business-Thornbush Landscape and Design, developing this property, and community involvement through the Grange.  Ok, add in family matters, especially helping his dad, Al, through his transition to assisted living, but also being a grandpa.  In other words, he lives a very full life.

 

Fourth of July with Al
 

FAMILY

The Big Event since my last blog was the celebration of Tony and April’s Wedding near Mt Rainier this past August.  It was a family reunion and a vacation wrapped up in a long weekend. 

Mt Rainier Scenic Railway in Elbe

Roger especially enjoyed the ride on the Steam Train with Bjorn and his brood,  we’d taken a similar trip many years ago with Bjorn when he was a lad.



Roger and Anita hike Paradise
 

 

We also got to hike around Paradise with my family on a beautiful morning amid the wildflowers and vistas. 

 

Roger with In-law Bill Yake

Just this past weekend we were able to reminisce with many of the same family members at Barrecas Thanksween.  Roger likes two things in particular about these gatherings—the great food and jamming with the “Outlaws and Inlaws” Yesterday, Bill and Roger on guitar, Marc on keyboard and Joe on bass.
 

 

HOME

Chickens and Orchard Expansion dominated the year.  But the garden and firewood gathering are mainstays.
 

COMMUNITY

 

A blue sky weekend for the Fall Farm Parade

 

Grange Events were big this year.  Most recently, they co-sponsored the Fall Farm Parade.  As the Master, Roger also attended the State Convention at Ocean Shores in June.  He writes a blog, too.  It’s at:  San Juan Island Grange

Of course, I could go on and on about what Roger is up to.  Just remember in reading future posts, that Roger is there keeping things running, generating new ideas every day.  Now that I've covered Roger can the Suzie Issue be far behind?

Sorry for such a long delay in publishing this Thornbush Report.  Part of  the problem is I want to try out Wordpress but haven’t even had time to work that out.  So I am still using Blogspot for the time being.

Turn, Turn, Turn

The Byrds version of To everything there is a season - please link to this YouTube recording while you are reading this blog.

My brother Joe always manages to tie his blog up with some philosophical theme.  He would have been a good homily writer.  Here is his website for those who don’t have it already:  Joe's latest blog

Trouble is that saying “to everything, there is a season” just isn’t true for me this month.  Everything happens at once!  The planting and reaping part—all happening this month.  I’ve been picking strawberries like crazy, shelling peas, too.  At the same time, we’ve been planting squash, corn, beans, and more.

Roger with bok choi and scapes
 

 We’ve been coming—and going all month.  I just got back from the ANWG Conference in Bellingham.  That’s Association of NW Weavers Guilds.  I stayed in Higginson dorm.  That was a leap back in time!  Plenty of eye candy for the fiber artist.  And the campus was lovely this time of year.

 

WWU must not have suffered from the caterpillar plague that overwhelmed us this Spring.  Roses and Alders and apple trees completely denuded of leaves.  But, the leaves have almost all grown back.  I’ve heard these pests come for four years and I believe this is year #3.  Each one has been worse than the year before.  Friends, you may not want to visit us next May and early June.  I cannot guarantee what it may look like around here.

 Now I’m back and Roger has gone to Ocean Shores for the State Grange Convention.  You’d think a farm organization would know better than to put their yearly convention in June.  So it’s just me and the chickens—and Suzie, of course.

 While I was in Bellingham, Roger constructed a staircase from the mudroom porch down to the new loading dock at the back of the house.  How convenient!  Do you think if I left more often perhaps more major projects would get done around here?

 

There’s been a couple weddings, and sadly, a funeral.  Roger’s brother Leif died this month.  He’s been in late stage Alzheimer’s so it came as no surprise.  But still, very sad.  He would have turned 59 on June 30^th.  And a time to be born—two more granddaughters for members of my book club.

 

two month old James in the CUTEST tee shirt
 

The service group that I belong to is winding up its year while at the same time, the Textile Guild action is heating up as I try to line up a new Board for next year when I take up the Presidency.  I need a Vice-President!  Anyone?

And now it is time to post.

 

The Very Rich Hours of Anita Barreca

Roger was in charge of the Parade.  First Annual FH Farm Parade    Check out all the photos on the underlined link, including one of Eric driving a rototiller and towing a cart with two black labs inside. 

On that same day, Barrecas were celebrating their personal Thanksgiving at Jeff's place in Seattle.  Bina presented Nala to the family.

Nala was a big hit with Audrey and the step-grandmas.

Barreca jam session 2011

We also had the now infamous jam session sans Roger but with Matthew's friend Liza on violin. 

Other Colorful Events

The weather cooperated this month, perhaps sheepishly asking forgiveness for such a crappy summer.  The Fall Foliage has been great.  On the week following the Farm Parade I organized the SJC Textile Guild's General Meeting and our guest speaker Gail Harker, gave a speech entitled "Immersed in Color".  And ever since the slide show I've appreciated the color combinations just that much more.

Speaking of color, a big event for Roger and me this month was the arrival of a colorful triptych painted for us by Peggy Sue McRae.  She has named it "The Very Rich Hours of Anita Barreca" which is probably what I should rename this blog. An inspiration for this project was the medieval illuminated manuscript, called "Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry", where a blue arc divides the sky, suggesting the passage of time.



The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry



The Very Rich Hours of Anita Barreca

There were other influences in the work as well and we like it very much.  I am working on a coiled basket which will repeat the colors and pattern.

I started volunteering two days a month at the Island's Food Coop.  I painted the bathroom. We took Roger's Dad down to Auburn--first trip home in six months.  We took my friend Karen to The Cask and Schooner, our latest favorite restaurant.  We attended the Ag Guild's Harvest Dinner under the tents at the new Brickworks Farmers Market venue.

And today, Thornbush Farm hosted an orchard walk.  So I thought I'd add a picture of what the orchard looked like today. 

It actually stopped raining for most of the tour.  But the wind came up and . . . you guessed it, Jay. . . took down more of that willow tree you bucked up last month.  When are you coming up again?



October flies by

I didn't mean to skip the whole month of October without an entry.  Lots of things happened of interest.  Getting back in the swing of things after the Sicilian trip took awhile.  I hosted a couple dinner parties with a Sicilian theme--complete with cannoli which you can actually buy here on the island.  I also got busy with both the Textile Guild and the Soroptimist becoming the San Juan Island Rep for the former and the Mentor Program administrator for the latter.  I painted the kitchen.  We picked all the apples. And we hosted several visitors.

But the big events in October had to do with family.  I got to babysit the four year old twins Iliana and Lenora for a few days while their parents and baby Audrey were on a business trip.  We went on field trips to the beach and worked on crafts and watched a lot of movies.  When their parents returned three days later, they stayed on for a few days to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with the Barreca Family.  Sometimes referred to as "Thankstween" and rotated through the family, this year it was my turn to host with help from my nearby sister Rosalie.  Twenty-five people for dinner, two turkeys, five desserts and lots of jamming from the musicians in the family.  Barreca Family Jam Session

We went to a Halloween Party.  I was an owl.  Roger had a hatchet in his head/hat.  We joined a team for Trivia Night on Thursday nights at a local restaurant, and our team won first prize one week.  The questions can be very hard.  But Roger's expertise in musical history came through with Peter Townsend as an answer.  No one else knew who coined the phrase "power pop". 

The first of November, Roger drove down to Auburn to help his dad through cataract surgery.  Al is staying with us for the month so we can help put drops in his eyes twice a day.  He seems to be settling in nicely.  In fact, he's putting a satellite dish on his r.v. this very evening so he can watch his shows.

Roger and I are milling some logs into tapered posts for our carport.  This takes a lot of measuring.  I'm hoping my carport will be ready sometime in 2011 or 2012 (at the rate we're going).

And this past weekend, I got to go to Camp Orkila, which is a big YMCA camp on Orcas Island, for a San Juan County Textile Guild Retreat.  Three days of hanging out with knitters, weavers, felters, spinners, and basketweavers.  We had several workshops, I spent days ahead of time sorting out buttons from my mother and mother-in-law's collections so I could braid a button bracelet.  But I also reserved time to hike all around the camp.    It reminded me of my old CYO summer camp days.

Gosh, looking back on it all, we did get a few things done.

Autumn 2009 and a Wake-up Call

At first I didn't think there was much to tell about. We didn't go anywhere and our visitors have dropped off quite a bit. We have had many visiting birds come through. Here are some evening grosbeaks checking out the fountain. In looking back over pictures and calendar entries, I see that things have a way of piling up. We've actually been quite busy this Fall here at Thornbush.

I'll start with a week in September when Roger's parents and his brother Leif visited. Here's a picture of them at the Farmer's Market which shows off another milestone--Eric and Roger are actually farmers! That's right--they are selling produce from our own gardens and orchards. And they bought a new, shiny scale to weigh it.



Then, about mid-September we went to the Permaculture Convergence held on the Kitsap Peninsula at Sahale Learning Center. http://www.washingtonstatepermaculture.org. Here's a picture of Roger and fellow permies at a workshop led by Rick Valley on Storage Strategies, Including Carbon, Water and Keyline.

We came back from the conference and a visit to Bjorn and the twins with horrible colds that lasted a couple weeks. This was very frustrating as we were then faced with (dum, de-dum dum)--the Tyranny of the Harvest, as my sister Rosalie puts it. Everything was ripe and ready to deal with. Apples, tomatoes, bell peppers, chard (always), beans, aronia berries, huckleberries (before the towhees got to them), everything! I've been dehydrating, freezing, cooking down and otherwise using up for weeks now.



The weather this past month has been exceptionally nice. It did, however, frost for a couple days early in the month which took out my canna lilies and turned everything a beautiful orangey gold.

There was also a couple chicks hatched about this time. Stella had been sitting on her eggs and not producing, so Roger borrowed a couple fertilized eggs from some friends who owned a rooster and put them under her. We now have two cute little chicks running around behind their foster mom. And two of the pullets from the compost yard are now laying so we will be knee deep in fresh eggs pretty soon.

The Second Monday Book Club from Seattle came up to visit me for the day the first weekend in October. Our book club has been in existence since 1987 and now that I have moved up here I very much look forward to their annual visit. This particular weekend in the San Juans is Artstock, in which various art studios open their doors to guests so we took advantage of the occasion and of the weather. The book was Folly by Laurie King. It is set on a remote island in the San Juans.

Here's the mandatory picture on alder bench with dog.

And now it is time for the Wake-up Call part of this post if any of you are still with me. On Saturday, October 17th, Roger woke up and had trouble speaking. I asked him a couple questions that he was unable to answer correctly, like what his birthdate was. We ended up calling 911 and the EMT's and paramedic came. His blood pressure was way too high. They were going to fly him to hospital in Bellingham in a helicopter but a storm was coming in. So for various other reasons, I had to drive him to St Joseph's myself from the 11:15 ferry. We made it to ER seven hours after his "event". They administered various tests including an MRI which showed five past occurrences of TIAs otherwise known as mini-strokes.

Roger remained in the hospital for two more days and they administered many more tests which gave no evidence of where these TIAs were coming from. So they sent him home with instructions to take an aspirin a day for the rest of his life and to see a doctor about his high blood pressure and cholesterol. This was a long three days for both of us. But since we would not have known about the four other "events" if he hadn't had an MRI test, I guess it was a good thing.

Here is a picture of our first major harvest of chestnuts. We have over a pound of them. We also grew our best crop of quinces this year (see yellow fruit next to chestnuts). I'm planning to make quince marmalade soon. The Tyranny of the Harvest is not through with us yet. (Dum de-dum dum)