Eagle Peak - Mount Rainier

View of the trail as the scramble begins.

When you get out of breath, stop and take a picture....

....which makes people think you are into photography and not gasping for air.

You can almost see CF in this picture.  

A nice view of where I had been. 

Mt. Rainier is hiding around the corner.

View from the parking lot. 

We remarked that it seems like this river should be bigger.  

In anticipation of my trip tomorrow to the land of beer and cheese or as I like to call it, Wisconsin, I decided that I should stretch out my legs to help me withstand the plane ride to Detroit and then the connection to Madison.  Seriously, I can't believe I'm flying to Detroit tomorrow.  At any rate, I digress. This post is not about my confusion about why I couldn't fly through Minneapolis but have to overshoot my destination and then backtrack to Madison. No, this is about the amazing hike I took today at Mt. Rainier.

Today was free fee day at the mountain, a fact I did not know until I got there.  Free fee day usually means that there are crazy amounts of people on the mountain and today was no different.  It is not surprising that most of these people did not attempt to climb Eagle Peak.  It was quiet and beautiful and, for once, not incredibly windy and cold at the Peak.  I swear I heard marmots but I did not see them.  The view was beautiful and I got to watch CF's apple slowly roll off the edge of the cliff as we were too slow to stop it. Honestly, I don't think I've laughed harder on a hike watching that thing slowly roll away.  Okay, not so funny here but it caused me to inhale a sugar cookie so you have to trust me when I say it was a laugh riot.

I need to pack and convince the cat army that another week without me is a good thing.  I'll be back in a week with pictures of cheese and bratwurst.  It's like Germany but without the need for a passport (and for some a study in coronary heart disease).

The Ingie Quilt - Cutting is complete

Bob, hard at work.

Does he look angry?  He looks angry.

Time to play with the layout. 

First, I'd like to address why Bob looks so angry.  I roasted a chicken on Saturday and only gave him some of it, not all of it.  Bob was sulking because I told him that the chicken was going into soup and it was not open to discussion.  He'll be okay, trust me, but he still has this look about him as if he can't understand why I'm so stupid and won't give him what he wants.

In piecing news, I've finished up my fat quarter bundle and am ready to play with the layout on my brand new fabric quilt wall.  I finally broke down and bought a quilt wall so I could layout quilts without using the floor and moving around the cats that would inevitably end up sleeping on the pieces on the floor.  Sam has already figured out how to knock pieces off, so this could end up being hours of entertainment for all of us.

London 2011

Here I am outside Big Ben and Parliament

Cheers!

Buckingham Palace

Gardens at St. James Park

The pub where I had a pint and fish and chips (and, sadly, mushy peas).

Shakespeare's Globe

Traitor's Gate - you don't want to enter the Tower this way.

The White Tower

Well, I'm back and barely getting over the jet lag.  I spent 10 incredible days in London and enjoyed every minute of it.  There is something so humbling and simply amazing about standing in a building that was built hundreds of years ago, or looking at parts of the Roman Wall and realizing that it was built by Romans almost two thousand years ago, or standing in Churchill's Bunker and realizing that this group of people saved the world.  It was all so amazing and so worth the trip.

As for what I did, well, I toured and visited every site and museum that I could fit into my schedule:  Buckingham Palace, (saw Kate's dress), St. Paul's Cathedral (climbed the dome and got dizzy), Westminster Abbey (saw Elizabeth's and Mary Queen of Scots' tombs), the British Museum (saw the Egyptian artifacts but was more impressed by the Roman artifacts from when they occupied Britain), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (saw Dr. Faustus and Much Ado About Nothing), Ye Old Cheshire Cheese and Anchor Pubs (the former was rebuilt in 1667 after the Great Fire), the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs!), the Victoria and Albert Museum (design and jewelry!), the National Gallery (art from the 1600's and sometimes earlier), Churchill's War Rooms (never surrender!), the Imperial War Museum(got lost in the Holocaust exhibit which was too stressful to describe), the Tower of London (executions, jewelry, ravens!), the Museum of London (the Great Fire!), and more.  I took four night London Walks tours including the Jack the Ripper Tour, a ghost tour, a hidden pubs tour, and a Bloodcurdling London tour.  As I said, amazing and I hope to go back again.

By the way, if you are here to see my results from the Friday Night Sew-In there are no results to be seen.  I fell asleep last night shortly after getting home from work and did not muster the energy to do any kind of sewing.  I'm hoping to shake off the cobwebs and get something done today.  It's been almost two weeks since I touched a sewing machine!

So pretty.

I really like this combination of pink and yellow.  It is such a fresh, springy look and something that is fun to play with here at the tail end of summer.  Still a few more color combinations to do and I'm heading out on vacation tomorrow so I didn't make my goal of getting this pieced before I left.  Sigh.  At least I know I will have something pretty to work on when I return.  Today, I start forming ideas of what to pack and spend some quality time with the cat army and convince them to be nice to the sitter.  Sam - I'm talking to you; let her pet you this time.

Union Jack Quilt - Finished

Technically, this has been done for some time.   I've shown pictures of it completely pieced quite awhile ago, and I really did quilt and bind it awhile ago too.  I've been unable to share pictures because I wanted to take a picture outside and finding daylight when there wasn't a cat sleeping on the quilt proved to be difficult.  But, here it is and it is now folded up on the sofa waiting for a cat to add the cat hair it so desperately needs. Sorry about the shadows, the pictures were taken on the sunny spot of the driveway (which, honestly, isn't that sunny).

Also, in unrelated news, my windows are open and someone is speaking with a thick Russian accent in the street by the neighbor's house.  This is not usual for this part of Thurston county and, what's even stranger is that it is the second Russian accent I've heard today; the first was when I did my Starbucks run at lunch.  Just thought I'd mention my fine little multi-cultural moment for you to all ponder.

Mt. Rainier - Kautz Creek

Indian Henry's Campground

Kautz Creek is a tough hike.  5.7 miles to Indian Henry's Campground and a lovely view of Mt. Rainier,  climbing all the way.  I always hit a wall about 4 miles up where I'm not entirely sure I can finish or move another step.  Some food, water and a knowledge that the end is so close keeps the tired legs going.  Yesterday was a hot, muggy day with a fresh hatching of mosquitos to deal with (I was inhaling them as I was trying to eat), but it was amazingly beautiful.  Last time we scared and treed a bear on the way down, but I am happy to report that there were no bear sightings this time.  More pictures here.

Modern Block of the Month (August)

I approached August's Modern Block of the Month with some trepidation.  I've never done improv piecing before and I didn't know if I was willing to let go and go all improv just yet.  Don't get me wrong, I like improv blocks and I most definitely like wonky log cabin blocks (I see one of those quilts in my future).  However, I'm doing 111 paper piecing blocks and attention to detail seems to be my very long middle name right now and it doesn't seem right to let go and go all wonky just yet.  Honestly, I like the result, but I don't see myself doing a whole quilt like this.  To me, quilting is putting together a puzzle and it seems like cheating to make up the puzzle as you go along.  Maybe that's just me, but there you go.