Be a Candle

In a few days’ time many American families, including mine, will be celebrating Thanksgiving.

As my family can trace its roots back to the Mayflower, I am especially cognizant of the fact that this day isn’t a cause for celebration for a lot of people. It is instead, a Day of Mourning. I am thankful for many things in my life, including feeling safe and getting to call a beautiful place home, and that I have family and friends who love me. I am conscious, always, to the fact that so many more people do not feel the same. Our world is undeniably struggling through a volatile time. Truthfully, where there is humanity there is struggle.

Be a candle.

One small candle.

A warm glow against an impenetrable night.

More candles, more hope

To keep the dark at bay.

Don’t let the shadows drown you,

Smother your light, strangle your heart.

If stifled, light anew.

More candles, more hope.

The Results Are In!

For a long time I wanted to get my DNA tested.  When I happened along a Groupon I decided to finally do it.  That was about six weeks ago. I got my results this morning! 

The results surprised me and it has taken me a fair amount of time to thoroughly read the manual that came with the results, and to digest all the information. I thought I was mainly British/Irish and Eastern European (the border near Russia has changed so much it is easier to generalize).

However, according to AncestryByDNA I’m 98% European, with the bulk of that coming from Iraq! And I'm apparently Scottish, not British/Irish. 2% is Indigenous American which I did believe there would be a small amount of, but the top matching country is Venezuela!  Say what?!

In my endeavor to make sense of my genetic blueprint I realized that perhaps these results aren't as bizarre as first they seemed, and felt.

On my mom's maternal side, my great-aunt researched our lineage and we can claim Mayflower descendancy. On my mom's paternal side we figured Irish seeing as my grandfather's surname was McCann, and his family settled in the coal mining region around West Virginia. One of my uncles is now working on researching that side of the family's ancestry so it could be rather interesting to learn more about them in light of what I found out today.  I suppose it's not terribly far-fetched to go from British/Irish to Scottish.

My paternal side of the family is Jewish. I always thought they were from Eastern Europe along the border with Russia, so potentially Russian or Polish or whatever depending on which country was ruling at any given time. That being said, it's fairly reasonable to consider that our ancestors could've migrated from the Middle East region northward at some point further back that anyone alive during my time remembers.

In conclusion, I can add myself to the growing list of people who are surprised by their DNA tests!

Why the heck do you do that??

One cannot stay on the summit forever –
One has to come down again.
So why bother in the first place? Just this.
What is above knows what is below –
But what is below does not know what is above.

One climbs, one sees –
One descends and sees no longer
But one has seen!

There is an art of conducting one’s self in
The lower regions by the memory of
What one saw higher up.

When one can no longer see,
One does at least still know.

-René Daumal-

Someone wrote this poem in the register at the Granite Mountain lookout, an 8.6 mile hike with 3,800 feet in elevation gain that two friends and I tackled on Friday. The poem resonated with me so much so that I looked it up when we got back home. It reminded me of why I love caving as well. Such activities command your attention in a way that you almost can't help but be totally present in the moment. And if you open yourself to it, these adventures can bring clarity to other areas of your life.

I often find it difficult to explain my wanderlust and unabating yearning to get outdoors. For others who share my enthusiasm, there's no need for explanations. For those less adventuresome, I feel like I'm on an ongoing mission to find some allusive phrase that will give them an "ah ha" moment where they suddenly get it. I'm slowly realizing that there probably isn't a one-size-fits-all explanation, and that because we are all so very different, not everyone can understand it. And that's OK.

Decisions

I’m a terrible blogger, but occasionally I find I still have reasons for writing a post.

On April 23rd, while Jeff was working and my mom was out of town, I took the kids to Fox Hollow Family Farm. We had been there before – it’s a fun place for the kids with a variety of things to do in a very pretty setting nestled between Squak and Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. While the kids played in and around the Farm Village playhouses toward the end of the afternoon I found myself sitting next to the pen where a mama cow and her baby were. Both of them ambled over to me and I petted them. As I looked into that mama’s eyes and let her sniff my hand it struck me what it meant to eat meat. I had reached a turning point and I felt it. A short time later a worker happened by and the sow mooed at him, several times.  Laughing, he told her it wasn’t supper time yet.  He said she knew exactly who he was, and what it normally meant when he came around. Food!

For a while I hadn’t been going out of my way to eat meat, but that day I believe I moved from unconsciously avoiding it to consciously avoiding it. On April 27^th, I ate my last steak tacos from the Taco Truck here in Maple Valley. I kept my Altoids for a few more days and had s’mores that Sunday, but eventually I threw out the Altoids and I bought vegan marshmallows for some upcoming camping trips. I even returned an unopened bottle of calcium because it, too, had gelatin. After doing some soul-searching which included research on the internet (yeah, I know how that sounds. I've become very good at being critical of everything I read online) I realized I didn’t think I could stomach dairy anymore either. At its most basic, cow milk is meant for baby cows. It’s what calves need to grow rapidly into +1,000 lb mammals. Perhaps there’s a reason 75% of humans are lactose intolerant to some degree. I breastfed my kids for a combined total of six and a half years … and partly I believe because of that, when I watched this video it gutted me. Dairy cows are animals, and they are mothers. Just like me. In all honesty when my kids were very small my love for animals took a back seat to my very own humans, but that has gradually changed. I have enough love for all in my heart. How could I genuinely care about cats and dogs, but not for the welfare of pigs who have been proven to have higher intelligence than our pets?

On May 5^th, I ate cheese with my lunch for the last time. I’m undecided about eggs, only because if I want to I could buy them from a friend whose chickens are very well-cared for. I’m also on the fence about honey … because sure, bees are alive, but they are insects ... like mosquitoes, no?? I purposely sought out a brand of sugar that doesn’t use bone char the other day though.  And so this is a journey I have embarked upon. It’s a life change. I’m so very far from perfect, and I have to try to remember not to mentally beat myself up if I make what I perceive as a mistake.  There is so much to learn, and I don't feel like I've closed a door, but rather opened one. There is a huge new world full of delicious variety to explore. Except for asparagus. That's still gross. I’m not exactly a newbie, considering my mom has waded between vegetarian and vegan since I was a kid. We already own this book, and my goodness are there some yummy things in there.

As if this wasn’t a big enough change, on May 9^th I registered for the Tough Mudder Half with some friends that happens at the end of September and I’m super excited about it. I’m very much not a runner.  I never have been.  But I started running in preparation for this event, and I’m finding I like it. I did a Warrior Dash and Mud Run a few years back and now I’m feeling super motivated to get fit and even more healthy. A few months ago I bought a new cave suit and it was just a tad snug. I'm planning to need it come October and I'm determined that it fit me a little loosely instead!

Like so many others, I resolved myself time and again to eat healthy, but I always fell off the wagon. Mostly at night or on the weekend was when I was most tempted.  But since consciously deciding to forego meat it has been super easy to say no to junk food, even to almond and peanut butter M&Ms!

Instagram Image from our visit to the Fox Hollow Family Farm

Rainy Contemplation

I'm taking a brief moment to appreciate the weather today.  The pitter patter of the rain outside is soothing as I sit here at my desk, warm and dry. I can't go outside and play during the week anyhow.  Regardless, the rain doesn't bother me.  It's supposed to be rainy around here.  We need it to keep this beautiful land lush and green.  What bothers me is how much the climate is changing all over.  I read an article early this morning about Glacier National Park and it's heartbreaking how detrimental the changes that are happening there are, and all over the western part of the country.  Change is an inevitable part of life, but as a human being, so is feeling despair at watching the world around us tumbling in a downward spiral.  I'm really not a pessimist though.  I don't think the world is going to end, though I honestly have no idea what the future will look like for our children's children's children.  Nature will fight back and I hope we are able to adapt to what we've wrought.  I also hope we continue to grow technologically so we can further explore the universe.  In that regard I wish I could live forever, or live again.

Exploration Around Franklin, WA

WHAT is that?!

A few days ago I discovered this mysterious building while surfing Google Maps. I knew from previous vehicular explorations that there was no road, at least accessible to the public, that went out there. I had also looked the place up on the King County Parcel Viewer to see who owned the land ... it came up as a vacant lot.  Curiousity piqued, I posted some inquiries on my Facebook hiking groups' pages to see if anyone was familiar with the area.  No one knew for certain, but one person pointed out that it appeared there was a bridge across the river by the Green River Gorge label. More mystery!

This is the entrance to the hike.  It was a perfect foggy, cool day after Halloween morning.

A new friend I'd met a few weeks ago while doing volunteer trail work with the WTA wanted to check out the Franklin Ghost Town hike and since I've been there a few times we decided to go together. My cousin Amelia joined us as well.  I figured since we would be in the area that we should push on past the Franklin Cemetery if we could reach it, and see if we could locate this building.  A month prior I had come out to the townsite with another friend who was passing through Washington.  We didn't make it to the cemetery because there were spiderwebs all over, including strung across the narrow trail past the No. 2 Shaft.  The No. 2 Shaft is an awesome 1,300 ft open pit (with a grate over it).

After tossing rocks into the shaft and counting the seconds before hearing them land at the bottom, we ventured on to the Franklin Cemetery.  The trail was a little muddy, but considering all the rain we've gotten lately, it wasn't that bad. Along the way we past some old foundations and even this cable car track.

The cemetery is a peculiar place, perched along a steep hill with many trees covered in English Ivy and the graves themselves are half-hidden in the dense underbrush where invasive blackberry bushes are rampant.

We kept walking and not before too long the trail straightened out and led down a hill where we came from behind up to this sign.

Even stranger, we popped out onto a gravel road.  That was completely unexpected!  We stopped for a quick snack break.  Another couple ladies came down out of the cemetery after us.  I showed them where we were on my map.  They wanted to go find more of the Ghost Town.  As we were all standing around idly chatting, and I was trying to get my bearings, a man on a bicycle came around the corner.  I half expected him to tell us he lived down the road and that we weren't welcome in the area, but instead he said the Black Diamond Gun Club was down the way he'd come from.  That made some sense since we'd been hearing gun shots in regular intervals for awhile, but we decided to press on anyway though since the county still had the land marked as vacant.  Something didn't quite fit.

Where we were clicked in my head after Amelia and I climbed up a hill off the trail and saw this.  The "road" on Google Maps wasn't a road at all, but the clearing for these power lines.  I also looked at my map with the terrain view on and we both saw that the building was out on a flat outcrop surrounded by steep hills.  The road ahead was winding its way down there.  We definitely weren't giving up!

We turned south at a junction in the road.  It turns out the road we were following is Hanging Gardens Park Rd which comes from Rt 169, but from that side there are no trespassing signs along it. I know because on another day I had tried to drive down it and quickly turned around after seeing them. As we headed south we came to a gate, but because there were no "no trespassing" signs we scrambled over it and continued on.

Soon enough, we caught sight of this view!! Heck yeah, we were going to make it!

The area all around is gorgeous of course.  Here are just a couple pictures.

And finally, we hit the jackpot!  The building came into view, two buildings actually.  I remarked that the outward facing barbed wire was a good thing ... because if it had been inward facing, haha, what could possibly be being kept in??

This door was a bit creepy, especially with the bullet hole in the sign.  Oh, and the doorknob on the other door had been shot at multiple times.  But that man had been wrong, this wasn't where the gun range was.  I figured out where it was after I got home and could more closely study the map.  It wasn't far from us.

The Black Diamond Gun Club is about where the red marker is.  We hiked on the north side of the river near the green area.

The road continued past the buildings and I thought it might lead to the other mystery, the bridge. We'd come this far already, why not? I sure am glad we continued on.  I now know the bridge is called the cannon mine trestle.

We finally reached the end.  As we headed out, the clouds broke up and the sun came out!  I believe today marks my longest hike so far, at 4.88 miles. I know that's easy peasy for some of my friends, but I'm happy! I plan to continue increasing that number.  We had Evey and my new friend's 11 year old daughter with us, too, and both girls did great!  Zach even hiked some of it.

I found this site during my research this evening.  It looks like there's a great wealth of information out there on Franklin.  I'm not sure why, but this townsite and the Green River Gorge area in general has captured my attention and I am loving learning all about it.  While the exploration we did today wasn't underground, I think it has a similar intrigue for me ... what's over there?  What's around that corner?  What's the history of this place?  I can't wait to come back again!

Another friend, after seeing my posts on Facebook, also let me know what the buildings were. The pump house for the Black Diamond water supply line that comes from their springs on the south side of the river.  Thank you, Lisa!  I am excited to learn more from you about the area, too!

A Summer in Washington

In my last post I expressed my excitement over summer coming ... well, it has come and gone!  And it was marvelous.  As I scanned through the photos I took over the last few months I realized we got to do quite a lot.  Here's a recap!

We enjoyed our second time at Lake Wilderness's 4th of July festivities.

My mom and I drove (in her mini cooper, Lord help us) to the North Cascades one weekend.

We also stopped by Deception Pass.

Last summer we drove to Bothell in search of a blackberry farm ... haha!  They grow wild everywhere (and are actually invasive).  So we had our fill of them this summer.  I also figured out what huckleberries look like.  They are tart, yummy things.

 Blueberry picking of course.

 We bought an inflatable boat!  Here's Evey on Lake Wilderness.

 The evening sky.  This was after 9PM!

We went fishing for Zach's birthday, his first fishing trip!  Poor fishies ...

Evey participated in her first play, The Jungle Book.  She thoroughly enjoyed doing it!

We found this little guy outside our house.

We visited the Goonies house, and then watched the movie with Evey!

We discovered the beautiful Northwest Trek Wildlife Park.  Grizzly bear!

I found a rock jumping place, woo hoo!

Jeff and I stayed up at Crystal Mountain and got to enjoy this view for our anniversary.

And I got my first tattoo for our anniversary, too!!

Visited Mt. Rainier with cousin Amelia.  She just moved here as well, from San Francisco!

These little fellas.

Rope swing on a weekend trip to the Vancouver area!

Amelia and Evey in two of the three inner tubes we bought when I discovered we could float on a nearby river!!

The Washington State Fair.

Playing in the neighborhood.  Love the sky against the trees when it's that color.

Walking Harley on the Cedar River Trail.

 Nothing like a nap in the shade with Grandma on a sunny summer afternoon. 

Onward we go into Autumn!  Maybe I'll post again before Winter arrives ...