Weekend Report

I'm kind of a rock star, you know...at the end of my weekend Ladies retreat a number of young women came to me to ask if they could have their picture taken with me. Some of them told me I should be on "Survivor". How does one become such a heroine to 20 yer old Christian women?
I think it's partly because I won my very first ever team sports award on Saturday morning. I was one of 6 members of the team declared "Most Challenged" in the Warrior Princess Boot Camp games. We placed 3rd...out of 3 teams. But I did get 2 of my 3 grenades into the baskets, and I let one of my teammates paint my face with cammo paint...black and pink...I was stunning.
Another reason might be that I took my really cool fish spear that we made in class (WARP07) to add some warrior-like authenticity to my costume on Saturday evening. But the main reason was that I shared some of my favorite outdoor things with a few of them during a short walk in the park just off highway 90 in Issaquah. We found cottonwood buds just ready for harvesting to make oil for salves. There was not a nettle, a dandelion, or even a plantain to talk about nor did we see any birds, except for the 15 or 20 Great Blue Herons that flew from the trees down by the creek. They were exciting, but were pretty high up and flying fast. The park signage had pointed out that the trail to the rookery was closed, and so we could not investigate that option. Then we hit a muddy patch of trail, and I feared losing them altogether...so I pointed out that trackers LOVE mud. One of the young ladies inquired about what I might be tracking on the trail. "Well, there are dog tracks, and I saw a coyote track just back a bit," I said.
"Can you show me a coyote track?"
"I sure can," I replied and pointed to the ground just in front of us. "And there's a coyote scat," I told her. "See the little bones?" Much to my surprise, she took photos!
Had I been alone, or with other trackers, I might have teased apart the scat for a closer look at the tiny vertebrae to see if I could identify the coyote's last meal...but with my new friends, I decided to play it safe and not scare them out of tracking...who knows, one of those photos may be my intro to Tracker fame! Anybody need a famous tracker chick to teach a class? I can bring my own spear!

Rest and Relaxation!

I'm hanging out at the office waiting for Duvall Reads book club to start at 7pm. Tonight we will discuss "Founding Brothers" by Joseph J. Ellis. It's a good book, but it broke my heart. I've always thought that the men who wrote the Constitution were good and honest men...I was dismayed to find that it's not all that far from "I did non have sex with that woman" to Thomas Jefferson's "I did not hire that man to write lies about you." I'm afraid politics have always been ugly. It should be a good discussion, and I'm looking forward to hearing the opinions of others.
Tomorrow, I'm off on a 3 day Ladies Retreat with 79 other 'girls' from my church. We will be at a fancy hotel in Issaquah, enjoying good food, high thread count sheets, a pool and walking trails in Lake Sammamish State Park - if the weather improves...We've had hail the past two days...Now that won't stop me from going out on Saturday afternoon- we have several hours of free time, and I'm hoping to get some of my girlfriends out to see if we can find interesting tracks in the park. There's a bit of beach area along the lake that's about half a mile from our lodging. We could easily find river otter tracks there! It's been a while since I've had a Friday off to do something fun! I'll report back next week.

Taking February Back

February is a stressful month for me. The divorce was final on February 14, 2003...three days before what would have been our 25th anniversary. In retrospect, it was probably the best Valentine I ever got. But it's still sad, and I tend to do a lot of what we call inner tracking at this time of year.
I'm happy to finally say that I've found a way to take back the month of February. This year, two of my good friends joined me for what we called the First Annual Guinevere was an Idiot Film Festival. Just because we are single women doesn't mean that we can't celebrate Valentine's Day in our own way. We watched my favorite romantic movies - Terminator and Quigley Down Under, shared a wonderful meal with wine and strawberries to dip in chocolate fondue, and enjoyed individual boxes of candy and bouquets of white daises and red carnations.
What - you don't think our movies are romantic? What's not romantic about a guy who will come through time for a woman he's only seen a photo of? Not to mention that he'll fight Arnie, and die protecting her at the end...And Quigley is just about the perfect cowboy fantasy...and that's about all I'm going to say about it...

Funny Story...

I decided that I wanted to use part of my tax refund to join the International Society of Professional Trackers. They have a cool newsletter, and published my domestic dog tracking project in the fall of 2009. I've continued to do reading about dog feet, and have decided that I'm on to something. Seemed like a good idea to make connections with other trackers and keep up with the news about tracking...
Within 24 hours of filling out the on-line registration and paying the fee, I was invited to become the moderator of the Wilderness Awareness School group on the ISPT website. I agreed. And then wondered what I'd gotten myself into. I'm the bookkeeper for crying out loud. Who's gonna listen to what I have to say about tracking?
I've been the moderator for another 24 hours, and already I've increased our group membership from 4 to 5 (well, 6 counting me) and I've had nice conversations with Del Morris, the executive director of the ISPT. He promises to teach me what I need to know about handling the group. Kim Cabrera, the nice lady who helped me publish my dog tracking story has already said some nice things about my three legged dog track photo, and James Lowery, has communicated with me through the group. He's author of the book, "The Tracker's Field Guide". I brought it with me from Missouri when I came to study at WAS, so it was exciting to have him contact me through the group!
If you are a tracker who is not yet a member of the ISPT, you should take a look at the web site at www.ispt.org. You can join the WAS group once you are a member. I'd like to see all my tracker friends there.
And I thought I was only joining to read the newsletter!

Answers to the Tracking Mystery

OK, it was a trick question. The tracks in my last post are domestic dog tracks...Three-legged domestic dog tracks. I did see the animal. He's about 30-35 pounds, looks to have some boxer in his background, and he's had an amputation of his right front leg at nearly chest level. I watched the dog move, and still can't tell you what gait I'd call his rocking-horse motion. He got along nicely, without seeming to miss his leg. In looking at the tracks, his left foreleg has moved to center, and is kind of twisted to right. I expect it gives him more stability. I believe I'd recognize these tracks again...although I have't seen them, or the dog since the morning I took these photos. I am grateful that I was there with my camera at the right time to catch him in the freshly falling snow!

Tracking Mystery For Your Enjoyment

If you know me at all, you know that I love to track animals. Once in a while, I get some really nice photos of something...unusual. So, I'm gonna give you a couple of days to think about these photos, then I'll tell you what left these really cool tracks. Here's a bit of information to help you figure it out, and some tracking questions:

• Found in the street in my neighborhood at the edge of Duvall, Washington on a snowy morning.
• There's nothing for scale in the photos, but I'm not going to help you.
• What animal left these tracks?
• What gait is it moving in?
• Is it wild, or domestic?
• Can you tell right feet from left feet?
• Can you tell fronts from hinds?
• Could you recognize this animal's tracks if you saw them again?
• Tell me the story that these fresh tracks in the snow tell.
  
  

Merry Christmas!

What a week! It's been nice to be out of the office, because my social life has been way too busy to allow for work, too. I'm not typically a social person, but the Christmas holiday options have kept me hopping.
On Monday, I took the 7:58 bus from Duvall to Bellevue, bumping into my friend Shannon O'Donnel at the transit station. We nearly walked into each other, as we were both intent on the next part of our respective journeys, but we did have time for a quick hug and wishes for happy holidays before parting. She was on her way to her first day on a new job, and my first stop was the Barnes and Noble a couple of blocks from the bus station.
I really didn't intend to buy myself a gift...but found a really cool new field guide to trees by the National Wildlife Federation...they had the bird, wildflower, and insect versions, too, but I only got the one. I really like the way it's laid out, and I think it will be a big help with my Kamana homework. Tree ID is still hard for me.
My next stop was in Kirkland to help Ellen Haas finish some Christmas cookies and set up 100 luminarias at the park. We watched the firemen set the bonfire ablaze, enjoyed the caroling from the Christmas Ship as it sat off the shore in Lake Washington, then went back to her house for cookies, a nasty rum punch, and general merriment.
I napped on the couch while we waited for the lunar eclipse to begin. Jonathan woke me up in time to run out on the deck and see the beginning of the penumbra. Now, Seattle in December is not the best time to view an eclipse. While it was not raining, the clouds were thick. Still, the sight was worth waking up for. We went out several times to look in awe at the natural phenomena.
On Tuesday morning, I make biscuits and sausage gravy - Ellen says she'd never had it before! She cooked up a nice omlet, and Jonathan joined us before heading off to visit his family in Idaho. I used my new field guide to identify the tree that Ellen had cut - it was a nice Noble Fir. Ellen said I was correct, and I was really impressed with the new book!
Ellen and I went back to the park to pick up the luminarias, and found that some of the candles were gone from the paper bags...then we started to find them burried under the leaves...one tea light holder was chewed, with half the candle gone...squirrels, we decided, were at work. I pooped out before our planned trip to see the trumpeter swans land at Bob Heriman Park, and chose to catch a bus back to Duvall and go to bed early...I slept 10 hours straight!
On Wednesday evening, Shondell and Darlene came (with home-made egg nog) and we shared a rotisserie chicken and watched "Lethal Weapon", my favorite Christmas movie.
Last night was for Christmas Eve services, and early to bed...this morning I opened the package mom and Susan had sent, and was delighted to find, among other things, an autographed copy of a book of cowboy poems of faith!
Life is good here. Merry Christmas to all!

Umbrellas and Mad Dogs

In my last post, I wrote about survival skills and how the things I've learned at Wilderness Awareness School kept me out of trouble with zombies and other people. Last week I had the opportunity to see how they work in with animals.
Twice while walking home from work in the dark-it's 5:21 as I write this, and has been dark out for about an hour, I was charged by an angry dog. Different dogs in different neighborhoods...I was just walking down the street...well, up the street is more correct, as I live uphill and about a mile and a half from the office. Minding my own business. Not thinking about danger. Did I mention that it was dark? Since I've been here, I've grown accustomed to walking about without a flashlight. I carry one that I use when I cross streets, or when there's traffic in the spots where there's no sidewalk. But I don't use it just to walk home. I'm not afraid of the dark anymore.
So, last Wednesday evening I was headed home, nearing the top of the hill when I heard the sound of toenails on pavement. Moving fast. In my direction. Yikes! Without even making the decision, I held my umbrella out in front of me, not as a weapon, but as a barrier. I only got a glimpse of the dog - knee high, white face and legs, dark body, and really, really big teeth...the dog was absolutely silent and going for my ankle. Bumping into the umbrella caused it to back up, then it feinted towards my ankle again. Turning, using the umbrella to fend it off, I yelled at it to go away - using my deep voice, not my girly one. Someone whistled, and the dog broke off and ran off. It happened in about 6 seconds. I didn't have to hit the dog, and avoided getting bitten. Two days later, something really similar happed with a large black lab sort near the park...I think I startled it. It came bouncing toward me all stiff-legged and woofing, but didn't get anywhere near as close to biting me as the first dog did. The umbrella seemed to be enough to discourage it from getting close enought to bite. This dog never got close enough to feel truly dangerous.
The interesting thing was my reaction - or lack of one - to both events...Startled, yes. Afraid, not so much. Survival skills, it seems have value in way more ways than I expected. Lessons learned...

• Pay attention to your surroundings
• Notice unusual sounds (toenails on pavement, for instance)
• Trust your instincts
• Carry an umbrella

Zombie Tracking , part 2 or An Awareness Test

I promised to tell you how I used the awareness and survival skills I learned at Wilderness Awareness School to save my butt when I ran afoul of a Marine at ZomBcon...so here it is. It's really kind of funny, so enjoy.
On Saturday afternoon, after having talked to a large number of zombies about survival skills and other WAS programs, I found myself speaking to a human. He was probably under 20 and was quite excited about what we offer. His friend, a bit older and devastatingly attractive in that clean cut military way was far less interested in looking at our brochures tried to pull him away. I recognized his voice as that of the Marine who had attended the Max Brooks event earlier. I heard the world-weary exasperation of someone who was in on the joke. I guessed he was only there as a favor to his young friend. I guessed he knew about survival skills.
I figured I had one chance to change his impression of our school before he drug his friend away. What I said was, "Let me give you the name of the best survival book I've ever read." The kid pulls out a pen and gets ready to write it down. The Marine's reaction was interesting. His facial expression never changed from one of neutral disinterest. There was just the slightest shift in the way his weight was distributed.
If his friend was like a Golden Retriever puppy jumping up to get my attention, he was like a Pit Bull trying to decide if he was going to bite me or just pee on my leg. The question I felt coming from him was, "OK, granny, what can you tell me about survival skills?" He'd be able to tell me the flaws in any book I mentioned.
I'm pretty good at reading people. If he'd gotten aggressive or mouthy I wouldn't have felt the same instinctive awareness of danger. It occurred to me that dangerous dogs are quiet...the barkers and growlers may bite, but the quiet ones are the ones that will kill you. Instead of being frightened, I found myself giving the kid the name of the book, which is "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales. He didn't expect that. His expression didn't change, but a very subtle shift in his stance told me that he was listening to what I had to say. I followed up with something I read in "Outdoor Life" some years back - the biggest cause of accidental death in the outdoors is fatal overconfidence. Cool...I pulled it off...another subtle shift and I had his attention.
Speaking mostly to the kid, I had a chance to explain that we teach survival skills based on how the indigenous people of this area survived using the plants, trees, birds and animals that live here. The kid is taking notes. I mentioned that I have started to make some tintures and salves from plants that I locate and harvest. This got a smile from the Marine...he thought that was interesting...Did we teach mycology? Darn it...we don't yet. Mushrooms can kill you. He did seem to be impressed that I knew what mycology was. After a few more tidbits about what we do offer, the pair walked away...and they were looking at the classes mentioned on the back of our special ZomBcon postcard.

And that's the story of how I used awareness and survival skills to avoid getting my butt kicked by a very attractive Marine at ZomBcon.

Zombie Tracking, or They Pay Me for This

So Wilderness Awareness School go invited - yes, invited - to have a booth at the first annual ZomBcon event at Seattle Center over Halloween weekend. They asked for a speaker to talk about where Seattle residents would go and how they would get out of the city in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse. They were serious. Did we go? You bet we did. Although October was a crazy month if the bookkeeper's office, I got permission to go work the booth on Friday (the day after our annual audit!) and on Saturday. It was a hoot...and while I had expected the event to be dark and scary, I was happily surprised to find that zombies are a lot like us...well, us from Wilderness Awareness School, anyway.

The top photo shows Lindsay and Shondell in front of our "shelter" and our table displays. Jan (or Yawn, as I like to call him), who was in my WARP class in 06/07, and now works as our web guy, had created a cool zombie-themed postcard with info about our survival skills. That's him on the far right of the center photo (with Shondell looking on) demonstrating how to make a bow-drill fire.

The third photo shows Evan, another of my classmates and his zombie friend checking out our booth. Jan and I hadn't seen him since graduation, and were surprised to bump into him there.

We were supposed to have 20 minutes to talk after Max Brooks (author of the Zombie Survival Guide) and a couple of other guys spoke. We got cut to 2 minutes, but Mike was still so amazing that I had people stopping at the booth to learn more about us!

Next post, I'll tell you how the survival skills I learned at WAS kept me from getting my butt kicked by a marine who stopped by our booth! I hope they let me out of the office more often. It was fun.

Unicorn Tracks

Yesterday I got up early enough to go out with the Tracking Club on their monthly adventure. It's a public program at Wilderness Awareness School, in which volunteer station guides get up really early in order to go find interesting animal tracks so that we will have something fun to show to whomever shows up at the office at 9...I missed the September session, and haven't had much opportunity to track anything except the house cats in my neighborhood for way too long. I was ready for a morning of tracking - and a little afraid that I wouldn't recognize a track when I saw one.
We found lots of domestic dog tracks along the river right away, and then black-tailed deer tracks, coyote tracks and interesting bird tracks. The sandbar where we decided to hold the morning's session was covered with beaver tracks, drag marks and chewed sticks. We also found river otter tracks, heron tracks and scat, the parallel tracks of a momma and baby raccoon, an interesting trail of a coyote with several gait changes, and the tracks of a yellowleg, a migratory shore bird that isn't usually present in our area. We thought we had a pretty good assortment of track and sign to talk.
But the best tracks (and story) came from 4-year old Rosemary, who came out with her Mom to learn a bit about tracking. She had mentioned that she like unicorns, which turned out not to be a good thing to tell adults. We kept asking her if the tracks we were looking at could be those of a unicorn. She had to keep explaining to the silly adults that unicorns are not real...a lesson that we kept forgetting.
Rosemary finally got annoyed with us and went to an area where we had not found any tracks of interest. There, she made her own tracks, explaining to me that "No one will know what made these!" She giggled as she created some really unique "tracks", which looked to me like a series of upside down Us with a single small dot in the center which she made with her index finger. Then she circled the line of "tracks" just like we'd circled the tracks we found earlier, and waited until a tracker came close enough to be lured over to discuss her station.
Trackers like to play tracking games, and she led some pretty advanced trackers through her series of tracks, denying that they were unicorn, Pegasus or centaur tracks...Her delight a having fooled them was real and quite adorable. And watching her explain to the adults how she made the tracks while they pretended to be puzzled was fun for me. At 4, she's a better station guide than I am, and my tracker friends are so much more open to the possibilities of what we might find out there than I am.

I probably learned more yesterday about tracking than I have in many hours of intense "study", thanks to a 4 year old and some really cool adults who were willing to be taught by her.

Ah, September

I really like September, especially here in Western Washington. The deciduous trees are already starting to turn colors, and leaves are beginning to fall. Every living creature seems to know it's time to put up stores for the future.
Last Thursday night, I slept in my Bravada up at the school property becasue it didn't make sense to drive down the hill at 9pm only to drive back up at 8am for the second day of our annual staff training. I didn't even pitch my tent, although I had it with me. Instead, I just laid the seat down and crawled into my sleeping bag. I'd backed into the parking spot under a Vine maple (Acer circinatum) so that my head would be on the uphill, and stayed nice and warm and mostly comfortable...until I got an early wake up call.
The sky was still grey, so it was very early when I first heard something hitting the roof of my car. Something larger than raindrops - and it wasn't raining anyway. Without my glasses, I could only see that the branch above me was jerking and swaying...but only the one branch. The rest of the tree was still.
I put my glasses on, and was amused to see the little Douglas squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) cutting clusters of maple seeds from the branches! For half an hour or so, I was greatly entertained by the dark little squirrel with the short tufts on it's ears. Sometimes we were eye-to-eye when it moved to a lower branch by my window. I never stirred in my sleeping bag, and so didn't spook it away. By the time I had to get ready for the day, the entire top of my Bravada was covered with the neatly bitten off (at a 45 degree angle) seed clusters. I brushed most of them off so the day's work would not be wasted...but I brough one home to add to my nature museum of cool things I've found in the woods.

Late Summer Bounty

Lately it's seemed that I've only had bad news from friends and family - illness, job loss, the loss of a much-wanted pregnancy, and crazy disasters that defy explaination. I've been dealing with more car repairs. For the 1st time in about 10 months I have good brakes all around. Even my church has been under weird stresses that are worrisome. And yet, I've been feeling called to gratitude and celebration...
I live in a place that I love, work at a job that makes a difference in the world, and am surrounded by friends and by mountain vistas, forest, and fields...such a bounty of good things here!
Two weeks ago, I won a pound of produce at our local farmer's market! I chose 2 beautiful ripe peaches that were as good as any peaches I've ever had.
On Saturday, I spent a couple of hours hiking on a lovely trail with a new friend...and found the best tomatoes I've had since I left Missouri at Remlinger Farms in Carnation...then I took a long nap...we might have to rethink the idea we had about doing a 26 mile hike in one day...
The summer "heat wave" seems to have abated...it got all the way up to 93 one day! By Missouri standards, not so bad at all, and I'm really glad that summers here are short.
I had a week off work to enjoy good books, favorite old movies and I even got a fair amount of work done on a cross-stitch project I've been not working on for way longer than I care to reveal. In no particular order, the movies were, "Rio Bravo", "Stagecoach", "The Great Escape", "The Sound of Music", "Apollo 13", "The Stand", "Braveheart", "Men in Black", "The Hunt for Red October", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". I still think John Wayne is the best ever...
Today, one friend got hired after 5 months of unemployment, another got good news (or so her FaceBook status implies), and I've heard a good prognosis for another. I'm overwhelmed by gratitude and thankfulness for all those things.

Another Wild Weekend!

Just in case you thought I'd gone crazy after my last post, I wanted to share what I did Saturday...A friend and I caught the bus in Monroe and rode up the pass on Highway 2 to Gold Bar to check out Gold Dust Days...The bus ride was nice, as the highway 2 traffic is quite intense on a sunny Saturday, and we were both happy to enjoy the scenery without worrying about the other drivers...Gold Bar is a small town, and it seemed that everyone had turned out for the festivities! We missed the parade, but got there in time to see the Civil War reenactors shoot off the cannon. The setting was beautiful, even if no Civil War battle ever got close to Washington...however, there WAS a ship called the USS Tahoma that was part of the Union Navy blockade! Tahoma was the name given to Mount Rainier by some of the indiginous Pacific Northwest tribes.

Darlene and I wondered through the classic car show entries, watched kids enjoy horseback rides, shopped the craft booths, and watched a bellydancing tribute to the Lennon Sisters - to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" !!!

We also stopped at the Washington Prospector's booth and for $5, purchased a bag of sand and a goldpanning lesson. We each brought home 6-8 flecks of gold, and think we should get a bit of gear to stick in our packs...Gold Bar got it's name for a reason.

And we still made it back to Monroe in time to hit several of the garage sales we'd seen from the bus! My personal best was about $50.00 of Pampered Chef tools for $2.00...an even better deal than the gold flakes! Burgers at Red Robin and a quick stop at an antique shop completed our day. Summer in Washington is good!

Not My Usual Thing...

Friday night, biker bar, heavy metal band...never thought I'd lead a post with that combo. A bunch of us from work gathered at Pete's in Carnation to celebrate with a friend who's decided not to do the New York to Washinton commute any longer...Although we only saw Dan a couple of times a year, it's going to seem strange to work here without him. Of course there's still e-mail and FaceBook, which is how we ususally communicate anyway, and I know that his family will appreciate the fact that he's not flying across country for work anymore. So, although I'm more of a George Strait, Gary Allen, David Ball,
Steve Wariner kind of girl, I went along for the party...Pete's is where Wilderness Awareness folks gather in Carnation. The food is good -bacon burger and fries for me, with vegetarian fare for some of the others - and I can drink a rootbeer out of a brown bottle and not look too out of place. We did not know it was Metal Night until we got there...and since we grabbed a couple of tables outside in the courtyard, the music wasn't too annoying...until we got ready to leave...5 minutes inside the bar while I paid for my meal was more than enough for this country girl. Once I can hear again, I'm gonna plug some hard core country into my CD player and apologize to my brain.

Big Leaf Maple

Check out the size of the leaf on the Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) tree! I used to think I knew what big trees looked like. One of the most surprising things to me when I moved to Washington state from Missouri was how big the trees can be. I've enjoyed local honey from bees feeding on the flowers of this tree, and the flowers themselves make a nice additon to a salad, or a trail snack. Yesterday I noticed that someone (a squirrel, I expect) has been cutting leaves and twigs from the BLM at my sit spot. I bet they are trying to get the fat seeds!

Not So Traditional Basketry

While I enjoy doing traditional crafts, sometimes it's fun to just look in the sewing box and see what materials I have and experiment with what I find. This quiver is made with the same coiling technique that I've used to make pine needle baskets. I used white cotton clothesline, fine blue crochet thread, and some fancy fuzzy blue fiber I found on sale years ago. Note the vase-like curves...I still need to practice keeping the same tension. Or perhaps stop trying to watch movies while I work.

Beach Art

I love the way the seaweed is draped over the shell...looks like Mermaids were designing beach art...I don't often have the opportunity to wander on the beach. Vashon Island was great fun for me.

Island Fun

I just returned from 3 days on Vashon Island with my friend Cyndi. She's been trying to get me over for a visit ever since she and Max moved there last year. I caught a very early bus on Tuesday, and the ferry across to the island...I was on the north side of the boat admiring the beautiful Olympic Mountains, when the ferry turned slightly to enter the dock...and there was Mt Rainier off the other side!
Cyndi met me at the ferry, and we explored a beach, a wooded trail, and the town of Vashon, where we had a lovely lunch at The Hardware Store...I love a good burger and fries, and recommend them here!

We watched deer in the yard, and then saw "Avatar" - I thought it was a beautiful movie, but we agreed it was somewhat lacking in plot and character development.

On Wednesday, we made goat-milk soap and I spent a lot of time running from window to window to watch the deer. The twin fawns were so cute! I got to visit a cool coffee roasterie, and bought some new herbs for tincturing at home. We went down to a different beach, and then back to watch "Coco Before Channel" , which is pretty good, but in French, so the subtitles were necessary for me to follow the story.

Many Thursdays Cyndi has to go to Duvall anyway, and so we planned our day around the ferry trip...beach first - the tide was out, and so I got to walk the mud flats and picked up a bunch of shells, and saw a huge crab, a many-legged starfish, and we caught a quick glimpse of an otter! Even though it was in the Sound, we think it was a River Otter, not a Sea Otter - but still a big thrill. Cyndi treated me to lunch at The Monkey Tree, a nice vegetarian place with great bread and the best chocolate chip cookies that are as big as a salad plate!

I'm truly blessed to have friends here in the Pacific Northwest! My first island stay was fun, and I'll be eager to go back for more island adventures!

End of School Year Notes

I've been surprisingly emotional as this year comes to a close...I'ts been 3 years since I graduated from the Wilderness Awareness School Residential Program - now known as the Anake Program. Last Friday, we welcomed this group back from their 5 day survival trip, and as always, everyone did survive. Hearing stories about how they did so is inspirational! I know that they will go out into the world with not only the solid naturalist skills that we teach, but also with the uncommon knowledge that they have gone through a rite of passage that most people don't get to experience in our culture.
I believe they will be better, and happier people for having done so...I know what an amazing experience I had, and the many ways that it affected me. I'm still learning how profound an experience it really is to go out into the wilderness with only the clothes on your back - and your classmates - your friends - your clan.

We did well. So have each year's graduates. I'm so happy to be able to remain in this amazing place as a part of this amazing program.