Now with more scenery
What a fine day. Dad let the dogs out early, so I was still in bed to hear something extraordinary: when Lark barked at something in the woods, a raven mimicked her voice, and then another raven joined in the joke, and soon the dogs across the valley started barking back. The ravens really do a very believable dog sound — I knew it was them because I’d been hearing them quork and chuckle and because the racket was coming from the treetops, but otherwise that gravelly barking would have sounded pretty authentic. I’ve never heard them do this and I was so tickled.
Breakfast was freshly baked ginger scones, which take very little effort if you’ve got cream and crystallized ginger on hand. I drank coffee with them this morning, but now that it’s teatime I think another might go down nicely with a cup of vanilla leaf black tea. The sunshine has held and Mum and I have had a lovely walk up the high point at the north end of the island, known to me all my life as Mount Young, but officially (and more accurately, because it’s only about 700 feet tall) as Young Hill. The air was very clear today, so with the long lens I could get these mountains to the north in the blue distance:
(My Connecticut-dwelling grandmother came to visit my parents in the early days of their residence here, and when my mother pointed out the snowy Olympic range across the water Grandmummy said, “Oh no, dear, those are clouds.”)
Setting up a portrait with dogs was a trickier business.
But this is why I’m sorry I don’t get up home more often, and why I’ll never be quite satisfied with life in the city. A person gets spoiled growing up with this sort of thing in the background all the time.
It’s only March, so the nights are still cold. I sat outside to peel apples for sauce after the walk, but now the sun has dropped behind the trees and it’s nice to be inside with a fire in the woodstove and a pile of wool to knit. Tomorrow we go back to Portland, where we’ll be glad to see Mr. G and enjoy a few more days of Spring Break.
But we’ll be back this summer, and in the mean time we have memories and pictures.
Posted: March 25th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Great pics – I like your story of the mountains/clouds. Reminds me of my Danish aunt coming to visit (very flat country over there) and saying we would have such a great view if it weren’t for all the mountains in the way!
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 12:26 am
i know what you mean – every time i’ve moved to a city (and i live in a city now) i dream constantly of being back home where i grew up in Maine. it looks like you had a wonderful time!
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Sounds like a fantastic vacation 🙂
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 6:31 am
How lucky you are to have grown up in such beautiful surroundings! Looks as though Lark had a wonderful time with his cousin!
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I know the feeling so well. There’s always a part of me yearning for the landscape I grew up with. The sky was big and when we were on vacation at our cabin, the mountains were close. When I gaze out of our windows where I live now, the horizon is narrow and too close!
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
What gorgeous portraits of Lark! You are so talented, and of course she is beautiful.
I’m pretty sure I picnicked there on Young Hill with my friends, our senior year of high school when we took a camping trip on San Juan Island. I’ve always wanted to go back. You were indeed spoiled! (But it doesn’t show 😉 )
Posted: March 27th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Fantastic pictures! I see you have a weakness for yellow labs also…..
Posted: March 28th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Those are some gorgeous pictures of those cute dogs 🙂 And your morning with the coffee and ginger scones sounds so idyllic and relaxing. Glad you have such a gorgeous refuge when you’re visiting family.
Posted: March 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Great photos! The raven and dog story made me laugh–it reminds me of a recent afternoon at a park near the sound. I think the dogs and the sea lions were barking at each other.
Posted: March 31st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I’m mostly the same way about the ocean, so while we are looking for a house I keep the listings pointed at the waterfront-ish locales. Just the smell is enough to make me want to live there again!
Posted: April 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Oh, wow. That is some seriously gorgeous scenery.