Boats, Boots, Bikes

Sign at the Stehekin Valley Ranch cookhouse. Good eatin' in Stehekin.

 

The Stehekin ferry

Early this month we vacationed in a location we'd never been to--Stehekin, Washington. The trek began with a 3.5 hour drive to 53-mile-long Lake Chelan. Then we had a nearly three hour ferry ride. Finally, a bumpy nine-mile ride up the Stehekin River road on an old school bus to our destination, the Stehekin Valley Ranch. Only the first day of our vacation and I was travel weary. 

After a peaceful rest, the next morning we enjoyed a delicious home-cooked breakfast before heading off to our first death-defying adventure, I mean hike. Take a look at the delights that awaited us on the Rainbow Loop trail. If the photo isn't large enough I'll spell it out for you: bears, cougars, and rattle snakes. So much fun to be had in the outdoors! 😏

 

 

 

 

I was greatly relieved that we saw none of these critters and instead, enjoyed panoramic views of Lake Chelan at the summit of the hike. Sadly, there had been a forest fire two years ago making the trail far less tree-filled than its earlier glory.

 

 

Having made it safely down the trail three hours later, we caught another old school bus back to the ranch. We'd done enough hiking for one day and there wasn't time before dinner to catch a bus to "town" for some souvenir shopping at the general store. There was, however, enough time for an e-bike ride on the Rad power bikes available for rent at the ranch. 

 

75 pounds of bike!

 I have never been on an e-bike and between the pedal assist (so helpful), throttle (tried it once and the bike nearly left me behind), and the gear shifting (too much for me with the novelty of an e-bike), I just relied on the pedal assist and never shifted. My husband, though, was so impressed by the bikes that he bought one for himself just a day after getting back home! 

In retrospect, we didn’t spend enough time in Stehekin, and despite my initial doubts, we’ll probably return. Next time I’d prefer to stick to hikes in the valley and along the river to avoid rattle snakes, bears, and cougars. I’m even up for more e-bike riding.

Happily, the only felines we saw were some friendly ones hanging around the ranch!

Cherry on Top

Our dwarf cherry tree is three years old and this year it paid for itself with the great crop we harvested! Getting those five pounds required care. First, I kept watch to keep squirrels from eating the blossoms—yes, that’s something they do. Then, to keep squirrels and birds from eating the fruit as it ripened, we covered the tree in garden netting.

So, what to do with all those delicious cherries? Out came the recipes and the next two weeks I was busy in the kitchen making cherry cake, cherry cobbler, cherry crisp, and, after a suggestion from my sister, dried cherries.

Cherry cake

First, I made the cherry cake, which was delicious. But the cherry cobbler was our favorite, so much so that a “mouse” got into it before I could take a photo. 🤤 We enjoyed both with vanilla ice cream.  

Cherry cobbler. Recipe

 

 

Finding a cherry cobbler that used fresh, not canned cherries, took a bit of Googling. I was surprised by how well sprinkling the fruit on top turned out with this recipe. 

 

 

Cherry crisp turned out just as good, and was even better with ice cream or frozen whipped topping.

Dried cherries

 

I was delighted by how well the dried cherries turned out, and they are yummy in oatmeal and granola. Drying the cherries did take ten hours in a dehydrator, but I’m glad I tried it.

I’m now trying to propagate the cherry tree so that in a few years we can get more fruit. While our yard isn’t large, the tree should thrive several years in a ten-gallon pot. Life is more than a bowl (or two) of cherries—it’s a whole ‘nother tree.

 

Kitten Shower

 

https://www.seattleareafelinerescue.org/

Early this spring we went to a kitten shower at our local cat rescue, Seattle Area Feline Rescue (SAFe). What is a kitten shower? It could have rained kittens and delighted me! In reality, it’s like a baby shower where donation fees go to purchase food, toys, blankets, medical supplies, and provide medical care for rescued kittens.

While there, I learned that SAFe loves it when volunteers makeblankets for the rescue cats and kittens. Each adopted cat goes home with its own blanket so it has something familiar as it settles in with a new family. Some blankets can be made from fleece material without any sewing skills needed. I purchased some cat-themed material and made over half a dozen fleece blankets.

Much of my leftover fleece material became kick toys, stuffed with homegrown catnip and crinkle fabric that I found online (a SAFe staffer gave me a tip on where to find the fabric). I made a few fish-shaped toys with fabric left over from Christmas gifts.

 

Then I looked to my yarn supply and knitted a blanket. It ended up being smaller than the 24x24 inch size that is desired, so I added crocheted edging. I’m now knitting more kitty blankets with yarns found at estate and garage sales or at the sad closing of Joann stores 🙁where I also got discounted fabric for the blankets. 

My cat sat on the first blanket while I was knitting it and my husband guilted me into keeping it for her—she's a cute little thief. 😼 I think we’re both happy I know how to knit and crochet, and now the rest of the blankets can go to the shelter.

Mine!

Busy as a Bee

https://21acres.org/event/pollinator-fest-2025/

Later this month, my husband and I will be vendors at a local pollinator fest. There, attendees can learn all about bees, buy bee-related merchandise and local organic food. They can also wander a 21-acre farm filled with gardens of fruits, vegetables, and flowering plants.

My husband makes bee watering stations that need only a Mason jar or soda bottle to provide water. In autumn and winter especially, bees benefit from supplemental food and water, thus these feeders. 

The bee watering design and a customer photo.

 

 

 

 

 

Pattern and instructions: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/H3TFBWSYd28

Once he signed up as a vendor, I thought about other bee wares we could offer. After a trip to a fabric store, out came the sewing machine. The items I made are simple and took little time. The most useful items, in my opinion, are the pocket tissue holders, the easiest pattern ever! If it's pollen(ator) season, tissues might come in handy.

 

Another pattern I found was for scrunchies. Sew a simple tube, pull elastic through, and you’re done! 

 

 

Pattern: https://seekatesew.com/diy-gift-guide-free-diy-coffee-cozy-pattern

 

I had plenty more fabric at my disposal and found another easy pattern for cup cozies. These were the most time-consuming items due to needing four pieces of material cut out and fusible interfacing ironed on. Still, they were straightforward to make, and even cuter with little flower buttons to close the two ends. 

Instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIAqzWg5Ikc

Finally, I thought these fabric trays to hold all my items would be especially decorative. This is another pattern that was easy to sew and I’m very happy with how they turned out. After the pollinator festival I will find uses for them around the house.

I had fun bee-ing creative and hope visitors will enjoy all of the items we've both made. Here is our favorite bee quote by Elizabeth Lawrence.

 

Photo credit: https://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2017/07/19/the-hum-of-bees-is-the-voice-of-the-garden/

 

 

Soldering On

 

My Mushroom Lamp

The title for this post is not a typo. Last month my husband and I took a class that was designed to teach people how to solder. We aren’t beginners but I wanted a fun activity we could do together, and the class project to make a mushroom lamp really caught my eye.

Unsplash

My soldering experience goes back, way back, to my earliest computing job where I assembled specialized computers from very basic components. I’ve soldered tiny little resistors and thin wires, and also have soldering experience from stained glass work. The mushroom light project was a good soldering refresher.

 

The instructor had 3D printed mushroom stems and caps for us to choose from. Our soldered circuits went inside the mushroom caps. We then strung the wiring through the mushroom's stem.

 

After soldering and securing the circuit board in the mushroom's cap, we had to unwrap and glue in a couple dozen mushroom gills that the instructor had made with a laser cutter. That took quite a while as the blue protective film didn't come off easily. An additional benefit of the class was learning about a super glue accelerant. That will come in handy on our future projects!

 

 

The soldering portion of the class didn’t take long. However, the WLED software we used to program the lights on our completed mushroom lights fascinated me. It seemed there were endless possibilities and I’ll continue to change the lights occasionally.

Ta da! My finished lamp lit up

1000 Pieces

 

Ravensburger jigsaw with interesting artwork

 

Back in late November our area experienced a significant wind storm that knocked down many trees in a wide area. Our power was out for three days. Then a day into the outages, cellular towers also lost power. Without electricity, heat, and internet service, we pulled out some of our old jigsaw puzzles to work on by lantern.

It was a great way to spend the evenings bundled in extra layers and making hot cocoa on a camping stove set up on the back porch. We found it so relaxing that we’ve continued working on puzzles. Rather than buying new jigsaw puzzles, I looked for local places to trade but found none in our area. We checked Goodwill and hit the jackpot with hundreds of puzzles at very affordable prices.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jigsawpuzzles/comments/1chnnnn/pieces_names/

We found that 500 piece puzzles were too easy with both my husband and I working on them and have settled on 1000 pieces as the standard we purchase. Many of the puzzles had strange shapes like lightning bolts. I wondered whether the different pieces had names other than something like “two outies, two innies” as I called them.

It turns out there aren’t any universally agreed upon names, but there is

An Amy Stewart puzzle

some commonly used terminology like tabs/knobs/outies and blanks/sockets/innies. While researching names for pieces I learned that the world’s leading puzzle maker is Ravensburger, and we happened to find one at Goodwill.

 

The artwork in the Ravensburger puzzle was intricate and entertaining (see top of page). However, my favorite puzzles were the colorful ones. I also learned that January is national puzzle month. For us, the entertainment will likely last until the weather is nice enough for regular outdoor activities.

Amy Stewart artwork

 

The Heart of Personal Shopping

 

 

I loved my volunteer shifts in the food bank’s cafe every Tuesday and Friday. But when the food bank’s website featured a brief video on the cafe, there was a rush of volunteers and I was crowded out of my regular shifts. 😞

Bags and boxes filled by the personal shopping volunteers

So, I switched back to an earlier role I had as a personal shopper for the home-bound. This job starts with a list of foods that each individual fills out with dietary restrictions and food preferences. The volunteer shopper then takes a grocery bag or two and fills it with the specified food choices. It’s not easy because of the limited supply of food we have to choose from. We do the best we can to fill a bag at least half full.

Sentiment in some of the cards

I enjoy doing my best for each client. This past Wednesday I brought in handmade Valentine’s cards to slip into the grocery bags for women. , ,Since these clients are home-bound, I wanted to let them know I care about the food I'm selecting for them.  The cards included sentiments like the one at the top of the page and at left.

Once we’ve done our best to shop for an individual’s food, the bags go onto four-tier racks while they await pickup by volunteer drivers who deliver the groceries to clients. Not only do volunteers drive cars and trucks, but we also have bicycle delivery teams. The bicyclists are provided with carts they pull behind them, and given how hilly Seattle is, this can’t be an effortless task!

 

On Wednesdays, the food bank is only open for the personal shopping volunteers and we have no interaction with clients. However, like the work we do in the cafe, I'm still able to provide individualized and personal service to those facing food insecurity. 

 

Uncovering the Past

 

I did it!

While this post isn't entirely about an archaeological project, it does involve uncovering a project I’d abandoned a year ago. I adore felted ornaments with hand-sewn decorations and I purchased a Bucilla kit containing twelve of them last year. I immediately encountered two problems.

 

First, I find it very difficult to sit still for any length of time. Second, the instructions, while intended to be simple and basic, couldn’t have been more difficult for me to understand than trying to decrypt Viking runes. Fortunately, YouTube had instructional videos that helped me decipher the "simple" steps and sewing stitches needed.

 

So how did I finally resume this project? Archaeological videos, especially Digging for Britain. Most people probably listen to music or movies while crafting, but I love the ancient past and it is what kept me seated long enough to finish all these ornaments in just a few weeks.

 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1963-1208-126

Hand sewing has a long tradition, a wonderful connection to the past. Imagine the labor that went into creating thread in antiquity—shear the sheep, card the wool, then use a hand whorl to get the final product. Many of these spindle whorls (photo at right) have been found in ancient burials.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Brooch

 While struggling to do the different stitches, I found it amazing to see the fine metalwork from these late 8th or early 9th century brooches. As difficult as spinning thread would have been, imagine doing something just as delicate with metal! Let’s not forget the metals had to be extracted from rocks, refined, cast, and finally hand-worked by an experienced craftsman.

 

Watching the archaeology videos made the work so enjoyable that I plan to do another embroidery kit later this year. First, there are other crafts to learn and make.