Happy Thursday - I hope the sun is managing to come out where you are!
Yesterday, Phil and our visitors set off across the bay - those glaciers calling, the boys ready to eat up some miles after a couple days of fishing and clamming. It really took Phil and me both most of the morning to get things ready - and by the time the boat was launched and loaded, you could barely imagine that it was supposed to carry four people on top of that! Can you imagine?
But it did take them all, and off they went.
Glaciers and flat-topped mountains - all used to be under the sea once. It's also a week of big tides, so at the low tide you can walk way out on the sea bottom, a surprising thought when you consider it. Even more so, the multitude of life-forms adapted specially to survive this intertidal area, where they can be fully submerged or stranded dry at the rhythm of the tide. I joined a ranger-guided walk this morning and was glad of the reminder of how enjoyable beach hiking is, how lucky we are to have, essentially, a piece of wilderness right in front of our home, how fascinating the creatures are.
Of course, I showed up in my usual hiking boots and immediately noticed that everyone else was wearing kneeboots, as I should have been also! But I managed! A neighbor of ours was also on the walk and he carried me over one especially deep part, but otherwise I boulderhopped fairly handily.
On this side of the bay, the mussels are just miniature!
The tide was low enough that we could walk out on big kelp beds - slippery going. You can dimly see the mountains across the bay - Phil and co are farther east.
Along with the barnacles like old teeth, here are some kelp and sea lettuce - both of them edible and traditional foods. Phil and I have harvested washing-lines' worth of sea lettuce! The thick, huge strands of kelp with those double rucks along them are called 'sugar kelp.' Not sugar-sweet, but sweet-ish. I ate a small piece and liked it well enough, but it's probably more in the realm of 'weird veggies Ela eats' and less in the realm of a delicacy I would serve to guests!
It's kind of rainy, and definitely getting dark at night now, and more of a chill in the air. I hope they're having a good time across the bay - it could be quite wet and cold. Thank goodness I have Phil as my fashion consultant and general gear guru! Recently he insisted that I should get a red beret to add to my store of hats. He says that apart from looking good, it's versatile and warm. Well, I'm not sure but have been trying it out - it seems warm and comfortable so far! I made my first attempts at a self-portrait to model it, in a public restroom, no less. I found it hard to take a good picture like this. For one thing, the camera seems to dominate.
And then, it seemed like either I'd end up looking demented or just looking askance! I couldn't get a smile to look like it was at the camera. Any tips on how to take a self portrait in a mirror?
But at least it gave me a bit of an idea of how I look in a red beret! I probably will wear it again, until someone tells me it looks just too silly or is making an unintended political statement...
