Let's try this again.

 I have been a slacker lately.  Not much writing, knitting, sewing.  Just sort of drifting with the tide.  Well, phooey on that!  I have things to do!

Like, I can walk around the neighborhood and share photos of some glorious roses!

And, with the warmer temps and moiety rains we've been having, my Pink Peace rose has gone mad with joy.  Believe me, if it doesn't thrive on neglect, it dies in our garden.  This is one hardy rose!  Also a couple of scarlet blooms from an old, tough mystery rose, very fragrant, but not long lasting when cut.  Anyone want rose-petal potpourri?  I'm gonna have a lot of it.

Mary Jean and I did some sewing and came up with a child-size 9 patch quilt from a box of miscellaneous scraps I was given.  This one was particularly fun to sew.  We backed it with a chunk of fleece from one of those no-sew throws.  Ligkt and bright and nicely warm.

This weekend, Kyle and I took the RV out for a sort of trial run.  We went East to Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge, and had a sublime time.  The KOA was right next to the train tracks, but the trains went by so often that by the time we went to bed, we were used to them.  I had no idea there was that much train traffic through the gorge.  Every twenty minutes or so, another freight train was rumbling by.

On Saturday, we got up and decided to walk the two miles into town.  The sun and rain has brought on a bumper crop of blackberry blossoms.  If the bees get out and do their thing, we should be elbow deep  in blackberries come August.

 Here's a view across the Columbia River to the Washington side.  One of the neat things about this location is the way the low clouds from the west get blown up the gorge, and the tops of the cliffs look down on them.  This is right where the rain shadow begins, so the clouds sort of melt as they blow in.  Magic.

There is a brass foundry in Cascade Locks, which has one of their sculptures on display in the local state park.  A great big cougar, slinking down over the native rock.  I was trying to suggest that it go get the tender youngsters playing on the swing set, but it had it's gaze focused on my sweet Kyle.  Bad cougar!!

I perspire easily, so we have finally decided to try a knapsack with a built in water supply.  I love it. The water is well balanced, the pack is constructed with an air space across the mid back, and there are lots of pockets for wallet, phone and other essentials of modern life.  Mine is red.  Kyle's is blue.

My pants are too short because I'm too damn cheap to pay thirty dollars extra to get pants that are long enough to fit.