Our BIG tree

I'm in love.....with the big Douglas Fir tree on our property, ever since I first gazed up into it's branches back in 1973! I was told at the time that the tree was estimated to be about 250 years old. It was certainly the biggest thing on the property when we bought the 7 acres with the objective of building our first house on this south sloping piece of land. Before construction started we'd often drive out and picnic under the tree....thankful for the shade in Summer and the canopy umbrella in Winter!

It grew just down slope from a row of 100 year old Black Walnuts, and the majority of the remaining slope was planted in an orchard of much younger English Walnut trees. Once we had built our dream home and were settled in, our two young boys would often climb into the tree from an unusually low-hanging branch that seemed to literally scoop them up. I remember one day out in the garden hearing calls from somewhere far away....looking up, I discovered the boys had climbed more than 60 feet up into the canopy and were peering excitedly out through the feathery foliage. Easier going up than coming down! The branches radiated out from the trunk at regular intervals, so once up, it was almost like climbing a ladder. The one thing that made the tree different was the fact that it had twin trunks that had apparently split from the original trunk when the tree was just a sapling.

This made the tree very wide, and because it had grown out in the open and not in a forest setting, the branches reach out even further and bend to the ground. Over the years it has housed owls, red-tailed hawks, raccoons and many other animals who have left their markings. A few years ago , when we had fenced in the vineyard block where the tree resides, a few young fawns were apparently trapped inside. ( The fence was meant to keep the deer out!) After spending a day trying to round the young deer up and out through a gate, we discovered the last fawn nested down in the grass in a totally hidden spot under one of the low hanging fir branches. It was the perfect hiding place!

I just finished reading a great book called 'Wild Trees' about the magnificent Redwoods and their unique canopies. It made me curious about our own tree, which at roughly only 125 ft. high, is a dwarf in comparison. But it holds a similar ecosystem within it's branches! My husband and children are the only ones who have ventured up into its branches, but now I am tempted to explore myself. Over the years storms have broken off large branches which dangled dangerously above areas where we often walked. The vineyard isn't far away and a bench sits directly under the canopy...so for safety reasons we needed to get up into the tree and cut a branch or two. My husband is also a mountain climber, so his belay ropes have been used on occasion for protection. I now know that there are new harnesses and lighter rope systems used by experienced tree climbers for just that purpose. They were designed to climb trees like the Redwoods where the first branch grows out from the trunk 130 ft. up.

But even from ground level, there is a lot to see... Upon examining the bark near the base of the tree you can identify dozens of different lichen that create an amazing topographical image... almost looking like a Google Earth photo taken from space! Looking up into the branches I can see several large growths on the branches, along with the typical moss, ferns and rain forest greenery that covers many of the trees here in the Pacific Northwest.

When I think of this tree, and the larger Redwoods and Sequoia's, I realize how small and insignificant humans are in the scheme of things. Our lives are so short, and our time on earth so fleeting compared to the hundreds, and even thousands of years that some of these trees have stood and grown, and offered shelter. But we have the power to destroy these trees in the blink of an eye.

We will continue to be the steward of this tree and of the forest land nearby. I am eager to get to know them more... perhaps by climbing into their canopy, or by drawing and sketching them during the various seasons. They do truly bring me joy and happiness by just existing! I often stand on our deck and can watch as a large hawk circles and lands on the very top of the fir...what a wonderful thing that would be... to so effortlessly be able to perch on a tiny branch reaching toward the sky. I wonder how many visitors have landed there during the tree's lifetime?

Why not plant a tree today... or at least this year?

Walking into the New Year....

After a week of eating, drinking, and celebrating with friends and family, reality hit when I stood on the scale! So it's off to the gym, or better still...out the door to meet my neighbor, Deb, for a walk along our beautiful rural road. We left just as a few very fluffy snow flakes were aimlessly floating down from the grey sky. Hmmmm...
There had been only a slight indication that snow was in the forecast. During the hour that we were gone the snow steadily increased, and by the time I wandered home, there was close to 2 inches on the ground, with the landscape becoming a magical place. What a gift. We had all been missing the copious amounts of snow that gave us a very white Christmas last year, so it's nice to see a bit of the white stuff while the Christmas decorations are still around. We've been feeling sorry for friends on the East Coast and in the Midwest who had to battle the nasty snow storms that arrived right around Christmas. Snow can certainly be both good and bad!

I love the way snow can make ordinary objects totally different....tree branches become arms covered in lichen sleeves, and forested hillsides appear ghostly and surreal. Small ferns pop out into view against the protective trunks of the large firs and cedars.

Now as the light fades and every branch on every tree is covered, I can watch the squirrels run from tree to tree, and see the varied footprints of the other assorted critters that share this land with us. There is a 4 inch thick blanket of white covering the ground so I know the deer will soon be emerging from the forest in search of the green leaves that remain exposed under the eaves of our house.

Hopefully the snow will still be around tomorrow so I can take another walk...

Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas....

Santa was surprised

to see a tree so bare,

But a star was brightly shining...

In the tree top's hair.

Every branch was gilded.

Every Jewel did shine.

Yes, this tree was different

from any other pine.

From a book on trees that I wrote and illustrated back in 1961, when I was in High School! I titled it 'The Twist of a Twig' and filled it with drawings and poetry. It hardly seems possible that close to 50 years has evolved since then.....and I'm still drawing trees!

Yesterday my husband and I spent the afternoon wandering around Portland taking photographs. I started out at the Portland Art Museum, which is having a very interesting exhibit on modern Chinese design. After checking out the maze of exhibit rooms and stopping to see what the gift shop had to offer, the adjacent sculpture courtyard turned out to be my favorite spot. Bright red Chinese lanterns appeared to hover over the space....at times giving the illusion of being giant decorations on a large tree across the street. People hurried by, trying to finish up their last minute shopping. The city felt vibrant and alive.

Meeting my husband at Pioneer Courthouse Square where Portland's Christmas tree resides, we lingered there to take more pictures , and as darkness settled in, made our way over to the Williamette River to take night shots from the bridges. The river flows through the city, dividing it East and West. It isn't often that I have the opportunity to walk across any of the many bridges that span the river. I discovered that walking is so much more of a sensory experience!
I just have a small Olympus digital camera but my husband has a much more powerful Canon digital with a large lens and tripod. Taking time exposures from the bridge would be a bit of a challenge since the traffic caused the entire structure to shake and vibrate! Just as we settled in to take some shots I noticed a distinct buzzing sound coming from under the sidewalk that carries pedestrians across the bridge. Was it about to collapse? Lights flashed, horns beeped, and crossing gates started to lower as the center section of the bridge started to raise....a large barge was about to go under the bridge! We watched, along with a large crowd of shoppers, joggers, and cyclists who by that time, had gathered at the West end of the bridge. Photos taken at that point resemble abstract paintings composed of numerous bright wiggling lines ! The barge was followed by a single small pleasure boat decorated with Christmas lights....a stray from the Christmas boat procession that is scheduled on various nights the week before Christmas.

Once we were on the other side of the bridge we found a great overlook on the East side Esplanade that runs along the banks of the river, enabling us to get better 'in focus' shots looking back at the bridge. Portland is a great walking city, and yesterday, on December 19th, it showed us it's best. Last year at this time the 'big snow' was just beginning to fall, and would leave the city with over a foot of snow, but this year it is sparkling in another way. Cheers!

BRRRRRRR!.....It's cold outside! This is looking like a repeat of last year. After a few crisp, sunny days in the upper 30's, that we took advantage of by going on a few bike rides, the weather turned really cold. Around the Portland area, temps below freezing are rare, but this week we've been into single digits. Waking up to 16 degrees is cold enough! We had to act fast and drain our fountain and water pagoda. The photo above was taken just before we turned the water off, and if you look closely in the upper left corner you'll see a deer running at a blurred speed past the vineyard! I didn't notice him until after I took the picture. I am wondering how all the animals are managing. Don't the poor birds get cold? The deer have been seen lately running at a fast pace across our property, as if being chased.....perhaps by a reported cougar that may be in the area. Our hungry squirrel, I am sure, has settled in nicely for the Winter under our hot-tub.... with a good supply of stolen walnuts!


On a quick walk around the house to inspect my garden I discovered that some rhododendrons appeared colder than others! This yellow 'Hotoi ' has curled up it's leaves to the point of looking like a conifer with needles! Interesting that the 'Jean Marie' around the corner looks unchanged.


I'm glad that I managed to haul some of the more tender potted plants into the green house for protection...but I don't look forward to getting the electric bill next month! I have a small heater that keeps the green house at a 'cool '39-40 degrees when the temps dip below that outside.


Aside from trying to stay warm, I've been busy finalizing a landscape design, and preparing for the upcoming holidays. Luckily we put the Christmas tree up early and were able to cut it down....a nine foot Noble Fir, while the weather was both warm and sunny! Since we have been in Oregon, we've never had to buy a tree...started cutting Douglas firs down on our own property and then moved around the neighborhood! We have some small Nobles planted now that should provide some trees in the future.


Perhaps I should decorate our new water tower for the animals! We are hoping that once the temperatures moderate and the water can flow again, we won't find that the ice has done any damage. I really miss the sound of the water though! Before bed we usually sit out in our hot-tub, which is located on our deck with the fountain just below. The clear, cold weather has made the stars appear brighter.....and with the outside temps in the teens or lower and the water temp at 104, it's a great experience! But with the fountain frozen solid it's so quiet now............

Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy holiday as we approach another new year!

Just a pencil....

I took part in my first 'Sketch Crawl' at Portland's Central Library yesterday.....what fun! A few of my former students had told me about the group, and I was inspired by the genuinely beautiful sketches that they had produced as a result of joining other people for a day of sketching. I knew that I needed something to jump start my own drawing. Sometimes it takes being with other people and just the sharing of experiences to make things happen. Five people showed up, and after walking around and looking at the three floors of the magnificent interior, we all settled down on benches with different viewpoints and subjects to observe. We all had various tools, from the lowly pencil, to fine point ink pens, to watercolor brushes. Two hours later we reconvened for coffee at a nearby coffee house and looked at the results. Some went back to do more sketching, but Deb, my associate, and I had a client meeting to attend to....so reluctantly left the group at that point. I can't wait to attend another session!

My subject turned out to be the grand floor and columns at the top of the second floor staircases... a bit more than I had time for! I decided to use just pencil since there was l lot of perspective and proportion to deal with, and I knew I might need to make numerous revisions as I went along. Recently I've been working mostly in ink, which I prefer for detail work and vignettes. I've also been drawing a lot of trees and natural landscapes. Architectural subjects present a whole new set of problems. The nuances of light and the many different angles of the ceiling planes that existed in the stairwell made the drawing very challenging but fun. I'd like to go back soon...on another rainy day....and draw some of the details of the light fixtures and balustrades, as well as some of the people.

When I got home and started looking through by sketchpad, I found another architectural sketch, also in pencil, that proved to be a real contrast to the one I had just finished.

Late in the Summer I had taken a hike down into the woods belonging to my neighbor. She has built a wonderful tiny cabin as a retreat for reading, writing or just plain daydreaming. It's only about 6 feet square, nestled next to a stream and surrounded by huge cedar and fir trees, with moss and lichen covering the roof and dripping from the tree branches. Inside there is a little wood stove, a small desk and chair and a sitting alcove under a large window that looks out to a stream and fern covered hillside. Antiques, old books and colorful pillows have been carefully arranged. I sat down that Summer day and sketched the cabin. It probably took just as long as sketching the mighty marble columns in the Library! I was outside, looking in, so nature's details were my main focus.

But the atmosphere, while not grand at all, had the same feeling of repose that a library can have....quiet, studious, surrounded by books and your thoughts. It gave the moment meaning. When I look at these two sketches I am reminded that we need to take the time to do simple things....read a poem, sketch someone or something that you love, listen to music or the rain, plant a small garden. Create something beautiful and share it with someone. Find a new friend and learn something from them.

In Oregon, in sharp contrast to our bright and sunny Summers, it can often be rainy and dreary by late November when Thanksgiving arrives. I plan to do some sketching that day....after the dinner, when the family gathers around the fireplace. I'm not good at drawing people.......but that could change.

Harvest Time

We've been busy.....on Monday, October 12th, we harvested 17.7 tons of Pinot Gris from our 5 acre vineyard..... one of the earliest harvest dates that we've had since planting in 1984. It was a perfect harvest, with cool temperatures and no rain. Rain was predicted for most of the week so we knew that Sunday or Monday were our last shots before the weather changed ( and the dreaded migratory birds appeared). The sugar levels were at 23.5 BRIX and the grape clusters were large and full. The picking crew of 20 arrived at 7:15 am....just as daylight hit the vines. Armed with 5 gallon buckets, they quickly filled the 500 lb wooden totes that were positioned throughout the vineyard, and 6 hours later were finished! The rest of us all had our jobs to do and were finally ready to sit down for a meal of Tuscan bean soup and harvest bread by 7 pm or so. Son Brent helped load the flatbed truck and then drove it 4 times to the winery and back. Husband Fred operated the big rented forklift, loading the truck. Friend and neighbor Roger zipped up and down with our tractor, picking up the individual totes and bringing them down to the staging area. I did a bit of gleaning after the crews were done, with help from both daughter-in-laws and my grandson, but spent most of the day cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and bringing food and drink to keep everyone energized.


The best part of the day was realizing that we didn't have to take down the bird netting after the harvest this year, (since we never put it up)! Our usual late harvests, near the very end of October, necessitates that we put up bird netting a few weeks before harvest to keep the birds from eating the entire crop.

On Tuesday it appeared that thousands of birds, along with our 5-6 resident deer, were all descending on the vineyard, eager to nibble on the remaining clusters that had been dropped on the ground or left on the vines. There was literally, a symphony of bird calls and excitement in the air as all of the critters rejoiced! Even our big grey-tailed squirrels stopped eating our walnuts long enough to chime in.

After the harvest, while Fred did the usual clean-up of the totes and buckets, and started the long process of getting everything put away again for the winter, I started to do the garden clean-up....processing the last of the tomatoes and picking the many bucket loads of apples.

The Fall colors have been spectacular this year, stopping me dead in my tracks as I walk around the property. We've also had lots of visitors this Fall.... friends from college and our childhood years on the East Coast, who have come to spend some time with us here at Cloudrest. What a blessing to share memories and adventures together! We love showing off Portland and Oregon's wine country. It pushes us to get out ourselves and explore all the nooks and crannies.... places like the Columbia Gorge, The Chinese Garden and the Pearl District in Portland, and even Hillsboro's Saturday market, where I discovered the best green beans !!

School has started too...I have two Co-op design students this term, and am also taking on a young high school student as part of an internship program. Two landscape designs are also in the early stages, so it appears that keeping busy won't be a problem.

From Peaceful to Pop-Ups!

Wow....what a month! I had a really hard time deciding what to write about first. I decided to open with a photo of our latest water feature, mentioned in an earlier post. Our 'Water Pagoda, standing over 12 feet tall, was installed during mid Summer in a grove of fir trees to the West of our house. My husband, Fred, took two years creating it from steel that he cut and carefully welded together. Water recirculates from the top pinnacle and flows down the trays into a basin at the bottom, creating the most wonderful sound....like a gentle rain shower.... as the water drips from tray to tray! I've done my part by placing a few plants around it's base, along with river rock, and a small bench located a few feet away. It's the perfect place to sit and reflect. From the footprints that I've seen in the clearing it appears that the deer and a few other woodland critters like it too! It's a great addition to our garden.

Earlier in the month we took off for Central and Southern Oregon....Fred took part in the week long Cycle Oregon event with his fraternity brother Jim Dauber. The ride this year, which includes 1200 hardy cyclists, started in Medford and went across the Siskiyu Mts. into California...then back into Oregon for a picturesque 440 miles or more! While they were riding, Jim's wife, Chris and I were enjoying ourselves biking and swimming at Black Butte Ranch, tucked into a small cabin that we had rented from a friend. We drove down to see Crater Lake at the end of the week and then met our two super-cyclists for a grand celebration dinner at the historic Jacksonville Hotel. The weather for all of us couldn't have been better. It was a week that celebrated the sheer beauty that nature can provide if we only take the time to enjoy it.

Home again, we were hit with pounds of ripe tomatoes and garden produce....so the counters are once again covered and the kettle is boiling! I've discovered the delights of tomato pie, roasted tomatoes, and untold variations of tomato salads. The dry, warm weather and sunshine have continued, only giving way to cool mornings and the feel of Fall just recently. Our grapes are doing beautifully and may actually be harvested in a few short weeks....early for us, since we usually have to wait until the end of October before the sugars are up high enough. This Summer seemed to fly by.

I ended the month with a two day Pop-Up Book workshop, which now has me anxious to create books and cards for everyone that I've ever known. What fun! There are so many enjoyable things to do that I'm not sure which to do first. I've decided that this dilemma is a good thing and will help keep me young. I know that I will always enjoy designing, sketching, gardening, reading , and traveling....these are the threads that make life a meaningful, beautiful quilt.