Living la vida local

So, it's another day in paradise. Sorry, people who aren't here. I just can't get over it.

I went out today, with intent to check out a new park and/or go for a hike in an old favorite. I found the new "park" - really a forest - but for the life of me couldn't find an entrance. I'm not quite local enough yet...it was actually over on Maury, which is called Maury Island but seems to be attached to Vashon. Per Wikipedia, it was originally freestanding but in 1913 was attached by a locally constructed isthmus. There's your trivia for the day, kids.

Anyhoo, I abandoned that plan, and figured I'd tool around a bit before heading over to Island Center Forest, where I've had many blissful deep woods hikes. I meandered along, ended up along a beach road, and pulled over to get some salt air and sunshine therapy. As I was gathering up camera and binoculars (I'm always hopefully watching for some interesting marine mammals), a battered old pickup pulled up next to me. The driver, a grizzled dude in a fisherman hat, mutt by his side, watched me get out and (out of habit) lock the door. I got about three steps before I heard "you don't gotta take your purse, you know. Vashon people won't mess with your stuff." I called back that I only had it to carry my assorted gadgets, to which he replied "oh good, I thought maybe you were just being a tighta$s." What can one do there but laugh? No, I told him, not a tight$s - just practical. This apparently was enough for him to feel like I deserved an inside tip, and he told me if I went down a ways, turned at the corner, parked by the metal bar after the dip -- I'd find the best beach on the island. "30 years here, I know a thing or two," he said. I thanked him, headed back to my car to check this out, and wished him a good day - to which I got a "you too, sweetheart." There are some from whom that offends a woman, and some from whom it's just endearing. This, obviously, was the latter.

Dunes leading up to the beach

The beach was wide, nearly empty, and gloriously salty and sunny. Moral of the story: always listen to the locals - particularly when they tell you the water is warm enough to wade in. Despite it being Sound water, so typically icy, it was in fact warm enough for wading, and clear as glass. I never did get to the Island Center Forest, but that's okay.

Just another day in paradise. Now off to collect some mainland friends from the ferry for a fun night out, island-style.

It's too clear to tell but my feet are both underwater...in the Puget Sound! Without numbness! Unheard of.

Real glad I met this big daddy on dry land.

Island Life

I want to live on Vashon.

Boarding the ferry eastbound, 5:45am

I mean, not really -- we're moving back east and looking forward to it -- but Vashon is absolutely my happy place. Tiny, woodsy, friendly, farm and beach and small town and engaged citizens all in one. I had great grand plans of roaming and hiking and kayaking -- haven't done so yet, but maybe tomorrow. In the meantime I've spent time on the water (even if it's a ferry), we've gotten the hang of where to get what in town (pro tip, the IGA is a sad sad supermarket. Thriftway is so much better I can't quite get how IGA is still in business...something I'd know if I lived here, I guess), where the best coffee is (Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie -- which most places serve anyway, but the place itself is charming. There are mugs hanging on hooks for the regulars). Farmstands are on the honor system (bring exact change, but if you don't you can can probably bring it by later). There is a wine tasting room, a delicious bakery, a forest in the center of the island for hiking and roaming and - apparently - trail riding (horses, people).

Honor system farmstand

There is the kind of small town friendliness and familiarity only seen now in Hallmark movies, only without the schmaltz. Everyone generally knows who is who and what is what, but the development is so NOT overdone that most people seem to have quite a lot of land, so they aren't all tripping over each other.

Main Street/Vashon Highway, early evening

So, anyway, great trip so far. We're in this guest cabin that has tons of land around it. There are owls hooting during the night, roosters throughout the day, and in the evenings the next property over plays reggae. Not meant for us but it adds a certain something. Other than that, it's so quiet we can hear leaves falling. It's spectacular.

The "backyard". That's a hammock in the lower left.

Grumpy but grateful

Apparently there's this thing going on with Facebook this month...you're supposed to put something you're grateful for every day. Seems like a lovely exercise, but I don't think other people really care what I'm grateful for. And really, 30 days is a lot. Some days I'm just GRUMPY. I understand that's the point - to focus on what you're blessed with in life - but, I mean, grumpy. 

That said, I think often of how lucky I am to have a kitchen, and a good one - and a well-stocked one. I regularly volunteer at my local food bank, and am constantly reminded that I have nothing about which to complain. There's one client who has started coming since I began volunteering. When he first came he would take the full amount we offered him. After about a month, he started taking less, saying he didn't have access to an entire fridge anymore. Then not too long after that he wasn't able to take any food that would need refrigeration, and the past few weeks I haven't seen him at all. He reminds me very much of a guy I was friends with in college, and I can't help but worry about him. Things are tough for a lot of people, and the food bank keeps getting busier. With the SNAP cuts that just kicked in, it will only get worse over the next few months - busy to begin with, between the cold and the holidays. Friends, if you have some time or some financial ability, consider calling up your local food pantry to see what they need most. It's a tough time out there and we're lucky to have what we have. 

Anyway. That's my bit for this morning. Recipe updates, coming up shortly. 

"We rise by lifting others."

-Robert Ingersoll

I'm a lucky blogger

Thanksgiving...a high point of what I think of as "the cooking season". It's gloomy out, and people gather for warmth and unconcerned eating. It's the first and last time people really enjoy holiday food - after this, the Christmas parties come fast and furious, and we're all perpetually...stuffed. But Thanksgiving! Nothing has gone awry yet, no one has been trampled for a big cheap flat screen. There's only food, family, friends, football.

This year, I'm doubly lucky. I'll have a Thanksgiving with my family out here tomorrow - so glad that I HAVE family out here! - and Saturday we'll have our own Thanksgiving at home, because someone has an overwhelming desire to smoke his own turkey. In between, shopping will be limited to the internet and strenuous activities will include...um, nothing. I've got quite a meal planned for Saturday...the turkey arrived this morning from Windy N Ranch in Ellensburg, WA, via Full Circle Farm in Carnation, WA (where I get my bi-weekly organic produce delivery from). Tom Turkey looks pretty promising...there are still some feather bits on him, which is alternately fantastic (so fresh!) and slightly disconcerting. The produce box contents - Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, celery, leeks - will make up a good part of the menu. There are also pears - you know what will happen to those! The West Seattle Farmer's Market filled in the rest of the ingredients - cranberries, sweet potatoes, bread for the stuffing, all locally grown/produced.

I'm so excited to cook all this - and so grateful to live in a place where all this can be locally provided by non-corporate/industrial farms.

Happy Thanksgiving!