Anna (Flutter and Hum) hosts every Wednesday with eye-opening observations of a visual and often philosophical bent. This week she confronts dark times with thoughts that put them in perspective. By contrast, my vignette features a world glittering with a dusting of snow and hoarfrost. We were driving to Idaho for Thanksgiving and the road between Walla Walla and Lewiston, all sensual rolling hills, was bespangled under a blue sky.
In Waitsburg, a charming little town along the way, we veered from the main road and stopped to capture this scene.
These charming refugees from the chopping block were quite chatty. Their mistress assured us that they enjoy pet status…no ovens in their future.
After an eight hour drive, we reached our destination: Kathryn & John’s spread overlooking the Clearwater River in Idaho. Sami traveled with us. Call me crazy, but she’s old in cat years and clingier than she used to be. I got her a harness and a leash and steeled myself for a challenging trip. As it was, she settled in my lap and alternated between snoozing and watching the world go by.
The Idaho deer make ours look like pikers. Of course K & J feed and coddle them, so they are fearless in their foraging. Just look at that pile of rocks! That’s what came out of the ground creating the fenced veggie garden. Looks like the start of a swell crevice garden to me, so I’m forwarding to them Loree’s post on that subject appearing today in (Plant Lust).
The birds get plenty of TLC too.
Another large fenced area (with an equally huge pile of rocks) protects a small orchard.
And we thought Portland was cold! Blue skies and sunshine beckoned so we bundled up and traipsed around.
Still frosty on the drive home. To my eye, the wind farms fit right into this landscape. How do you feel about them?
Your friends’ property is impressive! And it looks like your trip across the landscape was breathtaking, too. Brave of you to take the kitty along–my cats whine as if they’re in pain even during a short trip to the veterinarian. We have vast swathes of wind turbines around here, too. I have mixed feelings about them. I do worry about the bird loss. I keep thinking solar is a better option, but I guess we’re still working on that. I saw a report about using ocean/great lake wave energy the other day that was intriguing, too.
I’ve been hearing about some new technology that eliminates the blades, so these may some day become artifacts of the past. I guess solar has its drawbacks as well. The industry is in its infancy so what we’re seeing now may go the way of the Model T in time.
We traveled similar roads over the holiday weekend! Re: the wind farms: we left Portland after Andrew got off work on Wednesday, that put us driving along 84 in the dark. The lights on the turbines were crazy-cool. Flickering as the blades hid them momentarily, we loved it. We also don’t mind them in the daylight, they add a science fiction quality to the landscape.
Thanks for the link! And I love that you took your kitty with you on the road trip.
We always start out early to make the long drive in daylight but I would love to see that night-time spectacle. Do you take Lila along on some of your trips?
I’m pro wind farms; I can see some from the upstairs windows and I just think of all the non polluting power, I don’t find them ugly.
They seemed especially futuristic sprouting from the snow-dusted hills.
After seeing your friends’ pile of rocks, I feel silly having complained about removing chunks and pebbles from our soil – what an effort that must have been! Re the wind farms, they’re so associated in my mind with Palm Springs that I was almost surprised to see them with frost in your photos. They don’t bother me in open spaces and clean energy of all types is a positive thing. Long ago, in a past life, I used to write loans for people investing in them (among other things) – at that time, they were perceived mainly as tax dodges.
That rock pile represents a gargantuan effort. I thought only chain gangs went in for that sort of thing but John goes for extremes: firefighting, jumping from helicopters, extreme skiing…so I shouldn’t be surprised.
I like those big wind turbines. We saw a huge windfarm in Quebec I’ll write about in a few weeks. One of those astroturf groups was agitating against them in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula recently. The fencing around that vegetable garden makes me think of Maximum Security.
Maximum security is our only defense against nature’s advance guard.
What an adventure. I wouldn’t mind a snowflake or two. Our high tomorrow will be an unseasonably warm 72.
Hi, Marian. I don’t seem to be seeing my comments appearing on your blog, but know that I do follow and enjoy.
That’s a lot of rocks! I know gardeners who actually have to deal with them typically consider them a nuisance, but I wish I had such a handy source of free rocks. I don’t mind the windmills at all. Some people find them ugly. I think they’re relatively unobtrusive. Certainly better than a coal plant with accompanying exhaust.
We’re in sync about the rocks and the wind turbines.
What a beautiful setting for Thanksgiving! Over the river and through the woods… Love the sight of snow and hope we get a little this year. Your friends seem like wonderful people! Glad that Sami enjoyed the trip as well. Hope your turkey day was fab! I also like the wind turbines.
A few inches of snow would be lovely. If it passes us by, I feel sated by what we saw on our trip.
Seems like a wonderful trek. Great photo of the turkeys.
I wish I had recorded the sounds of the turkeys.