After a week in the Southwest’s National Parks, I wasn’t sure I could take another photo of rocks !  But, with a name like The Three Gossips, I couldn’t resist!

If those were the Three Gossips, are these the Four Gossips?

Bob and I were in Arches National Park, and took the one mile walk called Park Avenue.

It was so neat to be down on the valley floor looking up.

It really gives you a sense of perspective that the photos down’t show.

The rock beneath our feet looks like frozen sand dunes.

There’s Bob, showing his rock climbing skills!

This is Balance Rock.

We walked around the base.  I kept listening for any cracking!

There were so many interesting rocks, I had to keep taking photos.

But what we came to see were arches, and this was our first one.

As we drove along, it wasn’t long before we saw another.

And then there were needles like we saw in Canyon Lands yesterday.  I love the colors in the different layers of rock.

Ah, another small arch!

We parked and headed down the Devil’s Garden Trail.

Again, we felt dwarfed by the high canyon walls.

Our first stop was Pine Tree Arch.

Then Tunnel Arch.

There was more to see than just arches, of course.

This is Landscape Arch.  It was the best by far!

It was a perfect day–68 degrees, sunny and a slight breeze!

Today we detoured from our Utah itinerary to go to Mesa Verde in Colorado to see the Anasazi ruins there.  Unfortunately, it was another foggy and snowy morning.

We headed to the park and climbed to an elevation of over 7000 feet.  Near the top there was a pull-out so you could look back down into the valley. Hmmm, not such a great view.

But we were more than rewarded when we got to the overlook at Palace Cliff.

I think like many other people, I’ve always been fascinated by these dwellings built into the cliff sides.

It was interesting to learn that the people who built them had lived and farmed for years up on the mesas before moving into the canyons, and continued to grow their corn on the mesas.

And they really didn’t live here very long before moving on, probably because of continuing drought.

Across the canyon we could see another small dwelling.

We took the Ranger led tour into the village.

It was so interesting to learn about the Kivas, the sacred rooms.

We marveled at the architecture.  Imagine, those logs are from the 1200′s.  I expect stone to last that long, but logs?

The view from the village, looking up the canyon, was truly amazing.

We also hiked down a trail to view one of the other villages a few miles away.

And on our way out of the park, the weather had lifted enough to see the view of the valley below!

From Mesa Verde we headed toward Moab.  The day had been overcast, but the temperature reached 53 degrees.  Suddenly, we were in a downpour, and the temperature dropped to 40 degrees in about three minutes!  Despite the change in weather, we decided to go to Canyon Lands National Park.

The sky was still threatening, but we could see blue off in the distance.

We hiked several of the trails and were rewarded with petroglyphs.

Aren’t these hand prints fascinating?

After nearly a week in Utah, you wonder how many more rocks you can possibly take photos of, but…

…they are all so different,

and the sun had finally come out.

I’d been waiting for this, because it really effects the colors of the rocks.

So we kept hiking and kept snapping photos.

These are called mushrooms.

We hiked an area of potholes, with only rock carins to mark the trail.

With all the recent rain, lots of the potholes were filled with water.

Bob is much braver about getting close to the rim than I am!

 

As we were leaving the park, there was a pull out for Newspaper Rock.  It didn’t sound all that exciting, because I was picturing a rock shaped like a newspaper.  Instead, it was a rock that had been used as a record for centuries!

I was thrilled!  I love all kinds of primitive art.

It was so cool to see goats, horses, hunters and so much more.

Another great day in the Southwest!

 

We started out our day at Glenn Canyon Dam.

The bridge across the Colorado here is quite amazing.

We walked out on it to have a look at the dam…

…and the Colorado River.  Quite impressive.

Then we headed for Monument Valley, but first we stopped at Navajo National Monument.

It was nine miles off the highway, and the farther we went, the harder it snowed!

We went into the visitor’s center, watched a film, explored the exhibits and were rewarded when the weather started to lift.

We came to see the Anasazi cliff dwellings, and headed down the path.  The snow was already melting, and the landscape was so interesting.

We could hear water running and spotted this waterfall on the other side of the canyon.  The melting snow from the plateau was cascading down.

At the bottom of the trail, we could see the ruins of Betatakin, from around 1270!  It was built into a natural alcove.

It was amazing to see.

The village was only occupied for about 20 years.  The people who lived there were farmers, but crop failures forced them to move on.

From the overlook we could see the waterfall.  It was already shrinking. We were so glad we stopped here.

Then it was on to Monument Valley.

The scenery was more than we expected.

It was like flashing back to every Western movie I saw as a child!

The two trailers in the photo below give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs.

Here’s a Navajo visitor’s center also dwarfed by the mesas.

We stopped and did a little shopping.

As we left, we had to wait for these goats to cross the road!  It was a four way intersection, and the goats were at the corner.  There was a school bus waiting to our left, and we waited, and the goats crossed.

There were no people in sight, just a dog in the lead and a dog in the rear.  Makes me wonder if the dogs were out having fun on their own or if their master said,  “Okay, boys, go get the goats and bring them home!”

 

We had a huge variety of weather today.

We could often see rain storms off in the distance.

And experienced temperatures from 36 degrees to 65 degrees.

I’m amazed at how far across the landscape you can see.

It was really interesting to watch the weather.

I kept thinking we’d run out of monuments to take photos of….

…but that wasn’t the case!

Suddenly the hillsides took on an entirely different look.

It was like someone had been playing with colored sand and running their fingers through it to make designs.

And in front of it all was a cool monument called the Mexican Hat.

I just loved the designs on these hills!

And still there were more red monuments to see.

The shapes are never the same.

Besides the shapes, the colors were amazing.  There were so many shades of red.

Bob was great about stopping for photos, but I finally just started taking them through the car window!  Even those turned out!

Our next stop was Four Corners.

Doesn’t everyone need their photo taken here?

Obviously, we did!

After leaving Zion National Park, we headed toward Bryce Canyon.  An unexpected bonus was driving through Red Canyon.

Fabulous shapes…

…incredible colors…

…cool wear patterns…

…amazing balanced rocks….

…more cool shapes…

…and not one…

…but TWO arch tunnels!

It was onto Bryce Canyon City.  Imagine our surprise when we woke up to a dusting of snow this morning!

But, we weren’t deterred.  It was on to the Park.

The sun was peeking out intermittently.

And even thought the elevation was high…

…and it was cold enough to build a snowman (kind of!)…

…the views made it all worth it!

 

We were right on the rim.

 

Looking down at the amazing shapes was awe inspiring.

We saw hikers below.

We started to follow the trails, but the mud was growing on my shoes with every step!

So we continued to enjoy the views from the rim.

Everywhere you looked there was something different to see.

I love when the erosion leaves rocks looking like they’re precariously balanced.

At first, you’d think nothing would grow here, but that’s so not the case.

Do you see the little “windows” near the top of this ridge?

Lots more photos…

…I’ll just let you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing that really fascinated me was tenacity of some of the trees!

 

And the snags were beautiful in their own way.

Another great day in our National Parks!

After Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Bob and I decided to see some of Utah.  As we headed south to Zion National Park, we thought we’d stop at Cedar Breaks National Monument.

After driving 15 miles off the interstate, we found the road wasn’t open yet for the season!

In fact, the snow was quite deep!  I made Bob get out of the car for reference, and I stayed in the car and took the photo!

We had climbed a lot on that 15 mile drive!

And while we didn’t get to see what we had come for, we had terrific views!

So, we headed back to Interstate 15, and took the 6 mile drive into the northern part of Zion.

No snow there!

This is Kolob Canyon.

The views were amazing.

As were the close-ups of some of the rocks!

 

 

 

The next day we entered the south part of Zion.

We took a hike into the Temple of Sinawava along the Virgin River

The water was moving very rapidly.

But it had been higher as you can see by the debris and small rocks atop this large boulder!

The views up the canyon were amazing!

The farther you go up the canyon, the narrower it gets.

Eventually, we could go no farther.

No kidding!  Those steps lead right into the river!

Some one had been busy along the beach!

These stacks of rocks were amazing.

May of them were very precariously balanced!

But they were all so whimsical.

It must have taken some patience to get them balanced just so.

I didn’t test my skills!

But here is what Zion is all about–the cliffs!

I must have taken 75 photos just of the canyon walls.

I’ll spare showing you THAT many!

But I have to share a few with you.

It was an overcast day, so the colors aren’t as vivid as they would have been otherwise.

And while most of the cliffs were dark red, some were white!

The shapes were incredibly varied.  We took several hikes and enjoyed the many views.

The surroundings made you feel incredibly small.

Finally, we got a little bit of blue sky!

As we travelled from the west to the east, the rocks really began to change.

The erosion patterns were very different.

These looked more like windswept sand dunes.

You could see layer after layer of rock.

And fabulous shapes like these.

The colors are so pretty…

…and so varied.

I highly recommend a visit if you ever get a chance!

 

 

 

While we were at Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, everyone kept telling us how beautiful the flowers were at Temple Square.

The trouble is, when you’re at Market everyday, it’s hard to find time to do anything else.

But finally, on Sunday morning, we decided we had to see for ourselves.

And I’m so glad we did!

Words could never describe how beautiful the flowers were.

And I can’t imagine the number of tulips that were blooming everywhere!

I can’t even guess–5,000?  10,000?

They were everywhere.

I love it when flowers are planted in drifts.

It wasn’t all tulips.  There were these pretty purple flowers whose name I should know, but can’t think of just now

There were cherry trees just about to burst into bloom.

But it was mostly tulips.

If you looked closely, however, you saw that they were underplanted with other flowers, too.

These almost looked like poppies!

And this statue was so joyful!

I couldn’t resist a couple of angles.

You must think I’ve posted every photo I took there….

…but I promise I didn’t!

I edited the best I could.

But there were just so many to share.

 

 

It was hard to know where to stop!

So, Ill leave you with these last few.

I hope you enjoy them.

 

As usual, I had a fabulous time at Quilt Market!  Here are some of my favorite images from my days there.

During set-up, I spotted this fabulous clock–which looked so much like a Swedish Mora clock, that I just had to as if I could take a photo.

As it turned out, it’s by Rebekah Merkle, who is designing fabric for Timeless Treasures–just like I am!

Her booth was adorable.

Of course, the Dolly Dear display was lovely!

I’m such a daisy fan, I must find a way to get my hands on some of this daisy fabric.

This sign cracked me up!  I guess if you’re a Farmall fan, you’d be delighted, but don’t tell Bob!

Deb Tucker’s new Lemoyne Star ruler is perfect for making all sizes of Lemoyne Stars.  I can’t wait to make some blocks and demo it!

Did I mention how cute the Dolly Dear fabric are??

I know Jamie from Timeless had the cutest ruffled backside in all of the convention center!

I love the Let’s Twist quilts.  This pattern is from Bean Counter Quilts.

As a fan of dots and bubbles, I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of this quilt.

Since my fabric is called Dolly Dear, I thought it appropriate that I make a sample of Little Mary.  Carol O. made this sample for me, and she has named her Ethel.

It’s always so incredible to see how talented people are with their displays.  Don’t you love this!?!

 

And the cute clothes.  This is Chelsea, who filmed a video of me that will be on the Timeless blog soon!

My Christmas Memories Redwork quilt was also hanging in the Timeless booth.

I picked up a new book, Those Flirty Thirties.  This is one of the quilts from the book.

Here’s a close-up.  Gosh, love her strong colors!

Covered buttons were big and this is just a fun way to use them!

I always love the inspiration I get from Market!  The quilting world is a great place to live and play, and I’m glad I’m part of it!

 

There really is a water fall at Falls Creek Retreat Center.  But first, a few other pictures from the four day retreat there.

I’m lucky enough to live in a place where we frequently see herds of elk, many of the women who came to my quilting retreat are “city girls.”  Just a few miles from the retreat center, Karen R and my sister, Sally, spotted this herd of elk.  If you look closely, you’ll see there are 33 of them–lots of babies in the herd.  Sally’s a city girl now, but she grew up here and has seen lots of elk in her day.  Karen, however, is a true city girl, and she was thrilled.  This was her first elk sighting.  Actually, I have to admit that no matter how many times I see them, I still get excited every time.

Driving in, I was greeted by these cows.  They didn’t look very happy that I was disturbing their slumber!  In fact, when I stopped to take this photo, I’m pretty sure the cow in front said, “Move it along, babe!”  Actually, this are was settled by Swiss farmers in the late 1800′s and there is still a lot of dairying going on.

The flowering cherries at the entrance were just starting to open their flowers for us.

I’m so glad the old bridge is still there, and even gladder that we don’t have to drive across it!

The crick is right there to greet you when you enter the property.

And that other wonderful sign of spring–daffodils.

I love this time of year when you can still see “through” the woods.  It won’t be long and everything will be leafed out and you won’t be able to.

The creek flows pretty fast just outside the building where we were sewing.

We followed it for a ways on our way up to the falls.  Last year, when we were there in October, there were lots of salmon returning to spawn.  I thought we might see some smolts heading out to sea, but no luck.

The creek takes a lot of bends and turns.

Then we left it for a bit as we entered the big meadow.

I love that you can still see the old growth stumps.

These are my favorites, the triple trunk trees.

There are two of them clearly visible from the path.

In the meadow there is this tiny cabin.

Next time I must ask how old it is.

I love the pair of log chairs on the porch…

…and the dinner bell!

After leaving the meadow, we began to climb toward the falls.  This isn’t the main falls, yet.

This is the main falls!

From the top, you can see the big, initial drop-off.

The sound is amazing.

All who went agreed it was worth the trip!

Even though I live right next to the woods, I don’t venture very far into them most of the time.  However, when I get to retreat, there’s a great opportunity to hike to the falls and enjoy the woodlands along the way.  Here in Pacific County, we are part of the Temperate Rain Forest that runs along the northwest shores of the United States and Canada.  It really is a special place.  Because we get so much rain, we have lots and lots of moss and ferns and mushrooms and even wildflowers.  I thought I’d share some with you.  Won’t you follow me down this path?

Moss is evident as soon as we start our walk.  It covers everything, even the trees.

It seems to especially like dead branches.

I think some of these trees may have auditioned for the Wizard of Oz!

In the right setting, they could be pretty scary!

Since we get about 80″ of rain a year, there’s plenty of moisture.

In the photo below, note the light strand of stuff hanging between the branches.  That’s lichen.  It only grows where the air is pure.

It almost looks like you could take a nice cushy nap on this branch.

Here’s a close-up of some of the moss.

It makes everything look like it has whiskers.

Ah, padded hand rails!

Another close-up.  It’s really quite delicate.

This is the top of an old, abandoned fence post.  Speaking of the Wizard of Oz, it looks like the hats the soldiers wore!  If you look carefully, you can see more posts marching up the hillside.

The moss has even found a home on this log chair–a built in cushion!

I had a hard time categorizing my photos between moss and ferns, so many had both.

I just love these ferns that grow on the sides of the trees.

They seem magical to me.

This one was really covered.

There were plenty of ferns of the ground, too.

The hills were covered with them.

It was the end of March, but these small mushrooms were already popping out.

Sally volunteered her hand to show you how small they really are.

The edges get all raggedy as they mature, but they’re almost more beautiful.

These are oyster mushrooms growing on the side of this stump.

I was so excited on my first walk to the falls to spot these trillium about to bloom.

The very next day, one of them had opened up!

This trillium grows in our yard–we dug it up two years ago from the ditch across the road.  Thank you, Melinda!

I don’t know what these delicate pink flowers are.

Here’s a type of daisy.

From the time I was a kid, they’ve been one of my favorite.

I don’t know if these oxalis haven’t opened up yet, or if they close like this when it’s raining.

Here are some open ones.

I’ve not seen a flower like this before.

Or this, although it looks a bit like cow parsnip, but I think it’s too early.

What adorable Johnny Jump-Ups!

I wish they were growing in “my” woods.

I’ve saved my favorite for last–the cowslips!

These are blooming everywhere around us right now, and the area around the retreat center was no exception.

You might know them as skunk cabbage, but I prefer the English name–cowslips.  It just conjures up the most hilarious images of cows wearing yellow slips!

How many of you know what Nurse Logs are?  At our recent Quilt Retreat at Falls Creek, some of us hiked up to the falls, and I couldn’t help but do a little narration along the way.  One of my favorite things to point out are Nurse Logs and Old Growth Stumps.

At one time, Pacific County was covered with old growth cedar.  Most (but not all!) of it has been logged–many years ago, like 100 or more.  Because cedar is slow to rot, a lot of the stumps are still visible in the woods here–and you can see them as you drive along the highways.

Here’s an old growth cedar stump.  Look closely and you’ll see some notches in it.

These notches are where the early day loggers would set their springboards.  Springboards are what they stood on to saw down the tree.

Here’s an old photo to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.  They didn’t stand on the ground and saw down the tree because the trees were so thick at the base.  They went up a ways, to where the tree tapered in, so they wouldn’t have so much trunk to cut through.  I think every logger must have had his picture taken in the first cut of a tree!

So, my point is, all through the woods here, we have lots and lots of old cedar stump.  These stumps, as well as fallen logs, often serve as a nursery for seedlings.  As the stumps start to rot, the little seeds find a welcome home there–often above the reach of hungry deer!

The new tree grows up and the roots grow down.

The new tree gets lots of nutrients from the decaying stump.

Eventually, time and the new tree nearly obliterate the original nurse log.

On our short walk to the falls, we passed dozens of these.

They’re all different…

…and interesting in their own way.

We thought this one looked like a giraffe!

As you can see, many of these “new” trees are decades old.

Here’s a perfect example.

This tree must have been at least 60 feet tall.

This nurse log has two very old trees growing out of it, as well as a new seedling!

I hope you enjoyed this walk in the woods and your forestry lesson!

By the way, my grandpa called logs like the one above “keel” logs.  They got more money for them because they already had a natural bend in them and were used for the keels of boats–but that’s another story!