Marys Peak

Ben and I finally made it up Marys Peak! It's a mountain not too far from Corvallis, but last year the road was closed each time we tried to go up. At 4,097 feet it's sort of a West Coast parallel of Camel's Hump (4,083), so I was expecting a similar peak. Sadly, the top is nothing like Camel's Hump; it's quite developed, with a huge fence and cell towers and right now the top essentially looks like a grassy field, complete with picnic table. The hike was nice, but the peak cannot compare. I'm hoping that the "real" mountains out in the Cascades will look a bit more dramatic!

The hike itself was lovely. The trillium are blooming, the morels are out but hiding, and I found a pair of gigantic sunglasses on the trail:

Afterwards, we headed to the Woodsman, a Thai restaurant/American bar with logging decor (think lots of saws). They have the most generous plates of fried tofu I've ever seen. An excellent day, but Ben can keep the sunglasses. Maybe elsewhere I will find some morels...

Dancin' Strawberry Man

It's not every day that you find a dancing strawberry man in your strawberries:

I went looking for morels today with Ben, but we didn't find any. Still, beautiful weather and a nice walk at Luckiamute. I didn't take any photos of that, but I do have a picture of me and Tiny Weasel taking a nap:

That's all for now.

Good Day for Birds!

Today Ben and I hiked up Dan's Trail in Corvallis. We didn't see many other hikers, but we did see a grey jay and a northern flicker. The grey jay looked a bit like an overgrown chickadee; at first I thought it was a shrike. It didn't look much like the grey jays out East!

I'm still only about 80% certain this is a grey jay.

Hmm.

Happy Spring!

It's starting to get nice out again, so that means it's time to start updating my blog with good-weather things. Today I picked up some strawberries from the farmers' market, a sign that warm weather is here to stay. Ben and I also explored Opal Creek Wilderness a couple weekends ago with Katie and her friend Susan.
Here I am with Ben, riding through the woods on a mining cart. Good times.

A Quiet Day in the Wetlands

I didn't bring my camera, but today Ben and I hiked the Jackson-Frazier Wetland in Corvallis and it was amazing. We've had tons of rain and flooding lately, so we weren't sure we'd be able to get in. However, after the flooded entrance, the boardwalk itself was clear of water. The water level almost reached the top of the boards, and slopped up onto them under the weight of our feet. Red-winged blackbirds staked out the highest trees and called to each other across the wetlands, which were unnaturally quiet due to the floods. A lovely hike!

Off the Bagel

Sometimes looking at restaurant menus is a good source of inspiration for cooking at home. Tonight, I was thinking about Eugene, which made me dig up the menu for Off the Waffle, an amazing waffle restaurant. Somehow, I ended up making a bagel topped with a fried egg, spinach, avocado, paprika, and pepper:

It wasn't bad, but it was no Liège waffle. Luckily, I might soon be writing for a Eugene daily paper, which would enable waffle-related field trips.

In other news, here's a photo of Tiny Weasel eating food:

It kind of makes me think of the Alien movies for some reason. That's all for now.

No Photos, Only Words

It's December, and I'm re-emerging from a month of novel writing. As you may or may not know, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, a world-wide event in which determined individuals of all ages strive to write 50,000 words in 30 days. This year, I wrote a zombie novel and it was a blast. For the past five years, I've written 50,000 words each November. That's two sci-fi novels, one sci-fi/detective novel, a fantasy novel, and a zombie novel. Outside of NaNoWriMo, I've only written one novel and a bunch of short stories.

People quibble over whether or not it's productive to write such a huge amount in one month, which amazes me. There's no doubt in my mind that it's useful to write vast quantities if you want to become a writer! The most effective way to learn how to do something is to do it, and the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to stop talking about how you're going to write a novel someday, and simply write one. This year I wrote more dialogue than I've ever written before in my life, and I learned a ton. I came out at the end of it realizing how to make characters sound real and unique, which has always for me been one of the hardest parts of writing.

If you want to be a novelist, try NaNoWriMo one year. At the end of it, you'll probably know whether or not you really want to be a novelist. And you'll have gained firm proof that you can produce a rough draft, because you'll have one in your hands. It might not be pure gold, but it's a step in the right direction.