Hurricane Ridge flowers

November 13, 2022 | thetigershadow

July 2022. A late alpine season after a particularly wet and cold spring.

The Elwha keeps flourishing

July 1, 2022July 1, 2022 | thetigershadow

The Elwha River restoration has a special place in my heart, as my first independent study site; an incredible and welcoming community of managers, researchers, and volunteers; the place my now-husband and I met; and an incredibly successful restoration project that continues to amaze me as it grows and thrives.

The cottonwood and alder I identified in my study plots as 2-inch seedlings are now towering adolescents. Seeded riverbank lupine is flourishing even in the rocky sediments on the valley floor, and improving the establishment success of many other plant species by decreasing erosion and fixing nitrogen. Driftwood logs — some of which were moved into place by helicopter during the dam removal stage — are acting as nurse logs, providing shelter from the wind and sun. Planted pines and doug firs have settled their roots deep, even in terraces of sediment standing thirty to forty feet above the river. Wildlife small to large is using the space.

View from Glines Canyon Dam 2013
View from Glines Canyon Dam 2018
View from Glines Canyon Dam 2022

Mills reservoir looking toward Glines Canyon Dam, 2013
Mills reservoir looking toward Glines Canyon Dam, 2018
Mills reservoir looking toward Glines Canyon Dam, 2022

Some more photos, mostly from Mills reservoir in June 2022, but also including a few I took in Mills and Aldwell in 2021.

The restoration of the Elwha river has been an impressive collaboration of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, Olympic National Park, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, USGS, and many more. I’m so honored to have been a tiny cog in this amazing project, and I love getting to return year after year so see it change.

Sewing round up 2021

January 20, 2022January 20, 2022 | thetigershadow

Looking back at 2021, I was surprised at just how many sewing projects I made time for. Sewing definitely became one of my main re-centering activities, especially on cold and wet days (which are frequent in the Pacific Northwest!) A lot of my motivation came from my little kiddo, and I loved being able to make pieces that facilitated her outdoor adventures in all types of weather. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Wool pixie pea coat, with a lady bug lining. I found this small wool piece at the thrift store and had a lot of fun figuring out how to match the plaid stripes and get everything cut from this little piece. Pattern is the Twig + Tale pixie pea coat

One-a-day embroideries I did during an online conference, of some of my favorite species I encountered in Washington this year: Pixie cup lichen, Common loon, Pacific Trillium, and Red dorid nudibranch

Two sets of overalls, one for beach days and one in softshell fleece for the ultimate puddle-splashing and snow-stomping attire (Twig + Tale rainhaven overalls)

Baby vests and boots gallore! These are the patterns that got the most re-use this year: Twig and Tale pathfinder vest and tie-back boots. Warm boots, waterproof boots, boots with leather soles. Almost completely made from ripped pants, thrifted material, and leftover pieces from other projects.

Hats for sun and hats for snow, both patterns from Twig and Tale. The red wool hats were made from just half of a thrifted red wool jacket and it was a puzzle getting all the pieces out of it! I made 6 hats total this year.

I made four shirts for myself this year, including this Twig + Tale shirt in a beautiful Robert Kaufmann yarn-dyed flannel, and some tshirts using a Patterns for Pirates design

And finally the Halloween masterpiece, the dragon costume! Another great Twig+Tale pattern (can you tell I love their patterns?) and also made entirely from thrifted and scrap materials.

I also made two fun twirly dresses for my kiddo using a pattern from Ellie and Mac–one of them in an amazing SPACE DINOSAUR fabric–some stuffed fabric pumpkins for Halloween decor, and finished up a slow-moving embroidery project. And of course it wouldn’t be a proper round-up of 2021 without mentioning the mountain of masks I made! There were leaf masks, cat masks, Halloween masks, Star Wars masks, and even two I made especially to match my outfit for job interviews.

I’m so grateful for the calm and the joy I got from all these projects in this chaotic year.

Hurricane Ridge vistas

January 19, 2022 | thetigershadow

December 2021–finishing out the year with beautiful snowy peaks and sun-lit valleys at Olympic National Park.

Last summer I tried something different with my photos, keeping a nature journal with notes on the species I saw and places I visited. Over the next few weeks I’ll be uploading those photos here and maybe sharing some of the finished journal pages too

Pacific northwest fall

January 17, 2022 | thetigershadow

October color along the Elwha river

Forest Spring

June 21, 2021 | thetigershadow

Enjoying the spring ephemerals and the dappled sunlight in the forest understory. Trillium, lady’s slipper orchid, salmon berry, wild ginger, pinesap, vanilla leaf.

Around the birdfeeder

June 2, 2021 | thetigershadow

It’s bizarre to see that it’s been almost a year since I last posted anything. An international move, an interstate move, and a new job, with a young family, during a pandemic took just about all my energy. But I have been taking pictures and we are loving being back in familiar surroundings and exploring our local natural areas. To start back up, here’s some photos from our time in California, and a few of the backyard birds we met there.

Rhododendrons in the rain

June 7, 2020 | thetigershadow

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A gardenful of rhododendrons—Washington’s state flower—in our local park in Leipzig. Something beautiful of home to break up the isolation of quarantine so far from home.

Spring walks

May 13, 2020 | thetigershadow

Like much of the world, we’re limited in our travels and consequent photo opportunities. Instead we’ve been enjoying walks in the city park near our home, especially with all the flowers and waterfowl. The family of coots swimming around the pond yesterday was a big highlight!