Swans, Winter Gorge and Baby Hats

Hello! On Saturday Dayle and I headed out to see how the Columbia River Gorge was doing after the big snow and ice storm.  First on agenda was to try to get some photos of the Tundra Swans that were wintering in Mirror Lake by Rooster Rock.  We actually found a small group of the swans in the lake in Stevenson by their fairgrounds and this image was captured there.

This image is from near Rooster Rock.. there are many swans there, but my images are not good.  I have to say I'm very disappointed in the zoom on my bigger Lumix.  So, the quest continues for a good zoom on a reasonable sized camera.  

This is another shot from Stevenson, Dayle walked out near the lake to snap the ones from there for me.  

There was also a large group of Canada Geese there which I captured.

Looking beyond the geese I was able to get a shot of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train racing by.

We were happy to be able to go to Big T's in Stevenson for lunch.  I had a bacon, mushroom and avocado hamburger and crunchy tater tots and oh it was so good.  Dayle enjoyed his burger, too.  After lunch we crossed over the Bridge of the Gods into Cascade Locks and drove around in the park there and I got some photos of the gorgeous mountains in Washington across the river.  

We could not safely get here during the worst of the storm, but I do imagine these crags were completely white then.

And yes.. it was as cold as it looks.

In the park there is a bronze statue of Sacagawea carrying her baby Jean Baptiste Charbonneau with Lewis' dog "Seaman" a Newfoundland - these three were an important part of the Lewis  & Clark Expedition.

Further along in the park is this life-size bronze sculpture of a Mountain Lion which I love to point out to the kids.  On a serious note, the trees in the park took a massive hit during this storm, there were piles of branches and whole trees down, it's a mess.  We noted a lot of damage to the trees in our drive through the gorge.

A last shot of the river before we headed home.

During the weekend I worked on my current project - making baby hats for US Military families who are expecting a baby.  The Daughters of the American Revolution has the "Operation Diaper Bag" where they put things together for expectant mothers, so I am making some cute little hats to tuck in for them.  If you want to make one or more and send them my way, I will see that they are given to the organizers.  

I created the shell design baby hat and if you want to use the pattern, email me and I will send the pattern and my address to you.  :-)  I also made a plain double crochet hat for little baby boys, but must admit, I like the shell one much better.  I am almost finished with my third!

Now for my news section of my blog.  Yes, I'm a blogger of crochet and rivers and my farm and life - but I am also a person who is seriously concerned about the state of my country since the election of a seriously dangerous man who has selected the most ill-advised cabinet possible.  

I do know that I have readers who aren't pleased or comfortable with my "news" part of my blog, but I also applaud you if you still read me even if we disagree.  It can't be easy to see my thoughts and feelings if you voted for the current president.  But I think you are good to listen to this side of the issue.  I read the current issue of Time online - it was very very good.  Please read this no matter what side you're on as it explains so much.  You will be illuminated.

What I want to communicate is some people think the "Liberals" are just upset that they "lost".  And that is not it - we did not raise a ruckus when other Republicans won.  Did we?  No.  But this is a totally different situation.  This man is not suited to hold the highest office in this nation.  He is making dangerous decisions.  I will not list my concerns of the actions being taken this time, but there are many.  OK.. nuff said for now.  
((hugs)), Teresa :-)