I imported these postings from another blogger site:
Monday, February 20, 2006
Planning ahead for summer
High water, cold winds and too many things to do down here in Tacoma are keeping me from my winter weekend at our church's Cascade Cabin Retreat.
There always seems to be something "important" to do to keep me from tossing a sleeping bag, a gallon of water and a handful of microwave meals in the van and heading north. Yet afterward, looking out a window as I scratch another line off my Job Jar lists, I wonder who sets my priorities.
The daffodils are a foot high and the buds are showing yellow. It's almost George Washington's real birthday, and that's when I'vealways had my first vegetable seeds in the ground. I want to get a couple of packets of nasturtiums into that rich loam at the cabin, and I don't think I'll make it by George's deadline.
But maybe next week!
High water, cold winds and too many things to do down here in Tacoma are keeping me from my winter weekend at our church's Cascade Cabin Retreat.
There always seems to be something "important" to do to keep me from tossing a sleeping bag, a gallon of water and a handful of microwave meals in the van and heading north. Yet afterward, looking out a window as I scratch another line off my Job Jar lists, I wonder who sets my priorities.
The daffodils are a foot high and the buds are showing yellow. It's almost George Washington's real birthday, and that's when I'vealways had my first vegetable seeds in the ground. I want to get a couple of packets of nasturtiums into that rich loam at the cabin, and I don't think I'll make it by George's deadline.
But maybe next week!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Cabin in the Cascades
Once a fisherman's cabin in the heart of the Sauk River steelhead capital of the North Cascades, the Cascade Cabin Retreat is owned by the congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Tacoma.
The Deed of Gift specifies that the cabin is to be used solely as a spiritual retreat, in accordance
with the mission and values of the church.
Fortunately, those values include a oneness with the natural world, and an appreciation of its geographical location amid some of the finest scenery and recreational opportunities of the Pacific Northwest.
The cabin setting is not idyllic. Its lot abuts the Rockport-Darryington Road. During weekdays, logging trucks rumble past. Other days, caravans of motorcyles zoom up the highway, and down the highway. Saturday-night traffic may include a few loud pickup trucks. But like urban noises, with familiarity they fade to the background. The cabin once was a part of a sports-fishing community. Now our cabin is the only one on the east side of Rustic Lane not lived in 24/7. The neighbors all are nice--but still, this now is a residential neighborhood.
Two short blocks west of Rustic Lane the Sauk River rolls north down to the Skagit, and into Puget Sound. For most of the summer, the east shore of the Sauk is a sandy beach. When the rains begin (or the snowmelt) the river fills its banks. During a Pineapple Express, upstream outflow can bring the water over the banks and into the trees. In 2003, it left a woodshed roof amid the laurel and fir, and a line of litter at the end of Park Lane, above the fenceposts.
Year-around, the Sauk is a salmon-fisherman's playground. Kayakers, canoeists and rafters uses it for guided tours and personal adventures. In the winter, eagles from as far away as Alaska converge on the Sauk to harvest the spawning salmon. Trumpeter swans migrate through the Sauk drainage, blanketing newly harvested fields with their gleaning.
Once a fisherman's cabin in the heart of the Sauk River steelhead capital of the North Cascades, the Cascade Cabin Retreat is owned by the congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Tacoma.
The Deed of Gift specifies that the cabin is to be used solely as a spiritual retreat, in accordance
with the mission and values of the church.Fortunately, those values include a oneness with the natural world, and an appreciation of its geographical location amid some of the finest scenery and recreational opportunities of the Pacific Northwest.
The cabin setting is not idyllic. Its lot abuts the Rockport-Darryington Road. During weekdays, logging trucks rumble past. Other days, caravans of motorcyles zoom up the highway, and down the highway. Saturday-night traffic may include a few loud pickup trucks. But like urban noises, with familiarity they fade to the background. The cabin once was a part of a sports-fishing community. Now our cabin is the only one on the east side of Rustic Lane not lived in 24/7. The neighbors all are nice--but still, this now is a residential neighborhood.
Two short blocks west of Rustic Lane the Sauk River rolls north down to the Skagit, and into Puget Sound. For most of the summer, the east shore of the Sauk is a sandy beach. When the rains begin (or the snowmelt) the river fills its banks. During a Pineapple Express, upstream outflow can bring the water over the banks and into the trees. In 2003, it left a woodshed roof amid the laurel and fir, and a line of litter at the end of Park Lane, above the fenceposts.
Year-around, the Sauk is a salmon-fisherman's playground. Kayakers, canoeists and rafters uses it for guided tours and personal adventures. In the winter, eagles from as far away as Alaska converge on the Sauk to harvest the spawning salmon. Trumpeter swans migrate through the Sauk drainage, blanketing newly harvested fields with their gleaning.
In memory of Dick Kohler
A fireside bench made of recycled materials was dedicated October 22, 2005, at the Cascades Cabin Retreat.The bench honors our memories of Dick Kohler, a revered elder of the Unitarian Association of Tacoma. Dick and his wife, Edna, and their daughter, Esther, spent countless days at the cabin, in the heart of Washington State's North Cascades mountain range.
Rugged cliffs tower above the canopy of maple and fir that shades the rustic cabin. Not far away, the Sauk River rolls swiftly down to the Skagit and Puget Sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment