grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

World’s Largest Spruce Tree

By

Near Lake Quinault on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula lives the world’s largest spruce tree. Estimated to be around 1,000 years old and with a 58+ foot circumference, he’s a beast.

Following one of the must-do rules of vacation (always stop when in close proximity to the largest anything), we paid him a visit during our drive along the Oregon Coast.

The pictures do not do him justice…

talya

Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind. Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things. –― Vera Nazarian

Hiking the Pacific Coast Bookstores…

By

Those who know me, know I love my ratty, laceless converse tennis shoes. I own several pairs in shades of faded gray and dingy white. 
Before I left for Oregon, I bought a pair of Tevas (with laces!) cute enough to serve as regular walking-around shoes yet sturdy for hiking and exploring the Pacific Northwest. 
I wore them hiking around Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls, Or
I wore them hiking the 164 winding steps at Astoria Column.
Astoria Column

I planned to wear my Tevas to San Juan Island, but couldn’t find them anywhere. Not in my overflowing, disorganized luggage. Not in the rental car. 
Somewhere between Astoria and Anacortes, I managed to lose my new shoes.

Really, it’s probably a good thing. Since John and I managed to hike through every bookstore from Portland to San Juan Island, I’ll need extra room in my suitcase for the five new books traveling home with us to Dallas.

Plus we still have two days to explore Seattle’s bookstores. 


Moral of this story…
  • I really do love books more than shoes
  • I wasn’t meant to wear laces in my tennis shoes (Harold)
  • Maybe I wasn’t meant to wear shoes at all…

talya

PS:  Our bookstore tour so far (with links to websites)…

Powell Books, Portland, Oregon
Cannon Beach Books, Cannon Beach, Oregon
Cannon Beach Library, Cannon Beach, Oregon
Lucy’s Books, Astoria, Oregon
The Writers’ Workshoppe, Port Townsend, Washington
William James Bookseller, Port Townsend, Washington
Watermark Book Company, Anacortes, Washington
Serendipity, San Juan Island, Washington

Grace Grits and Gardening
Serendipity, San Juan Island

    the art of Cannon Beach

    By

    We wandered into the art studio of Richard Gorsuch, who paints from his cute bungalow just off Ocean Drive in Cannon Beach.  Instead of ferns and hanging baskets, his porch overflowed with a paint-smeared easel and work-in-process oil paintings.
    He pulled us inside past his turquoise screen door, and I immediately felt at home.
    With a round face, white beard and rosy cheeks, he was the Miracle on 34th Street Kris Kringle. His eyes even twinkled when he spoke of his love for art and Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.
    He moved to Cannon Beach in 1999 specifically to paint Haystack Rock. Everyday he paints the rock, in different weather, different light, different seasons. That rock is my passion, he said. And I wanted my boys to grow up running on the sand, he added. And they did. (His boys, now in their twenties, are also artists living nearby.)
    photo courtesy of Roy S. Talbot
    It’s not been easy. We had just enough money to buy this place which was really only a shack at the time. Sometimes we weren’t sure we would survive living off our art, but so far we’ve made it. When you want something with your entire being, you find a way to make it happen.


    We sat and visited with Mr. Gorsuch as though we had known him for years. We studied his paintings, the way he captured light off the tide pools, the way he painted peacefulness. 
    Just beyond his window, thick, thriving hydrangea distracted me with flower heads the size of basketballs, more deep purple than blue. 

    I wondered how he resisted painting the hydrangea. At least once.

    talya

    Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

    THANKS FOR READING!