What can I say...the Pacific Northwest is really the BEST place to live in the summer. The days are usually between 70 and 80 degrees, and the nights cool down between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Perfect.
Plus, this is the land of berries; raspberries, strawberries, marionberries, and blueberries. I bought 4 lbs of blueberries after work today, at $5 per lb. how could anyone not!! I will freeze most of them. My roommate claims there is a cherry tree a few blocks from us that one can stroll by and munch on Rainier cherries(for those of you who are not familiar, they are the light colored yellowish ones from this region, also the pricier ones). I'll have to take a walk, as soon as my foot heals a bit more.
About 4 weeks ago, I was running and all of a sudden, there were shooting pains in my left ankle. I immediately stopped running and started walking. Even that was excruciatingly painful. My ankle did NOT swell up as sprains usually do. I iced it, elevated it, rested it and compressed it in an ACE bandage(RICE). After three days of this, I was worried, so I bit the bullet and went into the emergency room to get Xrays taken. All the Xrays showed was that it was not broken. I had about 8 different professionals caring for me and all I got was a "it's just sprained" response. We'll see how much the bill will be for that one. In the meantime I have been resting it, wearing an air cast when I walk, and going to acupuncture treatments. Those are so relaxing. This has been the first time I have tried acupuncture. Down in the Beacon Hill neighborhood there is a community clinic that offers treatment on a sliding scale. I sat in a huge comfortable reclining chair while they stuck needles into specific nerve points on my wrists, ankles and neck. It's fascinating how everything is somehow connected.
Other than resting my sore ankle, I have been partaking in a music festival almost every weekend. Banjo playing does not require the use of ankles. The weekend before the 4Th of July, I hitched a ride with two musicians going out to Port Townsend, WA for the Festival of American Fiddle tunes. It was hosted at Fort Worden, an old army/air core base just outside of Port Townsend on the Olympic peninsula. My days there consisted of helping out at my friend's music store, where I sold cds, strings, and repertoire books. Every morning there were numerous workshops going on. I was able to attend 2 amazing banjo workshops. They were both taught by members of the band Backstep, a band from the Round Peak region of North Carolina. This banjo style is very notey and follows the fiddle almost exactly. Many banjo players from this region play fretless, for easy sliding purposes. I was happy to find out that they'll be camping at Clifftop this year!
I just returned this past weekend from a similar but different festival in North Plains, OR. Just outside of Portland is a farm in a canyon called Horning's Hideout. Every year they host the Northwest String Summit, a bluegrass oriented music festival. It's in the woods, and people camp close to one another. A few friends and I drove up Thursday to get a good spot. We had three tents and three hammocks hanging between the trees. The music at this festival was less traditional, more experimental, but nonetheless amazing. Yonder Mountain Stringband was the headliner along with Keller Williams. It definitely had a hippy feeling to it, glow sticks, hula hoops, bare feet and tons of psychedelic smells drifting through the forest air. The best way to describe this festival was a magical party in the forest.
Above is a photo I took from my hammock. These trees are amazing. So this is summer, part I. More to come.