fort, townsend, washington

Before all the madness of filming, being shuttled around to different places, and doing my best to be a video director, cameralady, editor, and everything else - I had a birthday.  I reserved one special day before my first job to spend time with my deer friend, tucked up in a little cottage on the olympic peninsula.

My only request for my birthday was to take a walk in the mossy woods.  After being so long on the east coast, any time I saw a photo of the mossy, misty northwest my heart would hurt just a bit.  So, Melissa heard me.  We walked through the cedar and pine to an abandoned fort on the hill.  A magical overgrown place, sometimes painted the most beautiful, muted colors.

And, I hate to say, but while the rest of the continent was enduring snow and mostly below freezing temperatures, my birthday was graced with sunshine.  I even got to take my coat off for a bit.

meadow lark

Shot in dreamy Port Townsend.  Right now thinking of the Olympic Peninsula, or British Columbia, makes my heart hurt a little.

indoorsy

Hours with this girl are generally like stepping away from reality and into a cozy dream.  My first morning there we stayed in our pajamas, turning on the soft music and warming up a breakfast of egg and biscuits.  Although I hadn't really seen much of her new hometown yet, we decided it was best to keep the pajamas on, turn on the childhood movies and spend the remainder of the morning painting. 

Beforehand, my days in Vermont were becoming increasingly filled and I was accruing a debt of self- care time.  So, this time in Port Townsend was doubly appreciated.  If only all my days could be filled thoroughly nested inside with a warm cup of tea, a paint set, and sweet music.

Plus with autumn coming, I had fun, in the afternoons, making sweet potato and apple soup, and trying out a pumpkin crisp recipe!

port townsend, wa

... where the fawns roam freely in the street, the air is always crisp, and all moments happen along the water.  We had a sweet, quiet few days - playing music and singing on driftwood by the ocean, marinating in coffee shops, taking long walks - the usual.

Our time together is always special and refreshing in a way that I feel is quite rare.  Something about being together allows me to relax and let myself go - feel more. It is something that I can only appreciate after we've parted, and I notice the small transformation that occurred.

Also, geez, are you seeing this place.

the best of: june edition

Happy July 1st! And even though I'm not there - Canada day!  Here are a few of my favorite moments from my last bit of time there (and Washington too).  Like, I mean, remember this pie?

And when I would be washing dishes and look up to see the silly cat had nested herself inside a cake box.  She's pregnant by the way!  It's crazy to think one day soon I may come home from class to tiny little baby cats waiting for me!

Hannah and I's sweet early morning breakfast at Fol Epi before work.  She made a green smoothie and we shared a caramelized onion and bacon quiche - so good.

Impromptu picnics outside of my place.

When my neighbors would hang laundry up outside of my place and the setting sun would shine through it in just the right way.  Also that I had access to all those green things growing!

Silly photo shoots on the Washington state ferries with my sister.

This cupcake.

a few more...

It's raining here in Nelson, BC.  I've been sipping my coffee and watching the clouds envelop the mountain peaks, silver wisps floating just above the lake.  This greyscale of mist and cloud and fog are what I'll miss most about British Columbia, they give all the shades of green a depth that quiets and softens, I don't think I'll know a landscape that is quite so humbling.

And Nelson is just the wonder that I remember - a small mountain gem of a town, not too big and not too small - complete with two sweet food coops, the friendliest people and a setting that there aren't really words for.  I've only been here 14 hours and I've already had multiple in-depth conversations with the locals. While I was settling down last night the thought popped in my head, "I want to settle here one day."  But, who's to say what will happen.

Anyway, here are a few more photos from last weekend's trip to Washington.  I'll post crossing-Canada-road-trip footage as soon as I can!

the last, vashon island.

I lose track of the date and time - the days blow by so quickly, my mind has hardly caught up to the long summer days approaching, that before I know it, my old life will resume in Vermont, everything abruptly the same, with all the magical moments from Victoria, like a dream, floating in the background.  But time is catching up and here we are, mid-June and my last time in Washington with my sweet sister-friend Melissa, before all my eyes see are the road ahead.  After doing our usual marinating in coffee shops and breakfast places we decided we go on a bicycle excursion and, blindly pointing our fingers on a map, we decided: Vashon Island.  

And what a great decision - it was so fun to bike onto the ferry and have really no idea what the destination is.  We were met with a long and gradual hill to bike into town, hard work, but the payoff being a view of wooden island homes with sweet window boxes, and groups of does grazing in the front yard.  Sunday evening means that Vashon Island is quiet, but we did manage to find Snapdragon, the most charming rustic bakery, to rest and share dinner, and, I mean, chocolate cupcakes.

And you gotta take time to respectfully explore around the abandoned houses, especially when the overlook the water and hillside homes of Seattle, just beyond.

I'm going to miss this girl.

to washington.

Last weekend I took the ferry on over to Washington to go visit my close friend Melissa.  Here are some of the sweetest moments from my trip!

Washington

A weekend to Washington to see a sweet, familiar face.  And what a beautiful weekend it was, neither of us were sick or totally exhausted from crossing the country, and there was just a general feeling of excitement.  There was music to be played, sweets to be eaten, markets to traverse, and grocery store trips that desperately needed for us to giggle in our pj's on the way to and fro. I was able to share the mossy green Washington forests with lovely people and we stumbled upon a dinosaur skeleton :o (okay, yes, it was probably a deer).  

The Pacific Northwest holds a certain depth of color and mist that often surprises my eyes when I look around - a type of scenery that I've never seen before.  Even in Seattle, the area is so lush and rich that moss is able to grow on the cement - scattered along fences and coating trees - a type of beauty that seems to say you can flourish no matter where you are.