Seattle Tours
Some notes on wandering around Seattle and environs.Sunday, April 29, 2007
Wildlife interactions
Not much today but for a young, obese cat meditating on an unaware mallard.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Red alder on the Raging
Went back to Fall City to get some cottonwood and alder bark along the Snoqualmie and Raging rivers.
Alder was commonly used for medicine by the Indians up and down the west coast, in similar ways. Peoples from Europe also realized the usefulness of the species found there. More recently, 'scientific' studies have confirmed its curative characteristics. Still, it is not much part of the modern herbal materia medica.
Gunther, in her 1940 ethnobotany reported that many tribes boiled the bark for colds and stomach problems. Cones were eaten to treat dysentry and catkins were chewed for diarrhea. An ointment of the bark was used for eruptive skin diseases. The rotten wood was rubbed on the bodies of those suffering from rheumatic pains.
Recent lab studies have shown that the bark extract is an effective antibacterial against Staphylococcus, E. coli and other bad guys. Diarylheptanoid and its glycoside (oregonin) were identified as the active ingredients. In another study, 100 plant extracts were tested for antifungal activity; the extract from Alnus rubra catkins were among the very strongest antifungals. Last but certainly not least, the anticancer effects of lupeol and betulin (two other compounds found in alder bark extract) have been confirmed in several studies.
I collected leaves and bark. I also chewed on some catkins while i was there, and ill be damned if my poop wasn't firmer than before. I took some leaves to dry for tea -- it can serve as a nice astringent, tonifying tea (actually I am more interested in the taste and color.) From the bark i made a vinegar for an antirheumatic bath -- it's beautiful apricot orange. i also made a decoction of the bark and refrigerated it for later.
On the left you see a small group of young alders on the bank of the Raging River -- Id guess these trees are 10-15 years old or so. They grow quick and die young. On the right you see the confluence of the Raging and the Snoqualmie -- this scene is dominated by cottonwoods. I wanted to collect alder here (where i collected cottonwood buds and bark), but there were none. i had to go half a mile or so up the Raging to find an alder stand. Note that these locations are verging on being too urban -- though I took the decision at the scene that it was probably still an OK harvesting place.
Alder was commonly used for medicine by the Indians up and down the west coast, in similar ways. Peoples from Europe also realized the usefulness of the species found there. More recently, 'scientific' studies have confirmed its curative characteristics. Still, it is not much part of the modern herbal materia medica.
Gunther, in her 1940 ethnobotany reported that many tribes boiled the bark for colds and stomach problems. Cones were eaten to treat dysentry and catkins were chewed for diarrhea. An ointment of the bark was used for eruptive skin diseases. The rotten wood was rubbed on the bodies of those suffering from rheumatic pains.
Recent lab studies have shown that the bark extract is an effective antibacterial against Staphylococcus, E. coli and other bad guys. Diarylheptanoid and its glycoside (oregonin) were identified as the active ingredients. In another study, 100 plant extracts were tested for antifungal activity; the extract from Alnus rubra catkins were among the very strongest antifungals. Last but certainly not least, the anticancer effects of lupeol and betulin (two other compounds found in alder bark extract) have been confirmed in several studies.
I collected leaves and bark. I also chewed on some catkins while i was there, and ill be damned if my poop wasn't firmer than before. I took some leaves to dry for tea -- it can serve as a nice astringent, tonifying tea (actually I am more interested in the taste and color.) From the bark i made a vinegar for an antirheumatic bath -- it's beautiful apricot orange. i also made a decoction of the bark and refrigerated it for later.
On the left you see a small group of young alders on the bank of the Raging River -- Id guess these trees are 10-15 years old or so. They grow quick and die young. On the right you see the confluence of the Raging and the Snoqualmie -- this scene is dominated by cottonwoods. I wanted to collect alder here (where i collected cottonwood buds and bark), but there were none. i had to go half a mile or so up the Raging to find an alder stand. Note that these locations are verging on being too urban -- though I took the decision at the scene that it was probably still an OK harvesting place.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Spaces left fallow
Last couple weeks I have been staying in an abandoned house, where I used to pay rent and live with seven other people. Here is a picture of the house and the old garden in the back yard, now dominated by volunteer Arugula.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Wet in the Northwest
(left) …woke damply at 7 AM, a rainy morning in Blaine, and took public transit all the way back to Seattle. Did not see my friend Jordan in Bellingham. Here you see the statue outside the Blaine City Hall.
(right) These folks were asleep when I got back to Seattle, they woke damply too, but not from rain, but from sidewalk rivulet of urine.
(right) These folks were asleep when I got back to Seattle, they woke damply too, but not from rain, but from sidewalk rivulet of urine.
On the road to Blaine
Hopped on a north-bound Canadian grainer in the Balmer Yard in Seattle, and eventually blew through my preferred destination of Bellingham; ended up in Blaine. For the car-oriented, Blaine is the border town you run into if you drive Interstate 5 to the US-Canada border. Had a run in with the Border Patrol in the middle of the night but all was resolved…Here are some scenes from the ride north. This first one is going over the Salmon Bay waterway in Ballard.
Lots and lots of empty cars pulled by six engines, stretched out along the Puget Sound.
Here our train is bearing left at the split entering Everett. If the train goes right here onto the upper track, it is bound for Stevens Pass (and Wenatchee)!
Passing over the Snohomish River at Everett, looking upriver at the Highway 529 car bridge.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Interbay to Interlaken
A southbound general manifest poses near Magnolia bridge during a crew change. This train of Canadian origin was headed to Vancouver, Washington and points east and south, likely broken up along the way.
Interlaken ravine. Lots of trail work done here recently, looks like there was some mud flow here too since last year (see also 4/20 entry).
Yard sales and ferrets hiding in jackets
Went to a yard sale next to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral on 13th Ave. in Capitol Hill, to look for cooking implements. There weren't any.
At a bus stop in the UDistrict, a dude grabbed to-go restaurant pasta out of the garbage, and got some bystanders to take care of his ferret while he fed the pasta to the ducks.
At a bus stop in the UDistrict, a dude grabbed to-go restaurant pasta out of the garbage, and got some bystanders to take care of his ferret while he fed the pasta to the ducks.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Things come and go
Today I saw that they were destroying the old Teamsters building on Denny near Aurora. That had been their home since around WWII, through much of the Dave Beck era, etc. They sold the building and moved to Tukwila a year ago or so. The building was vacated and fenced off and it was just a matter of time ‘til the claw came. Glad I got to pay some last respects.
Later I went to Magnolia to the site of the 1997 Perkins Lane landslide, one of my favorite places in the city. It had changed quite a bit since last year, due to November and December’s big storms. Lots of clay moved.
(left) Squishy clay leading down to Puget Sound at low tide.
(right) Exposed till soil, Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor) and Horsetail (Equisetum sp.)
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Cottonwood collecting
Went to the Lander Street Home Depot to buy some rope. Found lots of day laborers hanging out, waiting for the Mister to come along in the pick up truck and give them work. I had never noticed men waiting at Home Depot before, but it’s a sensible place…more so than under the viaduct in Belltown, since Casa Latina moved. You can see them next to the Home Depot sign.
Then I got on a bus and went to Fall City and North Bend, where I collected Cottonwood tree medicine (Populus trichocarpa). From the leaf buds I made a salve for burns (the buds contain salicylates and bisabolol) and from the bark I made a tincture for coughs and sore throats. The salve can also work for congestion due to the aromatic balsamic resins in the buds. The various species of cottonwoods were used in similar ways throughout the American west, long before the arrival of whites – antibacterial, analgesic, astringent etc. Below you see a stand of cottonwoods along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River.
I think I might have harvested the buds about ten days too late. I think the buds were bad, but I made the salve anyway for the practice. Here are some of the buds I collected...the old trestle of the Milwaukee Road is in the background.
Then I got on a bus and went to Fall City and North Bend, where I collected Cottonwood tree medicine (Populus trichocarpa). From the leaf buds I made a salve for burns (the buds contain salicylates and bisabolol) and from the bark I made a tincture for coughs and sore throats. The salve can also work for congestion due to the aromatic balsamic resins in the buds. The various species of cottonwoods were used in similar ways throughout the American west, long before the arrival of whites – antibacterial, analgesic, astringent etc. Below you see a stand of cottonwoods along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River.
I think I might have harvested the buds about ten days too late. I think the buds were bad, but I made the salve anyway for the practice. Here are some of the buds I collected...the old trestle of the Milwaukee Road is in the background.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Findings
Rode around the city on my bike.
Found where the lone maple dwells in the Cascade neighborhood.
Found where the lone man feeds the seagull, in Myrtle Edwards park.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
To the Alps via the CD
Woke up early to go hiking in the mountains. Encountered a remediation site in the Central District, where contaminated shallow groundwater was being pumped into holding tanks. This has been carried out at many former gas station properties and (as in this case) former dry cleaner sites. The brick building that used to be in this lot (SW corner 23rd and Union, former home of Ms. Helen’s Soul Food) was ruined in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake and then it got the wrecking ball treatment. Now it’s just open dirt, butterfly bushes and other weeds.
Looks like they are injecting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into the ground, which oxidizes contaminants such as solvents or PCE left from the dry cleaners, and the fluid is then extracted at other nearby well points.
Unauthorized photo by Cameron. Jonah contemplates the heights and the depths.
Trillium ovatum (Liliaceae), one of Spring's first flowering forbs in the lowland coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, was out in force today, along with Viola glabella.
Looks like they are injecting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into the ground, which oxidizes contaminants such as solvents or PCE left from the dry cleaners, and the fluid is then extracted at other nearby well points.
Spent the day in a more pristine setting with my friends Jonah and Cory. Hiked up to Rattlesnake Ridge (eastern Issaquah Alps), found snow at about 2500 feet elevation.
Authorized photo by Jonah. Cameron overlooks outlet of Rattlesnake Lake.
Unauthorized photo by Cameron. Jonah contemplates the heights and the depths.
Trillium ovatum (Liliaceae), one of Spring's first flowering forbs in the lowland coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, was out in force today, along with Viola glabella.
Red alders (Alnus rubra) guard the snow-dusted trail.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Along the water
Once in a while we get a day burst of warmth in the first week of April, then it cools off again before the real change comes. Last time this really happened pronouncedly was 2004, when it was around 75 degrees on April 4. This year we had a similar day on April 6, it got up to 75 or 80 degrees. I hung out a lot with my pregnant friend Jen -- we went to Alki Beach and Terminal 105 together. Later we went to the DennyBlaine beach on Lake Washington with the father of her child, Tim.
Jen takes in Elliott Bay and the sky line
Jen takes in Elliott Bay and the sky line
Tim takes on Lake Washington, near full frontal
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Up in the city
Wandered around the city with my friend Cory, here he is smiling dorkily in front of some house in the MLK/Union vicinity.
Di un paseo por la ciudad con mi amigo Cory, aqui el se ve sonriendo como un tonto frente de unas casas en el vecindario de MLK/Union.
We went to look at the city from the water tower in Volunteer Park, and later went to the Louisa Boren lookout. Everything looks about the same as I left it, but the sky’s always changing.
Fuimos a mirar a la ciudad desde el tanque de agua en Volunteer Park, y despues fuimos a la vista de Louisa Boren. Todo se ve mas o menos lo mismo como lo deje, pero el cielo siempre cambia.
West to Puget Sound from the Volunteer Park water tower
East to Lake Washington from the Louisa Boren lookout
Di un paseo por la ciudad con mi amigo Cory, aqui el se ve sonriendo como un tonto frente de unas casas en el vecindario de MLK/Union.
We went to look at the city from the water tower in Volunteer Park, and later went to the Louisa Boren lookout. Everything looks about the same as I left it, but the sky’s always changing.
Fuimos a mirar a la ciudad desde el tanque de agua en Volunteer Park, y despues fuimos a la vista de Louisa Boren. Todo se ve mas o menos lo mismo como lo deje, pero el cielo siempre cambia.
West to Puget Sound from the Volunteer Park water tower
East to Lake Washington from the Louisa Boren lookout
Monday, April 02, 2007
Returning home
I jumped on a north bound freight in Portland to return to Seattle after a five-month absence. I only made it to Kelso. Then I walked four miles to the highway and got a ride from some British ex-pat. We spoke Spanish, he was married for eight years in Argentina. These are some pictures from my train ride.
En Portland, Oregon, subi a un tren de carga, rumbo al norte, para regresar a Seattle despues de cinco meses de ausencia. Solo llegue a Kelso. Camine 7 kilometros para llegar a la carretera y me dio un gran empujon un britanico que ahora vive en EEUU. Hablamos espanol, el habia sido casado ocho anos en Argentina. Hay aqui unos fotos del viaje en el tren:
Wild cherries (Prunus) and maples (Acer) in bloom: we're on the cusp of the 2007 leaf out.
Deep-welled DOWX: probably an empty plastic pellet car
Bucolic scene near Kalama, WA
En Portland, Oregon, subi a un tren de carga, rumbo al norte, para regresar a Seattle despues de cinco meses de ausencia. Solo llegue a Kelso. Camine 7 kilometros para llegar a la carretera y me dio un gran empujon un britanico que ahora vive en EEUU. Hablamos espanol, el habia sido casado ocho anos en Argentina. Hay aqui unos fotos del viaje en el tren:
Wild cherries (Prunus) and maples (Acer) in bloom: we're on the cusp of the 2007 leaf out.
Deep-welled DOWX: probably an empty plastic pellet car
Bucolic scene near Kalama, WA
Roaming Seattle
I don’t have a job. I don’t have a house. I just wander through the city and the surrounding areas. This blog is a few remarks about the days as the pass by, inexorably, in Seattle USA.
I’ll try to put up a few pictures here each day or so, so my far-away friends can see what’s up where I live.
No tengo trabajo. No tengo una casa. Solo ando vagando por la ciudad y sus alrededores. Este Blog da unos comentarios acerca de los dias, los dias que pasan inexorablemente.
Voy a intentar a poner unos fotos aca cada dia, para que mi amigos lejanos puedan ver que pasa aqui donde vivo yo.
I’ll try to put up a few pictures here each day or so, so my far-away friends can see what’s up where I live.
No tengo trabajo. No tengo una casa. Solo ando vagando por la ciudad y sus alrededores. Este Blog da unos comentarios acerca de los dias, los dias que pasan inexorablemente.
Voy a intentar a poner unos fotos aca cada dia, para que mi amigos lejanos puedan ver que pasa aqui donde vivo yo.
Archives
April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 October 2007 February 2008 March 2008
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]