Red Vase

I think that this red vase may be depression glass or carnival glass. Other than that I know nothing about it.

Stardust

Peppermint Stick Zinnia

We were late in planting the garden, so even the quick-starters are just starting to be productive. Last year, I wasted a lot of money on exotic seeds that never germinated. Since I couldn't be sure if it was the seeds or it was me at fault, I decided to keep the flower experiments simple until I had a clue about what I was doing.

Zinnias are easy. Zinnias truly are "Flowers for Dummies". So I bought almost every Zinnia mix that Johnny's offers.



The Peppermint Stick is supposed to be a "fully double bloom".



They're not exactly turning out like that, though. (Compare with the image in that last link.)



Maybe they need more water. I kind of like them this way, though.



One of the "small percentage of solid colors" they warn you about.



This one's trying to go for "double" I guess. Sometimes one of the petals is a solid color like this. I found that if I cut them at this point, those inner petals never unfurl. They seem to stay frozen in time at the moment of cutting.

Like all the other Zinnias, they have excellent staying power as a cut flower.

Success, failures and a happy thrashing to all!

Since my return to rock climbing this past summer, Laura and I have been very busy doing crag work and climbing as much as possible. My shoulder injury from last winters rail antics at 7 Springs seemed to take forever to heal into climbable shape. Starting slow and climbing mostly on 5.11 and under seemed to be working at improving my weak shoulder. After only a short time back and feeling a better I upped the stakes and decided to tryPinch Me I'm Dreaming a 5.12+ mixed gear line at The Knobs in Dunbar, PA. The climb went pretty well, except that I aggravated my shoulder during the ascent. Once again I eased back down to vast amounts of sub 5.10's and easing into 11's for the past several months trying to heal it more. I've since recovered enough and managed to climb a few easy 12's without more injury and am feeling OK, but definitely not 100%. I really want to get back into projecting routes and being able to push harder, but I've been nervous about further injury and destroying myself for ice season. Yesterday Laura and I decided to ride into River's End Crag and climb there for a few hours. We climbed several climbs and I decided it was time to see how healed I was. I decided to drop a rope on Sludge Factory a 5.12+ that I've yet to red point. I figured the top rope was best that way I could safely test my shoulders thresholds without over doing it due to red point determination. I've only tried the route a few days since equipping it back in late . Its seen a couple of ascents that I know of and is a solid route for the grade. To date the best I've done is one hang it. There are two very distinct cruxes on this route. One is making it past the first bolt, the second is surmounting the large overhang at the top. In past efforts the top crux has been my Kryptonite. I'm usually so pumped that hanging in for the last clip is not within my abilities and off flying I usually go waiting to hit the ledge below. Yesterday was just the opposite. The bottom crux rocked my world in every conceivable fashion and the upper went without a hitch despite needing a good brushing. I hope this is the sign of better things to come. I've been waiting patiently trying not to hurt myself, but I really miss working near my limits. I've been recently given the pleasure of watching people on our new routes and have throughly enjoyed seeing both success and failure. Not failure because I'm glad they didn't succeed, but glad in a sense that I remembered how much fun failing can be. Failing means you get to have more days perfecting sections that are "tricky" for you, which in turn makes you a more fluid climber. I haven't met a climber that doesn't like success. The more effort, the sweeter the success. Even after the greatest successes I've found that the "send high" is only a short lived moment of glory that is quickly eclipsed by the next line looking to smack you down. Yesterday was just that for me, the fun part... working the line... getting beat by it and getting to come back and try again another day. Failing just means another day of climbing!

Equipping Sludge Factory in

One of the amazing events I recently witnessed was Laura having a great break through this past week. After being dejected by the crux start ofDeliverance5.11+ at Bruner Run on many attempts, she worked out an inspiring sequence that proves that short folks CAN do this line. Using obscure stemming and showing extreme flexibility, she managed to get a clean send. It was quite funny how convinced she was that it was "impossible for her". She declared that it was a line that she'd never get due to the long reach. Only by pure determination and serious effort was she rewarded with the realization that she could send harder lines... Her display of cranking convinced me that I needed to get back to trying harder despite my shoulder. To put the plan in motion, I'm declaring war on Sludge Factory after a couple rest days. Then its on with Devil's Doorway a project route thatI put anchors on Monday. Its a hard line that repeatedly spit me off years ago when I was a stronger climber. Will I ever send it? Hopefully...or not. Getting to try it once again without injury will be reward enough for me! Happy Climbing



On another note be sure to check out the Ohiopyle climbing guide I've put together in blog form. You can find it on the menu at the top of my page! I'm also working on updating my old Breakneck information and making it available. If you find these useful, drop me a comment. I'd be happy to create guides for other SWPA crags if y'all would like them.

Glowing Clouds over McFarland Lake

After making the "Celestial Fantasy" photo I continued driving up the Arrowhead Trail until I arrived at the swimming beach on McFarland Lake, which is one of the best places in Cook County (in my opinion) to watch the northern lights. This beach has a great view to the north and the lake is often very calm at night, which means you can get great reflections of the lights in the water. Unfortunately when I arrived at the lake the sky was still completely covered with clouds. I hung around here for almost two hours hoping the sky would clear, but it never did. Several times, however, the cloud cover got thin enough that the glow from the lights could be seen even through the clouds. This particular photo is from one of those times when the clouds were thinner. It is my favorite photo made during my time at the lake waiting for the sky to clear.

Three O' Clock Rock ..

Rod and I headed out to Darrington to climb on what was one of the hottest days of the year so far. Not always a good idea for slab climbing, but it usually means Darrington will be dry.

The drive up was pleasant, and soon we were gearing up in the cool valley floor for a hike to the rock. This was Rod's first time at Three O' Clock Rock, and we were debating the routes to try and get on. I really wanted a second crack at Revolver after trying to climb it wet back in September. But I was also interested in climbing Big Tree One again to get some gear placement "practice" in since I hadn't been on rock in over a month. The harder rating of Revolver had Rod suggesting we start on Big Tree One. This made sense, as it is on the South Buttress, and would be sunnier in the afternoon. And Revolver was on the North Buttress and perhaps wouldn't be as hot during the hottest time of day.

We got to the base and geared up for Big Tree. Rod led it and took a while completing the pitch. I had to run off into the woods before following. I joined him at the top of pitch one. We swapped the rack and I headed off on pitch two. Perhaps it is coming off the couch after a month of not climbing, but I didn't remember this pitch to be as run out. I got to the top and brought Rod over and he prepared for the next lead.

Rod headed up the third (and best) pitch of the route. I had told him where I thought the crux was and he made good time heading up to it. At the crux he balked. He tried a higher gear placement and then even added a second cam. He down climbed a few steps and yo-yo'd a bit. He inspected holds and tried different options. After a long while, he confessed to me he did not have the moves in him. I lowered him down to the anchor and I switched to the sharp end to tackle the moves. The crux of the route in my opinion is a move where the lie backing ends and you have a few friction moves before picking up the lie backing again. I'm not sure it is the technical crux of the route, but it is the mental crux as you leave hand holds and counter pressure for some straight smearing.

I climbed up the crux on top rope and then rearranged the gear Rod had placed so I could have more gear above the crux. I tried the moves and was attempting to remember how I did it last time, but I was not being successful. I couldn't commit to my right foot. I down climbed a few times to a ledge to rest my feet. Was I no longer capable of doing the moves? I had tried low, I had tried midway. What if I tried high? I started back up and instead of forcing my moves rightward I just followed the natural rhythm of the rock and found myself going up a bit more before rightward moves commenced. It felt good. The small tree that I had previously slung appeared bigger, but not as lively. I slung it again and headed off to finish the pitch.

Rod joined me and commented that he still didn't like the moves, even on top rope. I presented him with an option to lead the final pitch as I wanted to move onto other things. He didn't feel the need to, so we started rapping the route.

Once back at the packs we huddled in the shade and ate lunch. With my need to be back in Seattle by 5pm, it was too late to start a 6+ pitch route like Revolver. We had to come up with other options. I suggested Dirt Circus, a route I had not previously done. The first pitch was bolted 5.9 and the second was a bolted 5.9+. I offered the easier first pitch to Rod and we hiked over to the base.

There must be a good reason for this route to be called dirt circus. The first 10' of stone were filthy. We joked about how we should have power washed it before climbing in the morning and that it would have been ready to go by the afternoon. Rod tied in and made several attempts to place a cam so he could continue. After a period of time he said it wasn't going to happen and I offered another route for us to climb.

Rod got the lead on Under the Bored Walk. A route I suggest to anyone who is climbing at Darrington for the first time. I had him lead it to the top in one pitch. I followed, experimenting with my approach shoes. This was quite scary at first, but as the difficulty eased and I got used to the feeling of chicken heads under my feet, it was not too bad. Afterward, Rod said the route was a good one to bring people new to rock climbing as it was fun and easy.

I love Three O' Clock Rock for the ease of approach and so many good climbs in a range that I can climb. It was great being out on the rock. I feel I needed this to prep me for Squamish in two weeks. We'll see how things go.

Starring Nobody

I took on a touch too much this weekend. Huge group at work, cooking for 150 hungry black belts, rush out for a lap on the project with Lee and Sam, dash to Brissy for photos with The Red Phoenix Style team (AKA my twin daughters), back to work for Ethical Pickles production team (Yaana and Sandra) and more.

Let's just say corners were cut. Things were compromised. Mistakes were made.

But the results were fab.

Celebrity blogger "Starring Nobody" AKA Kirsten Morrison modeled some stunning threads by some totally important designers.

But this is not one of them. Lotus picked up this sparkly number in the op shop for 10 bucks. That's immersion quality clothing. And in she went.











The whole shoot was for the client "The French Peg" a sweet little Paddington boutique.

But this is not that.








Climbers, it's possible you are getting a pre-release peek at The Red Phoenix Emporium collection of necklaces and earrings "Nature in Neon"

This cowboy blogger never checks permissions. No time.








Adrift.































The style team at jjobrienclimbing are totally and utterly impressed with the new collection, seriously I don't know how those girls keep hitting the trend bang on.








Kirsten looks superb in this rig, confirming the fact that an RPE necklace will make a $10 dress look a million. That's a fact.








Snapped between shivering bouts. Kirsten is die hard dedicated to style.






Is the collection online yet? Keep checking Red Phoenix Emporium or drop into The French Peg


2/237 Given Tce, Paddington Brisbane.








There is nothing this girl has not covered in style on her blog starring-nobody.blogspot.com

Thank you Kirsten, Lotus, Willow and all for another amazing shoot.




jj