Kitty's back!

Kitty left the farm a week ago, visited friends in New York city and Maine, then hopped a plane for here!

Had a small late birthday celebration. Her bday mandolin.

I'm Back!

What with the Facebook thing and life, I've updated this less and less often. So here is a one-shot photoblog of at least some of what's been going on since July 2010!





As always, a lively, friendly time at our friends the Latif's for July 4.








It is hard to believe, but that gal has been on the farm in Pittsburgh since April. She has had a great time and loves life on the farm. Be great to have her home again for a little while at least just before Thanksgiving!

We had a delightful young lady visit for two months. Isha, originally from India, currently a student in London, came out and worked with Sandy Faber's group and played sometimes with us.

Isha

One fun day was Kayaking at Elkhorn Slough. More sea otters than I've ever seen in a day.






John and I got out to the Pinnacles and Tuolumne a fair bit. He did his first outdoor leading and quickly progressed into 5.10 trad leading.

John leading Great Circle Route

Pinnacles July 2010

TM Herbert in Tuolumne

Racking up for the Great Circle Route

Mosaic of Steve Latif on Do or Fly

Johnny firing Puppy Crack

Same morning we saw Herbert we ran into Paul Doherty

Leap of Faith

JB and I took a couple of days to go climbing at Lover's Leap up by Lake Tahoe. Great weather, lots of room in the campground. Did a quick route the afternoon we got there then hung out by the river fishing (nothing) and, John actually did some of his summer reading assignment in Guns, Germs and Steel (note that is my empty beer bottle John is sitting by).












Next morning we packed up camp and went to climb a great route called Bear's Reach.

The line is shown in the photo (faint blue) and the arrow points to two people on the route.

This is a great climb. Steep and unlikely looking from afar or from the ground, but it goes with lots of exciting moves up flakes, stemming corners and jamming cracks. Great tuneup for the summer climbing season.

Kitty Graduates!

Kitty finished up her high school classes last December, but the graduation ceremony of her class was a great excuse for her to come home from Pennsylvania for a week!









It was equally great that my father made the trip down from the Seattle area to attend graduation.






The gal got uncharacteristically spiffed up for the event.











We all had a nice time. Her graduating class was only about 55 students and over the years we have gotten to know pretty much all of them and most of the parents. A nice bunch of kids.

Farmgirl May 2010

Kitty has been at the Blackberry Meadows Farm for about 100 years it seems. She is having a great time there and learnings lots of new things.

Last week, she sheared a sheep (the victim is in the background of this photo)!

The bag is full of freshly-shorn wool, the hound in the foreground is supposed the be "the nicest dog ever".

Can't wait to see her (kitty, not the dog) in two weeks when she is back in town for her graduation and to check in on friends!

Happy Mothers' Day 2010

Mothers' Day 2010 I headed up to Whidbey Island to spend the Mothers' Day weekend with my Mom! Everyone was doing great.




















The remodeled Coupeville library was open and looked great (note the Library Committee)











There was another Bolte Mother there of course





It was a really nice weekend

C Rocking May 2010

Beautiful Sunday in May, the boy and I headed to Castle Rock for some bouldering.

Takes a little while to get back in the outdoor-climbing mentality, but pretty soon John is cranking some good problems.

Just like every time we go up there, on the way back to the car the conversation is always "why don't we come up here more?"

Off on a big adventure

Well, April 14, 2010 that young lady headed off on a great adventure. Across the country (3 days) in the train to her new life as an intern at Blackberry Meadows Farm outside of Pittsburgh, PA.

I dropped her off at the Emeryville Amtrak station with a couple of suitcases, her gardening hat, her Felco clippers and her bike in a box.

As all parents know, it is more than just a long trip and time away from home; it is a fundamental change. This part of life with both the kids at home has been wonderful.

Two weeks later: she had a great trip and loves life on the farm. We still miss her like crazy here in Santa Cruz!

The College Thing

Kitty is already involved in a big way in sustainable agriculture, food systems, and food justice. She applied to just four schools: UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Berkeley and U Vermont.

Got into all four and even was awarded the highest level of scholarship at Berkeley. So, where to go?

We visited UC Berkeley and she found it much more interesting than she anticipated.

We visited UC Davis with Steve and Imani Latif (Imani is also trying to decide about schools).




She talked to the student farm people





As always, she ran into someone she knows, also a food systems person.






We were all impressed with the bikeability of the Davis campus and the city (and by the huge numbers of bikes everywhere)







She asked the Big Head for advice.





Still undecided...

UPDATE May 1, 2010: The Big Head apparently recommended Davis! The gal decided that's the place for her.

Yosemite March 2010

Kitty and I headed off to Yosemite for a short climbing/skiing trip at the end of March. The weather was great although there was plenty of snow on the ground. We went up to Glacier Point Apron to do the Grack Center - a beautiful finger/hand crack up a slab to a Yosemite-style pinnacle. Three pitches, all with a great view across the Valley to Washington Column and North Dome.













The "15-minute" approach felt more like a 45 minute death march, but we got there and the climb is excellent. Three pitches up, then three rappels down.

We cleverly decided to take a shortcut back to the trail and car and ended up in an incredibly dense forest and amazingly wet swamp. When we finally staggered, scratched and with our feet soaked in a foul mud, out of the wet parts of the trek, we came on half a dozen fresh bear scat piles, then a big, beautiful cinnamon bear.
















Next day we headed up to Badger Pass. Had a great day of Spring skiing. No lift lines, great snow till late afternoon when it hit 50F and got a little slushy.







Wonderful trip