Seasons at Thimbleberry Cabin

New Year at Thimbleberry...

The new year has come and gone... I'm a johnny-come-lately to my blog in 2007.  A little too much "life" in my life, if you know what I mean.  Health challenges, a new day job here in Sonoma County, little kids underfoot -- all conspiring against my time.  But unlike a fictional place, Thimbleberry persists whether I blog about it or not.  And 2007 has turned out to be very, very good at the cabin!

We broke out a handsome new guestbook which we are eager to find filled on subsequent visits...

The last one has served us very well, and is being retired to an upstairs shelf with all its amusing anecdotes, heartfelt wishes and delightful sketches stored inside... perfect "rainy day" reading!
                  

 

We welcomed the New Year with a rare electrical outage of several hours, which meant a festive pasta dinner cooked entirely atop the wood stove!  Enjoyed the treat of emergency candlelight by which to dine, and then the power conveniently came back on just in time for dish washing.

Fortunately, nothing out of the ordinary happened to our oven on sugar cookie night.

Much of this trip was enjoyed outdoors in truly spectacular snow conditions...

 

The Pacific Crest Trail looked positively folkloric in heavy snow.  We took a snow-shoe walk in near the cabin, stopping for a cocoa break at a convenient snag.

(BTW: Ruby has never actually tasted cocoa, but, true to her breed, she remains eternally optimistic about her chances each time a steaming thermos is cracked open out on the trail...)

Cross-country ski conditions at the cabin were perfect for several days.

For some of us (sigh...) the learning curve is steep, but we all manage to have fun!  

And nothing beats following freshly laid track back to one's own cozy front door...

Each visit's "last" night at the cabin is always bittersweet.  The girls got in several good sled runs at that magical point in twilight when almost anything seems possible and all notions of time are temporarily suspended. 

We left Thimbleberry Cabin the next day, snug and inviting, waiting for a New Year's worth of fresh visitors and old friends.

2006 Annual Report

Here's the text of Thimbleberry's first "annual report"... Guests from 2005 & 2006 will receive this by mail with a few 2007 calendar cards.  A big thank you to everyone who helped us this year. 

Dear Friends of Thimbleberry...

These past months have brought many exciting changes to our lives, most notably through the launching of Thimbleberry Cabin as a full-fledged vacation rental in the beautiful Southern Oregon Cascades.  We wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who visited in the past two years.  The wonderful comments you have left in our guestbook, the candid feedback you've given us about your experiences, the very life you have breathed into these rooms has really helped transform Thimbleberry from a house into a home!

We're happy to report that auctioned weekends at Thimbleberry have raised nearly $5000.00 for local charities in the past 18 months.  We look forward to raising even more money in the year ahead.  While we will continue to support ongoing works near and dear to our hearts, we are also always open to hearing about smaller charitable endeavors, especially when they involve young families confronting catastrophic loss or illness.  Feel free to write us if you have a suggestion...

Enclosed you will find several 2007 calendar cards with our website address at the bottom.  Please use them at home, take them to the office, or share them with someone you know who may be planning a trip to our neck of the woods in the coming year...  Most of all, we want you to know you're always welcome at Thimbleberry.  Returning guests always enjoy a 10% discount on subsequent bookings, no matter what the rate or season!  Here's hoping your travels lead you home again to Thimbleberry Cabin.

Until then, all our best to you and yours...  the Scolari family

Winter travel wisdom

No photos and frivolity today... The Thanksgiving weekend travel tragedy involving the Kim family of San Francisco is a good reminder to all of us to refresh our knowledge base about winter travel.  Here's our take on safe winter road travel in Southern Oregon...

Winter renters, especially fellow mild weather dwellers here in the Bay Area, often ask me "Do we really need chains?"  Yes, yes, yes... really!   If you are in a high-clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicle you will find that in most instances you won't have to actually put them on.  But Oregon chain law may still require them in conditional road closures, even for SUVs with all-weather or snow-specific tires!  And while cell phones, on-board GPS and internet mapping services are fun and nifty, it is important to remember that these sorts of gadgets are not reliable enough or fool-proof enough to substitute for accurate local information. 

ODOT maintains phone numbers and a website which will allow you to check on Oregon road and weather conditions at any time.  Within Oregon, you may dial 511 or (800)977-6368 toll free; outside Oregon that number is (503)588-2941.  The OR number is posted inside the cabin as well for the convenience of our visitors.  The main roads leading to Thimbleberry Cabin -- Hwy. 140, Dead Indian Memorial, Clover Creek -- are two-lane county thoroughfares groomed and maintained by Jackson and Klamath Counties respectively.  Winter travel on single lane, unlined Forest Service roads is just not advisable in any circumstances.  Check maps carefully and call local authorities if you need more information about a route!

In a recent Medford Mail Tribune article, Michael Strong, a wilderness instructor and director of the University of Oregon's Outdoor Pursuits Program, states the most important thing is first and foremost to "tell someone where you're going."  That's an easy one to forget when traveling, but simple to implement.  Remember to keep in touch with a designated friend or family member back home when you travel in and out of snow country.

Annette Hall has authored a good article on putting together your own winter emergency car kit at www.reliableanswers.com.  I suggest all our visitors look at this article, or one like it, while preparing for their trip.  At the very least, plan on traveling with warm jackets, hats, gloves and waterproof footwear for each family member, regardless of current weather conditions.  Always keep some high-calorie, non-perishable food and an abundant supply of drinking water in your vehicle.  Be prepared to fill your gas tank when you have the chance, as services can be few and far between in the mountains.  If you are planning to use a rental vehicle, be sure to confirm it has all the car safety basics like jumper cables, safety flares, etc. in addition to snow chains.  Some rental companies maintain that their SUVs don't need chains.  This is inaccurate; according to Oregon chain law as published at the official ODOT website, heavy snow on steep grades can make chains temporarily necessary for ALL vehicles.  If you are travelling in an SUV without chains, be prepared to obey conditional road closings when notified! 

The odds are in favor of your never needing emergency supplies or skills in your travels... But if any of us were ever to need these items it is important to respect the fact that our very survival could suddenly hinge upon any one of them!  Always, always be prepared...   

Thanksgiving blessings

Thanksgiving Week, 2006

Welcome to a celebration of the seasons at Thimbleberry Cabin! Fall is just about to conclude, a season of both beginnings and endings at Thimbleberry...  Fall is the season in which we first bought this cabin in 2004.  Fall is when we launched our vacation rental business in 2005.  Most importantly, fall is when we begin to bid a bittersweet farewell to the current year and eagerly await a new year's wintry birth...

The southern Oregon Cascades "snow door" was flung wide-open this fall, and we enjoyed a white Thanksgiving at the cabin.  Our little acre of lightly wooded meadow was transformed into a scene straight from a snow-globe.  Paul spent a fair number of evenings reading Sybille von Olfers' "Root Children" to our four-year-old, Gigi, at bedtime and I must admit that familiar old story takes on a whole new resonance when there's a good 6" of fresh snow blanketing the ground! 

Of course we had a delicious turkey dinner, but this is the week's meal I wanted to record -- just good crusty bread, some cheese and a hard salami.  The simplest of meals transformed by the setting and the mood.  The vintage game bird bar glasses were a thrift store score at $.80/each.  No more mixing up our drinks now that each of us can be readily identified as a "wild turkey," "mourning dove" or "wood cock"...

Santa-in-a-canoe journeyed north in our Honda and didn't have to portage even once...

I love this John Muir quote... I don't know what Muir would make of all the faux greenery, though -- hopefully he would applaud any impulse to leave trees largely unmolested.  I do miss the smell of fresh greenery in the house.  Seems ironic in the midst of so much surrounding forest to be favoring fake over real, but out here we are far from a manned fire-station and the heat provided by our trusty wood stove is so very, very drying... So faux it is; I have only to walk outside and inhale for a good strong whiff of the real stuff.

Thimbleberry got its first Christmas tree this year!  Found this quirky cabin porch ornament at the thrift store and personalized it with some homemade vellum labels.  The girls and I made our customary pilgrimage to The Unicorn in downtown Ashland for a few new ornaments.  Slowly we are building up our collection...  

 

Splurged on a beautiful set of snowshoe reading lamps from the Orvis catalogue to hang on either side of the master bedroom's bed.  Just looking at the soft, warm light they cast makes me feel drowsy.  Of course, not all of the week's check-listed chores and installations went so smoothly... Spent nearly 6 hours trying to get an Earthlink dial-up internet connection going before throwing up our hands in frustration and calling it quits.  And we're simply not ready for the constant intrusion of a satellite dish into our life in the mountains.  Anyone can easily check email at the public library when making a trip into town.  Some things are better left "as is"...

Sometimes it's the simplest things, like this L.L. Bean snow stick stuck in the ground just outside our kitchen window, that bring the most pleasure.  Now if we could only teach Ruby to read the numbers and report back to us in barks or growls... On the porch we installed a wireless weather station receiver so that we can obsessively contrast indoor and outdoor temperatures and watch the barometric pressure drop with each approaching cold front.  Thrilling stuff!

This is the sort of vignette that makes every day in the Cascades seem special.  We were out in the garage, completely caught up in the mundane tasks of cleaning up from Christmas decorating & sorting our trash, when all of a sudden the clouds parted above the Mountain Lakes Wilderness, allowing the barest sliver of sunset to flit across the face of its western slope.  We shot this from the top of our own driveway, full trashcans and empty boxes momentarily eclipsed by the ancient dance of sunlight on fresh snow...