WOODROW'S BAKERY

The dwellings and shops of small creatures in rain forest villages were typically built out of sight and away from the dangers of destruction by the hooves and claws of larger mammals. They were often hidden under tree roots and logs. Yet their dwellings were always well-maintained, and often decorated with forest flowers. Woodrow’s shoppe was quite typical in that regard.

The name “Reflection Lake” refers to Woodrow’s place of birth, up the mountain from Huckleberry Hollow. His family moved to Huckleberry Hollow when he was a baby shrew. Woodrow was featured in the very first episode of Trowbridge Chronicles.

Several years ago our expedition to explore Reflection Lake was put on hold when one member of our party became ill, and we were forced to turn back. I have yet to visit Reflection Lake. It's a steep climb...the lake is on top of the mountain.

For those of you who would like to know the identity of the flowers in Mrs. Trowbridge's painting, they are as follows: the hanging basket in the upper right corner contains Smooth Douglasia (Douglasia laevigata); Left window box: Magenta Paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora oreopola) This flower is endemic to the Olympic Mountains; Right window box: Mountain Owl-Clover (Orthocarpus imbricatus); Ground barrels - rear white flowers, left side: American Bistort (Polygonum bistortoids); rear yellow flower: Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis); rear purple flower: Fletts Violet (Viola flettii) Endemic to the Olympic Mountains; front barrell: Mountain Oxytropis (Oxytropis monticola); Sign by Huckleberry Hollow Sign Shoppe.

The TART CHART

If anything is true of a shrew, it is that they are voracious eaters, as Mrs. Trowbridge comments in her Tart Chart. Shrews can be observed frantically scampering about the forest floor in search of their next snack or meal. They never stop and smell the roses. There's no time for that. They would starve if they did. Aren't you glad you're not a Trowbridge shrew.

DAYBREAK AT THE FALLS

If, but only I could find a wormhole in the rain forest, or a wrinkle in time...I would return to the rain forest just as it was 200 years ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, when Huckleberry Hollow was a busy rain forest village. What a thrill it would be to meet Mrs. Trowbridge, and perhaps join her on a plein air painting trek! I could learn so much from her.

In today's post, Mrs. T speaks of the joy she finds in her daily journal time...

WINTER PROVISIONS

After a sojourn in the South Seas, we return to the rain forest and find Mrs. Trowbridge reflecting on the past winter months. The lives of a Trowbridge shrew family depend completely on their success at food gathering through the summer months. Mrs. T. explains it best...

SOUTH SEA SHELL

Because shells aren't very heavy, we found evidence on our recent South Seas expedition that the shrews of old used large conch shells for portable or temporary housing. A group of shrews could move a conch shell for a short distance in order to move the "shelling" (shell dwelling) out of the hot sun or the torrential rain. This is one of several shell paintings that Mrs. Trowbridge created resulting from her many hours of research at the Huckleberry Hollow library.