Category: Nature

Pull up a Seat Challenge 10/25/19

I’ve been saving photos for this challenge for a while so here goes:

One of my favorite places to Pull up a Seat (if I can’t be right next to the Pacific Ocean) is on my sister’s porch….especially at, but not limited to, sunrise. Nothing like having your morning coffee on this porch in the early summer.

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Deck Garden 3

But then there are benches all over their property for sitting and becoming one with Nature…

Or you can be like Ola, the Wonder Dog, and plant yourself on one of the bridges over the pond between the house and the gardens and green house. (Although this might be better titled “Pull up a BED“.)

Ola, still on duty

 

Ah, but the memories of me with my grandsons pretend-fishing off these bridges…Maybe that’s my favorite.

Pull up a seat

 

I love seeing where other species choose to Pull up a Seat.

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Then there’s our friend Mark who has a very boring selection of where to Pull up a Seat…

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At our Mountain Retreat, someone has chosen to Pull up a Precarious Seat, but for very good reason!

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They were putting in a new glass roof over our other favorite place to Pull up a Seat…our Porch Swing!

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It looks out over a beautiful valley.

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I always hate when this time comes each year when the porch seat gets tied up to make room for firewood…

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Then I just remember all the different butts that have planted themselves here.

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Father/son moment

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Three Brothers

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Then there were two…

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And I know James is not looking forward to being just one…

But he’ll have so many memories to savor…pulling up this particular seat!

porch swing

 

 

Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge 2019-Week 42

A Photo a Week Challenge: Sun & Water

OK, OK, so the feature photo above is NOT of sun and WATER…but when I took the photo, I thought it was!! We were on a fast moving train and I snapped several before I realized it was not water, but some sort of agricultural stuff.

Then I remembered another picture I took while also moving fast, late for the San Juan Ferry, so no time to pull the car over for a better shot. But it was a stunning sunrise for a few miles!!

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The wetland north of Everett, WA.

 

Still wracking my brain for a Sun and Water photo, I found these next three, but they were kind of standard and I wanted something different.

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OK stretch, I thought…water, sun, sun and water, two of my favorite things to photograph. Surely I had something!

Oh YES! This summer we went to The Wheel, our Church of the Blue Dome…which is a group (2 to 50 people) who meet on a mountain top, every Wednesday evening, and have for more than 20 years…rain or shine…sometimes to share food and music, sometimes to play Frisbee golf, sometimes to Walk the Medicine Wheel, and sometimes to drum. But always open to something miraculous.

These were taken at this year’s Solstice Wheel.

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I have been there when coyotes come right up close, when Owls join us to serenade, and when it has snowed or rained or hailed in a big circle all around without touching us at all. So this gorgeous rainbow, doubling itself and then showing us two Pots of Gold locations at once, was miraculous but not a surprise. Sun and Water. What a beautiful combo!

 

All of this got me thinking about Sun and Water in it’s different forms. That’s when my very favorite popped into mind.

A few years ago, when driving my grandsons along the north side of Hood Canal out of Belfair, WA., the sun rise was at the perfect point for spotting THIS on the side of the road!

 

 

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It only lasted a few minutes so our timing was fortunate! (I do wish camera phones were what they are today, but I love this memory!!)

 

OK, last thing, if you’ve a mind to…

I wrote a short story (true) a long time ago. I posted it on my blog when I was still new, so I did not properly credit one of the photos to National Geographic (although their name appears in the lower left corner, so I hope that’s enough).

It’s one of my best stories, and although Sun and Water figure prominently in the tale, it is not all sunshine and rainbows. It is the telling of one of the more profound experiences of my life. Please read if you like. When I first posted it, I had only a handful of “followers” and not much response. So please comment. (Less an ego thing than a bare, naked soul that needs recognition.)

Calling the Dolphins

 

A Photo a Week Challenge: Sun & Water

Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge 9/28/19 Changing Seasons

I have been blessed in my life to witness Seasons Changing all over the US…from the West Coast beaches to the expansive Southwest deserts to the Deep South to the East Coast, to Canada and back to the Pacific Northwest!!

But I got completely spoiled a couple of years ago right here in my neighborhood when I accidentally discovered the most glorious Autumn display I have ever seen.

I was simply driving out a different driveway than usual from my Home Depot parking lot…and there it was. So fantastic, I made 5 or 6 trips in the following weeks to try to capture this Color Extravaganza in all its stages. On cold dark days, in the pouring rain, in the blinding sunlight (that’s how we experience sunlight up here…blinding), sunrise, sunset, and always with both my cameras! I even gave it a name and told all my friends and neighbors to go see it.

I’ve posted on it before but here are some photos to enjoy. Believe me, it’s not even close to walking the block-long side walk in front of “The Wonder Wall”!

Not driving by. You have to stand in front of it and feel the thrum of color and growth, right there in front of you! Just pretend…and see if you can hear it….feel the colors.

 

 

 

 

 

A Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

A Photo a Week Challenge–8/22/19 What’s for Dinner?

Nancy Merrill’s challenge this week immediately made me think of the many times James and I have had the wonderful experience of house-sitting for my sister and brother-in-law, in the San Juan Islands. It’s like a second home for us, but without the incredible amount of work it takes to maintain paradise.

I’ve written about this wonderful place many times before, but today’s topic, “What’s for Dinner?” made me realize just how special our experience has been.

First, the location is truly exceptional…it’s house and setting are unlike any other!

But it’s the food that we get the biggest benefit from! They work year round work to keep their garden and green house producing beautiful fruits and vegetables….and we just get to come in and EAT there for 2 or 3 weeks each year.

Here are some samples of dinners we’ve had there, where almost every ingredient is picked, plucked, harvested and gathered…from these famous gardens!!!

Thank you so much for this experience!!

 

 

A Photo a Week Challenge: What’s For Dinner