Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Join me under the Sea – the Strange and Beautiful in my Favorite Aquariums
I love aquariums and visit when I can to see the marvelous creatures under the sea.
Even the smallest fish are a joy to watch, these clown fish at my local Seattle Aquarium.
The octopus was also at the Seattle Aquarium and made an interesting study with reflections on the glass.
I loved the garden eels at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, swaying in the current and hiding in the sand when danger was near.
I also loved seeing the – new to me – upside down jellies! They are distinctive due to their unusual habit of resting upside-down, with their bell on the sea floor with their arms extending upwards.
Speaking of jellies, my favorites are housed in Monterey on the California Coast, at my favorite aquarium. I can watch these beauties for hours!
The sea nettle is well equipped for capturing food, stinging prey to paralyze before using its arms to bring it to its mouth.
The purple striped jelly ebbs and flows with the current; its sting is painful to humans, though not fatal.
Crystal jellies flow in the current
as do moon jellies. These are what I picture when I think of jelly fish, white and translucent.
Unlike the bloody comb jelly, notable for its blood red stomach that makes it nearly invisible in the deep sea where it lives.
All are fascinating!
“Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.”
Psalms 104:25
~ Susanne
About Last Night’s Moon
It’s been ages since I attempted to capture the moon but I saw it rising last night and went outside with my camera, but no tripod.
My house is surrounded by trees, so it takes a while to see it unobstructed.
Later that night, or rather, very early this morning, there was an eclipse, but clouds were in the forecast, and I wasn’t willing to stay up all night hoping to see it.
I did catch one a few years ago.
Maybe next time.
~ Susanne
Spring is Almost Here and the Birds are Nesting
Northern flickers have returned to the snag out front, a dead tree we left standing for the birds and other wildlife.
They use cavities they hammered out in previous years and will excavate more if necessary. Smaller birds appreciate the holes, too.
House finches prefer the arborvitae in back, this male looking fine, sings to woo a mate.
Who could resist?
~ Susanne
Loving your Furry Friends
“Sorry, boys. ‘National Love your #Pet Day’ was last week and I missed it! But if you really love your furry friends, do you need an annual reminder to do so?
“It doesn’t hurt,” says Benji.
“Why not,” says Tiger.
“But you know I love you both every single day!”
“Treats every time you ask.”
“Access to the bed with your own steps! How many pets have that?”
“We appreciate it, Sue. Thanks.”
“Maybe we should start our own, ‘Love your Humans Day.’ What do you think?”
“Tiger?”
“Benji?”
“We’ll think about it, Sue.”
Sharing with Sunday Stills.
~ Susanne, Tiger and Benji
Benji in a Box
This morning, Starbucks.
But any box will do.
Happy #Caturday from Susanne and Benji!
Have a Seat on the Daveno
What’s that you say?
I was recently playing a word game and tried to enter ‘daveno’ – I may have spelled it wrong – and was told there was no such word.
Granted, I hadn’t heard it in a few decades, even so, we used it regularly back in the day, when we sat on it. We also sat on the davenport. Today, sofa or couch. Not my house below (from a small restaurant near the coast) but we did have an orange recliner! Probably ‘Naugahyde,’ remember that?
I wondered what happened to ‘daveno’ and found this in the Urban Dictionary: ‘a sofa or couch, widely used in the fifties and sixties, and particularly in the Pacific Northwest.’
Well, hey there! A match!
It reminded me of another word from my childhood that seemed to disappear: ‘zories’ for the ‘sandals’ below. That’s what I called them growing up, though they were no frills, not fancy like the ones I found in Hawaii. Later we called them thongs.
Now they’re called flip-flops but not by me. I don’t know what to call them.
Finally, this is a Coke, (with my name spelled correctly) though generically we called it a pop, not a soda, or soft drink.
What words do you remember from your childhood that seem to have gone missing?
~ Susanne
Sweet Happenings in the Garden
Another springlike day, and Tiger went out to enjoy; not bad for an 18-year-old cat.
Benji is always game; not bad for a tripawd.
Flowers are beginning to appear among the fallen leaves and pinecones, this a tiny Cyclamen;
this a Lenten Rose.
A hummingbird dropped by and hovered over Tiger, I assume to say hello. I was charmed by the sweet and curious bird.
I didn’t get a picture of that, but I did get a few pictures of a hummingbird feeding, this a female Anna’s.
For more color, I picked up a pot of tulips when I was out and about this weekend;
I also picked up an orchid in a cup of love.
And that’s enough sweetness for one post; sharing with Sunday Stills, #Sweet.
~ Susanne
Daisies in the Grass
On today’s walk I noticed the grass arrayed with flowers – charming, tiny, flowers, common daisies. They grow unbidden, anywhere they choose, so small you may not even notice them at your feet.
Today I did.
Sharing for Terri’s #The-Flower-Hour-17
~ Susanne
Giant Amethysts from my Travels
This week’s theme from Sunday Stills is #Amethyst and I took the challenge quite literally, reminded of the giants I’ve seen in my travels.
I saw two of the largest Amethyst geodes at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. They were formed more than 135 million years ago in Uruguay. The first one below is 9 feet tall, the second 12 feet tall.
I saw the Grape Jelly Amethyst Geode at the Perot Science Museum in Dallas (its first exhibit, the museum was built around it.) It’s five feet tall and behind glass, and you can open and close it by turning the wheel.
Also at the Perot Museum, was a heart shaped Amethyst, 3 feet across. This beautiful geode was in the lobby, not behind glass.
I found another approachable Amethyst at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.
Amethyst is a variety of Quartz, a hard mineral composed of silica, found widely in the earth’s crust. Not all Amethysts are geodes. The Berns Quartz from Arkansas, at 7 feet tall is the largest Quartz crystal in the world, displayed in a museum, at the Smithsonian.
Pure Quartz is colorless, like ice, but various impurities cause it to come in all colors of the rainbow. I love the purple impurity!
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 