Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
A Spring Trip to the Oregon Coast – Beach Walks, Light Houses and Sea Creatures
It’s been a cold and rainy spring in the Pacific Northwest, but we wanted to get away. So we picked a few days of forecasted sunshine and headed south to the Oregon Coast, with our first stop, in Long Beach, Washington.
There we enjoyed walking on the newly refurbished boardwalk,
and later that night, sunset.
The next day we visited nearby Cape Disappointment and North Head Lighthouse where the skies were blue and the views were tremendous.
We arrived at our first stop in Oregon later that day – Cannon Beach – where we took advantage of low tide and beautiful sea creatures.
We had great views of sunset from our hotel that night,
and of Terrible Tilly, a decommissioned lighthouse off Tillamook Head, originally built in 1881. The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse must have been a terrible place for lightkeepers to live surrounded by the turbulent ocean, over a mile from shore.
We continued our journey the next day, stopping by the overlook on Neahkahnie Mountain,
before arriving at our destination in Lincoln City at Spanish Head, where we spent our honeymoon over 43 years ago!
We walked the sandy beach, which was covered by strange creatures, papery thin, white and blue, called Velella velella. Not true jellyfish, but floating hydrozoans — they live on the surface of the ocean, and drift with the wind on clear sails.
According to Wikipedia, “Having no means of locomotion other than its sail, V. velella is at the mercy of prevailing winds for moving around the seas and are thereby also subject to mass-strandings on beaches throughout the world.”
There was more white and blue in the sky the next morning, before we headed inland for more adventures.
That will do for now.
~ Susanne
#OregonCoast, #CannonBeach, #LongBeach, #LincolnCity
Celebrating #Tulips at Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
Is there anything more wonderful than walking among fields of tulips?
We did that yesterday at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon.
It was marvelous.
And just in case you didn’t get the message –
Sharing one of my favorite places with this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge, hosted by Debbie from Between the Lines- here and linking to “The-Flower-Hour – here.
~ Susanne
Dreaming of Lavender
I just saw a headline stating that basically the entire U.S. is going to be hot, due to a giant heat dome over most of the country.
As I sit here gazing out the window, I see nothing but gray skies and rain.
I feel left out.
Welcome to the Pacific Northwest! 🙂
Makes it hard to do any spring gardening, though I did get outside yesterday to trim the lavender.
I LOVE LAVENDER!
The pictures below are from May of last year.
It won’t be long now.
But until then, I’m only dreaming of Lavender.
Sharing with the Flower Hour.
~ Susanne
Welcoming the Spring Equinox in the Pacific Northwest
It happened March 20th this year, the astronomical start of spring.
The March equinox (also called the vernal equinox) is the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn equinox in the Southern, when the sun crosses above the earth’s equator and night and day are roughly equal in length.
Here in the Seattle area, it means, we’re marching towards the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, when we hope to see more blue skies and sunshine!
Strangely, we only got our winter snow recently and while it was beautiful, it was a bit late in the year for my taste.
The snag was covered in snow for a few days, but before that the Northern Flickers had already returned to their nests in the largest cavity,
where this youngster was born a few years ago.
The Flickers have always been willing to share the snag with smaller birds, including Chickadees
and Nuthatches.
But this year, for the first time, there’s been competition from a more aggressive bird – the European Starling.
Though the flickers were watchful,
I’m afraid they lost their nest to the interlopers.
I hate to see the bullies win.
On a more positive note, the Rhododendrons are blooming – did you know they’re Washington’s State Flower? They come in all sizes, shapes and colors.
As do their cousins, the Azaleas.
See how they glisten in the rain?
“April showers bring May flowers,” so the saying goes, but here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s October, November, December, January, February, March, and April showers that bring us our May flowers!
May is, indeed, the floweriest month in my garden, when the Clematis takes over, here’s a sneak preview!
I’m happy to be hosting #Sunday Stills again this week while Terri is road-tripping!
Feel free to link up with your own Equinox post, whether Spring or Autumn, and use the tag Sunday Stills.
Debbie from Between the Lines will host next week’s challenge.
~ Susanne
Singing for Joy on the First Day of Spring
Today is the first day of Spring in the Great Northwest and this House Finch is singing for joy!
Hoping to attract a mate!
I’ll have much more to share on the Equinox when I host #Sunday Stills this coming Sunday!
See you then. 🙂
~ Susanne
A Coulon Walk with Snowy Mountains, Bald Eagles and St. Pat Walkers
I took a walk at Coulon last week before the snow hit. It was biting cold and dreary gray, but I saw plenty of eagles.
The stony walkers (Phillip Levine’s 1982 bronze sculpture “Interface,” ) looked as cold as I was, not yet dressed for the coming occasion.
I returned to Coulon yesterday for another walk saw the snow-covered Olympics were positively glowing!
The eagles were still hanging out though I only had my phone with me so couldn’t get much of a close-up.
And the walkers were finally dressed for the holidays.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
~ Susanne
A Gallery of Green for Sunday Stills
I’m happy to be hosting Sunday Stills this week for the Color Challenge: Jade Green, Light Green, Peridot.
My feature photo is a Fire King mug in Jadeite, collectible glassware from the 1950’s.
I love the shape and the color of the coffee cup, which holds a mere 6 ounces, long before the world supersized.
But the best greens are found in nature. The gallery below includes an assortment of greens from my home state of Washington, aptly named the Evergreen State.
The picture below is from Hoh Rain Forest, a popular attraction in Olympic National Park.
But the Quinault Rain Forest, is just as beautiful, smaller and more intimate.
And I can’t forget the prettiest green eyes you’ve ever seen. It was Tiger’s soulful eyes that won us over many years ago. He’d been dropped off at a cat hotel when his owner no longer wanted him. He was 5 years old at the time and is now the ripe old age of 18. We picked Benji out from the other cats at Seattle Humane almost 10 years ago. He was still a kitten and won us over with his spunk!
Now it’s your turn – show me your green and don’t be daunted – any shade will do! Tag your post ‘Sunday Stills’ and feel free to link to this one. 🙂
I’ll be hosting Sunday Stills again next week and Cathy from Between the Lines will host the week after. Terri will be back in April!
~ Susanne
Surprised by March Snow
I’d already taken to celebrating spring, then woke up this morning to snow.
It’s wet and sloppy and too late in the season for my taste.
But still pretty.
~ Susanne
Ranunculi Ranuncula! Joy is Everywhere!
I borrowed a bit of joy from the Italian song to celebrate the Ranunculus in my garden!
Sharing this burst of sunshine with the #FlowerHour. 🙂
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 