Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
A Visit to Bellevue Botanical Garden
One sunny day earlier this summer my husband had to be in Bellevue so I hitched a ride and had him drop me off at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. He was longer than we thought he would be, so I got to enjoy a very leisurely 3 hour visit, strolling through the garden at a snail’s pace, starting with the centerpiece, the Perennial Border.
The award-winning Perennial Border has year-round displays of flowers and according to the brochure, “is an example of a distinctively American-style-mixed-border and a living demonstration of what works best in Northwest gardens.” I walked the paths through this living work of art admiring the variety of plants, their unique shapes and sizes, textures and colors.
I wandered through the Fuchsia Garden,
the Native Discovery Garden and the Yao Garden, pausing to enjoy the hydrangeas along the trails that took me from one to another.
From the Lost Meadow Trail, I was delighted to discover this.
A nature trail through pristine woods, complete with a 150 ft suspension bridge over a steep ravine where you enjoy views of native understory and second-growth forest without trampling the forest floor. Oh, there is nothing like the Woods!
As much as I love cultivated gardens, I am partial to the Northwest Woods. I was happy to wander alone on the peaceful paths under a canopy of big leaf maples and western red cedars, where birds and other wildlife make their homes undisturbed. I was thankful these woods had been preserved and added to the Bellevue Botanical Garden. And I couldn’t help but wonder: what if the 22 acres known as the Tiffany Park Woods in Renton, those woods that were recently razed to the ground so ninety plus houses could go up; what if those woods had been preserved for all to enjoy, even as these woods in Bellevue had been? I guess we will never know.
I continued back up the trail and waited for my ride and promised myself I would come back again to this wonderful place.
~ Susanne
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Canby, Oregon
Willamette River Crossing and Sunset
~ Susanne
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Benji – A Day in Pictures
Too High Up
Fishing
Hunting Moths
Reflecting
Resting
Another good day.
~ Benji
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Rainless in Seattle and the Orange Sun
As if it wasn’t enough to break the all time record for rain earlier this year (144 wet days, and almost 45 inches of rain between last October and April) we are now set to break the record for most days without measurable rain (51 days) tomorrow. To top it off, the uncharacteristically hot weather and the smoke from wildfires up north have made for vivid orange sunsets.
About an hour before the sun went down tonight it hovered low in the west looking like a blood orange. I don’t know how to capture that kind of color; maybe some day I will. In the meantime, I found the glow through the trees quite beautiful.
But I sure do miss the rain.
~ Susanne
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It Happened at Seafair
As Seafair is in full swing in the Emerald City, I thought I would share again this story from the past, from a simpler time, when Seattle was a Boeing town and Seafair was the face of the summer.
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The Gone Tiffany Park Woods
I must say that was fast. Not only have the trees and shrubs come down in what was formerly known as the Tiffany Park Woods, but the area has been pulverized into submission (and yes, dirt) with not a single green thing left, except for the few promised patches. Surprising? Yes.
I knew the trees would go but I guess I held some notion that shrubs and understory would remain. I mean, why take it all? Wouldn’t new homeowners want that vegetation around their houses? (Obviously I know nothing about construction.) Anyway, it’s all gone and the land is being leveled for the infrastructure and houses to come. On the bright side, I won’t need an alarm for awhile since the heavy equipment rolls in around 7 and the noise and vibration shake me out of bed.
I’m also happy to report that Benji and Tiger are coping surprisingly well with all the commotion. They still want out all hours of the day and seem content with the new confines of their territory. (No more sneaking into the woods for them.)
I’m sorry the woods are gone, but I’m thankful my backyard still has enough trees on both sides of the fence for shade and privacy. And more sunshine in some spots where the tree cover was heavier.
So it’s time to move on and say goodbye to the Tiffany Park Woods. Still, if I had it to do over again, I would fight a little harder, maybe hug a few trees, to try to get the woods preserved and added to the city’s park system; an urban park where woodpeckers and owls could still live, with access and trails for all to enjoy.
Maybe next time.
~ Susanne
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End of a Hot Summer Day
Nearing the end of another hot, dry, summer day, with temperatures soaring and no rain in sight, skies otherworldly, milky and dim from the forest fires north in British Columbia,
all is well in the backyard, where I turn on the stream
and the chickadees come down to drink and splash and enjoy
and are refreshed.
~ Susanne
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A Walk in the Woods at Flaming Geyser State Park
Another summer day and another walk in the woods, my first at Flaming Geyser State Park. Now before you get too excited, I must disavow you of the notion that there’s an actual flaming geyser in the park. No. Sorry. It petered out many years ago; see empty depression in the ground below for confirmation.
But I am promised by the brochure that it did in fact exist once in this very spot. Yes, in 1911 some miners tapped into methane gas and saltwater 1,000 feet underground, and fire and water shot up 25 feet in the air! I wish I could have seen that! They also say that the fire continued for many years until the methane gas finally ran out, so all that’s left is the name, Flaming Geyser. But no matter what they call it, the park is still quite wonderful. First of all the Green River flows through it with good accessible shoreline for swimming, fishing, boating and inner tubing. It has a designated area for remote control model planes (and drones these days), as well as horse trails and large grassy picnic areas.
And there are wooded trails with river access! What more do you want?
And so we walked the easy path through the woods, alongside of giant ferns and berries and shrubs and trees of all sizes and shapes, most of them dripping with moss.
Along the path I saw this tiny orchid like flower which added a nice splash of color to the mostly green landscape. It’s called impatiens capensis, or more commonly, orange jewelweed or orange balsam. Pretty isn’t it?
After a mile or so the trail connected to the river and we stopped to rest and watched the happy drifters go by.
We also watched a flock of ducks swim furiously upriver in the opposite direction. They seemed to take turns being the leader, running to get to the front of the pack while the others hung back. They bobbed underwater when the mood struck them (for food I assume) and stopped by the pools to hang out. They seemed to be having as much fun as the human drifters in their innertubes.
The 65 mile long Green River flows from the west side of the Cascades, passes through the Green River Gorge, then through Auburn and the Kent Valley, and finally becomes the Duwamish River which flows into Elliott Bay in Seattle. Last week I walked an urban trail next to it in Tukwila. I seem to keep bumping into this river and it’s all good.
~ Susanne
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Cat Trials
This is Benji and there are still some things I don’t understand about humans. Sue is my favorite person in the world (don’t tell the others) but even she can be unpredictable.
Today after all our normal rituals (morning loves and scratching, fresh canned food with gravy, etc.) she was acting in a suspicious manner. While scratching the scruff of my neck she sneakily left behind some foul goo which interfered with my own cat smell, and which I tried my best to lick away. It was unfortunately just out of reach. Tiger had the same noxious smell yesterday and that I can understand as he is not nearly as fast as me. I shall have to confer with him about this peculiar human behavior.
Of course I forgive Sue this anomaly. She must have her reasons for changing my scent for the day. Perhaps I can sleep it off.
~ Benji
P.S. from Sue ~ If I could avoid this part of cat parenting I would. The boy is a fighter for sure!
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Cute Sleeping Cats
Don’t you agree?
Goodnight from Benji & Tiger
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 