Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
My Tiny Backyard Birds
I love birds of all sizes, especially the tiny ones in my yard.
These black-capped chickadees were perfectly camouflaged in the tree while I watched them through my office window. Chickadees were my gateway birds, the first I learned to identify by their sound (chickadee-dee-dee) and are still one of my favorites. They range in size from 4 – 6 inches long.
Similar in size to the chickadees, Juncos visit in great numbers throughout the day, all seasons. The males have dark black heads, females, lighter shades of brown. These friendly birds make themselves at home; I’ve had to discourage their nest building too close to the house, for their safety.
I see more of them than any other birds in my yard, or maybe I just notice them more, because they’re ground feeders. You wouldn’t think there’d be seeds in the grass this time of year, but they found some yesterday.
I love the burst of gold when golden-crowned kinglets show up. These are some of the tiniest birds that visit, only 3 – 4 inches long. They flit around quickly, moving from the grass, to garden pots, even the deck, so it’s harder to get a clear picture of them.
After looking for food below, they often fly into the evergreens above where they hang on to the branches looking for insects.
Anna’s Hummingbirds, are similar in size to the kinglets, perhaps a bit larger. As you already know, if you follow my blog, I never get tired of posting pictures of them.
And that will do for birding today.
~ Susanne
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White and Wonderful, Snow and Clouds
For this week’s photo challenge, Sunday Stills, #White I’ll look to the pure driven snow and the snow-white clouds for inspiration.
No snow so far in Seattle this year, so I’ll use some photos from past year’s glories, accented with two of my favorite things: Benji,
and Anna’s hummingbirds.
No problem with clouds, which we have plenty of in the great Northwest, all times of year.
My first cloud photo hails from the other side of the mountains near Wenatchee, where despite the backdrop of mountains and rolling hills, the sky’s the thing.
Next up is the mountain in my backyard (figuratively speaking) where it seems Mt. Rainier is no match for the gobbler overhead.
Sometimes it’s only about the clouds, as in the next photo, which I call cloudbursts. Don’t they seem joyous?
Finally, I’ll close with a picture from high above the clouds, where thankfully, the sun is always shining.
~ Susanne
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Cat Sticker
I turned Benji into a cat sticker.
In living color.
Just for fun. Yes, I did.
Happy Caturday!
~ Susanne
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Astoria Bridge, in Many Colors, in Many Ways
This month’s theme of Becky’s Square Challenge is GeometricJanuary.
“Geometric” includes the many shapes, forms, angles and lines surrounding us (that’s the general idea, I never was good in geometry,) but the trick is in squaring the photo.
I decided to do just that for the Astoria Bridge, the world’s longest continuous-truss bridge when it was completed in 1966, and still the longest in North America. The bridge is 4.1 miles long and stretches from the southern coast of Washington across the mouth of the Columbia River, to Astoria Oregon. We’ve crossed the bridge many times on road trips down the Oregon Coast.
We’ve seen it from many angles, at all times of day,
even from aboard our cruise ship one morning, where our first stop was Astoria.
The following shots of the bridge are otherworldly, against a scarlet sky, during wildfire season a couple years ago.
Wildfires are terrible, but in this case, they were far away and only the smoke made it to the coast, producing a mysterious sunset.
~ Susanne
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A Burst of Color on a Dreary Winter’s Day
We’ve had a rather dull start to 2025, from the point of view of the weather: drizzly when not pouring rain, cold but not enough to snow. It makes me long for spring but we’ve quite a ways to go!
In the meantime, I wandered outside to see if I might discover something of interest in the garden.
I found raindrops hanging from the end of barren branches,
And a blur of berries.
I found a spider hanging in his web,
And Benji guarding the shed.
And I found a burst of color in my Anna’s Hummingbirds, looking quite dapper in purple
or is it hot pink?
~ Susanne
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A Conversation and Playtime with Benji
“I’m bored, Sue. There’s nothing to do. It’s too cold and rainy to go outside. And due to my um, shortage, I can’t do the things I used to do.”
“I’m not thrilled with the weather either, Benji. And I have shortages of my own.”
“You do, Sue?”
“Certainly, Benji. We all do. But we have to make the best of things. Forget about what we’ve lost and enjoy what we have. You can still play, right? How about some mouse on a stick?”
“I’d love that, Sue! I was hoping you’d ask!”
“You’ve still got it, Benji! If there was a Special Olympics for kitties, you’d be a winner for sure!”
“Aw thanks, Sue. I feel better now.”
“That’s the attitude, Benji. I feel better, now, too.”
Happy Saturday, from Susanne and Benji
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Happy New Year in Squares, a Look Back at some Memorable Moments!
After a break from blogging, I’m ready to jump back in! So here’s a look back at some Memorable Moments from 2024, with pictures I’ve chosen for their lines and shapes, squaring them for Geometric Squares!
I’ll start with a hike through Box Canyon, even the name is appropriate, don’t you think? I sometimes forget what a treat it is to have Mt. Rainier National Park so close to home.
Earlier in the year we took a road trip to the Coast Redwoods of Northern California. I didn’t intend to take this picture sideways, but my camera thought otherwise.
On the way home we stopped by the Carson Mansion in Eureka, built for lumber baron, William Carson, in 1885. Some call it the grandest Victorian home in America!
But the highlight of our 2024 travels had to be our trip to New York City, where views from the Empire State Building, Central Park, and Grand Central Station were all fit to be squared!
It’s good to be back to blogging! Hope to see you all in 2025!
~ Susanne
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Contentment
Coffee in my cup and a kitty at my feet…
It’s good to be home.
– Susanne and Benji
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Until Next Year
Just a few pictures of Benji, who despite the cropped ear and missing leg, remains as cute as ever.
May we all be as content as he is.
Taking the rest of the year off. Hope to see you again in 2025!
~ Susanne
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A Special Walk at Coulon Park with Bald Eagles
I needed the walk. I was feeling a bit under the weather, and perhaps the weather was feeling a bit under me.
So I headed to Coulon Park to be revived; it was cold and cloudy but not raining and the air was fresh and clean.
Actually, it was perfect.
The Olympics provided a gorgeous backdrop for the play that was to unfold.
I walked the path around the lake and saw hundreds of ducks and geese and birds of all colors and sizes.
But the best were high above
bald eagles soaring above the lake,
then diving into the water, again and again.
I watched from a distance then went to Bird Island where I could see them close up when they landed.
Smart birds, those bald eagles, hanging out where the salmon are. I could have watched them all day.
“South Lake Washington is an important nursery for juvenile Chinook salmon. Adults lay their eggs in the upper reaches of the Cedar River. Once the eggs hatch, the juveniles swim out of the mouth of the Cedar River and rear along the southern shorelines of the lake between January and June.”
I’ll be back.
At Coulon Park on the south shore of Lake Washington.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 