Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Cat Sticker
I turned Benji into a cat sticker.
In living color.
Just for fun. Yes, I did.
Happy Caturday!
~ Susanne
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
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
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
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
Contentment
Coffee in my cup and a kitty at my feet…
It’s good to be home.
– Susanne and Benji
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
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
Festive and Metallic at Wright Park
Earlier this week we went to Tacoma and while we were waiting for our new sheepskin seat covers to be fitted to our car, we took a walk at nearby Wright Park.
In addition to the large trees, walking path, fountains and pond,
there was a conservatory, filled with interesting plants and festive decorations, many metallic.
There were many poinsettias, not only in traditional red,
but in hybrids of white and pink,
my favorites.
Now for some history:
“Poinsettias have been a symbol of Christmas in the United States for many generations, but what we know as the “poinsettia” has a true name – Cuetlaxochitl – and a deeper story. Cuetlaxochitl (kwet-la-SHO-she) is native to Mexico and was cultivated by the Aztecs for medicinal purposes and as a dye. The Aztecs also grew extensive botanical gardens which included cuetlaxochitl. Motezuma (the last Aztec emperor) would send caravans of the plans to the capital for all to enjoy.”
In 1828, John Roberts Poinsett, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, “discovered” cuetlaxochitl and brought cuttings back to the U.S. and it was then named after him.
Most poinsettias in the United States today are grown in California. The beauty is in the colored leaves or bracts, the tiny flowers in the middle mostly go unnoticed.
I used to bring poinsettias home for winter color but stopped when I learned they were mildly toxic to cats. Now I just enjoy them where they are used for holiday decorating everywhere.
Sharing with this month’s #Sunday Stills Color Challenge, Metallic and Cee’s #Flower of the Day.
~ Susanne
Would You Like to Live in a Rainforest?
Anton Kestner did.
Back in 1891 he built his home deep in the rainforest on the north side of Lake Quinault.
After taking the Maple Glade Trail, we visited the old homestead.
Looks cozy to me, the low clouds like smoke from a still-burning wood stove.
In the early days he would have arrived at his home in the woods by crossing the lake and likely traveling on foot, not by this charming old truck, which now decorates the property.
“The Kestner Homestead Historic District is a complex of structures and landscape features which
provides a strong sense of the period of early settlement in the Quinault River Valley beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the early 20th century, a theme significant in Olympic National Park history. The spatial arrangement of the building cluster in relationship to the cleared pasture areas and orchard provides important information about how these early homesteads were organized and functioned in this remote part of the country. Although the buildings and fencing is in various states of deterioration, the homestead overall exhibits a high degree of cultural landscape integrity in its location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.” National Park Service, National Historic Register
Though the homestead has long been abandoned and is now part of Olympic National Park, there are others like it in the area where people still live surrounded by woods.
I wouldn’t mind it myself, if only occasionally.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 