Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Saturday Caturday with Benji
Starting the day with a kitty on my lap.
Happy Caturday!
~ Susanne and Benji
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Wonderful World of Color – From the West to the East!
So much color to be found across these United States of America and I’m not done sharing it yet! You’ve already seen some images from my favorite local park in Renton, Washington. The entrance to Gene Coulon Park is lined with maple trees that come alive in the fall.
A bit further east, across the Cascade Mountains on Highway 2,
you’ll find some of the best color in Washington State in Leavenworth and Icicle Creek.
And MUCH further east – you’ll find marvelous color in New York City’s Central Park, which is transformed in the fall.
Not my pictures – they were taken by my brother – I’ve never been to Central Park in the fall. You can see more gorgeous photos and the story on his blog. Central Park’s Spectacular Fall Foliage! Nature Shows Off in New York City!
And all of this reminds me that the world is a carousel of color!
And yes, I do remember gathering in front the TV on Sunday nights to watch Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, one of my earliest TV memories!
And that will do for now.
~ Susanne
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A Gorgeous Day for a Walk at Coulon
Blue sky, fall color.
Olympic Mountains dusted with snow.
Floating.
Mt. Rainier looming.
Ghostly.
Turtles basking.
Gulls resting.
American Coots swimming.
Cormorants sunning.
Who could ask for anything more?
For (almost) #Wordless Wednesday.
~ Susanne
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Hiking Among the Stumps at Rattlesnake Lake
I come from the Evergreen State which means there are lots of trees everywhere. It also means lots of brown and sometimes lots of stumps!
We visited Rattlesnake Lake last month and found giant stumps lining the shore.
Rattlesnake Lake is spring-fed by the Cedar River; levels fluctuate during the summer months, depending on the amount of snowpack in the mountains.
You can see the marks in the trunk that the loggers made.
You can also see the size as my husband poses for me next to the stump.
Rattlesnake Ledge is high above to the left 2 miles up, while Mt. Si can be seen off in the distance to the right. We hiked up to Rattlesnake Ledge once upon a time; not anymore.
No guardrails up there, so watch your step if you make the trek.
We also hiked to Mt. Si back in the day. A favorite of locals and visitors alike, though not a favorite of mine.
According to Wikipedia: “The four-mile-long (6.5 km) Mount Si trail vertically climbs 3,500 feet (1,070 m) to the summit ridge. Its summit is reached by an exposed scramble, class 3, up the north side of the summit block, which is known as the “Haystack”.
In other words, I had no business up being there. And yet, I remember scrambling to the top of the Haystack with a group of young people sometime in the last century and thankfully living to tell the tale! (Youth is like that.)
A hike through the stumps was enough for us.
Sharing with #Sunday Stills, Brown.
~ Susanne
P.S. A number of you wondered in the comments, about all the stumps in the lake! They are the remnants of Moncton, an old railroad town that was flooded over a 100 years ago. It was more than I could describe, so here’s a link to more history.
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Transformation of the Ginkgo Tree!
Yesterday I took a walk in the rain on the Cedar River Trail to see one of my favorite trees in glory – the Ginkgo Biloba.
It wasn’t hard to spot – it lit up the rainy path like a burst of sunshine!
And to think it was mostly green less than 2 weeks ago.
According to Wikipedia: “It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoc approximately 170 million years ago.”
Which reminds me of Ginkgo Petrified Forest near the Columbia River, where over 50 species of petrified wood including Ginkgo, were discovered in the 1930’s. We stopped by for a look a few years ago and saw beautiful specimens of petrified wood and Indian petroglyphs.
According to the signboard,
“Once living trees are converted into ‘trees of stone’ during a long slow petrification process. It began roughly 12 to 17 million years ago when lava poured out of cracks in the earth. The silica enriched lava flows covered 63,000 square miles burying the area where you stand today. One of these flows spilled into an ancient lake that once existed here. As the lava cooled around water soaked logs, the silica from the lava slowly replaced organic cells in the trees. over time these fallen trees were transformed into the petrified forest of Ginkgo State Park.”
Now that’s a transformation!
~ Susanne
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I Brake for the Leaves of Autumn!
Well, I’d like to, though I admit it’s not always possible!
A major road near my house is lined with gold – gold! – the leaves on the trees form a canopy above and cast a glow below. How often I wished I could stop right there for a photo, but I haven’t figured out yet a safe way to do it.
Fortunately, there are trees in the parks and side streets that provide plenty of opportunities to safely enjoy the fall colors in the neighborhood.
Recently, I was enchanted by this beauty at Coulon Park. I don’t know the name of the tree – perhaps you do? – I would love to have one in my yard.
The maple below was in the parking lot of my local grocery store. The red leaves stood out as if placed just so, by an unseen hand.
Closer to home, even the leaves on my car were beautiful today,
including this one which looked to me like an angel.
And I was reminded of the verse, “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
I can hardly wait for that.
Sharing with #Sunday Stills, Leaves of Autumn.
~ Susanne
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What to do on a Rainy Saturday? Backyard Birding!
I woke to thunder and lightning and pounding rain which ruined plans to meet a friend for lunch (she’d have a long drive on the freeway and we thought it best to reschedule.)
Regardless of the lousy weather, the birds were out in full force, in between storm gusts.
I replenished the hummingbird feeder and shortly afterwards, the Anna’s arrived.
Lucky for me, I was still outside with my camera when the Downy Woodpecker returned, and I got several shots of the handsome boy. Seems like he may become a regular, hooray!
When he was done the chickadees were next in line.
Meanwhile, back at the old location the squirrels were raiding the seeds. I may have sunflowers popping up all over my yard next year as they seem to bury as much as they eat!
Still, it occupied them while a wren dropped by for suet.
As long as I keep feeders under the tree there’ll be no keeping the squirrels out. I’ll continue playing with feeder types and locations so all can get their fill.
Until then,
~ Susanne
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Downy Woodpecker
This handsome bird dropped by my backyard this week for some suet and was kind enough to stay till I could grab my camera.
(I’d just moved the suet to a new location which I hope will thwart the squirrels from eating it all too quickly. I left some for them in the old location for now.)
Not the clearest of pictures as it was getting dark, and I snapped them in a hurry before he flew away.
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in North America; the male is most handsome with the bright red patch on the back of his head. They feed primarily on insects, but supplement thier diet with seeds and berries, and suet when available.
~ Susanne
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What do you see in the Clouds?
I see skies of blue, trees of green …
sung by Jimmy Durante!
What do you see?
For (mostly) #Wordless Wednesday
~ Susanne
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Life is Better in Color – On the Snoqualmie River
Last weekend on a cold and crisp, clear, sunny day, we headed east to visit the small towns and parks that surround the Snoqualmie River and Falls. In my last post, I drained the color from the landscape and the scenery became almost frightful, so I thought I’d better show you the world as it really is – in living color.
Snoqualmie Falls is much more beautiful lit up by sunshine and fall foliage. Did you know you could drive to the bottom? Much easier than taking the hike down from above.
Afterwards, we had lunch in the small town of Carnation, then stopped by Tolt-MacDonald for a walk in the park.
We crossed the suspension bridge and the river flowed calm and shallow underneath, after a low-water summer.
We’re barely half-way through fall, but we have frost in the mornings and snow has arrived in the foothills of the Cascades, heralding winter to come.
That’s all for now.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 