Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
You Don’t Say! For #Wordless Wednesday
`~ Susanne and Benji
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Washington my Home – Waterfalls from the Evergreen State
I was born and raised in Washington, and I LOVE being surrounded by green! Though officially known as the Evergreen State, you wouldn’t be wrong if you called it the Waterfall State; it has more waterfalls than any other state in the country, over 3,000, according to my official google research. Who knew??
So, for this week’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge I thought I’d share some of my favorites since they are indeed surrounded by green.
I’ll start with perhaps the most famous – Snoqualmie Falls – the go-to falls for visitors. A 45-minute drive east of Seattle on I-90, just walk to the overlook and gawk. No hiking required though there’s a trail down to the bottom if you like.
The next one is even closer to home though less well known, near Black Diamond, on the Green River Gorge. Those rickety stairs you see will take you down below for a mere five dollars. We did that once.
It was worth it.
Rocky Brook Falls is on Hood Canal. My mom took me there many times when she lived in Brinnon back in the day, and I took my husband to see it earlier this year.
You’ll find Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park, after a hike through the forest. It’s one of my favorites.
The next set are from Mt. Rainier National Park, where there are over 150 waterfalls. We hiked to Silver Falls last year. Wow.
We’ve stopped by Narada Falls many times before but hadn’t hiked to the bottom until recently when we caught a rainbow.
Christine Falls is gorgeous from the road. Hiking is optional.
I’ll close with Myrtle Falls, overshadowed, or perhaps, showcased, by the mountain behind, just a short walk in Paradise.
There are many more I could show you, but this will do for now.
~ Susanne
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Saturday Caturday – Happy Birthday, Tiger!
“Really Sue? It’s my birthday? How old am I?”
“You’re 15 years old, Tiger! If you believe the charts, that makes you 76 in people years!”
“Wow! No wonder I’m so tired!”
“That’s okay, Tiger! That’s the great part about getting older! You can nap whenever you want. Or read or watch TV and nobody will judge you.”
“That sounds great, Sue! What else?”
“You don’t have to worry about your weight anymore. It’s good to have a little extra for the lean years! So let’s celebrate! Have some more cat mint.”
“Thanks Sue. I like birthdays.”
~ Susanne and Tiger
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Moonscapes Above and Below
I’ve always enjoyed the night sky and love capturing the moon when I can.
In fact, this post was already in the works when late last night, my eye caught a bright moon rising in my backyard, the Worm Moon. I wasn’t well prepared – no tripod and I’m rusty on my settings – but I grabbed my camera anyway and went out in my robe to practice.
Here are those shots – bright and mysterious.
You can see my backyard is full of trees and they often reach up to grab the moon – you may mistake them for aliens.
The moon can elevate a scene even if it’s not the center. I caught the moon rising over my garden shed a few years ago – you may have seen it before – it’s one of my favorites.
And we were lucky to come across Mt. Rainier bathed in moonglow one winter night.
Sometimes you’ll find a moonscape on earth as we did on the top of Haleakala on Maui.
and on Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii, where my husband was shining with the sunset.
That’s all for now.
Sharing with Sunday Stills #Out of this World.
~ Susanne
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It’s Springtime in the Garden and You know what that Means
If you’re Benji –
“Let’s get at it, Sue! There’s work to be done!”
If you’re Tiger –
“Have at it, boy!”
“I’ll just take some time to smell the flowers.”
Which one are you?
~ Susanne
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Back with the Eagles of the Skagit Valley
On our trip to the Skagit Valley last week, in addition to the thousands of swans and snow geese, we saw dozens of bald eagles – in the farmlands, in the trees and in the skies.
They come from northern Canada and Alaska to winter in Washington, drawn by the salmon in the Skagit River. I’ve seen them there before, but not in great numbers. Perhaps my timing was wrong. But this year I headed west, where the river flows into Puget Sound, and found dozens in the valley and farmlands near Bow, the most I’ve ever seen in one place.
What more can I say? It was fabulous.
You can find more about the birds of winter in the Skagit Valley, here.
~ Susanne
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My Backyard Birds
In my last post I showed you the thousands of snow birds who call the Skagit Valley home during the winter. To the humans who live in the area, these are their backyard birds!
My backyard on the other hand is smaller but I still have hundreds of birds who visit year-round for the amenities. In addition to evergreen trees, native shrubs and flowers, and nesting boxes, I have several water sources for the birds, including birdbaths and a stream that turns on with the flip of a switch.
I feed the hummingbirds sugar water, paying extra attention to keep the nectar thawed during the cold spells.
Just this year I added more feeders to meet the need of other little birds during the cold winter months, including the nuthatches,
wrens
and chickadees.
I’ll likely take these new feeders down when spring arrives as they don’t stay full for long.
Here’s why.
Sharing with Sunday Stills.
~ Susanne
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Thousands of Snow Birds in the Skagit Valley!
Have you ever visited the Skagit Valley during the winter to see the snowbirds? We did last week and discovered thousands of swans (trumpeter and tundra though I’m hard pressed to tell the difference) and snow geese, much easier to identify with the black feathers and markings. These visitors come all the way from Wrangell Island, Russia for the winter.
Can you hear the sound as they take flight? It was marvelous.
I’ll save the dozens of eagles we saw for later, more than I’ve ever seen in one place.
I was in bird heaven. 🙂
~ Susanne
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Inside a Bookstore on a Snowy Day
Snow lightly falling on the Village Green.
Toasty inside.
Simple pleasures.
For (mostly) #Wordless Wednesday.
-Susanne
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Remembering – A Promise to Tiger
This happened once, not so long ago….
“Tiger, I need to talk to you.”
“Sure Sue, what is it?”
“I wanted to let you know that Benji and I won a spot in the International Cat Care Calendar for 2020.”
“So I heard.”
“I entered him into the competition because the category was ‘cat-human relationships.’ Benji’s a lap cat so it was much easier for me to get a picture of us together. But trust me Tiger. The next contest that comes along for most handsome cat I’m entering you. You’d win paws down!!”
“Really Sue?”
“Yes, Tiger, I promise!”
“Okay thanks! I guess I should start getting ready. How’s this?”
“Beautiful Tiger! I’ll get right on it!”
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 