Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Are you Comfortable, Benji?
“It’s not bad, Sue. Thanks for asking.”
“Are you sure, Benji? There are better places to sleep than a wire basket!”
“None as close to you, Sue. But it would help if you could turn the light down.”
“Sure, Benji. My pleasure.”
~ from the office of Susanne and Benji
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Fire King, Cats, and a River!
What do these disparate things have in common? Jade green, of course!
I’ll start with Jadeite Fire King – have you heard of it? It’s collectible glassware from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. My first piece was a classic coffee mug which friends remembered getting for free in a box of laundry detergent! Not me, I paid a respectable $12 for mine, and it got me started collecting. I love its milky green color though I now prefer a larger cup for my morning coffee.
After many years I’m in the process of ‘de-collecting,’ selling off most of the dishes, bowls and mugs I’ve acquired. No place to display them! But I’m keeping a few of my favorites including the batter bowl, a gift from my mom, which my husband uses for making pancakes and waffles.
Next up are my two favorite felines – Tiger and Benji. Did you notice their green eyes?
I never miss a chance to showcase them. Why not? They inspired this blog.
I’ll close with some shots of the appropriately named Green River, which flows 65 miles from the western slopes of the Cascades before emptying into Puget Sound.
I took these pictures of the river at Kanaskat-Palmer State Park earlier this year. No matter how many times I see it, I’m always amazed at its gorgeous color!
Kanaskat-Palmer is downstream from the Green River Gorge; I shared some of its secrets here if you missed it.
And that’s enough green for today!
Sharing with Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge, Jade Green.
~ Susanne
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Spring Gardening with Benji
It’s that time of year for gardening to begin in earnest, with planning, pruning, and the moving of shrubs from one place to another.
Then there’s the preparation of the soil in the garden beds, to furnish good ground for new seeds to flourish. Fortunately, my trusted assistant does all the dirty work. No not, Bob. Benji.
~ Happy Gardening to you from Susanne and Benji
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A Visit to Carkeek Park
Yesterday we visited Carkeek Park. I don’t know how many years it’s been as we don’t get to Seattle much since we moved to Renton. I’d forgotten how you can almost reach out and touch the Olympics further north. It was clear, cold and windy but oh so beautiful! We saw ducks on the beach, eagles in the sky and robins in the woods.
Sharing with CFFC, Birds!
~ Susanne
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Monday Morning and all is New
I’m thankful for the fresh start every new day brings.
~ Susanne
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Lake Quinault in Black and White
A serene lake at dawn.
In black and white to match my somber mood.
Sharing with CBWC.
~ Susanne
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Fresh as a Bird on the First Day of Spring!
After Monday’s deluge by an atmospheric river, Tuesday came along warm and clear, a foretaste of spring.
The juncos dropped by for the fresh green grass.
and the finches came to say hello.
We were all happy.
Sharing with Sunday Stills, Fresh.
~ Susanne
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Secrets of the Green River Gorge
Yesterday while the weather was dry, we went to explore the Green River, taking the short but steep and hidden trail, down into the gorge.
The river beckoned through the trees,
and we stopped to enjoy its beautiful color and turbulent flowing water.
And then I noticed the American flag flying from the boulders in the middle, and found it odd, don’t you?
After our stop, we headed back and intersected another trail that led us to a cliff, with the best views of the waterfalls on the other side.
Notice the stairs over the falls. Does it seem odd to you? It might have to me if I hadn’t seen them before.
In fact, I took those rickety stairs down to the bottom of the gorge, one summer day a couple years ago.
The views below were fabulous,
and we saw young people swimming under the falls. (Look closely and you may see them.)
We didn’t swim, but we did walk on the smooth boulders, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the river.
A friend of mine told me she jumped off that very cliff where I stood yesterday, into the river, back in the lazy summer days of her youth.
Perhaps braver than I would have been, but I’ll never really know. I’m not going to start now.
Sharing my square odd pictures with SquareOdds.
~ Susanne
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Surprised by Snow
I’ve wanted to drop by the SquareOdds challenge before it’s over but I’ve been hard pressed to find anything odd!
But after our mostly balmy weather the last few weeks during which time I accomplished a bit of spring gardening, it seemed odd to me that winter should return so quickly!
The temperatures plummeted to record lows and I went outside this morning to patches of snow, including this odd piece of modern art on my windshield.
But what I enjoyed the most was seeing tiny balls of snow on fallen leaves.
And that will do for today’s odd squares.
~ Susanne
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Happy (Belated)Love Your Pet Day!
There’s a day for everything! And when it comes to your pets, why not? They deserve it. So even though I’m late – the special day was last Sunday – I’m not too late to share the love for this week’s theme on Sunday Stills.
So let me introduce my pets to you! First up is Benji looking quite dapper on my desk. In the way as usual, while I was working on my blog. In fact, that’s him on the screen behind – though I ended up not using that picture in this story.
He’s a sweetheart. Soft, cuddly, and talkative.
Small in size but big in personality. And energy. Earlier today he was running wild, so I booted him out the front door.
A few minutes later he decided to join me in the back – taking his favorite shortcut across the roof to get there. He’s a smart boy, what can I do?
Tiger’s the senior cat in the family and despite the name, he’s the timid one. You’ll never see him on the roof. Or running wild. Or running at all, unless he’s being chased by Benji.
But you will see him outside rambling about the garden alone,
taking time to smell the sunflowers.
As different as night and day.
I love them both
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 