Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
The Northwest Flower and Garden Show is Back!
The NW Flower & Garden Show is back this year in Seattle and it was almost like old times!
There were beautiful flower ladies to greet you –
Display gardens, plants for sale and vendors displaying their wares.
Yes, it was smaller, with everything scaled back. And crowds were fewer – a good thing – and all wore masks.
But along with the beauty and the color and the fragrance you could feel the joy in the air. With the hope that perhaps, the long, long covid winter will soon pass, and spring will come again.
~ Susanne
Gardening is for the Birds
I love gardening and I love birds and the two go hand in hand.
At our last home in Seattle, our yard was a Certified Wildlife Habitat, which means it was wildlife friendly; we planted native shrubs and trees, had water sources, and feeders. I hung nectar for the hummingbirds and seed and suet for the others, but it was the chickadees that captured my heart.
I didn’t take many pictures in those days so I can’t find any of the birds. But I did manage to find a few of my garden to share.
At our new home in Renton – it will always be new to me though we’ve been here 12 years – we’re surrounded by evergreen trees. We’ve also added shrubs and water sources, including a stream that turns on with the flip of a switch where birds come to drink.
I still love the chickadees. I hear them calling to one another in the trees above before they drop down for a drink.
They share their home with other regulars
and even welcome rare golden headed visitors.
And how could I forget the beautiful Anna’s hummingbirds who come by daily to feed?
Now before I go, I have one more thing to show you.
The Snag
A few years ago we noticed one of our evergreen trees was dying. We had an arborist come and take a look and he suggested that rather than removing it, we should leave a snag for the birds, as nature does. We’re so glad we did! The flickers love it. We even had an owl one night – what a treat! 🙂
Sharing this with Sunday Stills Challenge because it’s National Bird Feeding month and I’m a bird feeder! 🙂 .
~ Susanne
Tonight’s Poofy, Cloudy, Sunset
Today was beautiful and sunny and ended with a lovely sky, filled with poofy clouds at sunset.
Apparently, the clouds are just for looks as we are promised a rain-free week.
Hooray!
~ Susanne
The Odd Bird
It’s just an expression – like odd duck – odd ball – odd man out – but it seems to suit February, certainly an odd month!
For starters, I can’t ever remember how many days it has!
“Thirty days has September, April, June and November, all the rest have thirty-one, except……”
Except. Except, I can’t remember the end of the song! I only know it’s about February and something to do with the days. 28 or 29?
Every four years? Then why do they call it leap year, as though we’re skipping over something instead of adding it back? How odd!
And how do you pronounce it anyway? FEB – U – ARY? Then where’d the ‘r’ go?
It’s a mystery! But let’s get back to the bird.
I saw a Great Blue Heron on Lake Washington recently, looking exactly as a heron should.
But when I caught him head-on, he seemed to sprout great feathery tusks that looked like a Fu Manchu!
Odd don’t you think?
For Becky’s SquareOdds.
~ Susanne
A Walk in the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the Quietest Places on Earth
This was not our first trip to the Hoh Rain Forest – we’re Washingtonians and have been many times before. But it was perhaps the most wonderful, for in the dead of winter we had the Hall of Mosses trail to ourselves.
At the trailhead we crossed a stream full of life, where salmon come to spawn and die.
We were welcomed by giant trees
and climbed gently upward into the grove of moss-covered maples for which the area is famous.
There was much to contemplate in the dense garden of green – especially the solitude – and I almost cried for the beauty.
“The atmosphere of the rain forest is so fertile that some plants thrive on air. Dining on moisture and nutrients from rain and wind-borne particles, clubmoss and licorice fern fasten to trunks and branches but do not harm their hosts.”
Sign on the Hall of Mosses trail, Olympic National Park
Other sources of life include downed trees known as nurse logs. You’ll know them by the family of trees they support, all in a row.
“When a big tree falls it can provide a stage for new life. Hemlock and spruce seedlings, unable to survive on the tangled forest floor, absorbs minerals, moisture and warmth from the decaying trunk.”
Sign on the Hall of Mosses trail, Olympic National Park
This Sitka Spruce on the other hand, stretched alongside the trail decaying, not yet supporting other trees. At 190 feet long, it was only a portion of the original standing tree. Sitka spruces average between 200 – 300 feet in the rain forest.
I read recently that the Hoh Rain Forest is one of the quietest places on earth.
I don’t know how this was determined. But I do know, on that quiet winter day on the Hall of Mosses trail, I felt the dense quiet and calm of the forest and hoped it would remain so for generations to come.
For more information on the Hoh Rain Forest checkout the link for Olympic National Park, here.
~ Susanne
Enjoying the Elements at Magnificent Ruby Beach
On our recent trip to Lake Quinault, we stopped by Ruby Beach on Washington’s wild and rugged coast.
We took the short trail down, stopping to look through the trees at the beach below, which was mostly socked in by fog.
At the end of the trail, we climbed over giant drift logs, many retaining their color as if they’d only recently fallen.
There were rocks of all sizes, smooth and worn away by generations of pounding waves.
Those not so smooth still showed smaller rocks embedded within them.
These are sedimentary rocks, which according to Wikipedia are ” types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth’s surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for process that cause these particles to settle in place. “
If rocks could talk, I bet they’d have stories to tell.
In case you wondered there were no rubies to be found; I was hoping they’d by lying around for the taking. Ruby Beach is named after reddish colored patches of sand from concentrations of garnet crystals.
But what catches your eye the most are the giant rocks, the offshore islands and sea stacks.
Sea stacks are formed over time by wind and water crashing against headlands, causing them to collapse and erode.
Whatever the cause, aren’t they marvelous?
So there you have it! The rugged beauty of Ruby Beach, showcasing the elements of water, air and earth! Sorry I’m missing the fire. 😉
Sharing with Sunday Stills, Power of the Elements.
~ Susanne
Benji at Right Angles
Happy Saturday from Susanne and Benji.
Hope it’s a restful one! 🙂
Wildlife from our Trip to Lake Quinault
For this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge, I thought I’d share from our recent trip to Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula. Although most of the animals seemed to be tucked away for winter, I did see a lot of birds including crows. Yes, I like these intelligent birds.
This one reminds me of Narcissus, though I think he was more interested in washing his food than looking at his reflection.
This one reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock.
I also saw eagles soaring overhead, and bats feeding at dusk. But my best sighting was of a bird I’d never seen before. We were on our way back from a hike on this trail:
I’d already taken lots of pictures (no surprise there) so my dear husband asked if he could carry my camera the rest of the way. Soon after (uh-huh) I looked up and saw the tiniest owl I’d ever seen perched on a branch overhead. The little fellow was only 6 or 7 inches tall with a round little face, staring straight ahead.
“Bob,” I said quietly. “Stop. Look up. I need my camera.”
It took 10 seconds or so before I got my camera back and tried to focus on the tiny bird above. Unfortunately, I was too slow and watched him fly away. It was a Northern Pygmy Owl!
Here he is: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Pygmy-Owl/id
I did manage to get a picture of the largest herbivore in Olympic National Park, the Roosevelt Elk. We saw one the next day on our way to the Hoh Rainforest, standing by the side of the road, as still as a statue. She never once turned to look at us though we were only a few feet away. We finally realized she was fixated on a hiker walking up the road, so we moved on and gave her some peace.
I wish I could show you pictures of the bear and cougar that live here but I suppose it’s best that they remain hidden. So this will have to do.
~ Susanne
A Peaceful Lake and a Magical Walk in the Rainforest – At Lake Quinault
Earlier this week we spent a few days at Lake Quinault and once again fell in love with the calm and beauty of the lake, and the magic of the rainforest.
It was a perfect time to visit the Quinault Valley. We spent our days exploring and found giant trees – including the largest Sitka Spruce in the world –
and waterfalls at the end of easy hikes with no one else on the trails.
It was all wonderful, but our favorite was the Maple Glade Rainforest Trail, where we saw giant maples dressed in green garments, fringes hanging from their arms, ferns at their feet, streams flowing through, reflecting back their glory.
“Drenched in over 12 feet of rain a year, Olympic’s west side valleys flourish with North America’s best remaining examples of temperate rain forest. Giant western hemlocks, Douglas-firs and Sitka spruce trees dominate the landscape while ferns and moss cloak the trees and forest floor. In these valleys, even the air seems green.”
National Park Service Website
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope so.
But I doubt whether pictures or words can adequately convey the beauty of the rainforest.
If you ever have the chance, please go see this magical place for yourself.
~ Susanne
Sunset over Lake Quinault
We happened to pick the best weather days this year to get away to Lake Quinault. The lake was completely still and reflected sunset perfectly.
We also took the most enchanting walk through the rain forest which I hope to share later this week.
In the meantime, hope you have a happy Monday!
Susanne
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