Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Plovers in Black and white
Yesterday we stopped by Potlatch State Park at the southern end of Hood Canal, on our way home from Port Townsend. While Bob practiced casting I enjoyed watching the shorebirds.
I think they were Plovers though I’m not certain of the particular variety even after consulting a field guide. Regardless, they were so charming. They stood perfectly still on the shore, their colors blending in with the sand and fragments of oyster shells.
Then they started running along the beach in fits and starts, as fast as their little legs could carry them. Use the arrow slide to take a look at them in color.
I kept my distance but they still eyed me warily. When I dared approach further they flew off in a hurry giving me an earful of their delightful chatter.
Aren’t they beautiful?
For Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Birds.
~ Susanne
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Happy #TRT – Tummy Rub Tuesday (Week 331) — Katzenworld
I haven’t given Tiger enough time on the blog lately, but he was more than happy to pose today on Kaztenworld! 🙂
The post Happy #TRT – Tummy Rub Tuesday (Week 331) appeared first on Katzenworld – Welcome to the world of cats!. Hello everyone, Welcome to another week of Tummy Rub Tuesday! We have setup a Katzenworld Forum and would like to encourage everyone to make their entries for Tummy Rub Tuesday on our dedicated Tummy…
Happy #TRT – Tummy Rub Tuesday (Week 331) — Katzenworld
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Monday Morning Sunrise
One thing I love about winter approaching is the sun rising later in the day. This was the view this morning looking out my back door.
Hope your day is full of color too. 🙂
~ Susanne
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The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen
Are in Seattle – sang Perry Como. He was talking about this week.
The first five days of December – rain-free, for the record books.
Spent a day at Lincoln Park – where sea and sky merged blue,
save for the peaks – the Olympics.
A friendly harbor seal said hello, warm in his thermal skin suit;
At Alki others tested the waters – where temperatures hover near 50 degrees.
The seagulls were content to watch.
Done in sixes, did you notice?
A photo challenge, Six Word Saturday.
~ Susanne
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Close Up on Benji
It’s been too long since I’ve showcased my favorite feline on the blog (don’t tell Tiger.) So for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge – I thought I’d bring you some close ups of Benji.
First from the garden – where he loves to spend his time when the weather is suitable.
When it’s not, he spends more time in his other favorite place – our shared office – where we both like to look out the window and ponder.
That’s where we were this morning when I got out my camera to take some fresh close ups. He settled into the empty bag which I thought was a tight fit and told him so.
‘What’s it to you?’ he seemed to say.
Silly boy.
~ Susanne
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Textures of Puget Sound
In response to this week’s Sunday Still’s photo challenge I went looking for textures and found them on the shores of Puget Sound.
Bob wanted to practice fishing – fly fishermen are always testing new equipment and techniques – while I would wander and take pictures. So we visited Saltwater State Park and Dash Point, which like many other parks on Puget Sound, have forests that almost reach to the shore, views of the Olympic Mountains, and nice paths for walking.
The first beach was strewn about with drift logs – which worked nicely for textures I thought – but not so good for fishing.
We moved on and I found nice views of the Sound through beach grass,
with the Olympics behind, wearing fresh snow.
Bob found a better spot to fish – until the wind picked up.
We’d come back another day.
I love Puget Sound.
An inlet of the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound stretches from the Straight of Juan de Fuca in the north to Olympia 100 miles south, the second largest estuary in the United States. I grew up exploring its waterways, glacier-carved channels and basins, and the many parks that line its shores. Indeed it has become a rich texture to the backdrop of my life.
~ Susanne
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Colorful Coulon Walk and a Cloud
It was a crisp and clear, sunny day – perfect for a walk at Coulon Park.
Trees bore leaves of red and gold and the Mountain was out
but it was a cloud that caught my eye.
It loomed large as I drove home and I stopped to watch it hover
Wondering if it had come for me.
~ Susanne
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A Micro Walk in the Woods
Happy Thanksgiving from the Evergreen State!
~ Susanne
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Thankful for the Beauty of the Natural World
There’s always something to be thankful for and if you don’t believe it, just look around at the beauty of the natural world.
Earlier this month we visited Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, thousands of acres of salt and freshwater marshes, grasslands and forest that provide a rich stopping place for migratory birds.
The crown of Mt. Rainier can be seen in the background, its glaciers the source of the Nisqually River which flows into Puget Sound forming the estuary.
We saw hundreds of birds
including a Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
and two young snow geese that dropped by from Russia.
I love wildlife and when I can’t get away I’m thankful for my backyard sanctuary where nuthatches come by to drink
and hummingbirds to feed.
I’m thankful for another kind of wildlife too of the feline variety – Benji
and Tiger.
Shared with Sunday Stills, Thankful.
~ Susanne
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Rewards of a Rainy Day Walk, Harbor Seals and a Rainbow!
So here we are – it’s fall in the Pacific Northwest and that means rain, rain, and more rain, perhaps for the next six months. Okay, not really, but it sometimes feels like that. And you can’t just stay home day after day even in the midst of a pandemic. You must get out for fresh air and a socially distanced outing and hope for promised sunbreaks to appear. We did just that last week – to someplace new – Titlow Park on Puget Sound in Tacoma – where Bob hoped to practice casting and I planned to take pictures.
We arrived under rain and threatening skies and headed to the beach where we found interesting views of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
But the promised sunbreaks failed to appear so we moved on
to walk the trail through the woods, where the rain was mostly kept at bay by the trees overhead.
We finished the loop and as we made our way back to the car the rain turned to hail and we wondered about our miserable rainy day outing. But we had to eat so we went to Ruston Way for take-out – no eating in restaurants – we’re in that phase again.
As we finished our lunch in the car the rain finally slowed and brilliant blue skies appeared. We took the bait and headed out for our second walk of the day. Why not?
As you might imagine the place was mostly deserted so we had the wide paved trail to ourselves – save for a few hearty souls walking their dogs.
And then something wonderful happened.
Harbor seals! Lots of them! More than I’d ever seen in Puget Sound! Right off the beach below the bluff, there were families of them, swimming together, diving and feeding and as nearly as I could tell, just enjoying life.
At first I thought they might be sea lions but when I saw them close-up in my photos I knew they were harbor seals by the beautiful tapestry of their skins.
As far as I was concerned the day was redeemed and even though the rain returned it was okay for as we started our drive home, I saw the bow in the cloud.
So don’t believe a rainy day walk can’t have its own magic.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 