Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
My Great Grandfather’s Incredible Postcard Art! O.T. Frasch Was Seattle’s Legendary Photographer!
My brother has a great story on his blog today with some early Seattle photos taken by our great grandfather, photographer, O.T. Frasch. Check it out! 🙂
Welcome To Seattle, Washington!
Located in the northwest corner of the US, Seattle is where I grew up, taking for granted spectacular scenery like this on a daily basis:
However, thanks to my Mom and Sister, I am learning that my family history includes a legendary Photographer who captured the city as a work of historical art!
Here are photos I took Of Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market:
Except that my Great Grandfather O.T. Frasch beat me by more than one hundred years:
You see, my Grandfather took literally thousands of photgraphs that became postcards, which at the time was a piece of art – so, if yo were wondering what Seattle’s 2nd avenue looked like shortly after the turn of the 20th century, here you go:
How did I uncover all of this? Well, my Mom has told us stories of course, and then my sister recently went on…
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There’s No Place Like Home
After a wonderful road trip through the North Cascades we returned to the wet side, I mean the west side of the mountains to typical fall stormy weather.
Bob got a fire going and the cats thanked us for returning and warming up the place. Despite the rain, both wanted out – the cats that is – having been cooped up all weekend. Benji thanked me by bringing a trophy to the door later that evening, of the dead rodent variety. He hasn’t lost his touch.
You may notice that I love fall colors – even inside my house – and I found them in abundance on our road trip. I’ll be sharing pictures soon enough but here’s one to whet your appetite.
In the meantime, there’s no place like home.
~ Susanne
Postcards from a Fall Road Trip
For our anniversary this year – 38 years in case you wondered – we set out for a road trip across the North Cascades where the best stop is at Washington Pass for a look at Liberty Bell in burnished bronze, adorned with evergreens and golden larches.
On the other side are tiny towns in wide open spaces including Winthrop, a perfect place to stop for the night, situated at the intersection of two rivers, and all dressed up for fall.
I’ll have more to tell in future posts, but this will do for now.
For Travel with Intent, Six Word Saturday.
-Susanne
Seagulls – Just Because
I looked for a photo challenge to share my seagull pictures but came up short – I decided to share them anyway.
Seagulls, like crows, get no respect. I like them, but then I like crows too.
According to Wikipedia, “Gulls are resourceful, inquisitive, and intelligent, the larger species in particular, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. For example, many gull colonies display mobbing behavior, attacking and harassing predators and other intruders.”
Clearly I wouldn’t mess with this one; he brought along his bodyguards. 😉
“Certain species have exhibited tool-use behavior, such as the herring gull, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example.”
I found this one foraging for mussels and clams on Whidbey Island.
Though seagulls are fun to watch in their natural setting, they will pester you in the city, demanding that you share your lunch. They stoically wait nearby, watching for any sign of weakness, hoping you will toss them a fry.
If you relent you will be surrounded by others demanding their share.
That’s it for seagulls.
Just because.
~ Susanne
Magnificent Views Sailing From Seattle
One year ago today we returned to Seattle from our second cruise.
We’d left the Emerald City seven days before under cloudy skies fretting about the weather. Why had we booked so late?
The answer was two-fold. First, to celebrate our anniversary. Second, it didn’t really matter. As the ship sailed out of the Straight of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific Ocean, the sunset over the Olympic Mountains was magnificent – providing some of the best views of the entire trip.
Having gone on exactly two cruises I hardly consider myself an expert. But if I could only do these two from Seattle – one north to Alaska – and this one, south to Monterey – I think I would be satisfied.
Someday – when the pandemic is far, far behind us.
~ Susanne
Flowers and SpiderWebs
From yesterday’s walk at Soos Creek Botanical Gardens.
~ Susanne
Welcome Back, Benji!
This morning when Benji joined me in my office and scratched my chair I let him do it. And when I sat at my computer to read the news (yes, still flabbergasted) and he stretched out in front to annoy me I was thrilled.
Why?
Wednesday afternoon I took him to the Vet to get his shots, 2 vaccinations required every 3 years, a process we both hate.
Afterwards, he slept through the night and woke up Thursday lethargic, his movements slow, with hardly a greeting or desire for breakfast. I gave him some treats and he went back to bed. I called the vet and learned that these side effects aren’t unusual and could last up to 24 hours (why don’t they tell you?) and when I should be concerned. I already was and counted the hours; I wanted my old Benji back.
I was happy when he joined me in the garden yesterday afternoon but he was still not himself with little interest in the bird chatter around him.
So I was thrilled this morning to have my rambunctious boy back, eager for breakfast, and hopefully recovered. He’s now settled down for his morning nap.
I made note of it all for 3 years hence when I will seriously consider whether to have these vaccinations again.
~ Susanne
Hello October!
October in the Pacific Northwest means peaceful walks along the Cedar River where trees turn the same color as the salmon running in the river. It won’t be long till I see them red and tattered fighting their way upstream.
Dropping by for Photo a Day Challenge.
~ Susanne
The Dahlias Stole the Show
In my last post I told you of our trip to Point Defiance – the zoo, aquarium and surprise at the rose garden. But of all the gardens at Point Defiance I think the Dahlia Garden stole the show.
Sorry I couldn’t just pick one! 🙂 For Cee’s Flower of the Day.
~ Susanne
Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, and a Blast from the Past at the Rose Garden
Last week after having been being cooped up for days – first by smoke from wildfires, then by the heavy rain which followed – we were desperate to get out. So despite the rain we drove south to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, where we had tickets to enter at an appointed time, with a handful of other masked visitors.
We’ve been there before but every trip promises a new adventure and this day didn’t disappoint.
The rain stopped in time for us to leave our umbrellas in the car and we walked the beautifully landscaped grounds under mostly blue and cloudy skies. In fact my first picture looks more like Arizona, not a rainy day in Tacoma.
Point Defiance is a jewel of a park with forest, trails, a fort, gardens, zoo and aquarium.
I like the aquarium the best as I always have mixed feelings seeing animals confined, no matter how lovely the spaces.
The jelly fish are my favorite – I could watch them all day long,
including one of the largest, the Lion’s Mane Jelly.
And who doesn’t love sea otters? Nobody enjoys their meal like these rascals who ate and swirled and summersaulted in the water.
After we had our fill of the zoo we headed to the gardens just as it was starting to rain again. Surprisingly we’d never been there before as there’s so much to do in the park.
We moved on quickly to the Rose Garden enjoying the fragrance and color of the still blooming roses.
As we were leaving I stopped to read the sign giving the history of the Rose Garden. The Welsh designer, Ebenezer Roberts had worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1888. He designed the rose garden in 1895 along with many other Tacoma parks.
As I read the sign I noticed a familiar image above Ebenezer Roberts’ name.
And there it was, a picture of my grandmother, Elsie Chapman as a little girl in the early 1900’s, standing with her mother, my great grandmother. The photo was likely taken by my great grandfather, O.T. Frasch who was an early Seattle photographer.
Oh what a surprise! So I went back through the garden wondering where she had stood. Was it here? Or perhaps over there? And of course there was no way to tell and it really didn’t matter, but I knew without that little girl I wouldn’t be here and so I owed her some time there.
~ Susanne
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