Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Who can keep them all straight? I’ll start with the largest hunk of quartz I’ve ever seen, an 8,000-pound slab from Arkansas, newly obtained by the Smithsonian. “Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust. As a mineral name, quartz… Continue Reading “Quartz, Minerals, Rocks, and Other Gems”
For this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge #Urban I thought I’d share a few of my favorite cities starting with the largest. London “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”… Continue Reading “Cities Come in All Sizes”
For this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge, I went searching through my archives for pictures of sunrise and sunset, since I had little to draw from so far in 2024. I intended to use multiple locations but got stuck in Paradise, at Mt Rainier. We… Continue Reading “Sun Goes Down, Sun Comes Up at Paradise, Mt. Rainier”
Last month we had tantalizing glimpses of spring and I puttered in the yard, snipping and trimming and straightening up the garden, even planting a new rose, Ketchup and Mustard – I refuse to give up on roses. The birds were out and about… Continue Reading “Spring Green”
Saturday started out clear and (mostly) sunny. We were desperate to get out of the house after a long, rainy week, so we headed to Redondo Beach in Des Moines (the one in Washington not Iowa.) But the sunshine was fleeting and by the… Continue Reading “Rainy Day at Redondo Beach”
I don’t usually do a lot of editing on my photos, save for resizing and watermarking them in Lightroom. But for this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge #Photo-Edits I thought I’d use the simple (and free) tool that came with my Samsung Galaxy phone, Gallery.… Continue Reading “Fun with Photo Edits and Apps”
I don’t know how many times I’ve been to the Redwoods – six or eight times? – but regardless, it’s not enough. A perfect road trip down the coast of Oregon to Northern California takes you there easily and scenically from Seattle. Once there,… Continue Reading “Come with Me for a Walk in the Redwoods”
Monday, Monday and rain is falling here in the Pacific Northwest. Though I was looking for red and pink for this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge, I firstly found raindrops on green. Fortunately, the green was surrounded by red berries, and even the droplets contained… Continue Reading “Looking for Red and Pink on a Green and Rainy Day”
That’s what a group of hummingbirds is called. I rarely see them in groups, though I occasionally see a couple sparring for rights over the feeder. So last month during our record deep-freeze, 14 degrees overnight, I added an extra one to a new… Continue Reading “A Charm of Hummingbirds!”
I went for a walk at Coulon Park on a gray and cloudy day. A Crow was also out for a walk, and startled when I took his picture; I assured him I was on his side. Another bird landed in a distant tree… Continue Reading “Birdwatching at Coulon Park”