In the middle

Celebrating the Rain

Well, not exactly celebrating it, but taking advantage of the photo ops it provides between storms...

Green and Wet

Between Drops

Huggable Trees

As I was driving through Redmond on this grey gloomy day, a flash of color caught the corner of my eye.  As I turned my head, I saw these and shrieked out loud.  (It's a good thing I drive alone.)  I was so entranced that I had to circle the block and get back to the park to see all this explosion of color.

A Seattle artist, Suzanne Tidwell, created these using a knitting machine.  The display is called "Artifical Light" and there are about 50 trees all bundled up.  She knits the "stockings" and then wraps the tree and sews the stocking shut. 

I love love whimsical things, and this was just too much fun to just drive by and not get out and appreciate.

Drip drop

We have been having fickle weather....clear, then cloudy, then rainy, then cloudy....usually in the same day.  You get the idea.  But---rain means raindrops, which is the silver lining in all those clouds.  I managed to find a few "beauties" at the nursery, since they are the only place around here that has anything blooming.

Amazing how just a shift of an inch or two affected the color in these.  Same settings, just a micro-slight difference in position.

Utah

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my dear friend C in Utah.  It was such a thrill to get there and see blue skies, sunshine, and warm weather!  We spent our time temple-hopping and talking, eating, and enjoying BYU Creamery Ice Cream.  Pretty perfect trip!

 We passed this barn on our way up to Logan.  Early billboard...  and doesn't that backdrop just make anything look great?

 These counterseats were at the Bluebird restaurant and ice cream parlor (founded in 1914) in Logan.  We had lunch there and I loved the look of these stools.  Can't decided whether I like the pop of color or the textures in the black and white.

Who says water has to be blue?

Had some sun this morning so I went to check out the river over at the base of Mt. Si.  It is usually a lovely jade green shade, and today I wasn't disappointed!

Spring is Busting Out...down lower

Amazing what a difference a couple of hundred feet can make!  Down at the temple there are spring blooms galore.  Up where I live the crocus and snowdrops are just starting to bloom.  We are about 3 weeks behind the "flatlanders".  All the blossoms at the temple just make it even more fun to be there.

In Like a Lion

We had a lovely surprise early this week, with an unexpected snowfall.  We don't get those too often this time of year, and it was so refreshing to see snow falling rather than more rain.  It was the light fluffy snow, too, rather than the heavy wet stuff we usually get, so everything had a big fluffy coating of "down".

Couldn't resist this fence in the neighborhood...it always looks so wonderful with a snow cap.

And the riverbend just down from the neighborhood was a wonderful study in monotones--expcept for the river itself, which added just a touch of green to an otherwise austere view.

By mid-afternoon all the lovely whiteness was gone.  That's the way to have snow!!

Enjoying the Sun

I was running errands today and passed this guy sitting in a tree next to the river.  Couldn't pass up the chance, so pulled over and hopped out, clutching my little purse-sized P&S.  I am always glad to have it with me when something like this happens.  He watched me get close, take a shot, and then off he went in search of quieter surroundings.  Any day I see an eagle is a good day!

after the rain

Just couldn't resist the dew/rain drops on this weed.  Add a large ap, and it's almost magical.

 I had to hunt to find these.  My usual spots have been swallowed up in the march of progress, but I did find some pussywillows braving the weather and wet.  They were such fat soft things, and the water just beaded up on them beautifully.  Spring IS on the way!!

Walk on...

When I saw this after all our rain, these lyrics came to mind:

When you walk through a storm

Keep your chin up high

And don't be afraid of the dark.

                                                                At the end of the storm
                                                                      Is a golden sky
                                                         And the sweet silver song of a lark...

I didn't hear a lark, but the promise of sunshine was surely music to me!

Between Seasons

A long, drawn-out fall and a very mild winter (aside from our recent hammering of snow and ice, which is gone now) has meant that the sweet gum trees, which are the last to change color and lose their leaves, STILL have leaves on them.  Most of the leaves have dropped, but there are still those valiant few that hang on to instill a little bit of color in the gray drab days.

 A blue sky day meant that Mt. Si, with its fresh coat of snow, looked particularly lovely out my window
                       
 And no matter how much rain, snow, sleet, and other combos that Mother Nature conspires to throw at us, Hope is still there, as evidenced by these daffodils, rising up through the fallen debris of autumn and getting ready to bloom.  Granted, these are about 250' lower in elevation than where I live, and it amazes me how much of a jump on the season that gives the "lowlanders".  Their pussywillows are out, too, where as up here the catkins are still tucked tight into their little winter beds.  Soon, though.

Remains

 As our snow finally melts off, I look at the piles lining the sides of the driveway where they were piled by the plow.  Seeing all that snow reflected in the rain-wet driveway made me think of the glaciers in Alaska and their reflections in the cold waters there...

 And although most people see ugly dirty snow left behind, I can see wierd, other-wordly sculptures, like something Picasso might've done if he worked in snow.

 Other snow sculptures remind me of the delicacy of Arches National Park, with gravity-defying arches, this time made of snow rather than rock.  Unlike Arches, their lifespan is only hours, and the shape of the arches changes as the day progresses and warms.

 And I love the way the driveway dirt emphasizes the straight edges of the snow.  The hard contrast between white and black emphasizes something you would normally overlook.



Macro Monday

Just couldn't pass this up...

Cookies and Milk...

...because it's an Oreo cow!  From the size of that stripe, I think it's a Double Stuff cow.  HA!

Green on Ice

I love the way the ice coated each individual needle.....

 ...and encased the delicacy of the cedar greenery...

Wew're back to rain now, and it's melting off all the snow.  It's easier to get around in, but I sure miss the snow and ice.  I guess one appreciates it more when one knows that it is transitory.

Encased

Ice-coated

I think I should call this "Fire and Ice".  The new growth on the pieris japonica is always red; it just glowed under all that ice!

 The poor witch hazel got caught.  It bloomed earlier than usual this year due to our (up until now) mild winter, but the snow and ice hammered it.