Red and Yellow with Grey

A friend who lives in the Hebrides Island (Scotland) recently posted a series of pictures on Facebook showing his world with red and yellow being the accent colors. I was impressed, intrigued and threw down my own gauntlet to meet his reds and yellows with those found on the Olympic Peninsula.

Ohhhhh, I should have waited.

It was March. And it was still cold. And wet. And rainy. And grey.

Outside my kitchen window, the building is a pale yellow
and the cones are a sort of red... almost.

And not wanting to give in with traditional and commercial photos of McDonald's, Les Schwab Tires and Econolodge, I started searching for various spots of color. Of course, I looked close to home first.

After that I drove around a bit, a good excuse to become familiar with my new-to-me car, which is also grey. (The salesman said he would give me an additional discount if I could decide that I liked grey.)

So I found a Robin and the hummingbird feeder is definitely red and yellow.

American Robin caught in drive-by shooting... 

My front yard with hummingbird feeder and Christmas
lights still waiting to be taken down.

Then it was off to Sequim to see what I might find and there is quite a bit of yellow and red when you start looking for it.

This is a great exercise in 'seeing' and I am glad I made the effort because when you start focusing on one thing, suddenly that item of focus begins to appear all over the place.

For days after I finished this 'challenge,' I was still finding spots of red and yellow as I drove about.

 After visiting downtown Sequim and a local market, I thought I was done, but I had to go over to Port Townsend and on my way back I captured this sweet shot of the mountains with the yellow strip in the road and the red taillights of the car ahead of me. It's one of my favorite views when I am heading home... love seeing the mountains layer by layer ahead of me.

Highway 101 heading west into Clallam County in Washington State.

So this was my March activity, and I probably should have posted it sooner, but right after I finished getting the photos, I had to have some emergency dental work and I was in a lot of pain for a couple of weeks. I am all better now, and so I'm posting this last shot just because I can and because it was the last local snowfall - my hopefulness for spring.

The last local snowfall... we got more than a dusting over elevations above
500 feet that day. I rushed to get the white of the snow over the ever-so-faint
green buds that were eager to come out.

Lenten Season 2017

Rhododendron on Passover

THE WINTER has taken a long time to leave us this year. And while I haven't posted in almost five weeks, I've been busy and just have neglected my blog-dom.

Frieda (in Jerry's lap)

So, working backwards, I have been the go-between in getting a rescue dog into a new home... not mine.

I was surfing on FaceBook, just randomly reading posts of friends of mine and saw a chocolate Labrador which was a trigger for me, having had two of those precious creatures.

The woman offering the dog was not a personal friend, but the friend of a friend. She was looking to re-home a mature, fixed, female lab and I immediately thought of a couple I knew whose dog had recently died.

I contacted the husband, but he said they were not interested at this time, however they knew someone who was. It turned out the couple who did want the dog were connected to me by my former church affiliation as well as through my art group. I contacted the FB lady, gave her the name and number of the folks, they connected and two days later the dog was in her new home.

At the next art group meeting, the new owner came up to me in tears of gratitude, telling me how wonderful this dog was and how happy they were that I helped to make it possible. I asked if I could meet the new member of the family and was invited over. They have named her Frieda, after Frieda Kahlo, (one of my favorite artists) and fortunately her personality is much calmer than her namesake.

Pat and Jerry love her, and she loves lying on the coach snuggled up to Jerry or in his lap. I whispered to Freida as I was leaving, "Remember who is feeding you." (Pat)

Grey Owl landing on branch (may end up being part of a bedtime story
book) or a series of nighttime paintings... not sure.

My contribution to the "Whale of an Art Show" in Port Angeles, WA.
It is quite large (for me) as an 18 by 24-inch piece and it is titled
"Playdate in the NW".

And I've continued to paint, with one painting going in the "Whale of an Art Show" at the Heatherton Galley in Port Angeles and some others just for my own entertainment. The show continues for the month of April and tomorrow, the 14th, is the Artists' Reception. I'll be interested to see who shows up for it.

Screenshot of the Olympic National Park's webcam at the
top of Hurricane Ridge... still a lot of snow up there!

Passover began and I have a greater interest in understanding the Jewish traditions since I began studying the Hebrew letters of the alphabet this past year. פֶּסַח‎ The event is for the "Jewish people who celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses." (according to Wikipedia... but I want to clarify that it was liberation from slavery and thus their freedom as a nation, a nation that was led by Moses. Not that they were freed from the leadership of Moses, which the quoted portion suggests.)

This painting of a sunset over a lake in Lake City, FL, was initiated by a
photograph sent to me by Mr. Willie Harris. I decided to add him into the
scene and he is now the proud owner of the original artwork. He said he will
get it framed and I will hang in his living room... great!!

So, dear readers, you can see that I've been busy and I hope you are able to resurrect yourselves from your winters wherever you are and have a delightful spring season!!