April in Sequim

The annual Robin Hop is going on in my front yard.

Perhaps because I am identified as a 'spring baby,' it is one of my favorite seasons. I love seeing the first Robin with their puffed up red-colored feathers on their breasts hopping along and cocking their heads, listening for the movement of something they can eat.

Where I used to live in Florida, the house was right under the Flyway and robins and cousins were dropping out of the sky right into my back yard. I had an organic yard (used no pesticides) with spring water oozing up in it, so they had all they needed for water and nourishment whether heading north or south.

The place where I am staying now has plenty of evergreens nearby so there are eagles of all ages hanging out, and that may be a deterrent to the smaller robins, but it was a pleasure to see one bouncing around near the dandelions.

Main Street, Sequim, WA

A neighbor offered to drive me around with her dog in the back seat to see the various local parks and to get better acquainted with the area around Sequim, here on the Olympic Peninsula. I also made notes about back routes to get past the center of town because in a couple of weeks the 118th Irrigation Festival will be starting (runs May 3-14 - over Mother's Day weekend, too) and it will be extremely difficult to access certain parts of town quickly. (If you go to the link, you will see specifically what the festival is all about and understand why water is so critical for this part of the peninsula.) In summary, a fellow called D.R. "Crazy" Callum designed and installed the irrigation ditches that turned prairie into paradise with water and the water started flowing on May 1, 1895 for the first time. The very next year the festival was started with a celebration at Callum's farm and it evolved into what is now the longest, continuously operating festival in Washington state.

This is also the Centennial year for Sequim, so the duration of the festival is being celebrated along with the founding of what was - all those many years ago - a village.

It is hard to see the city of Sequim due to the slight rise in the topography
here, but it is just on the other side of the evergreens. The very symmetric
peaks of the Olympics are getting more snow; much needed.

It turns out there is a community pot-luck dinner followed by a barn dance on Saturday, May 4, and I think I am going to take advantage of that event and do a little celebrating myself that night.

Driving around this portion of the peninsula, I was motivated to take a few photos to share with y'all...

This is a very tiny park with a huge shoreline but the sandstone cliffs
are daunting as you can see a man walking below them in this shot.
You are looking toward the Olympics, over part of Discovery Bay.

The weather was sunny one minute and rain came pouring down in others, so it was just by luck that I got some decent shots at all.

If you look at the blue sky in this photo to your left, you can see just a bit of what is called the "blue hole" that seems to open up over Sequim when everything else is grey or wet. Apparently due to the rainshadow effect from the Olympic range, the height of the mountains is enough to disturb the air flow and creates an opening to the sun and blue sky once in awhile. Where Seattle gets upwards of 35 inches of rain a year, Sequim is closer to 20, thus the prairies and the need for irrigation water. Mt. Olympus, on the other hand, gets something like 220 inches (!!!) of rain per year... barely 60 miles to the west of Sequim! (If you go to the link, you can see the map and a more scientific explanation than the one I've given.)

Looking west over the Strait of San Juan de Fuca and B.C.

So that's why I like to spend time here... and why houses are so expensive here and in Port Townsend, Coupeville, Gig Harbor, Whidbey Island, and in Vancouver, B.C. People long ago figured out the benefits of living in the NW and finding the sunny spots to settle in.

Plum trees on Sequim Ave.

This has been a wetter spring than normal, according to local information and much cooler as well. I wonder if we're getting all the wet that should have been going to Colombia, because my sources there tell me the rain has been slow in arriving for them.

Nevertheless, the rhododendrons are blooming as are the daffodils, crocuses (croci?) and other signs of spring in this part of the world. The shifty weather is just another part of the seasonal timing.

Cat-O-Nine Tails shedding their seeds for another season.
In the distance the Olympics collect water for later...

Sequim Ave., looking west (I think)

Snow in San Francisco and other anomalies

I heard yesterday there was snow in San Francisco. When my girls were small we lived in that area and I don't ever recall having the opportunity to throw a snowball in our front yard. Instead we drove to Yellowstone or up to a snow line on the mountains. I'll bet neither one remembers the day we did that and saw a 'real live black bear' up close... and one of mine - I won't say which one - wanted to get out and hug it.

On my return trip to Florida, I opted for the southern route to avoid any
snow or storms. I managed to keep away from the storms, but this is the
well-known Mt. Shasta in California seen on my left as I drove by.

A lot of people think Mt. Shasta is one mountain. Actually it is two volcanoes, side by side, one more worn away than the other. And there is a third 'baby' volcano imbedded in the base which is too low to have snow on it, but you can see it from the road as well.

Along the way there was a load of road kill, which shouldn't be too surprising with vehicles hitting speeds of 85 and 90 mph even in speed zones of 70. There were several deer in the western states, loads of smaller critters everywhere and much to my surprise, a coyote alongside the road in either Alabama or Florida (I'd lost track of the states by then.) But there were other surprises as well.... I saw a pen of camels right next to a pen of bison and wondered what the owners were planning. Is this a return to the Old Ways? Except being prepared by having camels instead of horses?

Clearly there are deer or elk statues in the back of this
trailer; and I wanted so much for the driver to stop when I
did so I could ask him about his cargo. I'm so shy.

There were peculiar things being carried on trailers and in the back of trucks, too. So many stories, so little time. I may be retired, but I'm not retiring, as in "shy and" so I am willing to approach strangers and say, "I'm curious, why are you... ?" and my previous travel partner found this behavior annoying instead of charming. However, he was perfectly willing to tell the story afterwards as if he had been the one to ask the questions. Oh well, that's all over now.

I was lucky to have the window of weather that I did looking back at the timing of the trip and seeing how challenging the weather has been recently (snow, ice, tornados, etc.) on both the upper and lower sections of the U.S.

Zooming past a Redneck Riviera in Louisiana, I snapped this shot. I  am
not sure if you can see the bayou (body of water) behind the trailers,
but these humble abodes have it all - water, warmth, shade for the dog,
and a place to grow the vittles.

Spring is trying very hard to break through the cold snaps, and this last photo I have entitled "Redneck Riviera," because it seemed to me that it embodies all that is needed for a pleasure palace for Jeff Foxworthy (comedian) and his 'buds.'

Today I worked on the yard and was rewarded with the second wave of robins coming in to snack before heading north. They make a lot of noise rustling about in the leaves for worms and bugs, but everything here is organic, so they probably had a good meal. Wish someone would let me know when they get to New England.

Birds are heading north!

These two Macaws, a red and a blue, live in the Parque
Gallinera in San Gil, Santander, Colombia.

Not these brightly colored ones, of course!

I have returned to Florida during the annual migration of a variety of birds and yesterday I had the joy of watching a huge flock of robins pecking through the leaves in my front yard. Today I can hear the sounds of ducks, swans, geese and others calling and circling near the lakes in Lake City as they head north. So those of you who are suffering in snow and cold weather, take heart! The birds ARE heading north and spring will come.

A Sunday Walk

Although with the new Daylight Savings Time schedule the sun seems to be up earlier, today it was hidden behind clouds until nearly noon. But I wanted to take a walk and get some pictures of the flowers in bloom around here. Above you can see Mt. Pilchuck with its covering of snow from the storms that came through last week.

It's been chilly, wet and windy, so some of the flowering things took a beating. These magnolias, for example, are for the most part, past their prime and show the impact of being thrown around in 40 mph gusts. But then I saw these lovely apple blossoms, the scent of which was almost overpowering as I walked past, and they are just coming into full bloom. We have a cherry tree nearby which is also about to flower.

My favorite harbinger of spring is the robin, and here he is (below), hop-hop-hoppin' along the grass, listening for the next meal. Right after I took this picture, a large cat began to sneak out from the bushes, watching for his next meal. Mr. Robin left for a safer lawn.

The robins were a featured event in my childhood when my father, my older brother, my younger brother and I would be eating breakfast in what was called a "nook" back in the 50's. It had a nice large window, but the view was hampered by the rhodendrons and the evergreen tree. Invariably my father would start out by remarking on "how delicious the bacon looks this morning." This would cause my older brother to ask me if I had seen the "white robin" outside the window next to where we were eating.

At first, being gullible, I would look outside and in that instant, my bacon would disappear. But experience is a great teacher, and gradually I would resist looking. More and more nefarious tricks were perpetrated to get me to weaken. The event I remember the most is when both my father AND my brother shouted, "Look, there it is - right there on tree limb!"

I succumbed - I looked, and to the man they agreed, "Oh, you just missed it!" and I also missed the bacon.

Now the sun is out and I want to plant something while it's dry enough and warm enough to be doing that. Where have you been walking recently? And have you seen the white robin?

Still too cool for me...

It seems too cool for February - even in northern Florida. I guess I keep expecting spring to be arriving with the robins who are passing through on their way north... brrrr! Do they know there's been a huge snowstorm up there? There have been two 'waves' of the red-breasted beauties about a week apart. They like my yard because I don't use chemicals and I have a sort of spring dribbling down one side of the driveway where they can get fresh water. I like seeing them because it reminds me of when I was little and watched for the first robin to arrive - the harbinger of spring in New England. (The picture is of a small lake near where I walk just as the sun was setting.)

Some people who will read this next part will know it is a family story... when I was little - about 7 or so - my father knew I was watching for the robins and he would yell out at breakfast, "I see it, I see it - but it's a white robin!" I would jump up from the table hoping to see it. By the time I got back to my seat, my bacon was gone. I don't know that he took it every time, but my brother certainly had been convicted of that particular crime more than once using other ruses.

Today I spent some time with a close friend who has just been diagnosed with early dementia. She is scared about losing her memories, about the stories of her life for her grandchildren. We talked about how we ARE our histories, our family events, descriptions of relatives, sharing the similarities of those who have passed with those who are growing up. Her granddaughter is old enough to write down some of the information and it could be a bonding time for the two of them, I suggested. It's too new to think that far ahead, I realized after I'd voiced it. We joked a little, tried to ease the horror of what lies ahead, but in the end we just hugged each other. I'm scared, too, for how this will change both our lives.