Beach Eye View

Things really do look different from down here. Brings out the kid in me.

I just love gulls. It cheers and surprises me to see them on the east side of the Cascades. By the ocean, I can sit and watch them for hours.

This seaweed will soon be floating freely back underwater, letting loose the many creatures it sheltered during low tide.

Beaches

Beaches, beaches, beaches. Can't get enough of that magic land where salt-water and land come together.

Put trains and beaches together and there are lots of lines to look between.

Our shy hunter, the Great Blue Heron, frequents the beach.

Mountain Meadows

Summer is a perfect time to explore the high country. 

Alpine growing season is so short that plants barely become snow free before blooming. Some don't wait. The Pasque flower has to set seed before the fall frosts.

This view of Mt. Baker behind a field of Arnica and Lupine made my heart sing; then the clouds blew away and I was in heaven.

Not Aggressive Unless Threatened

The Bald Faced Hornet's story is like a Shakespearean Drama.

A Queen begins by building a small nest in spring from chewed wood and saliva. She then begins laying eggs. These eggs become workers, which are all female, sterile and will sting to defend the colony of up to 7oo individuals. The males (who have no stingers), born later in the year from unfertilized eggs, will mate with future queens and then die along with all of the workers and the previous queen. The nest is abandoned.

Beware. These ladies take their work seriously. If you mess with the colony, they may squirt venom into your eyes, causing temporary blindness, in addition to stinging you. But they'd prefer to go about their business of maintaining the nest, gathering nectar and foraging for flies and other insects.

While taking pictures several bees veered away or bounced off of me, until I discovered I was in the flight path and moved. They allowed me to remain close, with no stinging. It's easy to respect these amazing creatures and their life processes. Thanks ladies.

Fossils & Fungi

Four foot tall palm frond

Humungous fungus, used to be much too high to reach

Morning Glory

A morning this glorious will get me up on the deck railing for a photo.

Sun and clouds have the power to render me speechless.

Essence of Feline

These sun lovers really know how to relax and enjoy themselves.

And always so photogenic. Is it because they don't really care what we think?

The Power of Summer

I always take the time to smell the flowers. Sometimes they surprise me with a smell like mint or chocolate.

Other times they just look glorious.

Or strange like a sea anemone.

Always they make me feel good.

Sweet Pollination

Bees are endlessly fascinating. I wonder what it would be like to live my life in a series of flowers.

And of course, to have the power of flight.
This honeybee makes the sweet life from Spanish Lavender.

Dynamic Forces

Summer storms are so exciting in our part of the world - some fantastic lightning and no tornados to fear.

A great opportunity to play around with cloud photos, these two were taken about 30 seconds apart.

After about a half hour trying to snap an actually lightning bolt, I discovered that moving cars were easier to get a shot of, and fun in their own way.

Surface Tension

Have you ever sipped water from a blade of grass?

Or from Spirea in a mountain meadow?

How is a human being like a drop of water?

A Walk In The Woods

Spider web and an ancient Douglas Fir, recently fallen.

This is a wonderful trail in the woods, but it is not the ground we are looking at. It is actually the same fallen tree whose roots are shown above.

Train Art

Train yards and tracks have some of the most interesting art I've ever seen.

Sometimes it isn't even meant to be art, but the image is so evocative it insists on being captured.
All this art for free. What sorts of things do you give away?

Camoflage

Saw this clever one this morning and hung clothes around it. Good luck buddy!

Wildlife Up Close

Providing habitat is the best way to bring wild creatures near. How do you make a place for wild animals in your life?

I was excited to see these two Evening grosbeaks on the tray feeder. I tried to be sneaky and get a good shot, but they saw me right away.

No, not the cherries! Mom with two half grown babies visited the yard. This city lot used to be only blackberry brambles.

This is mom and two very young (barely walking) babies crossing a police line at a nearby park. Talk about cute!

On The Way To Work

Do you go the same way to work every day? Do you see the same things every time, or do you notice new stuff?

I hopped on my bike and took photos of what caught my eye on my way to work. I had to turn around to capture this Wisteria in bloom, next to the red leaf Japanese maple - fantastic colors.

Green, green, green, the green of spring popping through the cage. I wonder what else is in there.

This roof grabbed my attention, so I snapped one off as I rode by.

Unusual Sightings

Some photos make me feel good just looking at them. Here's a couple.

Why does a Great Blue Heron land on a roof in the middle of town?

Hot water shooting out of the ground in the Black Rock Desert. Yahoo!

What Is It Really?

Here's a couple more that make me see other than the obvious. Some things just jump out as different and others require that I relax and let my mind wander to the possibilities. Turning my head sideways or upside down changes everything.

These are raindrops frozen in iron, but they might also be music made solid.

This could be a limb lost, or something soon to be born.

This is a sky from a very different planet.

Seascapes

How do you keep your mind flexible, your imagination active? An early drama coach taught me this exercise. Ask yourself what could something be besides what your first thought tells you it is? Kids do this without being shown. They see wonderfully imaginative things.

Green baby's hair - a child of the sea, or an alien baby.

These of course are whale bones with the Olympic Mountains in the background (okay that would be considered half true).

This must be someone's pelvic bone, or scapula that the sea has returned.

Used

When you're finished with something, do you throw it out?

When its old, do you fix it?

Do you turn it into something new and useful in a different way?