Musings

We began the day with a beach-visit, and rewarded with mists in the inlets and expanses of shadows and sunlight, and just pure ocean loveliness. And haystacks.

Then, we tried closed-in views beneath massive redwoods and their forest friends, which include low-down rotting sibling redwoods and green ferns.

This pile-up will stick with me. Three giants that, over time, fell atop one another. I think the top one came down since we were here last, and the bottom two must be darned strong to make a REDwood splinter like that. You have no visual scale…these each would take something like five-or-more people to reach around (if you could get to them).

As we rolled among the mountains, if we crossed or went along a river, we saw more mist, as we had at the coast. Very decorative.

To pass logging trucks and hay trucks and refrigerator trucks, JCB sometimes used Ludicrous* mode. Very vroom!

We turned inland, and discovered Californ-y has a lake country. Reservoirs, really, but even sailboats.

We’re really heading inland at this point, with the redwood forests and higher rainfall of the coast behind us, replaced by these mossy oaks, some very gnarly.

Ah, the continuing lowered rainfall…the mountains are now hills, and trees are fewer and particular about where their feet are…drainages preferred….

And, whoop! Around the last curve and over a hill, and we faced flat. Central Valley flat. Massive flatness. Of course, there’s a downhill trend, but most of the other variation has been removed by zealous agriculturalists, making our home grocery stores’ bounty of fragile veggies possible through our winter months.

We also discovered that the flat ground hosts terrible traffic backups. Lost the better part of an hour in three of them. One hoped-for escape route that we tried ended in a surprise “road closed”; Plan Z required!

* “Ludicrous” term thanks to Mel Brooks. Homages on the screen are as recent as “Good Behavior,” where it was applied to a Tesla. Hrumph; Prius Primes, too!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

We crested 1K miles in the new buggy today. We find the handling tight and super-fine—a pleasure to drive long miles. Speaking of which, that 61.2mi next to the 1K figure indicates the miles per gallon of gas for the car’s “life.” This figure includes a mileage boost from plug-in electricity and also regenerative braking energy. At the end of today the figure was 60.0. And today we began with no “stash” of plug-in energy…we just ran like the old Prius, using gasoline and energy from downhills and braking that the vehicle stashed in the battery. We think the new car gets around 10mpg better than the old one in the SAME conditions. Pretty sweet!

We found redwoods! We also drove through clouds and past a few lingering bits of snow earlier in the day. We are now basking in mist, sometimes wind, and salt air during a pretty dark night. Best, all!

Posted at 9:47 PM | Comments Off on Milestones (no rocks)

Sometimes accuracy requires setting up in the middle of the street. We also went by two reflectors, each with a quartet of orange cones, and no human attendants. Does spitting rain make it safer to hunker down mid-intersection?

This cowboy is a new friend. He tips his hat when the transaction is complete. This was a quick stop to return a spoiled bottle of wine (it smelled like mold when we opened it and the cork was not quite right), so the charging period was only about seven minutes.

Our next errand was at a super grocery store. I let myself get momentarily mesmerized by the oysters (and their barnacle friends). Cropped this way, if you squint (perhaps), it will look like the shell may be the size of a person-eating clam!

Posted at 7:09 PM | 2 Comments »

It’s been too cold to sit on the porch and watch the ships passing by, the seagulls and terns above, and to listen for the trains motoring along the sound. I did step out for a minute or so several times, but cold. Buddha, however, shows how to be unaffected by weather, leaves and pine needles. I will try again next time, although I do not know when that will be.

WikiPee argues that the Buddhist term bodhi is often expressed as enlightenment, but it’s a process, so awakening is a more accurate translation. Me, I struggle with either when I’m cold.

Posted at 7:42 PM | Comments Off on I am not awakened or enlightened

We enjoyed being present and participating in the young man’s Big Event (singing! dancing! chanting!) and then prepped for the big family-and-friends “feest” to celebrate the successful event. Table ready…

…and now for the guests and the spread of food! Here’s the event-guy checking to see if the BBQ sauces are labeled correctly….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Someone’s big day

Today, the moon graced our gorgeous Olympics-across-the-Sound view. Considerable shipping traffic, too, including a large multi-deck vessel that looked military.

When there’s a youth event, and the youths get out of school the day before for a few hours to practice, and they are instructed to wear the shoes they will wear for the event…this is what happens. Note that this youth has met the shoe requirement…without excess…saving the long pants and good socks for tomorrow….

Posted at 6:25 PM | Comments Off on Sound and shoes

We were busy with various chores today, but did spot these two eagles (left) cruising over the edge of the sound. I thought there might have been a second pair a bit later, but they were farther away, and I wasn’t sure. Still: whatta show!

We ended up dining at Chiang’s Gourmet, which I often call “chang’s”, and GooMaps still knows what I mean. The magic of modern technology…. Also, note the reflection showing the double-curved rear window….

Posted at 11:11 PM | Comments Off on Above…

But first, a weather report. Darned cold this morning—frosty cold. Sunny for a bit in the morning, but overcast came raring in.

This 2010 sculpture by Marvin Oliver is offering a Salish welcome, and is intended to honor the (long-gone) native peoples of this area and is intended to remind us “that we are stewards of this evolving, living landscape”—can’t say how that stewardship is going….

This monumental beast is the famous Fremont Troll, and dates to 1990. It’s a bit bigger than the Oliver sculpture, but of course is only head and shoulders, whereas the Oliver fellow is head to toe.

I was playing with the fish-eye again—and made The Guru’s finger monumental. He is not a sculpture.

I’m also counting the snow-dusted Olympics we can see across Puget Sound even as dusk sets in as monumental—MaNachur’s work. They are older than any of the pieces above. That MaNachur often operates with a l-o-n-g time-scale.

Posted at 7:31 PM | Comments Off on Monumental and outdoors

After coffee, our first stop (not including traffic lights and parking) was Chittenden Locks, often called Ballard Locks. Note the bascule bridge in the background (it’s down). We saw two passenger trains cross it, and at one time seven people in head-to-toe fluorescent clothing were on walkways in the general area of the bridge’s pivot. We were too far away to figure out what they were doing.

We watched this NOAA vessel traverse the small lock. We thought the yellow globes were weather buoys, and the brown discs were anchor-weights for them.

Lacking sufficient knowledge to visually ID many (any?) fish species, I told The Guru I was pretty sure these are steelheads. Wouldn’t you agree? Huh…huh?

Despite snow and ice last week, this weather-blemished rose is attempting to triumph against cold odds.

Late in the day, we went to Log Boom park, at the north end of Lake Washington. Cormorant on post to left and taxiing sea plane to the right (we saw it land headed straight for us, but way on the other side of the bay).

I figure these cormorants are trying to catch the day’s final rays. I do not know if they stay “posted” all night. It seems like their count is pretty close to one per post. By the shore, we saw several species of ducks and more cormorants, but they do prefer to be perched above the water. (Dry feet preference?)

Posted at 8:26 PM | Comments Off on Water views

I just named this photo heather, but I think it’s heath. A bit of goo–ing and I can conclude many are similarly confused.

The out-of-focus part is easy. It’s been spitty to drizzley to rainy out there, and there’s not much light for a photo. Still, the blooms stand out in the gloom.

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments Off on Bloom vs gloom