Musings

Last evening, post-posting, we drove to the other side of the lake to hear live music by AnnMarie Rowland, who has a fabulous voice that is complemented by her guitar-playing. As we listened, we watched the sun set. [Read more about Ann here.]

Between sets, she sat and talked with us. We heard about how the song “Lovely Agnes” became a pivot in her life, and how, for a guest-artist gig, she wrote eleven songs about aquifer groundwater. She did play “Lovely Agnes” last night, but none of the groundwater songs. [BTW, singer/songwriter Sally Rogers wrote “Lovely Agnes” in honor of her grandmother’s 92nd birthday.]

Far less of a story here: parsley from the neighbors’ garden, and chives from the gone-wild zone north of the cottage. Local greens?

We tempted fate by leaving the property this afternoon to do a few errands, without closing the windows. Fate became a low-grade downpour. Fortunately, there was almost no wind, so almost no rain/rain-spray came in.

Next chore: to plant the leggy basil plants we got in town for the greatly marked down price of $1.50 each in the now rain-moistened plot…probably set into the flank of the hillfort—where I put the basil seeds during the last trip, and some have germinated!

This hoptoad was hoping for hunting success after the rain from a well-camouflaged location by the hill fort.

Posted at 7:10 PM | Comments Off on Bit of a story-telling mode

I took a swamp walk today…which means I took a “real” walk and went down the road to the swamp…and stayed on the ROAD the entire time. I did not walk in the swamp, rather I passed through and slightly above it.

I did step tentatively off the blacktop to get this shot; love blue flags.

Later, after doing chores/yardwork, I set off for my first swim of the year. En route to the beach, I found this pair, with the dragonfly wildly dominant and in control. One less butterfly…shades of Ray Bradbury…I did NOT step on either of them. Descending to water-side, I discovered the Annual Engineering Project was underway, the one that results in a dock. I admire those who undertake it greatly.

After my leetle swim-ette, while I was toweling off my feet, I noticed this cicada husk…a piece of art. Discarded and forgotten art. Insect trash.

Posted at 6:46 PM | Comments Off on Deconstructed swamp, kinda

Love it when the sun comes up bright, there’s been no wind overnight, the dew is heavy, and the light and dew begin their misty dance in the orchard and the field.

A little later the mist had thickened and the spiderwebs became little silvery apparent light sources.

Here’s a damaged web, not so brilliant out of context, yet still compelling. I feel badly for the spider.

Later we took a couple of truck trails through the woods. The first section was in terrible shape due to the small angular limestone chunks that were used as fill (way larger than large gravel), and how this camo beast had stirred them up. Well, the ride was terrible and the tires got a workout, but the mud holes were filled, so maybe not totally terrible. Most of the route was sandier, and one place I had to back up twice to get a run and better line on a low sand dune the road went over that was just plain soft. After the backup reconnoiters, we came through just fine, no spinning, on the third try. Triumph! (In a Nissan. 😉 )

Posted at 7:48 PM | Comments Off on That morning light; that morning mist

It’s summer! Don’t get benched!

Posted at 9:49 PM | Comments Off on Summer!

Showing once again that regular plywood is not durable in outdoor situations.

Showing that oak leaves can get beat up by MaNaychur.

Posted at 5:42 PM | Comments Off on Sunstruck

This whole spike was festooned with gorgeous, huge blooms. Whatta rush to see it!

Although you can’t tell, these were small, I assume miniature, marigolds. That WikiPee says the name refers to the Virgin Mary. Of course, in Mexico they are grown for, among other things, chicken feed (to make skin and yokes more gold/yellow).

No flower here, as headline suggests—mudpuddle reflection instead. The white blob-ettes are bubble-clusters…pure urban natural world.

Posted at 7:18 PM | Comments Off on Flowers first, then…

Downtown Seattle traffic patterns have been changed by the construction/opening of a long tunnel on 99; it hasn’t been open long, and is still free. So we gave it a try! Smooth!

Above ground, we had great views of Mount Rainier…however, I only had a cell phone to snapshot it. It looms, no doubt about it. Massive landform.

Airborne, our route passed just south of the Calamus Reservoir. It’s that NW/SE darkness above the plane icon (note engines; can you see the propellers? resolution may be too hammered to display them). I worked on an archaeological site that’s now under the water before they dammed the river. The Calamus River was the most constant-flowing river in North America, we were told (perhaps still is?).

And now we’re home in dogwood-town. Great trip! New HS graduate in the family! So proud! Fast trip, but very fun!

Posted at 10:06 PM | Comments Off on Moving right along

Seems to me that up here, during the grass-growing season, we are in one of three states: going to mow, just mowed, almost time to mow again. Today, the Guru had the big mower out, and all of a sudden there was a noise and it stopped dead. Not to be restarted. Loaded it into the pickup and took it to the fix-it neighbors (a real business). Then, the Guru got out this old machine (not to be confused with the ca. 1950 electric, but that’s another story). Don’t know when it was purchased, but the logo typography indicates almost two generations ago. It started right up. After not being used for at least a decade. Yay! Currently, however, it won’t restart, leaving a small patch unmowed. But only a small patch. In a low-priority place. And that’s today’s grass-growing season story.

Rather exciting: found a nascent lupine bloom. Wouldn’t you know I’d take only one snap, and that’d be out of focus. Apologies!

Posted at 6:40 PM | Comments Off on Growing season

Last night’s pinkish-red sky did indeed herald a gorgeous day…not sure about sailors (or shepherds for some), but we sheep-less landlubbers enjoyed it.

I’m still grooving on the trilliums, whether one or two…

…or by the dozens on the forest floor. BTW, the leaves have gone from tiny to almost mid-sized in the six days since we arrived. I sat on the sun-porch with the windows open this afternoon. I think we can say it: summer is here!

Posted at 6:10 PM | Comments Off on Magnificent and marvelous

This is the largest morel I have found this year. Mighty fine eating!

A clump of ramps that survived picking; I took this deep in the woods. I read that folks can pick ramps in the National Forests for personal use, but only leaves and pluck them here and there so as not to kill the bulbs/roots.

And the lake was quiet today. Yay! No erosion. On the other hand, the biting insects were aggressive. Corollary, no?

Posted at 7:21 PM | Comments Off on More foraging