There are people who will spend some good money to get their Christmas tree flocked. It is much nicer when nature does that task for real. Every tree looked nice, from the vast forest in the backgrounds to this lonely tree near the South Snohomish County Court Building. Even a grim, suburban scene can be turned into magic with a little snow and ice. Photo: Taken in Lynnwood, WA on 17 January 2012.
One night a seagull had a dream. He dreamed he was walking through the parking lot with the Great Bird. Across the sky flashed clouds from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the snow: one belonging to him, and the other to the Great Bird.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the snowy parking lot. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Great Bird about it: “Great Bird, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”
The Great Bird replied: “My bird, my precious sea gull, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
The seagull thought about that. Then he realized what had really happened. Those times when there were no footprints in the snow — that was when a car drove by. That, and the Great Bird would probably have been flying anyway.
Photo: Taken in the Northgate Mall parking lot in Seattle on 17 January 2012.
A row of trees eating a wire. What more can I say about this? I suppose, technically, the power company cut the tree to avoid touching the wire, but who has the better story? This ravenous-looking group of trees can be found on the Cascade Highway between Sublimity and Silverton. Photo: Taken in rural Marion County, Oregon on 24 February 2011.
In the Summertime, the beach in Seaside is teeming with activity. Kids of all ages are playing on the swing-set, and gathering around the volleyball nets that are usually around this area. Yet, on a lonely Winter day, the surf continues to come in, the wind shapes the beach-grass into a new hairdo, and the now empty swing-set waits for the kids to return in the fair weather of the Springtime. The Pacific Ocean just keeps on generating the tide. Endlessly. Photo: Taken from the Prom in Seaside on 27 December 2010.
One of the best things about most of the cities in the Cascadia region is that no matter how big a city you are in, it is never too far from a quiet place among the trees. In this case, the US Bank Tower is clearly visible from between the big trees lining the edges of the Rose Garden in Washington Park. Photo: Taken at the Rose Garden in Portland on 25 December 2007.
Or, they’re nice deer, dear. Or, well, whatever…..
In any case, I found this herd of black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) calmly grazing and prancing and performing the other duties of a deer in a field near Wilsonville. There were actually about a dozen of them, and they were, among other things, amusing the residents of a nearby nursing home. We were about a quarter-mile from the Willamette River, but also very close to I-5. Photo: Taken along SW Parkway Drive in Wilsonville on 13 November 2009.
Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack.
(People-English translation: It’s quackin’ cold out here today, but there are people-beasts around, and sometimes they bring bread crumbs for us to eat. So we go. Not that it’s the best duck food around, in fact, some of the people say that the bread is not good for us. But the seagulls will settle for french fries, and we will take what we can get, too.)
Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack (Anas platyrhynchos) Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack. Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack. Quack Quack Quack Quack, “Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack.” Quack Quack.
(People-English translation: There is a joke here that involves both “A flock of ducks fly into a bar” and “getting all of their ducks in a row.” Sadly, it doesn’t really translate into English well, so it’s our loss.)
Photos: Taken at Westmoreland Park in Portland on 9 December 2009.
Just take a look out from between the trees up on Terwilliger Blvd. There’s the Hawthorne Bridge and the Morrison Bridge out there, and the Convention Center in the background. But not much else is visible on a quiet Christmas afternoon looking out over the Willamette River. Photo: Taken from Terwilliger Blvd in Portland on 25 December 2007.
The tide was extra high this night, and the storm was brewing over the city of Edmonds. Despite it all, the ferries keep running to get everyone safely to their homes. The sun is just setting, as if you could see it through all of those layers of clouds. The Washington State Ferries M/V Puyallup and M/V Spokane are plying the waters of Puget Sound between Edmonds and Kingston on this night. Photo: Taken from Sunset Ave North in Edmonds on 11 November 2011.
So, we were driving around just before Thanksgiving looking for a store in an unfamiliar part of town. We ended up in a park, and it turned out that a crew was covering the park’s trees and fixtures with Christmas lights. The job was not complete when we got there, and sadly, they turned them off and went home before it really got dark. But we did get to photograph a taste of the festivities. The display in Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton is sponsored by Ivars Restaurants, thus accounting for the name “Clam Lights“. Next year, I’ll have to find time to get there during the lighting season! Photo: Taken at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton on 29 November 2011.
