As I walked down the hall on my morning commute, I saw thus:
So I looked out the window and then I saw this:
All is well here, but, sadly, not so for one of our neighbors. Seize the day, folks.
Tag: 365 project
A pair of old boys.
Drove by a house today that has a pair of majestic century plants going into bloom, one on either side of their driveway.
They say these agaves bloom, and then die, after 100 years. Google sez it takes more like 20-40 years. Either way, it’s a sight to see.
Both of these must have been planted when the home was first built about 35 years ago.
What is old shall be made new again…
I postponed my hair appointment during my extended out of town trip. So, this was way overdue. One day, I’ll leave it gray. But not today.
Thanks Mario!
Nice windmill, but……
I wasn’t born in Texas, but I’ve lived here a while. Long enough, apparently, to notice when the state flag is not quite right….
Should I leave a note ? 🙂
Same hiker, different woods.
I took a walk through a nearby park today. Different scenery than the shaded, lush, tall forest paths up north. But nice to be here.
Lots of gaillardia (aka Indian blanket) around. Another one of my favorites.
A look through the window, on my way home.
I’m headed home today, after a nice, long visit in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll share a few of the sights I took in along the way…
Roadsters on the way to the airport:
On the plane I chose a starboard window seat, expecting the normal fly by with Mount Rainier on my right. It turns out we flew south of Mount Rainier, so instead I had a view of its neighboring Cascade peaks Mount Adams (in the foreground) and Mount Hood (beyond and to the left).
The Columbia River gorge, with the Miller Island to the left, where the Deschutes River joins the Columbia, and beyond it, the Dalles, and then Mt Hood in the distance.
It rained a bit while I’ve been gone, and I could see the 630.5′ high Lake Travis through the steamy haze.
We flew over my neighborhood, and I got a shot of our house! Funny.
And Big Blue’s Austin offices… quickly being swallowed up by the Domain and other new development. Looks like noone works weekends anymore.
Home sweet home.
Shrinky dinkies.
The afternoon was filled with family stopping by to see mom and aunt Ellen. Rebecca and Aaron brought some shrinky dink paper… an arts and crafty kind that you decorate and then put in the oven to shrink and harden. We made lots of doodads. These that I made are destined to become keychains…
How?
You can buy the sheets of paper. Google sez #6 recyclable plastic can also work, but I haven’t tried that. Make sure to use permanent markers, and allow for 3x or 4x shrinkage. Punch a hole before shrinking, if you want to make into a keychain. Bake at 325-350 degrees for less than a minute. They will ball up and then flatten out again as they shrink. I put them in the oven on foil with a little flour or cornstarch to keep from sticking to the foil.
Paddling around.
My mom’s sister is here visting, another is arriving this week. Today they’re spending the morning together catching up. So, I headed out to go kayaking near Hood Canal with Noreen, her friend Tammy and her son, Matt. I think I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but it was a BEAUTIFUL day. The water was flat and calm, and the tide wasn’t fighting us too badly.
My front row seat:
This area is full of bald eagles. Here’s a pair that were watching us as we went by:
And yes, the obligatory panorama 🙂
Again!
TGIF, folks!! Time for another gorgeous mountainscape:
And a few of mom’s favorite flowers:
Is it August yet?
Seen in the North satellite terminal at SeaTac airport. Go Hawks!
Checking out the Falls.
Today I had the chance to go for a small road trip. Just a 90 minute drive, each way, up to Snoqualmie Falls. I went for it. I packed mom along with me, with her wheel chair for maximum ease of checking out each nook and cranny of this naturally beautiful place. And we were off…headed east to visit one of the most popular scenic places in Washington State. It turned out that Noreen and David were coming west over the pass from Eastern Washington from a wedding, and we were able to time it so that we met for lunch at the beautiful Salish Lodge at the falls. The flow was high, due to snow melt… swelling the falls to a thunderous level. You could feel the water falling, you could hear it beating the rocks below, and you could feel the spray 300′ up from the bottom.
I can’t tell you how pretty it was, so i’ll just share 2 shots:
and a panorama:
An awesomely beautiful day.
Tacoma.
On the way back from taking Monte to the airport today, i stopped in Tacoma to go to the Museum of Glass.
I enjoyed this interactive exhibit with dozens of lighted letters, just waiting to spell something.
On the way home I checked out a few different vantage points. This is a shot of the old (left) and new (right) Tacoma Narrows bridges. Mt Rainier is lurking behind the old bridge.
Friday evening on the Sound.
This afternoon we hit the Sound, again, with Fran, Art, Rebecca and Aaron. We hopped onto their boat at this beach.
Then motored over to watch a local marina’s Friday night regatta up close.
Then toodled around to see what we could see. On the left, a sea lion sunning himself on a buoy. In the background, Mt. Rainier, Blake Island and a Seattle-bound ferry.
It was beautiful out, but not necessarily warm.
And, a lovely sunset.
Extendo holiday weekend.
I took the day after Memorial Day off, turning a 3-day weekend into 4-day. Yahooty!
I took mom to a doctor appointment this afternoon. And then Fran joined us at the golf course for a round. It was another gift sunny day!
Afterwards we teamed up at trivia night at a local pub – Team Muggs (Mom, Noreen, David, Neil, Lucille, Fran, Monte & me). And we won > $200 !!
Sheila365 