Life's A Beach

This is my happy place:

This is an estuary at Seaside, Oregon. 

I live near Puget Sound, so I can see water most any day I choose to, or get to various beaches quite quickly, but the Oregon coast is a happier place because most of the beaches there are sandy (here we are prone to rocks), there are plenty of smaller towns without many other tourists mucking about, and all of the beaches are publicly accessible.  Plus, hey, look - it's PRETTY.

If you look around my living room walls, you will see pictures of beaches and lighthouses, and knickknacks of pelicans.  I really ought to own a cottage on the Oregon coast.  I have a CD which is nothing but 60 minutes of the sounds of ocean surf.  I listen to it a lot.  It calms me. 

It calms me after I've picked up my morning newspaper and read the headlines.  It soothed me after my paycheck got smaller again this year.  And it is good to hear the ocean and think sandy beach thoughts as the Mariners strive manfully to break every losing team record in the book.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....sand....waves....sunshine....well, okay, it's Oregon, you don't always get sunshine.  Still.  PRETTY.

Where is your happy place?

Art...Birds...Books

Art
This weekend I took a look at the photos and sketches I made during a trip to the north Oregon coast two years ago, and did a little study from them of this fabulous Whimbrel which landed on Cannon Beach right in front of me one fine afternoon.

Whimbrels are in the same family as curlews, but larger. 

Birds
It was a fine sunny weekend here in the Pacific Northwest, so naturally I went out birdwatching.  At my local patch, I was delighted to get my first view of the early fall migrants passing through (yes, the birds think it is fall already) -- a pair of Least Sandpipers foraging on the muddy banks of a pond.  Nearby, a Killdeer piped at the sandpipers, occasionally making little rushes towards them to shoo them off.  Turns out the Killdeer had a couple of youngsters about who also wanted some of that prime mud real estate.

All legs and fluff!

Books
I just finished a cozy mystery, Books Can Be Deceiving, by Jenn McKinlay.  Her amateur sleuth is Lindsey Norris, the new public library director for a small coastal town in New England.  Lindsey's best friend is accused of murdering her plagiarizing boyfriend, and when the local police prove ineffective, Lindsey leaps in to help clear her friend.  It's enjoyable enough, with a charming setting and engaging characters, though I wasn't sold on picking up the sequel.

I'm nearly finished with The Age of Wonder, about scientific developments in late 1700s/early 1800s Britain told through biographies of fascinating people like Joseph Banks, William and Caroline Herschel, Humphrey Davy et al.  Captivating stuff.

And I've just started Donna Andrews' latest humorous mystery in her Meg Langslow series, The Real Macaw.  Meg is a blacksmith who stumbles across intriguing crimes which she solves with the help and more often hindrance of her very wacky family.  (First in the series:  Murder with Peacocks.)

I also bought two books this weekend -- one of the books in Mary Daheim's Alpine mystery series, and Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.  The first I got at Third Place Books, a fine independent bookstore in Lake Forest Park, and the second I got at Elliott Bay Books, an equally fine independent bookstore in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.  Support your local bookstores, please.  Thank you!

Cold Wave

With apologies to the rest of the country, where I hear it is 100 degrees and humid to boot, I would like to emit a small whine about the lack of summer here in the Pacific Northwest.

 Since the first of June, the total number of HOURS when the temperature in Seattle has been 75 or higher is:  eighteen.

I have worn a jacket and hat every morning on my commute to work for the past two brumal* weeks.

On this morning's commute, the bus driver had the heat turned on.  And I appreciated that.

I have not yet put away my flannel pajamas.

This morning I watched a crow gathering moss -- normally a nest-building activity -- no doubt because the poor bird believed it was March.

It is supposed to get over 75 this coming weekend here.  If so, I will be outside, soaking up as much sunshine and warmth as I can in an effort to stockpile the effects.

Sometimes (more often lately) I do truly wonder why I live here, when I love heat and sunshine (let me be clear -- that would be DRY heat).  But when I look at other potential dwelling spots around the country, always there is something negative to balance out the heat and sun, like hurricanes or tornadoes or floods or a few too many scorpions.

I guess if there were a perfect spot, everyone would already be living there.  Sigh.

*brumal:  of, relating to, or occurring in winter

Pelican

Quick pen-and-ink and watercolor wash study of a pelican (from a photo taken on the Oregon coast).

Why I Have More Books Than I Really Need

Do you ever buy books simply because you liked an odd title, or peculiar cover art, or for any other reason than thinking, "Gee, I want to read this?"  Well, I do - which might explain why the bulk of the furniture in my tiny home is comprised of bookcases.  Yes, 95% of the books residing thereon are ones I've read or want to read, but I am also compelled at times to pick up something just because it looks cool and different.  Please tell me that at least some of you do the same thing!

Here are a few of my favorites:

How could I resist a pop-up book about birds?  I love pop-up books!  I also have one on dinosaurs and one with lighthouses.

I bought this for the title and it sat on the shelves for many years until one day I decided to read it, and it was okay, though not outstanding.  Still -- who doesn't like to say "Muckle Flugga" now and then?

I have no intention of reading this one. I just liked the cover. 

The Adventures of a Special Correspondent in Central Asia -- this was a gift, and a very fine one, too.  I even read it, although it wasn't very good. 

Another gift book on hollow earth theories - I might just read this someday.



Don't Mess With Me

I want to be a nice person, really I do.  But I have to be truthful – despite my best intentions, I’m a curmudgeon at heart.

American Heritage Dictionary: Curmudgeon:  an ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions.

Well, okay, not so much with the resentment, though I can certainly embrace the rest.  Not all the time, not every day – in fact, I’m an optimist who is basically content – but I must admit that I am content and optimistic mostly when I don’t need to deal with those creatures known as Other People.

This can make things tricky when dealing with the Virtual World.  In the Real World, I just mutter darkly a lot about Things Other People Do and Say That Annoy Me No End where no one can hear me, or sometimes I find a compatible curmudgeon just like me who enjoys engaging in a mutual rant fest.  But in the Virtual World, I’m apparently not supposed to do this.

It seems that if you want to sell the novels you’ve written, you must Be Nice.  You must always say nice things about other people and other books and you must never say anything negative about anything ever or have a controversial opinion because someone might not like it, and then that someone might not buy your book.

Well, let me tell you something.  I tried that for a while.  And it sucked the very marrow from my soul.

So let me tell you something else:  if you don’t  buy one of my books because I don’t like cats, or because I hate e-readers, or because I support duck hunting, then you’re not the kind of person I want buying my book anyway.  So there.  Neener, neener.

I have opinions, and I’m not afraid to use them!

Sketchy Day

A sketchy view of the Montlake Fill (AKA the Union Bay Natural Area) AKA My Favorite Birdwatching Spot in Seattle, as seen from the gravel road that runs along the slough.  It was afternoon, so the birds were not much in evidence.  I think I saw one or two mallards floating past.  There were several Wood Ducks sitting on a little mud island off to the right, where you can't see them.  And a Great Blue Heron or two flapped slowly past.  There were turtles to the left.  Oh, and a Spotted Towhee making noise in the shrub behind me.  Guess you had to be there!

For the birds

This past weekend was lovely and sunny and warm here in the Pacific Northwest, so naturally I spent a lot of time outdoors.  Down at my favorite birdwatching patch, a local restoration area of just about 100 acres, the birds were busy calling and singing away in the sunshine.

 That's a Red-winged Blackbird on the top, and a Savannah Sparrow on the bottom.  I also got to enjoy listening to goldfinches galore, and several Common Yellowthroats, plus the usual House Finches, Robins, and Song Sparrows.  Out on the ponds the mallards were mostly snoozing, while the Wood Ducks were out and about, and the Pied-billed Grebes were diving.  It was a lovely way to spend a sunny summer day.