Weekend Report

As usual, I spent the past few days going out sketching, or looking at birds, and hanging with dachshunds.  It's what I do.

Of course, I do other things in retirement--for my volunteer gig with Seattle Audubon, I've been proofreading a book on Pacific NW insects, and I'm also taking a free online course on the general history of architecture, and there are restaurant outings or walks in the park with friends, plus I've been watching plenty of baseball--but as I can't post photos from those activities, what you're going to see here are sketches, birds, and dachshunds.

I continue to visit the P-Patch garden at Magnuson Park in an effort to document it throughout the growing season:

Nicole, Tina and I ventured to Woodinville to a private garden that's open to the public only on Saturdays from May to September--a lovely place called Bassetti's Crooked Arbor Garden:

It's only about five acres but is crammed full of fun stuff to draw.

As for the birds, I got down to the Fill but it was rather quiet there, and I missed out on a rare visitor--an Ash-throated Flycatcher--by one day.  This didn't bother me because I've seen them in their more normal habitat of eastern Washington.  Instead, what I got was a very common Brown-headed Cowbird:

There was some Osprey-Eagle chasing action, but I couldn't get pics of that as they were too far away and were moving too quickly.  Instead, I took a picture of a sitting target--this robin:

And of course, Truman never moves too fast for photos:

Finally, in case you're wondering how things are going with foster dog Chloe, here is what happened after a long session of romping, wrestling play time:

Awww....isn't that sweet....

And no, I am NOT keeping her.  Way too much energy (and BARKING) for me.  On this Friday she goes in for her spay surgery, after which she needs to be kept sequestered and quiet for a week (oh joy) and then after a second week of recovery, she should be ready to be put up for adoption.  Whew!