In Between the Heat Waves

This coming week Seattle heads back into the mid-to-high 80s, but this past week the temperatures were mostly cooler and even cloudier and I got outside.  Huzzah!

This is a Gadwall duckling, who chose to be adorable right while I was sitting by the Main Pond at the Montlake Fill.

And this is Mama Gadwall keeping a close eye on the youngster.

And here is a fine Green Heron:

And a lovely Belted Kingfisher:

The lone Osprey chick is still hanging in there.  The bunny population has decreased significantly, while the presence of coyote scat has increased.  You may draw your own conclusions.

In addition to getting out and about to look at Our Avian Friends, I also got out and about with the Hounds and sometimes even with people to go draw stuff.  My sketching friends refuse to be photographed, however, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they actually exist.

We went to West Seattle to draw at the Chinese garden there.

Pippin seemed particularly enthusiastic about the place.

Truman, as usual, wasn't quite so keen.  Mostly he just puts up with going out and about, and waits patiently for me to return to the car and return him to his spot on the sofa.

It did get a little hot that afternoon, but luckily there were several pools where the Hounds could cool off. 

And the only views that I sketched were ones I could see from shady vantage points.

There is a giant carp sculpture in the garden which I would have drawn except there was no shade nearby.

I did sketch part of the buildings there while parked beneath a handy tree:

And I sketched part of the garden from underneath another cooperative tree:

On another mostly cool, cloudy day I strolled the Hounds around the UW campus, and paused to draw this collection of rocks that is smack in the middle of a traffic roundabout:

And I got out again (yes, three days of drawing!) with my imaginary friends to Volunteer Park, where I found this little pond attractive.  Behind it stands the Seattle Asian Art Museum, which is closed for renovations.

Today the heat returns and I may go out to one of the parks along Puget Sound to get cooler breezes and maybe even sketch some more.  You never know.

Meanwhile, this is how the Hot Dogs handle heat waves:

I might do that instead!