Here and There

We start the Week In Review with Seattle, as usual, where the Hounds and I took our usual walks to our usual places--neighborhood loop (Monday), Magnuson Park (Tuesday), and the Montlake Fill (Wednesday).

At the Fill of late, I have been Plagued by Pipits.  American Pipits are small songbirds with sort of brownish/buffy/streaky coloring who like to stride about meadows a lot where it is hard to see them.  They migrate through the Puget Sound area in Spring and Autumn.  I've seen them only a few times over the ten (!) years I've been birding.  For the past three weeks, whenever I've visited the Fill, there are notes on the Bird Sighting Kiosk about Pipit sightings there the day before.  And every time, I've missed them.  They were taunting me.

Until Wednesday, that is.

I would have missed them that day, too, if I hadn't said to another birder, "I never see the pipits", and if he hadn't pointed to a spot far away in the meadow and replied, 'There are some out there right now."

Did I mention that they are small and brownish and like to stride around on the ground, where it is hard to see them?  Oh, well.  At least I am no longer plagued.

Also, the Osprey are back!  This is Lacey, the female.  The male (Chester) has also been seen hanging about.

And here is a common, garden-variety American Robin:

We had four or so days in a row of lovely sunshine and WARM weather last week, so naturally I left.  Well, I waited until the last day of sunshine, Thursday, after which it got cloudy and a little drizzly again but I didn't care because I was in Richland where it was SUNNY.

I've been visiting the family and hanging out with friends in SUNNY Richland.  At Mom's house, this Wood Duck turned up in her front-yard sycamore tree one morning, perched about 15 feet high.  Sweet!

On Friday I took the Hounds to Leslie Groves Park along the Columbia River, where Truman enjoyed wading -- he really seemed to like the sandy bottom (as opposed to the pebbly stuff we get in Seattle), and he spent lots more time wading than he typically does.

Pippin was content to investigate the shore.

I did a little sketching there.

On Saturday we took a tour of the Uptown Shopping Center, which opened in 1949.  The murals are a recent addition, though they certainly capture the mid-century modern feel of the place, which has steadfastly resisted modernization all these years.

On Sunday I took the Hounds to Howard Amon Park along the Columbia River, and we walked a mile or so down to the marina.  I did not go birding in Richland, but I did see this lovely Eurasian Collared Dove--they are quite common in the area.

And I did another sketch:

And I took the Hounds down to the shore again -- and this time Pippin actually tried wading a little bit:

Though mostly he preferred the beach.

Today we are going for another walk and maybe I can fit in another sketch or two.  We shall see!

Here Comes the Sun

The forecast for this week is SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE and 65-75 degrees!!!!!!!  Spring is here at last!  HOORAH!!!

Of course, today I am reporting last week's activities, when Spring was still struggling along.  In between the gray and cold and the drizzles, we did have what we northwesterners call "sun breaks", which apparently isn't a thing in other parts of the country.  They happen at odd moments throughout an otherwise gloomy day, right about the time you've given up all hope of ever seeing a blue sky again.  Blue holes magically appear in the gray above your head, and glorious sunshine pokes through, promising better things to come, and then, just when you've convinced yourself that it's safe to harness up the hounds and head to the park, the holes close up again and you wind up sitting at a stoplight gazing wistfully upwards.  Where did it go?  Will it ever return?  Why do you taunt me this way?

So, mostly last week we headed out during the sun breaks.  I think there was one longer sunnier afternoon in there somewhere, but typically by the afternoon I'm done wandering around town hoping for better things and have crashed on the sofa with a book and a chocolate chip cookie and a baseball game on the telly.  Oh, well.

Here we are in Ballard last Wednesday morning, when I was wandering around town hoping for better things.  This is outside a cafe by the Ballard Locks:

And inside the Locks by the museum:

And at the locks proper:

I went to check on the Great Blue Heron colony there, which was not very active at all.  I also wanted to find something to sketch, but it was too cold and there were no sun breaks, so I left.

However, during that one afternoon when the sun came out more fully, I sat in my back garden and did a few little sketches of what I could see from my lawn chair:

That was quite pleasant.

I spent the rest of the week wandering around being hopeful, and not accomplishing anything at all, other than a lot of walking, so at least I got my exercising done.  Then on Saturday, Tina and I ventured off on an exploratory visit to a couple of small parks in Shoreline.

We also visited Richmond Beach Park for a view of Puget Sound.  I've sketched this spot many times, and wanted to do something different, so I drew the trash/recycling cans just for fun.  Not my typical subject matter!

Finally, here are two drawings I did from photos this past week, when it was too dreary to go outside.  Guess I wasn't quite done with lighthouses.

And now, on to real Spring with SUNSHINE SUNSHINE SUNSHINE and no more gray!

Then Again, It Could Be Snowing

I'm not sure how often "Game postponed due to snow" is heard in the land of Major League Baseball, but it sure did shout out this past weekend.  Well, what do you expect when you schedule games in April in Minneapolis in an outdoor, uncovered stadium?

It snowed there.  A lot.  So perhaps I should not complain overly much about the drizzly gray skies here and the Lack of Spring when folks elsewhere are still using shovels to get to their cars, and when ball park groundskeepers can't find the green beneath all the white.

On the other hand, last week it was wet and gray and rainy and drizzly and cold here.  Not snow cold, but definitely Not Spring.  It started out in a promising manner--here is a pic from last Monday:

Blue sky!!!  And it cracked 60 degrees for the first time in forever.  Of course, the presence of Wintering Ducks such as the scaup below should have warned me that Spring had not truly Sprung.

When it is nice, I have to drop everything and rush out with the dogs to make sure they (and I) get exercised.

Truman even thought it was warm enough for wading.

 Pippin is not yet familiar with this concept, but he was curious.

This outing was to Log Boom Park in Kenmore, with a second stop at Lyons Creek park a mile down the trail.

On our walk back to the car, while we waited for a traffic light, Pippin expressed his feelings for Truman:

On Tuesday it rained.  I told myself that it could have been snowing, so don't complain.  I complained anyway.

On Wednesday it rained.  But not until 10am!  The key to happiness in a Seattle Spring is to leap at any chance of non-rain.  The non-rain happened between 8am and 10am, so that's when we hopped in the car and rushed off.

Look at that sunshine!  I rushed to the Fill to see birds, and then stopped at Magnuson Park to sketch at the community garden there.

Swallows are a good sign that Spring is nearing -- and there were Tree Swallows about.

As well as this very fine Downy Woodpecker, which is not a sign of Spring but a nicely photogenic bird anyway:

Ah, another Spring sign--tulips!

And dachshunds soaking up the sun!

Then we went home, and it rained.  I complained.

On Thursday it rained, though before it started drizzling, I managed to snap a few photos of my garden to show that some flowers are managing to bloom, like this quince:

There are tiny blooms on the Bleeding Heart, though you probably can't see them well in this pic:

The Euphorbia blooms are green, so not all that thrilling:

The vinca, on the other hand, is a lovely purple:

The Forget-Me-Nots are bursting out all over:

And the native flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum, is always spectacular at this time of year, and the hummingbirds love it. 

We hosted Winston and Chloe on Thursday for the whole day.  They got wet.

At one point the Evil Neighbor Dog turned up on the other side of the fence -- they've never seen him, but they know he is Evil and always attack the fence to show him who is in charge:

Well, Winston leaps to the fray -- not Chloe.  She is 14 and prefers to nap the day away.  Pippin loves her, though it is unrequited.  By late afternoon, however, she is resigned to putting up with a tiny amount of Pippin's attentions.

On Friday it rained.  I don't want to talk about it.

On Saturday it rained.  Tina and I went on a sketch outing but none of my drawings turned out well.  I really  don't want to talk about it.

Sunday was Truman's sixth birthday!  It was NOT RAINING in the morning!!  So I took him and Pip on the 3M Park Tour:  Montlake Fill (more swallows!), Magnuson Park (we met another dappled dachshund named Mochi there), and Meadowbrook Pond (where all the wintering birds had departed! could this mean Spring is around the corner?).  It was swell.

Then we came home, and the drizzle began.

The forecasters are promising us a "mostly sunny" day on April 19.  I await it with bated breath, and my car key in hand.

In the meantime, I regularly repeat my new mantra:  At least it's not snowing.

Cheers to all my friends in Minneapolis.  Stay warm out there!