Still Summer!

This past week our new home of Richland gave us blue skies and mid-70s every single day.  The Hounds and I rather enjoyed that, and we went out exploring as much as we possibly could.  We even ventured a little farther out -- for Richland is part of the Tri-Cities, and there are two whole other cities nearby:  Kennewick and Pasco, just a short hop down the highway.

This is Chiawana Park in Pasco:

It runs alongside the Columbia River, so it looks a lot like the parks in Richland.

But it had better birds, at least the day we were there -- Great Egret!

American White Pelican!

There were lots of spots where the Hounds could explore the shoreline.

Plus more of those lovely swinging seats that we find so relaxing.

I did a quick sketch there...

...in which I spelled the park's name wrong.  There's only one "n."  Oh, well.  So it goes.

Bateman Island is technically in Richland, though it's really closer to Kennewick, where it sits at one end of the miles-long Columbia Park, which, as you have probably intuited, lies alongside the Columbia River. 
 

Bateman Island is the top birding spot in this area, though at this time of year, the birds can be few and far between.

Mostly I saw Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Dozens and dozens of them, in fact.

I heard sparrows and finches and the like, hiding in the shrubbery.  But only the warblers bothered to come out for photos.

I did search the creepy cobwebby woods for the Great Horned Owl that hangs out there, but did not find it.

I did find lots of creepy cobwebs.

And I found more birds at the end of the island, where you can see across the river to the far bank, where there were lots of white blobs far far away:

With the magic of the camera's zoom lens, you can see that at least a few of those blobs are pelicans:

The next day we returned to Pasco to check out a mansion:

The Moore Mansion was built in 1908 and is closed to the public (it rents out for private events only).

Then we tootled on down the road to visit yet another riverside park:

It's called Wade Park, so Truman took the cue and went wading there:

There's another little burg called West Richland, a hop, skip and jump across the Yakima River.  It does not have a riverside park!  But it does have a man-made spot called The Park at the Lakes, which is quite lovely all the same:

There are two small lakes with handy paved paths, and it is home to ducks, blackbirds, sparrows, and herons. 

The path runs right alongside people's property -- including people who own horses.  Pippin was very excited to meet his very first horse:

In non-park adventures, I went off without the Hounds to an outing with the Tri-City Urban Sketchers.

They met at a winery on the outskirts of town, where the views were amazing.

I staked out a spot on a staircase from which I could see the winery building, and was joined by the group's two co-leaders there.

We had a fine time sketching and chatting.  The group meets every Wednesday and draws for 1-1/2 hours before sharing their work.

They're doing a winery theme for the month of September, so this coming week's outing may be quite similar.

So it was a fine, fun-filled week.  Of course, I am also trying to find a house to buy.  Only one or two homes come on the market each day, and so far, none has measured up to my demanding standards.  For more on the house hunt, tune in tomorrow -- yes, that's right -- on a TUESDAY -- for a SPECIAL BLOG EDITION that has nothing to do with art, birds, or nature:  Searching for a Home!