Finally, some sunshine at the Fill

After quite a lot of rainy weather of late, we got a bit of sun over the weekend.  On Saturday morning Truman and I trotted around the Fill.  We didn't see a whole lot of birds out and about, but we had a good time anyway -- it's always a lovely spot.

I tried to steer Truman away from the puddles, but he insists on testing the water wherever he finds it, no matter how cold.

I do not, of course, let him go into the ponds.  Those are strictly off-limits at the Fill.

The ponds are for the ducks, after all.  We spotted a Northern Shoveler on the main pond.

And we saw this lovely American Wigeon pair on the lake.

Where I also prevented Truman from wading.

We saw very few songbirds along the route, possibly due to the presence of an accipiter.  When we got back to the parking lot, though, a whole crowd of sparrows was feeding on the gravel path -- Golden-crowned, White-crowned, Song Sparrows, and a Dark-eyed Junco or two.

Can I eat that?

Song, Golden-crowned, and White-crowned

'bye for now!

Nothing New Today

Once again, I wasn't able to get out and about this past weekend to see birds due to rain, wind, or both. So without birds, and without sketching (which I already posted about), all I have is more Truman photos (which I also already posted about....).

Hopefully there will be more stuff to post here come January, when I am RETIRED and won't have to stay inside an office building on nice, sunny days.  Though of course, it will probably be too cold to get out, so never mind.  Maybe I'll have more stuff to post come Spring!

In the meantime, here is Tru with his other new toy, Giant Lamp Chop:

Christmas Comes Early for Truman

Yesterday I came home from work to find the pet sitter had left a Christmas card and a gift, which I had a feeling was intended for Truman based on its general shape and smooshy nature.

He had a great time opening his present:

There were TWO gifts inside -- a squeaky stuffed toy and a mini tennis ball.

After examining his gifts, Tru ignored them for a while in order to rip up the wrapping paper.

So I grabbed the squeaky toy and squeaked it, and that got him interested in it again.  In the space of one evening, he managed to eviscerate it and perform a squeak-ectomy.  It is now but an empty shell.  Oh, well.  Easy come, easy go!

Holiday Market Sketching

On Sunday Tina and Nicole and I went to Lake Forest Park town center where a holiday craft market was in full swing, as well as a winter farmer's market.

Finding a good sketching spot was challenging due to the crowds, but I found a bench across from two booths I liked, one selling colorful totes and the other with glass flower decorations.

While I was sketching, two people stopped to chat and both asked if I was a part of the Urban Sketchers group.  One knew another member, and the other person was the tote bag booth owner -- an urban sketcher had drawn her booth the previous year, and made business cards for her using that sketch.  It's very cool when people know about the Urban Sketcher group.

Upstairs at the Third Place Books Commons area, I checked out the winter farmer's market -- it was also very busy and nearly every seating spot was taken.

I found a place to sit across from a vegetable stand, and enjoyed drawing it, though I didn't feel terribly inspired by the subject matter.  The vegetables were too small and hard to delineate.

Luckily, I wandered down a ways and found that Tina had snagged a prime table right across from a booth with larger, more colorful subjects, and I was much happier.

A fine outing all round.

Meadowbrook Again

When the weather is iffy, as it was this past weekend, and I can't tell if a respite from the rain is going to last very long, my default outing is Meadowbrook Pond Park because it's close (1 mile), it's quiet, it has ducks, and it's small (9 acres) so Tru and I can walk around it quickly in case the weather shifts.

So that's where we went on Sunday afternoon after a day and a half of rain, when a brief break came (though with ominous clouds about).  It's not great for bird watching -- the Park has a large crow population, a few Song Sparrows now and then, a resident kingfisher, and an occasional towhee.  The ducks are mainly Mallards, joined in the wintry months by a few random wigeons, mergansers, and a Bufflehead or three.  Great Blue Herons make appearances, as well as cormorants.  Perfectly nice birds, if not terribly exciting.

On Sunday there was a Double-crested Cormorant hanging out there:

And a lovely pair of American Wigeons:

As usual, Truman walked around the park as quickly as possible, ignoring the birds and wondering why I had to stop to look at birds when all he wanted to do was get back to the car.

No duck need ever fear the presence of this single-minded hound.  Home!

Truman Takes A Bath

This is from a week or so ago when Truman got very muddy on a walk -- he definitely needed a bath.  For some reason, even though he loves going into the lake or his summer wading pool, Tru does not enjoy water in a bathtub.  Silly hound.

Not amused:

Get me out of here!

Drying off:

You humans are very strange.

Another place to sketch when it rains

It rained a lot this weekend, especially on Saturday, when Tina and I wanted to go out sketching, so once again we had to brainstorm on good locations for bad weather.  We wound up at Swanson's Nursery in Ballard, which has several large buildings with covered walkways between.

The main attraction was a camel named Curly (yes, a real live camel). There were two reindeer as well, and all three were relaxing in roomy pens, munching away on hay.  We managed to find space between the hordes of excited children to do a few sketches.

There were also lots of children admiring a miniature village with a train rolling round it -- I tried to sketch the train, but it went around so quickly that I could only get little bits each time, and eventually I gave up that endeavor and just drew a section of the village instead.

Then I found a quieter spot in another building, by a koi pond.  No children were teeming around the pond -- it was ever so pleasant.

Zooming in for a close-up:

Not a bad outing at all.  Afterwards we stopped in at a coffee house (One Cup Coffee in Shoreline) where we've sketched before, though I was more interested in drinking hot cocoa than drawing.  We discovered the owner allows dogs inside!  Not just service dogs, ANY dog.  I could bring Truman there -- it is always wonderful to find places I can go with Tru.  I may be spending more time there in retirement.