Category Archives: hike

by

question

Blogging from A to Z, Q is for query, quest, question.

I took the afternoon from work yesterday to go for a walk with my son, who is visiting from Maryland. We went to Chetzemoka Park and down to the beach. More blue herons and more photographs! Hiking back, we saw a halo around the sun, above the ridge. I know that this is formed from a reflection of ice crystals in the atmosphere, more information here. It is magical! And there was something in the tree…. what is it? A quest with a zoom lens reveals:

DSCN2203.JPG

In the first picture the angle is different and the eagle is right by the trunk of the tree, difficult to see. We were watching great blue herons take off from the beach and land in  trees on the ridge but I heard an eagle’s cry and the silhouette is wrong for a great blue heron.

Queries and questions and quests: happy letter Q.

Q

by

O trees

Blogging from A to Z, my theme is happy things. O for open, outdoors, over!

Over. How can over be a happy thing? My photograph is from last week, the trees here are so tall and tower over us!

I love to walk outdoors. Outdoors is another happy thing for me. I had a thousand posts on this blog before I really knew what it is about. It is celebrating the place where I heal, where I stay balanced from work: outdoors. I get to share the photographs I take:

DSCN2071

Open. When I walk outdoors, my heart opens. I feel joy! It is still dark here this morning, but as soon as it begins to get light, the birds start their madness! I sing back to them. This year I am learning the song of the towhee. The smaller birds are so good at hiding in bushes when I want to take pictures. I want to sing like this towhee:

DSCN1220

And those are today’s happy things about the letter O.

O

 

 

by

Happy no

Name, noun, nut, gnome, know, no…

I have a nutty streak, a silly streak and love silly things. It helps me to balance clinic. Sometimes things are hard there, I hope to be able to do something for many people that I see. Half my patients are over 65, one is now 100, and no one lives forever even if I recommend the right things and they live a medically perfect life. I am always mourning for someone.

So my nutty streak comes out with listing words for the letter N and adding gnome and know. Are they N words or not? I think they are.

And my happy thing today is the word NO. How, you say, can NO be a happy thing?

This weekend I wanted to do too much. I wanted to attend a retreat about change that went from 9:30 to 3:00 but I also was already tired. It would be with a  group of people that I don’t know well, so my introvert side would be on guard. My son was coming into town and I needed to make choices and save energy and say no to myself. I went to the retreat, but only for two hours. I wanted to stay longer but did not. And that protected my energy for the next day and this busy week.

Do you argue with yourself and want to do too much or something your shouldn’t or spend too long on something that you didn’t plan to? Look, I thought this would be a very short post to catch up….

N

There were three great blue herons on the beach the other night, and then an eagle in the surf. The herons were fishing but also watching the nearby eagle, the people on the beach, loose dogs going by, and each other. Their feathers were windblown and they made me think of teens at a dance, looking at each other with interest, but pretending they were more interested in fishing.

Happy Blogging from A to Z!

 

by

Mundane Monday #156

Welcome to Mundane Monday #156: our theme today is serendipitous light. Does serendipitous light contradict mundane? I don’t think so. We were walking on the beach in the evening and as the angle of the light changed, Marrowstone Island lit up under the lowering clouds. I stopped taking pictures of the flock of brant and took pictures of the land and sky instead.

What picture do you have of serendipitous or accidental or fortuitous light? Link and I will post them next Monday.

Last Mundane Monday #155, the theme was close color.

The Wishing Well sends this: https://bedressed.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/photo-challenge-yesterdays-mundane-capture/.

And K. L.Allendorfer: https://klallendoerfer.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/mundane-monday-embassy-suites/.

Happy Monday and I hope that your sky and horizon light up more than once this week.

There, I managed to mess up links to #155 at least three times….learning.

 

by

birds and color

The first birds that we saw and heard on the beach two nights ago were these: black oystercatchers. The red beak stands out, but if they are standing still, they blend with the rocks! Listen to their wonderful call here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black_Oystercatcher/overview. When I hear the call, I know to look for them at the edge of the water.

by

I for intent

My Blogging from A to Z theme is happy things. Three happy things with intent!

We took a beach walk two nights ago and the beach was full of birds. Three great blue herons, three oyster catchers, an eagle landed in the surf, crows, gulls and the flock of brant. There were various dogs being walked, who were not chasing any of the birds, hooray for that!

I love this great blue heron: so intent on fishing. What are you intent on? Intent, intention, attention, retention. So many tents….

I was intent in clinic yesterday. We had a packed schedule and I started thirty minutes early to add an extra patient and I had good intentions to run on time. I didn’t. By the last person I was running 20 minutes late, and three people were grumpy. No, four people were grumpy because I have to add myself to that. I had good intentions, but I can’t control what problems people bring to clinic and they don’t always fit in the time allotted!

Here is the eagle, also intent on dinner. I don’t think of bald eagles as surf birds, but this one had caught something and landed. We did not get close, not wanting to disturb things.

DSCN2096.JPG

The photographs are taken at the Port Townsend Bay beach below Chetzemoka Park. Happy blogging. 

I

 

 

 

 

by

grasp

For the Daily Prompt: grasp.

Oh, a coot, a lovely coot, in the early morning. I don’t want to grasp it, really, but I was trying to capture the moment when it ducks under the water. I failed and got this:

P1090716.JPG

Coots always look a bit like wind up toys to me, different from the ducks. They move more jerkily. They look a little bit mechanical. I think the neurological wiring is more primitive than ducks, but look, it works and they’ve survived! I can’t argue with that!

I will keep trying to catch that up and dive motion….