Weekend Miscellany

A little about a lot of different things.

SOCKS

Today, I finished the "first" sock of the pair I was knitting for Tim. Now there are two.

I finished the knitting part last night. That just left stitching up the toes and weaving in the ends.

He reports that they are very warm. Well, they should be. Have you ever seen a cold alpaca? (I stole that. He said it first.)

I'd like to start another pair, because I really like knitting socks. But I should get back to my sweater instead.

GARDENING

Today, we planted the seeds for what we hope will be our summer garden. Two kinds of lettuce (red and green), zucchini, pumpkin, and leftover California poppy seeds.

I could have posted a photo, but there's nothing to see yet. Just potting soil in little planter cups.

I also have a bunch of sunflower seeds that I harvested last year, that I will just plant in the ground. And the raspberry canes are leafing out nicely. I hope their output is better than it was last year.

GREEN LAKE

After a week of mostly rain, it cleared up this afternoon. That prompted me to suggest that we head down to Green Lake for a walk.

The turtles have been out of hibernation for a few weeks now. I thought there would be more of them out sunning themselves, but only a few made an appearance.

However, on the other side of the lake, we did see something a little out of the ordinary.

 QUILTING

I managed to get out to the studio for an hour or two. The project I am currently planning involves using leftover strips of fabric that I have collected over the past several months. I am sewing them into longer strips and trimming them to various widths.

I have drafted a larger version of this block, as well as a diagonal version, and will sew the strips together to make a quilt of a size yet to be determined. It will be unplanned, spontaneous and random. Very different from what I usually do.

FLOWERS

This has been a good spring for flowers. It seems like there have been more crocuses and daffodils in our front yard than in years past.

The dark purple crocuses showed up first, followed by lighter purple and white crocuses.

Then came the daffodils.

  

Soon, there will be tulips.

Last weekend, we enjoyed the warmest day so far this year. It was a beautiful spring day — the warmest day so far this year with a high of about 65 degrees. We were out and about around Capitol Hill and took a stroll through Volunteer Park. Many flowers there to see.

Lastly, inspired by our visit to Vashon Island a couple weeks ago and the Seattle Distillery where we purchased a bottle of their coffee liqueur (scroll down), I found a recipe for homemade coffee liqueur which I will try out, with some adjustments.

Today, I prepared the cold brew coffee and purchased two vanilla beans and a bottle of vodka. Stay tuned . . .

Exotic Birds

Yesterday, a customer came into the store with her macaw, named Maia.

It was the second time she had come in, since I began working there last August, but I gather she is a semi-regular customer who comes in from time to time.

The first time, after she left, I thought, "I should have taken a picture with my iTouch!"

The second time, I didn't miss my chance.

Maia is a very accommodating bird.

She showed her "eagle wings."

More than once.

She is friendly. She willingly used my arm as her perch. Her grip is not uncomfortable at all. Her claws look sharp, but her grip is relaxed and does not pinch.

And showed her eagle wings again.

Pretty bird.

Later in the day, another customer came in with her little parakeet. It was chirping loudly and insistently, apparently because it was hungry. I was able to snap just a couple of pictures before she had to leave.

Ocean Shores, Washington

Last week, Tim and I took a short vacation to the Washington coast. We have visited the Oregon coast a few times. I did not expect the two to be so different. I wonder what different influences have shaped the different geographies.

Where the Oregon coast has narrow beaches backed by cliffs and the distinctive sea stack rocks just offshore, the beach at Ocean Shores was broad and flat. Also, cars are allowed on the beach, which I had never encountered before. In one of the publications targeted at visitors, an article warned about getting stuck in the sand or trapped by an incoming tide, and provided the number of the local towing service.

On our first walk down to the beach, a deer was grazing just off the side of the road. When I saw it, I exclaimed "Deer!" and it raised its head and gazed inquiringly at us.

In addition to the usual gulls, we also saw a bald eagle, a lazuli bunting and an Eastern kingbird.

The latter two I identified with the help of the Birds of North America website, whatbird.com.

The other notable wildlife siting occurred while we were driving up to the Hoh Rain Forest trail head, when a group of five Roosevelt elk decided to cross the road several dozen feet up ahead.

 Lastly, on one of our walks along the beach, we chanced on a wooden pallet that had washed up on shore. It was covered with barnacles, and even though the tide had been out for several hours, they were still out of their shells.

I think they were goose barnacles. They looked more like this, rather than this.

Ocean Shores on Dwellable

Some Eastern Washington Wildlife

My husband and I left last Friday for a long weekend in eastern Washington. Friday night and Saturday night we camped at Lake Wanapum. Sunday night and Monday night we stayed at the Well Made B&B in Chelan. Along the way, I took some photographs of some of the critters we saw. (Not pictured are the bunnies we saw near the campsite; I didn't happen to have my camera with me.)

First, I saw this striking black and white bird near our tent. I snapped some pictures and later found out from a ranger that it was a magpie.

I've included these two because each shows the bird and its coloring from a slightly different angle, providing a fairly complete image.

On two different occasions at two different locations, we saw a little sandpiper.

We also saw some little lizards. They blended in so well with the gravel, they were difficult to see.

But of all the fauna we saw, my favorite was the brood of merganser chicks we saw at Lake Chelan. I couldn't decide which of these photos was my favorite, so I'm including all three. I especially like how some of the chicks are riding piggyback on Mama.

Birds of Spring

This morning, after dropping Tim off at the bus stop, I headed down to Green Lake for a morning constitutional. I’m planning to do this several times a week, now that the days are longer and the weather is (finally!) getting warmer.

Yesterday, I saw a mama duck and seven tiny ducklings paddling around. I didn’t have my camera with me, but I made sure to take it with me today.

About three-quarters of the way around the lake, I finally came across the ducks, including Dad (I’m going to assume it was the same group) pecking around in the grass.

I took this video with my camera. The ducklings were spread too far apart to ever get them all in the picture.

Earlier in my walk, I also saw a red-winged blackbird, hanging out among the foxtails and doing a call-and-response to another bird in a nearby tree. I’d never noticed before how the tail fans out when the bird calls.

Birds and More Birds

The same day earlier this week when I walked around Green Lake and took those pictures of items lost and found, I also took several pictures of the different birds I saw, besides the usual mallards and grebes. One species I have seen before; they migrate through about this time of year.

Hooded mergansers

I also saw a couple of herons. One was up in a tree. He was all hunkered down and I could only see his body. I spent a few minutes walking all around the tree trying to get the best view. This even caused other people to stop and look up to see what had attracted my attention.

He did poke out his head once, just a little bit.

A little farther around the lake, I saw another heron in his more usual habitat — in the water waiting for dinner.

I also saw two other kinds of birds that I had not seen at Green Lake before: common goldeneyes and American widgeons.

Common goldeneye

One widgeon

Many widgeons

Looks like the other widgeons, except his head is colored differently

Hummers

Several years ago, my oldest sister gave me a hummingbird feeder. But I didn’t really have a good place to hang it at the house I was living in at the time. So it lived in the garage on the workbench, in its original packaging.

Fast forward a few years. I meet my lovely (now) husband Tim and we buy a house together. A couple of years pass, and I decide I really really want to put up a bird feeder, or two (more on that later).

I hang it outside the window over the kitchen sink. It takes maybe a couple of weeks before the first hummingbird sighting, but now they are regular visitors. Well, at least one or two. I've never seen more than one at a time hovering there, but there is at least one male and one female.

Funny story: last Sunday morning, I brought in the feeder to rinse it out and change the sugar water. While I was at the sink rinsing it out, a hummingbird flew up. But the feeder is not there! He hovers here, flits over there, hovers, flies to where the feeder SHOULD be, but it’s gone! Where did it go? It was here just a minute ago!

I refill it, hang it up, and wait patiently. Within half an hour, he returns.