Light, Water, Nature - Beauty

We never get tired of the beauty surrounding us. The way the light plays off the water and mountains is wonderful to behold. 

These pictures are from an evening at Juanita Bay Park and then the sunset we stopped to watch on the way home (February 15). Be sure to click on one of the images so you can see larger sizes. 

In the late afternoon light, these bushes looked to be on fire!

This willow tree will soon be leafing out

Don't know what animal made these holes & hills of dirt. 

The results of the critters' work could be seen all over the park.

Moss grows everywhere - not just on one side of trees

This bush was blooming already. These tiny blossoms gave out a beautiful scent that could be smelled several feet away.

These prickly wild rose branches will soon be covered with leaves and fragrant roses

The birds left these berries. 

Either food was plentiful or the berries aren't very flavorful.

Blossoms already - February 15!

Late afternoon light on the lake at Juanita Bay Park

This single family mansion is being built just a few blocks from downtown Kirkland, on the edge of Heritage Park overlooking Lake Washington. Most houses in Kirkand are much more modest than this!

Olympic Mountains in the distance. Often it's difficult to tell where the snow-capped mountains end and the clouds start. 

Downtown Seattle is to the left of the setting sun. It's interesting how the setting sun reflects off the buildings of downtown Seattle. It's like watching a light show. 

Family - Time Passes Quickly

FAMILY – “Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, ‘I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.’ 

Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. ‘Where did the years go?’ they ask. 

We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present.”  

Thomas S. Monson 

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We say a big AMEN to this. Time does go quickly. We cannot call it back. Time is a gift. As we included previously, “Family time is sacred time.” This becomes more and more apparent as we get to this end of our journey on earth.

The Bridge Builder

                              The Bridge Builder

An old man going a lone highway,

Came, at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

Through which was flowing a sullen tide

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me to-day

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

By Will Allen Dromgoole (1860–1934) 

Source: Father: An Anthology of Verse

 (EP Dutton & Company, 1931)

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Each of us can be bridge builders for those who come after us. I am thankful for those who have helped me cross the "chasms" in my life. 

Island Adventures

More adventures in this beautiful part of the world

We live about 45 minutes south of Mukilteo, at bottom right of this map above. Our goal was to drive up to Marysville (on I-5 on right of map about 1/3 of the way up), then go through the Tulalip Indian Reservation, along the coast, onto Camano Island, back to the mainland, up the small road you see connecting with 20, onto Fidalgo Island (top middle of map), over Deception Pass on to Whidbey Island, drive the length of the island and then take the ferry from the bottom of the island over to Mukilteo. The map below shows our route. 

On the map, the road through the Tulalip Indian Reservation appears to go along the coast. We were expecting wonderful views. In most places we couldn't see the water for all the trees - beautiful, tall evergreen trees. 

Camano Island was our first stop.  The narrow Davis Slough separates the island from the mainland. On some maps the mainland is shown, then another piece of land is labeled as a different island, then comes Camano Island. When you look at the island on the satellite view of a map program, the area looks more like a peninsula than two islands and the mainland. 

Camano Island - 6 miles across at its widest (most of it about 2 miles wide)

16 miles long

Population 15,000 in July 2007

We drove around the island a bit and had lunch at the Camano Island Marketplace. FYI - I haven't been able to find out what, if anything, the dinosaur sculpture has to do with the island.

On our way up to Deception Pass and Whidbey Island, we noticed white "blobs" littering many fields. We finally stopped the car to look more closely. Snow geese overwinter in this area.  Most of the birds fly to Wrangel Island, off northern Siberia, to nest. 

This area with the snow geese is not far from the tulip fields that we visited last spring. 

We drove on to Fidalgo Island. We blogged about a previous trip to this island here. These pictures were taken at Deception Pass on Fidalgo Island, looking at Whidbey Island in the distance. 

DECEPTION PASS

The water was a beautiful deep greenish blue color.

Click on any photo for a larger image

The sun tried to come out off and on throughout the day

Whidbey Island is about 35 miles long and 1.5 to 12 miles wide

In 2000 census there were 58,000 residents

Oak Harbor is at the northern end of Whidbey Island. It is home to the Naval Air Station. The Naval Air Station was Joe's first introduction to the Pacific Northwest. When he was in the Navy and stationed in Kodiak, Alaska, he flew into and out of the Naval Air Station.

This windmill was built in 1979 to honor the Dutch heritage of the Oak Harbor area. 

It is a storage shed for the parks department and Little League. source

Coupeville is a charming waterfront, farming community

Lavender Wind store is full of products that smell good and are good for you! Their lavender fields are just outside of town. We'll probably visit them when they are in full bloom. 

This straggly plant grows at the bottom of a utility pole on the sidewalk. As you can see, it's already blooming. It's only the middle of February. We also saw blooming shrubs. 

Fun sculptures in Coupeville

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We had dinner in Langley. The Langley Village Eatery was the only place that was open. Carlos, the owner/cook remembered us from our visit several weeks previously. We had a long conversation with Carlos - talked about keeping a restaurant afloat in a tourist town in the winter and many other topics. 

At Clinton, we took the 20 minute ferry ride to Mukilteo and wound our way home. 

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This was a fun adventure, done without our GPS. Since we didn't know exactly where we were going, we couldn't enter anything into the GPS. We had our trusty paper maps for general directions and just followed the signs and roads that looked interesting. Figured you can't get too lost if you're on an island!

Talkers & Listeners

"Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening." 

Dorothy Sarnoff

When I read this, I laughed and thought of all the times I've been talking about family history and forgotten that everyone isn't as interested in this fascinating topic as I am. 

Here I am at Jan & Tim's kitchen table going through a box of treasures Susan brought with her. They appear to be my Grandmother Celia's notes from her days of researching the family's history - a kindred spirit. 

Friends & Stories

Many of our friends moved across country with us a few years ago. 

(I typed "toys." Joe wanted it changed to "friends" 

because "they are very real to me" - and they are.) 

Here are some of their stories

Julia was shopping at Sam's Club around Christmas many years ago. This huge bear called out and said he was to go home to Joe. Julia heeded the call, loaded the humungous bear in the shopping cart, and found a place to hide it until Christmas. 

Tigger joined the North Street family & had fun with the grandchildren.

The tiger on top of the Valentine bear came from the Griffins when they gave us an "adopt an animal" Christmas gift. Julia made the rabbit at a Build-A-Bear Workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah. She mailed the rabbit to Joe to keep him company while she was at a conference. The rabbit talks. 

A friend of Julia's made the bear on the left. The camel and the bear on the right lived with Mary & Bill Holton for a long time. Julia hoped the oinking pig would stay in Ohio but it came along for the ride. The small beagle puppy was a gift from the Kings and part of the Webkinz craze.

Joe bought this rabbit at the gift shop in the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue, Columbus, Ohio (he was attending a meeting there). Joe gave it to Julia and said (and continues to say) that Bunny will "monitor your behavior" after he is gone. 

These three are Joe's childhood friends. When he was very young he cut the bear's hair; his mother was not pleased. The cat has been around forever. Bunny has been his friend a long time. Joe found these toys in the basement of his mother's house in Urbana when the house was being sold. 

 ET was on a grandchild's Christmas wish list many years ago. We bought one to give to her. Joe liked it so much that we had to go back and buy one for him. ET says a number of phrases. Joe's favorite is a deep burp. A grandson made the cape for ET. This was when he had his own Supercat cape. 

Patrika is our Bahamian friend. We found her in Nassau. 

She reminds us of our mission in The Bahamas and our wonderful friends there.

Joe bought the white cat at a sidewalk sale at Graceland Shopping Center, Columbus, Ohio not long after we were married. The Kings gave us the singing mouse at Christmas. The toad was a birthday gift to Joe "Toad" from Julia. The laughing and rolling monkey is the newest addition to our collection, from Seattle.