TODAY'S FLOWERS

These were taken at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.

TODAY’S FLOWER’S was created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr. You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from around the world by clicking here.

Camera Critters

For animal lovers everywhere, Camera Critters is a wonderful meme created by Misty Dawn. Thank you Misty!

You can find other critter photos by clicking here.

SkyWatch Friday

This is the second set of photographs taken on our flight to the west coast. Here we are on our way to Atlanta, Georgia where we had a connecting flight to Seattle, Washington. A roundabout way to get to the west coast but the airline we were using took this route. We use Expedia.com to get the best deals and didn't book our flight until a couple of days before.

Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia for hosting SkyWatch Friday. If you want to see some great photos from around the world or join in and share your own, you can click right here.

Watery Wednesday

I took this photo from the passenger side of our rental car as we were making our way out of Seattle and on our way north to Victoria, British Columbia. The water presented a fascinating sight. On one side of the causeway it was tempestuous, choppy, on the other as smooth as glass. There is one thing that is missing from this photo and so focused on the scene I almost missed it. Over the choppy water flying towards us came a big, beautiful bald eagle. He disappeared behind us as fast as he appeared and even though I had my camera at my side, the moment had passed before I could get hold of it in time. He was so close as he flew by and I jerked my head hard while swiveling in my chair to follow his flight. We have never seen an eagle other than those rescued at a zoo and being used for educational programs. To see one soar so freely was almost surreal. We were about 30 feet away. No photo except that contained in our memory. It has taken me 59 years to see my first American Bald Eagle in the 'wild'. It was a thrilling sight. I may not have a photograph but he will be forever indelibly imprinted on my brain. I will never forget him. I hope one day we will see another on our travels and hopefully it won't take another 59 years. If so I think I had better start eating my Wheaties, what do you think? Optimistic? You bet!

Thank you 2sweetnsaxy for hosting Watery Wednesday. To see more like-themed photos you can get there by clicking right here.

My Cow Story

I have to say honestly, when I first saw this sign I raised my eyes and started laughing. We had just spent the last hour driving along a very winding road with incredibly steep drops, and I was a little more nervous than I usually am. No way is a cow going to be on this road and then we saw him.

But first let me begin my story. We were on holiday a few weeks ago and traveling along Route 1 in California, a coastal road. Gorgeous views though I was very surprised at how queasy I felt looking over those sometimes 500 foot drops. It has been several years since I had experienced these kind of dizzying heights along roads such as this one, and the realization struck that I am my dear Mother after all. It was a very winding road indeed. Gregg did all of the driving on this trip and I was very glad he was behind the wheel. I would not have been comfortable, my knuckles were white enough hanging onto the handle at the roof line on the passenger side.

We obviously couldn’t go too fast because of the curves, and imagine our shock when we came around a bend to find a big black cow right in our path. We stopped in good time a few feet away. It just stood there in the road looking at us and did not budge, and as we waited it became apparent that it was not going to move. We didn’t even think to honk the horn and wouldn’t have because a) we didn't want that big black cow stampeding over our hood, and b) we didn’t want it to run over the cliff. We finally edged around it, not thinking that we would see another cow along that road and hopefully not one practically kissing our bumper.

How wrong could we be? We saw more cow signs and crossed over several cattle grids. We then saw another cow making his way down the hill to the road, and another munching on a patch of grass at the edge of the road. Then we spotted yet another, the one on the hump of the hill. We were trying to figure out how it was going to get down because as far as we could see, the hill seemed too steep for any ordinary cow to climb. This obviously was no ordinary cow, this one was crossed with a mountain goat.

Honestly, the picture doesn't really show the whole story. To see so many cows in this particular area was an extraordinary sight.

That patch of grass must have been very tasty.

The Cow

I have a story about this cow which I will tell you of later. We met her on our journey along the west coast. She was a beautiful cow. She reminded me of this poem I read recently.

The friendly cow all red and white,

I love with all my heart.

She gives me cream with all her might

To eat with apple tart.

She wonders lowing here and there,

And yet she cannot stray.

All in the pleasant open air

The pleasant light of day.

And blown by all the winds that pass,

And wet with all the showers,

She walks among the meadow grass

And eats the meadow flowers.

~Robert Louis Stevenson~

TODAY'S FLOWERS

We returned from our vacation a week ago today. How quickly one settles back into routine. I have come down to earth and am enjoying being home, while remembering all the places and things we saw while away and looking at all the photos we took, I have lost count how many. These are some of them taken on a very wet day in Seattle. It poured pretty hard and I reveled in it. That city is beautiful in any weather. I was surprised to see all these pretty flowers still looking fresh and colorful. The fall colors on the trees were gorgeous. We had just finished visiting the Space Needle and the flower beds were outside the entrance.

TODAY’S FLOWER’S is a wonderful meme created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr. You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from all over the world by clicking here.

Camera Critters # 83

I took these photos in Monterey, California, a couple of weeks ago. We were on a walk from our hotel which took us past the aquarium and on towards Lover's Point, heading to an old restaurant frequented by us 27 years ago. Unfortunately it was closed due to renovations. Not too disappointed as we didn't even expect it to still be there, the consolation being that wonderful walk along the ocean for a couple of miles. It was hard to pick up a brisk pace because there was so much to see along the way, which included the seals where we stayed for at least half an hour observing them. It was incredible to be finally able to view these wonderful creatures in their own natural habitat. My heart was literally filled with joy at the sight of them.

I had actually been taking photos of a bird I had never seen before when another tourist and fellow photographer told me that there were seals only a short distance from where we were. Picking up our pace we reached Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station.

I couldn't help but put the speech bubble on this photo. There were several young seals swimming back to the beach looking for parents.

This little one and many more like him were truly adorable!

There were about two dozen seals snoozing in the sun. All my photos were taken by positioning the lens of my camera through the trellis. It just about fit.

An information marker was nearby. I read the following:

"The beach below is part of the Hopkins State Marine Reserve and is a frequent haul-out for resident harbor seals (Phoca vitulina).

Births take place during April and May. Newborn pups weigh about 20 pounds and nurse for 15 to 40 days before they are weaned.

Males start breeding at five years and weigh up to 200 pounds. Females breed at three to four years and weigh about 150 pounds.

Harbor seals feed primarily at night on fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans.

Average dive time is five to eight minutes, but can be as long as 35 minutes. They can dive as deep as 1,500 feet."

Camera Critters is a wonderful meme created by Misty Dawn. You can find other critter photos by clicking here.