The End of April

The month of April has seen the entire gamut of weather.......including rain, fog, high wind and power outages, sunshine and warmth, snow and blizzard conditions and everything inbetween.  Everytime you went outside, you practically had to plan for every weather contingency and be prepared for anything.  I've heard people say, "If you don't like the weather here, just wait 10 minutes.....it will change."

And this last week of April was no different......we had rain, fog, sunshine, wind and snow.  My mother, Thelma Lindsay came up to spent this last week with us, so she can attest to our weird changing weather.

On Monday, April 22, Ron and I drove over to Selah, just outside of Yakima, and met my mother.  She knew a person in Selah that she could leave her car with. ( A few days prior to this, we had a pretty good snow storm over Snoqualmie Pass and we didn't want mom driving over it......the snowstorm even shut down the freeway.)  I had my regular days of teaching, so we couldn't go and do anything those days, but finally on Friday April 26, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Bowman Bay.

 

The sky was overcast to start out with, but gradually the sun burned off, and it got quite warm.  We decided to hike around Bowman Bay to Rosario Beach Underwater Marine Park, which was about a two mile round trip hike.

 

Mom will be 85 years old in June, and she still loves to get out for a hike and is always game for a new adventure.  She's starting to slow down a little, but I can finally keep up with her!

 

As the sun came out, the water looked more and more emerald color.....that's because of the water from the Skagit River that dumps into Skagit Bay, not too far from Bowman Bay.  The water has that emerald color because of all the silt that is in the glacier and snow runoff.

 

 

Mom really liked this tree stump, so we all had to take turns to get our picture taken on the stump.

 

There is a really cool statue carving at the Rosario Beach Marine Park....it is two sided, and has plaques that tell of an Indian legend.

 

Most of the trail around the bay was pretty easy....there were just a couple of spots that were a bit steep and rocky.

Several years ago, a group of students came to this Marine Park (about 1200 people) and they completely stripped the tidepools of all the sealife in one day.  I think this was back in 1989 or there abouts.  It is still trying to recover.  The parks department has placed a rope long a path that you can walk on the rocks and look at the marine life in the tidepools.  They are trying to keep people in certain areas, so the marine life has a chance to recover.  It's taking a very, very long time.

 

(Carolyn and Thelma with the marine park in the background.)

 

I always love the color of the water in this area......emerald green.

 

From the trail around the bay, you can see the Olympic Penninsula.  Ron is pointing out Hurricane Ridge to mom.

 

There is a very nice dock at the marine park.  One year, (many years ago) when Ron was the Teacher's Quorum Advisor, he brought the boys here on an overnighter.  He remembers how he showed them all how to make sling shots and they had a blast slinging stones into the bay.

 



 

At this time of year, the Scotch Broom is in full bloom.  It is everywhere.....along the freeway, on practically every hillside.  It's beautiful and bright.....but it plays havoc with people with spring allergies.

 

There weren't too many people at Bowman Bay, even though it was a beautiful day.....probably because kids are still in school.

 

The picnic area near the campground, is gorgeous when they lawn is freshly cut.....especially against the blue/green of the water.  Do we live in a beautiful area or what?

 

After we finished our picnic and hike around Bowman Bay, we drove over the Deception Pass bridge....it's always beautiful, and always busy.  People who have never seen Deception Pass before, just have to stop and stare.....with their mouths open, because of the beauty.  All the water that goes into Skagit Bay, has to flow through Deception Pass, so when the tide is changing, it can move extremely fast, and the undercurrents are incredible.  I've seen huge boats that can't make any headway through the pass when the tide is really moving fast. 

 

 

 

See what I mean about emerald colored water......

 

Ron, standing at the lookout viewpoint at Deception Pass. Coronet Bay is the background....there is a really nice boat ramp, general store and marina.  We used to take the kids to the general store and buy a little pecan pie when we brought the boat in there for gas. 

 

On the way home, we drove through Skagit Valley to see if there were any tulips left.  We only found one field that had not been harvested, so mom and I got out to take some pictures, (while Ron snoozed in the truck.)  It's hard to describe the breathtaking color, if you haven't seen a field of tulips in person.

 

 

The field below, where mom is standing, has been partially picked, but the red ones in the distance were thick with tulips.

 

 

Saturday evening, I held a recital for my piano and violin students.  We ended up having it at our church building, which was a last minute change in plans.  (logistical problems of hauling chairs from Burlington to Everett, so we changed venues.)  All but 5 of my students played, and they did a really great job.  Most of them were pretty nervous, but they all survived and played well.  Most of them have been working on their songs for over three months......I bet that their parents will be glad NOT to have to hear those songs again!  I had bought some beautiful tulips from Skagit Valley to put on the refreshment table at the recital.  I spent all Saturday morning baking cookies!

 

 

My birthday was Sunday.  Michael and Emmy and kids had sent me a beautiful necklace, so I wore it both Saturday night at the recital and Sunday to church.  I talked to Michael on the phone on Saturday, and Stephen called on Sunday.  Jenni took me to dinner (at the Space Needle no less!) last week.

 

Below, Jenni and I at the Space Needle, for a girls night out.

 

 

Remember I stated earlier about all the changing weather this month.....well, here was another change.  There was a snow storm over Snoqualmie Pass, and the reports said "Chains required."   That stopped a lot of truckers, and casual travelers.  There was a line of cars and trucks at the bottom of the Pass.  (I'm so glad that we didn't let my mom try to drive all the way.)  So on Monday, April 29, we loaded up and started to drive mom back to Selah where here truck was parked.  The trees were totally covered in snow and it was a beautiful sight, even though we had to deal with trucks and slush and spray.  We never enjoy driving over Snoqualmie Pass, because it is the main trucking route, and it seems like 19 out of 20 vehicles are semi trucks.

 

It was actually beautiful and not too bad until we got past the top of the Pass.......

 

 

.....then it got pretty miserable for driving......snow blowing sideways, truck spray so you couldn't see, plus fog.  As soon as we got to Ellensburg, the skies were clear.....even though the wind was blowing like crazy.  Anyway, we got mom all settled, and she drove home to Pendleton with sunny skies and a tail wind.

 

Ron and I decided to drive back over Stevens Pass, even though we heard reports of snow and ice in spots.....we figured that there wouldn't be as many semi trucks.  To our pleasant surprise, it was beautiful practically all the way home to Camano Island.....the roads were bare and dry, the skies were mostly sunny and the traffic was next to nothing.  We ran into one tiny spot, where we started to get a few rain drops on the windshield, and that was all. 

 

Today, is the last day of April, and we have lots of sunshine, but the temperature is still rather chilly.  It's supposed to get up in the 70's for the next couple of days.  Sounds good to me. 

 



This is Spring?

Who said that Spring has arrived?  It certainly wasn't our little friend the groundhog.....if so, he must have lied!

 

Ron and I have a goal of photographing as many lighthouses as we can get to. We didn't have anything pressing on our calendar so we decided to take the ferry from Whidbey Island (near Coupeville) and go to the Olympic Pennisula to try to photograph the Point Wilson Lighthouse, which is located at Fort Worden, near Port Townsend. We knew that it was going to be a sunny, but chilly day, so we dressed in layers, packed a lunch and loaded up the truck. What we didn't expect to find, was almost 6 inches of snow at the ferry landing just outside of Coupeville! It was the second day of spring, and all of a sudden it felt like mid winter. The day before, we had heavy hail, thunder and lightning, strong winds, heavy rain and even sunshine. Go figure! I think that Mother Nature is having a hard time trying to figurte out what season it is.

But we were going to go to the pennisula anyway.....even with some snow!

We walked all around the lighthouse, and looked at it from every possible angle, to try to get a good photograph.  Nothing seemed to work.  Unfortunately the lighthouse has not been maintained, and it is really starting to show some deteriation.  So sad.  There are several out buildings other than the lighthouse itself, and the Light Keepers house.....like a garage, a couple of sheds and another more modern house that looks completely out of place.  It's impossible to get a creative "fine art" type of photo.  (so we tried to take photos that didn't include all the extra out buildings.)

The surprise of the day however, was the snow on the beach.  It's not that often that we will get snow at sea level, but the storm that passed through yesterday really dumped  a lot in several concentrated areas.  On Camano Island, at least at the north end, we didn't have any snow, yet on Whidbey Island straight across the water at the same latitude as us, there was 6 inches.  Go figure....  There had been snow at Fort Warden, but it was melting.

Fort Warden is located right at the entrance to Puget Sound, so there is a lot of marine traffic that passes through there....huge shipping freighters, fishing boats, private boats, and Navy vessels.  As we were photographing the lighthouse, there was a large Navy support vessel which was headed out to sea......in the photo below, Ron was waiting for the Navy ship to come closer so he could photograph it.

The most spectacular thing about the day, were the clouds.  They were absolutely gorgeous!  The day started out with quite a few clouds but over time they burned off......but while they were around, they were huge, puffy and fantastic!  In the photo below, you can see how the lighthouse is deteriorating.  It really could use some tender loving care.  It looks like the lens is still intact, but the light was not working. 

We hiked all around the penninsula that the lighthouse is on.  It was pretty chilly, but we kept warm with all the walking we did.  I only had tennis shoes on.....I wasn't planning on having to wade through the snow.

You can still see the lens that is there.......I don't know why it wasn't functioning.  It is an extremely busy section of sea.

Ron and I kept trading cameras, and then we traded lenses, so it got to be hard to keep track of who took what picture.

There were quite a few people camped at Fort Warden, but not as busy as it is during the warm summer weather.  There were people taking pictures, riding bikes, beach combing, even an artist painting the area.  You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.....well, maybe just a little warmer would have been nice.  It felt like January temperatures, not the end of March!

I had to tease Ron.....he was wearing a BLUE shirt.  Most of the time when I take his picture, he is wearing black. 

We drove around Port Townsend for a while.....it is the cutest town......full of Victorian Houses.  We wanted to wait until sunset to see if we could get a sunset picture, so we found a lookout vantage point in the meantime.  Fort Warden used to house a lot of Military officers, so the Fort has lots and lots of beautiful old homes used for that purpose. 

The clouds were the most interesting thing of the day......perfect spring clouds.

 

The Parks Department, (who runs the Lighthouse and Camp Ground) had erected a huge sea wall of boulders to help protect the shore from erroding. 

After having spent the entire afternoon trying to get the right angle for a photo, we finally decided that we just weren't going to get the type of photo that we wanted.  We also decided that the lighthouse looked better from a distance, because of it's run down nature.

Ron wanted to try one more time to get a good shot, as the sun was starting to sink over the horizon.  By this time, Mt. Baker had finally come out from behind the clouds.  I never get tired of photographing Mt. Baker.....it is a pretty imposing sight from anywhere in the area.

Ron found this old abandoned dinghy that had been washed ashore by a storm, and no one had bothered to move it.  Makes for an interesting juxtaposition.

Ron took this photo just before the sun started to disappear. 

 

We got in line for the 8:30 ferry back to Whidbey Island.  By the time we got home, it was almost 10:30pm, and we were both very tired.  But we felt it was worth the effort we made to go to the pennisula.  Just a note on the funny side:  when we got up to the toll booth to pay for our ticket on the ferry, the man asked if there were any senior citizens....(gee, do we look that old?)  Ron said, "I'm 62." and the ticket agent, said "That's close enough!"  So we got a senior citizen discount.....our first one!  I guess we've entered a new phase in our life!

Spring has almost sprung!

I am SO ready for Spring this year. In fact, I couldn't wait for the Spring flowers to bloom so I bought a couple of bunches of tulips and put them in the dining room to brighten up the house.  I borrowed Ron's camera (Nikon D3s and the 200mm Macro lens,) and took some photos.  Beautiful colors, but I still have a lot to learn about still life photography.  Oh well, it was fun anyway.

 

 

This photo is an image overlay, which means that there are two photos stacked on top of each other.....one photo is blurred and over exposed, and the other photo is sharp and with correct exposure.  I'm still learning......I blurred the the first photo a bit too much, but it still looks nice and has a halo effect. 

This photo was taken under exposed, then I lightened just a few selected flowers.....interesting result anyway.

 

It's a bit early for the daffodils and tulips to be in bloom in Skagit Valley, so I'm enjoying these instead.  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring!  Bring it on!

The Lighthouse

Mukilteo Washington Lighthouse

 

 

Ron and I hope to photograph several lighthouses in Washington this year.  However, a lot will depend on the weather and the price of gas.  (right now the price ranges from $3.20 - $3.59)  We took the above photo of the Mukilteo Lighthouse on January 14th....it was about 20 degress, so even though the sun was shining, it was freezing outside!  We were hoping for a colorful sunset, but only got a touch of color.....not quite what we were hoping for.  Ron snapped the camera shutter, and I develped in CS6.  Teamwork!

 



The Next Horizon

Several year ago I wrote a piece for the piano for our oldest son Michael as he was preparing to leave for his first semester of college at BYU.  I had jotted down some notes when I was writing the song, and  came across them again last night.  I felt that this would be a good time to share them.

Horizon
 
"You are standing at a new threshold of your life, with a new horizon in view.  Sometimes the unknown can be a little frightening, a little uncertain, but those challenges can also be exciting and very rewarding.  One of the most inspiring things about life is that we can choose our horizons and make each one better, so there is alway hope for a better future."

I found those words that I had written so many years ago, to be very in sync with my feelings today.  There can always be hope for a better future.  Recently I taught a Sunday School class and our topic was Faith, Hope and Charity......and of course the teacher always learns more than the students.  I've discovered that Faith, Hope and Charity are one Eternal Round.  Through Faith in Jesus Christ, one gains Hope for Eternal Life, and by living in accordance with gospel principles we can gain the attributes of Charity, which in turn bring us greater Faith.....and so on.

The situation in our great nation right now is very disturbing to me, and yes even quite discouraging.  But as I contemplate the words that I wrote so many years ago, it reminds me that I can still control where my horizons will take me and what my future will look like.  I still choose. 

I am so grateful for the gift of agency and for the knowledge and peace that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings me.  It is my prayer that each one of us may have happy, healthy and uplifting horizons.  Even though those horizons will have challenges and trials, our attitude during those trials will have a great affect on our destination. 

Onward, to New Horizons.............