Sunday, July 15, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
#8 Refreshing!
Another 50 minutes and we were back at the lake ready for a refreshing dip. It was COLD and the bottom was rocky, but it was a welcome relief from the heat.
#8
There were about a dozen hikers photo shooting and picnicking at this lovely vista. As I mentioned earlier there are huge boulders at the top. There are plenty of cracks and crevices to fall into if you are not careful. While lunching at the top we saw a middle aged Asian woman do very nearly just that! She stumbled and fell across this gaping crevice. She was very alarmed, as were all of us other hikers. She got up with the help of her husband and she was relatively unhurt. But what a scare!
That teensy bit of water in the distance is the Cedar River watershed.
Rattlesnake Lake, lovely!
#7
Can you see that tiny squiggle of switchbacks and the words: "You are here." That's where we are, that's a 2 mile hike, that's 50 minutes of up, up, up.
Yes, there is a shadow on my face but I was not about to take my hat off and expose my 'hat hair'!
#5
I'm pretty sure this is Bitter Cherry; prunus emarginata. Interesting tidbit: the bark of the cherry tree could be cut into strips and polished to a rich red, adding color into baskets woven by the Indians.
This 'nurse log' has an unusual number of salal (gaultheria shallon) bushes growing from it's top and sides.
#3
Devil's Club: tall, with exotic, maple-like leaves, and crowned with beautiful red berries, but beware of the stalks which are coated with wicked thorns.
Rattlesnake Trail #1
It is a little bit rocky on this trail, mostly in the last 1/4 mile. There are plenty of boulders like this one on the sides of the trail and at the top.
See the flock of geese to right of the bush?
A Pleasant Hike
We hit the trail head at 10:30. It took us only 50 minutes (including dinking around taking pictures) to get to the Ledge. While the temp was about 83 degrees, we were in shade untill we reached the top AND there was a cooling breeze and no humidity. Don't ask me why it is called Rattlesnake Lake/Ledge/Mount. As far as I have been informed there are no rattlesnakes west of the mountains and this place is a mere 45 minute drive east of Seattle on I 90. I certainly didn't see any snakes, only a flock of Canada geese. Ah ha! I just investigated the origins of the lake's name and I found my answer here.Monday, July 09, 2007
Pared Away
Well, What do you think? I actually removed about 20 wheelbarrows full. But looking at this photo, I don't see much of a dent. Tomorrow Chris and I are going on a hike on Rattlesnake Trail (sounds inviting, huh?). It is across from Mount Si and he says it is not as rocky/ boring as Mt. Si. Keep watching my weather Pixie (thanks Ms. Booshay!). It is supposed to get up to 100 by Wednesday. Then you're gonna really hear me whine. I don't live in Seattle for those kind of temperatures!
A Heap 'O Work
Just look at what is in store for me today! No, I don't plan on moving it all in one day. It steams in the early morning sun. When you turn over a shovelful, the inner chips are toasty warm, doing their decomposing 'thing'. All these chips for free from the city tree trimmers arrived, appropriately enough, on my birthday. Alright, time to get off this computer and start shoveling!
Carefree Sedums
The sedums in my dry garden rockery are blooming between ornamental grasses that grow lush with very little water.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Snap, Crackle, POP!
Chris' camera has a fireworks feature. We think it did a pretty good job capturing some of the fireworks in our neighborhood. We went to bed by 10:15 but I don't really know why. There was constant noise until 11:00, making sleep a certain impossibility.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Cake Update
It is delicious and decadent. I do not know what the three milks are in the ingredients but the frosting is definitely whipped cream. The cake is heavily moist and tastes intensely of RUM! For a while I was a bit disconcerted as I associate rum with Christmas drinks and desserts. But at the second bite my seasonal confusion was gone and I was thoroughly enjoying this scrumptious treat.
Above Us
Blue skies, Mount Rainier still cloaked in snowy white, and an American flag, flapping crisply in the front yard of a patriotic Seattlite. It is going to be a lovely Fourth of July here! Summer has taken it's own sweet time in arriving (as it often does) and now we get bragging rights to possibly the finest weather in the entire country.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Mmmm....
Guess who celebrated her birthday today! This is a Tres Leches cake I bought for myself at the Salvadorean Bakery in White Center. People at work have gone on and on about how delicious they are. I decided my own birthday was the perfect time to sample one. Those strawberries are too lovely to push aside for candles and there looks to be almost enough strawberries to represent my age, so let's just leave it at that! I'll tell you how it tasted, tomorrow.
Mmmm....
Originally uploaded by mtnester
Moonlight Hydrangea
Moonlight Hydrangea
Originally uploaded by mtnester
What a surprise to find that my climbing hydrangea smells as lovely as it looks! This is it's first bloom in the 3 years since planting.
Summer's Here!
Teacher Appreciation Week and the impending end of school were reasons for a flood of kindergarten 'love letters' and pictures for me in the month of June. If you can read their writing then you are either a teacher or the parent of a 5 to 7 year old child. For those of you who are not well trained in reading 'best guess' writing, the first letter says "Thank you for being a good teacher." and the pictures of the fish and snail on the walls are drawings that hung in the classroom when we were in the midst of the Science unit: Animals 2x2. The second letter says "Dear Mrs. Goethe, You are the best teacher ever alive. Thank you for always being there for me and every day I love you. xoxo Do you?" The third letter says "This is my teacher and she is the best teacher in the world because she is nice to me and kind and caring every day and she's thinking about me every day and every second." Whew! If I didn't know any better I would think I had eyes in the back of my head too! Honestly, such adoration is humbling. What surprises me is that the children who keep me on my toes the most are also the most profuse with their words of praise.
Or Without
Well, I DO have green eyes, but red pupils?? I must've given them 'the LOOK ' one too many times on the day they drew thes portraits of me!
Or Without
Originally uploaded by mtnester
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
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