This week was a constant battle between the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Even though our local weather guru had said it was extremely unlikely, we once again saw lowland snow. While it thankfully didn’t stick around for long this time, it felt like another setback in progress toward spring. Happily, on a weekend walk through the Redmond Watershed, we found sunshine and a few green things peeking up around the still melting snow. Even if all the branches are still bare, there’s nothing like a walk among old, mossy trees for a dose of green. Here’s hoping for more sunshine to melt out all the lingering snow and kick start some new growth!
Read moreLife: Week 10
Work has already started to get hectic, an ominous sign for the busy spring season to come, and as the days grow longer I've been desperately looking forward to the arrival of Daylight Savings Time, when there will be enough daylight for post-work walks in the evening. After several frosty days during the week, we had a blissfully warm and sunny weekend. The timing couldn't have been better, since Andy and I had plans to spend the weekend on Whidbey Island. Since the tides were crazy high during the day, we didn't spend as much time as we typically do walking the rocky beach. Instead we opted for a lazy Saturday, leaving the cabin only for donuts at a new bakery that seems to have opened solely to satisfy my random craving for fried dough, followed by beer and lunch at a local pub. The rest of the day was spent soaking up the sunshine with a glass of rose and the latest issue of the Washington Trails magazine. It was the perfect little slice of almost-summer!
Read moreLife: Week 10
The photo above is not remotely representative of this past week! It was a week of rain, rain, and more rain, with just a few hours of patchy blue sky to remind us what we'd been missing. Obviously, the moment I saw sunlight hitting the trees outside my window, and I had to dash outside for a short walk on the Powerline Trail. While it still looks very much like winter out there, I was able to spot a few early bloomers. Hopefully there will be more to follow soon. I'm definitely ready for some color around here!
Read moreLife: Week 10
What a week! The days continue to get longer, and all week, the neighborhood has smelled of flowers and rain. On a long mid-week walk through the neighborhood, I found blooms everywhere. I can never resist photographing the delicate cherry, plum, and apple blossoms, but also saw daffodil, paperwhite, hyacinth, hellebore, and magnolia blooms as well. Spring is most definitely here, and with spring, come windstorms. Over the week, we had several blustery days, but Sunday took the cake. At one point, the Puget Sound Energy website was reporting over 200,000 homes without power in the area. At home, our power has been our for nearly 24 hours now - by far the longest we've ever been without power.
Read more