Our little red Douglas squirrel is getting bolder and fiestier! Today he came up on the deck and read me the riot act when I opened the door to photograph him. All of the squirrels are in a food frenzy getting ready for winter - fir cones are piled high around the base of each tree, and squabbles erupt constantly! Makes one wonder just how severe this winter is going to be . . .
But, a pleasant escape to the beach for some evening fishing (no luck) refreshes the soul.
A murder of crows in a tree, backlit by big, black clouds! The tree is next to an abandoned orchard, where the crows are having a field day. It's also across the street from the Freeland Park, where the crows delight in finding and eating fresh seafood. Naturally, it was quite loud!
A row of native rosebushes borders the playground, and a late bloomer caught the raindrops. The rosehips on these bushes are plentiful and HUGE!
It's time for another Photo Art Journal - this time it's Spirals. Catherine Anderson created a very unique form of binding this book, and she added fun spiral accents; 
a green springy-thing, a wire and bead bangle, and
a spiral cut-out! 
Here are some of the pages - there is a wide variety of spirals pictured here!
Another berry-picking day! It is supposed to be the last warm sunny day for a while, so I felt like doing a little hike somewhere. I went to the Putney Woods at Goss Lake, and hiked the Bobtail trail and part of the Mistletoe Loop. I had been there last year about this time, and it was covered with Evergreen Huckleberry bushes, which were loaded. So I took a couple of bags with me just in case . . .
And guess what? The bushes were loaded, AND ripe! There was a wide variety of colors, from blue to black, but they're all basically the same plant.
The area had been logged and replanted, prime territory for huckleberries. When the new trees get big enough to shade the forest floor, the bushes will be less productive.
I went expecting to find a few berries, but quickly filled both of the baggies, yielding a nice big bowlful! Yum!
I get a photo newsletter in my email, and one of the articles was moving the camera while shooting to create "impressionist landscapes". So I gave it a try! You can move the camera up and down, like above, or
back and forth. These views are of the same trees on a sunny afternoon. Fun technique to try.
I love volunteer plants! This zebrina comes up every year by the deck, but I had planted some 18 years ago in a different location. My style of gardening.
And I also love the weed flowers - the hawkweed bloom for the first half of the day, then close up. They grow all through the lawn, presenting cheerful yellow faces, then they disappear. Eventually the seeds fly away on their fluffy wings, like the down on a thistle!
I found a use for all of that thistle down I collected yesterday.
I cut a batch of skinny cedar withies, stripped off all the leaves,
and wove them into a ball, randomly. Then I stuffed the down inside - it stays pretty well, unless you shake the ball very hard.
It smells nicely of cedar sap, and still has some green tips, which will eventually turn reddish-brown and mellow. What will I do with it? Well, for now it will sit where people can pick it up and play with it.
Sunny today, and warm enough after a cool morning. I haven't been down in the woods for quite a while, and since the bugs are pretty well done, I went down in the swamp. The water is all dried up, so I can get around in there. There are strange, big trees, full of moss and lichens . . .
big flat areas like this are covered with water over the winter, skunk cabbage and hedge nettle fill in over the summer under the late afternoon sun.
More lichen on gnarly branches.
I've been eyeing the thistle plants - the downy seedheads are white and fluffy. They've been calling to me, so today I gathered as much as I could - not quite sure what I'll do with it. ". . .and away they all flew like the down on a thistle." It's been running through my head all afternoon!
After more beautiful late summer weather, we got a bit of rain today. Quite a bit!
But earlier, my friend Carol and I went to the LaConner Quilt Museum to see an exhibit of Art Quilts (no photos allowed) and Wearable Art, where I was able to get some pics. One of my favorite pieces is this long vest by Anita Mayer, where she used old doilies to create a fabric. I love this idea as a way to use these treasures, instead of stuffing them into a drawer.
OK, back to the rain - the sun poked between the clouds and we had a rainbow for a while, then the rain tapered off. Raindrops running down this madrona trunk created an interesting pattern.
And the sun glinted off these droplets on a bundle of dead leaves.
And a fine day it was, too - especially for mid-September. I had a new client meeting at Maxwelton Beach, so played hooky afterwards and went to the beach to enjoy the warm sun and blue skies. Someone planted this flag in shallow water, and the heron seemed mesmerized by it.
Old pilings point in a line out into the Sound, providing a favorite roosting spot for the seagulls, with the Olympic mountains on the horizon.
Same pilings, viewed in a different direction - the sun spread sparkle fairies around the little boats tied up to buoys. Beyond them, a commercial freighter plows through, sending out waves that will reach shore 20 minutes later.
David built this tool rack for a new truck - it came out beautifully, and the new owner was really happy with it - he said, "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm giving it an 11!" That's what we like to hear!
It fit perfectly, all the more amazing because David built it from measurements. What a relief to see how well it fit the bed.
Our friend Blair killed and removed this hornet nest from his shed. It's huge!
Inside, there are layers of cells with pupae sealed inside, a veritable hornet hotel! I couldn't figure out what the white material is that they use to seal the ends of the nursery cells - it is a bit translucet, and soft enough for the pupa to push their way out when ready.
I am fascinated by the nest construction. They chew bark from trees, and paste it in layers to form paper, layers of which make up the nest.
A close-up reveals the texture and colors of different fibers used in layers.
On a different note, it was time to pick the apples, and I harvested a nice basket-full! Had to get them before the deer...
I had a good day yesterday - I hauled out a pile of UFO's* and finished several of them! They are projects that I had started, and each one had just a little bit left to do, or a decision had to be made about finishing. So I made decisions and sewed and clipped and trimmed and did those fiddley last bits, and now they're done!!
Well, as you may have deduced by now, I love spiderwebs, and the play of early morning sunlight. So, here you go! This poor spider wove her web at the end of a wisteria branch, which curled around and is very flexible. Sometime after I took this shot, I noticed the wind had broken the web, so she was scurrying to make repairs. An on-going process, I'm afraid!
The vine maple leaves were so pretty with the sun coming through,
and as I photographed, this cranefly landed right in front of me. Photo op!
