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!
