WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Sunset at Suze's house - Barbara, Jon, Gary, Suze, Barb, Cory and me.

 The sun setting behind the smoke from the forest fire - on this evening it is blowing to the north.

 Cris left early this morning, and after I dropped her off at the shuttle, I stopped at the Freeland Park at sunrise. Dried weeds glow in front of the beach exposed by low tide.

The rising sun glitters off the wavelets washing over the flat sand.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

Gathering rocks on the beach at Keystone: Cris, Suze and Gary.

 Sea gull floating by . . .

Gary and Suze in Coupeville.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

 We had a little cook-out at Suze's house for Labor Day, and watched the sun set behind the forest fire burning in the Olympic Mountains. It's in a steep and inaccessible area, so very hard to fight. Pretty sunset, though!

In the morning, before Cody left, he and I went to the beach where David was fishing - you can see a fog bank in front of the mountains. He was taking the panorama with his cell phone. I put it on Thursday-Friday's blog post.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

 Clear, cold mountain stream near the Ice Caves. It's the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River, or 'Stilly' for short.

 Here's the crew! Cody, Cris, Louie and Cory standing near the ice. You can see people behind us - that ice field is much larger than it looks. The waterfalls from up on the cliff face melt out the caves, but this year has been so rainy and cold that not much melting has been going on.

Cory and Cody navigate the jumble of rocks and shrubs.

 CRIS!!

 Searching for skipping stones at the river. 

The salmon jumping at Granite Falls.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2011

Cris wanted to see Deception Pass again, so we went to Bowman Bay and hiked over to Rosario Bay to see the tide pools. Above, we are standing on a dock with the sun behind our heads.

When you first see the pools, it just looks like water and rocks.

But when you look closely, you will see . . .

. . . fishie, limpets, anemones, clear slimeys, mussels, snails, crabs, worms, sponges, seaweed - the diversity of life underwater.

Rosario Bay

On the trail we passed a Madrona tree that had been badly damaged, apparently by fire, but was still alive, and a contrast in textures.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 & 2, 2011

Thanks to family and friends for all the support and love on these sad days.

Cody's camera makes panoramas, and this is the beach where David was fishing.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2011

These are the roses sent by David's brethren in the E Clampus Vitus chapter.