It is way too hot to go out searching for a shot, so I am sitting here in the AC looking in my files for something odd.
The oddness about this shot is what I don't remember.
I remember where it was--the Rose Garden at the Yakima Arboretum.
I remember why we were there--killing time between medical appointments.
I remember why I took the shot--a certain fascination with ponds and fountains and running water.
What I don't remember is what was causing the rings and bubbles. Was this a fountain or a pond? Was it raining, or was there water splashing from the fountain? Why did the bubbles form?
Did you find something odd this week? Or did you have to go searching in your photo files like I did?
Post the link to your Odd Shots post here. Visit other odd shotters and stop and leave a comment, too.
This ABC round I am revisitng places we've been and enjoyed. Last week we went to Arches National Park. This week we will go to the beach.
B is for beach.
We visited Kalaloch Beach in Olympic National Park in April of 2010 for Coastal Clean-up Day. This was taken Friday evening. Friday night it rained. No, it poured. It continued to rain for the clean-up day. I am glad we got a bit of fun on the beach that Friday evening.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
Lord, you are good and forgiving.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
I used the ecological zones of Mt. Rainier for the letter z last year, too. The idea came to me again this weekend as we made a day trip to the park. Snow was still deep at Sunrise--in the Sub-Alpine ZONE. As it melts out quickly in the warm days the anenome is one of the first flowers to bloom.
About three thousands feet lower in elevation, the Lowland Forest ZONE is almost snow free.
The early blooms there are the trillium.
ABC Wednesday winds down its eighth round. Little did Denise realize when she first suggested it four years ago. Will you join us on Wednesdays in round nine?
While we were camping last week, the entire state was apparently under an unstable low pressure area. In case you are as un-techy as I am about weather science, what that means is that it was pretty windy all over. Since we were camped in the Lower Grand Coulee, that had a particular significance.
You see, a coulee is:
1. Western U.S. A deep gulch or ravine with sloping sides, often dry in summer. (American Heritage Dictionary)
2. (Earth Sciences / Physical Geography) Western US and Canadian a dry stream valley, especially a long steep-sided gorge or ravine that once carried melt water from a glacier. (Collins English Dictionary)
Who Has Seen The Wind?
By Christina Rossetti 1830–1894
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Source: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947)
Believe when I say that the leaves did not simply tremble. The trees did not simply bow down their heads.
Pancakes flew. Plates, bowls, lids, plastic silverware, and a number of other things were chased by children. (Had to send either the children or the marathoners, this senior hiker would never have caught up with them.) Spray from sprinklers on the nearby golf course cooled our campsite with their mists. Chairs topple and folded.
After the first night of wind, this is my son's tent:
Okay, you may say. It is listing a bit to the right and you can see that the rainfly is clinging,
but is that so odd?
But you see, when he set it up the afternoon before, it was fully facing to the left and sitting on the tarp. While he and the children slept in it--at least two hundred pounds of sleeping humanity--the wind moved it over and turned it a different direction. Needless to say, as soon as he was awaken he had borrowed the hammer and put in the stakes he felt comfortable in neglecting the night before.
Whatever reason this trail is called the Caribou Trail, it does not involve animals native to the area. I looked forward to following the trail to the end, and some of my kids and grandkids joined me. This is what we found at the top beyond the gate. The field of white is yarrow, and probably marks a spot where the water pools from spring rains.
