Arriving in Virginia

I am finally recovering from a long and tiring trip across the us to visit Staunton. We are taking care of Dougal and Maguire for our friends the Mickels. I thought you'd appreciate a few shots of the rather large specimens in our charge.

An Outing with Seamus

Now that it is officially summer in the northern hemisphere, this means it is finally spring in Snohomish. A warm day with few clouds and Seamus is ready to go with mom and dad to explore town a bit.

Finding things to photograph in Snohomish

You can find the darnedest things in some of the shops in Snohomish.

Woodlawn Cemetery

Not far along the road from the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery is Woodlawn Cemetery. Lots of ground-level markers here although the one above has an interesting addition of stone/cement boots.

Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery

Now that it finally beginning to act like spring time (since summer is almost upon us), we've had enough sunshine and lack of rain to make a trip into a grassy cemetery possible. Quite a different experience from such visits in Australia. There, the burial fields seldom have much grass or rain. Here, everywhere is a lawn, well manicured and cared for.

Rusty Relics in Monroe

This past weekend, we went to Monroe, a few miles away to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. First, I must clarify a bit of confusion. The Washington State Fair is held in Puyallup, away south of Seattle. So, must because this is indeed the Evergreen State, the state fair is not held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. Think of it more like one of the many showgrounds found in Australia. It is a place for events, including a country fair.

The event this past weekend was Rustly Relics, an antique and junk exhibition.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

Our last stop on the tour of Portland took us the solitude of the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Actually, it wasn't very quite since it was pretty full of people.

Pittock Mansion

A visit to the Pittock Mansion takes us to the highest point in the city. From here we get a good view of the surrounding areas.

A golden Korean fir tree putting out cones for the summer.

 Of course, it is only PNW summer now seeing as how it is still in the 60’s #NoBetterLife4Us.

via Instagram

The International Rose Test Garden

Wouldn't be a trip to the City of Roses without I show you a few roses, now would it? A stop on our city tour took us to Washington Park to sample the International Rose Test Garden. Here we found oodles of roses of every size, shape, and color.

The Willamette River

We signed on to a half-day tour of Portland to get a feel for the place. Our first stop was by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on the banks of the Willamette River. While there was no time to visit the large, modern museum (we will certainly need to return for an extended visit), we did get to walk down to the river to see the city and a few of the many bridges.

Portland Farmer's Market

Not all our trips were to see lots of water located in various directions out of town. We also spend time in the city exploring. One of our first expeditions was to the Portland Farmer's Market located in a park near Portland State University.

Along the Shore Near Tillamook

After venturing east to see a little of the Columbia River, we next turned west to the Pacific Ocean. Our intention was to go to Cannon Beach. But the entire rest of Portland made the same decision. When we got within about 10-15 miles of our destination, we hit a line a traffic that extended as far as we could see.

Columbia River Gorge

We drove east along the rive on the Oregon side on I-84 but for the return to Portland we opted for the more scenic two-lane route on the Washington side. At one point, we rounded a curve high on the side of a hill where we could stop and look back east along the river.

Bonneville Dam

We've been off to Oregon for Memorial Day weekend to do a spot of pet sitting for two energetic kitties. While here, we've done a bit of exploring about. One of our first outings was a drive up the Columbia River to see the Bonneville Dam, its associate power generating station and various fish ladders and bypasses.

Kids

Our neighbors have two young boys, Kit and Winton, who came for a visit and decided painting was going to be fun. Seamus tried to join in but the older boys were pretty far ahead of him.

Sky Valley Motorcycle Show

On Sunday last, the entirety of 1st St in Snohomish was blocked off for a major spring event; the Sky Valley Motorcycle Show. Kind of like having a car show where everyone brings out their spiffy vehicle and finds food, drink, and friends but wearing different clothes and riding on two wheels instead of four.

Flowers and Boxes

Did some local window shopping in the sorts of places that Snohomish is known for...plants and antiques. In fact, we went to a place that sold rose that had antiques!

These fuchsia in the hanging basket above caught my eye. The colors and shapes are most interesting.

A Trip to La Conner

Visiting the historic town of La Conner takes through the southern end of the Skagit Valley. We stopped at a terrific farm stand to see what we could not live with out and I stepped across the street to take in the view. the sky was cooperating with its textures and swirls.

B&W Retrospective

As we take care of business here in Snohomish and deal with doctor and dentist visits, I've looked back in recent folders and reprocessed a few shots in B&W. I like the leaves above for the 3-D effect due to the separation of the leaves and the background.