This Sunday I had a family photoshoot with some of my cousins.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day.

Tags: family

This blog is for all of you who have been wondering what I have been up to on the weekends.  It will be mostly just a photo blog of some of the fun times I've had with friends and family lately.  I don't really have much to say about these, other than that I had a blast trying to capture some of the joy of childhood that goes on all around me and to share some of my favorite photos from these times.



The first photo is actually not one that I took.  In fact I'm not sure who took this one since I wasn't even there to see!  About a month ago I had visited some friends and accidentally left my camera behind.  I told them they were free to use the camera if they wanted and they managed to take a few photos.  I liked this one so I decided to post it to the blog.



Here is a favorite of mine from two weeks ago when I got to see two very tiny goats that had just been born.  These were the cutest, tiniest goats I have seen and were a great deal of fun to watch as they played around with the older goats.



Speaking of newborns, these two baby lambs think they are goats, trying to play King of the Mountain on a large rock.  They were quite adept at jumping up onto the rock and seemed to enjoy taking great leaps back off onto the grass.



I spent the whole day last Saturday with my cousins and we had some great times playing outside after the rain.  The sun came out just long enough for us to go on a pretty little hike, after playing outside the house for awhile.



This little one can never resist a mud puddle.  As you will see later on in this blog, getting wet is one of her very favorite things to do.



She is also very good at climbing trees.



This is the view at the start of our hike, looking down on Hood Canal near the Hamma Hamma estuary.  I had actually never seen this particular view point.



Here is another view looking north, the bustling metropolis of Eldon in the background.  The main channel of the Hamma Hamma River is in the lower left of the picture.  What an amazing view and what a beautiful place to live.  I am so grateful to live here on the Olympic Peninsula where I can enjoy such rare beauty every day.



This nice old log looked like a good place to take a group shot, so we started lining up the children.  You can tell how much they are enjoying this little outing.



Finally, all four children are posed and ready for the picture.  Actually, they were not quite ready here, but I liked this shot much better than the more posed one later where they are all looking at the camera.



The trail wasn't really this rough, but of course you have to explore every hillside and tree root.



This little girl crafted a work of art out of the red clay from along the road.  She eventually packed this and shaped it until it was perfectly round and hard like a ball.



And of course to protect her treasure she made a pouch out of a large maple leaf to carry it in.  Several other treasures ended up in my coat pockets to be carried the rest of the way home.



At the end of the journey, we take a break and play in the sunshine, which was actually getting quite warm by now.  Here the cousins are making a volcano in a dirt pile.



The most fun however, was playing in the huge mud puddle here, or at least these three thought so.



This was fresh rain water and rather cold, but that didn't stop them from having a blast running and jumping in the puddle.



Those pants are going to be fun to wash out when we get home.



I'm glad for parents who are willing to put up with a little extra work in the laundry to let their children enjoy the delights of childhood.



Don't you wish you could have this much fun when it rains?



Finally, things are winding down and now it is time to just sit and bask in all this wet, muddy bliss.



On Sunday there was an open house at Wilderness Northwest, a Christian camp.



This fabulous tree house is technically not part of the camp property, but actually part of The Refuge, which is a Christian retreat center right next door.



"Would you like a haircut", she asks, holding two play table knives in her hand.  Don't you love the way this huge maple grows right up through the center of the treehouse?



A plastic tool becomes hair spray in the Maple's Tree Salon.



Here is another of the darling play houses on the property of The Refuge.  This retreat center is designed to be a retreat not only for adults, but for whole families and so there are many wonderful places for children to play.



There is even a Dutch door and working latch.



Inside are all the accommodations of home.  What a wonderful place for these little girls to play house.  I have to admit none of my treehouses or forts ever looked quite this nice.



Finally, it is time to check the mail.  I think this leaf is going to be mailed to the other girls, still playing in the treehouse.

Tags: family, friends, weekends

As a native Washingtonian, I have learned to love the rain that is so much a part of our climate, especially here on the Olympic Peninsula.  So when last weekend came with a 100% chance of rain and it became obvious that the rain was going to last pretty much all day long, I was not deterred.  I so look forward to my weekend wanderings and the time of reflection and respite before returning to the land of technology where I spend my working hours.  So this weekend I took a leisurely drive up towards Port Townsend and found the best place to enjoy a rainy walk was North Beach Park, right next to Fort Worden.



There were actually quite a number of other folks out there enjoying the weather, all with smiles on their faces, evidence that they also were native Washingtonians.  I walked along this trail, breathing in the wonderfully fresh air with the aroma of wet grassy meadows mixed with the salty breezes coming off the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  I then walked down to the beach where the wind was blowing and the dark clouds constantly shifted, causing the light to change and creating new moods each moment, one minute bright and warm, the next dark and foreboding.



I must admit that I love the rain, not the least for all that it brings to the beauty of this Evergreen State, but also just that there is something clean and refreshing about water coming down out of the sky, straight from the clouds.  When I was young I was known to rush out of the house at the sight of a big downpour and find a downspout to stand under just for the thrill of getting wet I suppose.



Here some friends of mine seem to have the same thought as they enjoy standing directly under the downspout, getting very wet but with huge smiles the whole time.



On another occasion my cousins and I enjoyed a delightful moment of picking and eating fresh carrots from the garden in the pouring down rain.  Those carrots tasted SO good!



And here are the same cousins in one my favorite moments when we went gold panning in Alaska and the rains came along, but that didn't dampen the spirits of anyone as we ran across the meadows, finding the wild blueberries to be a more abundant treasure to fill our pans than any gold nuggets.



Even volley ball is more fun in the rain as this game shows.  I have never seen so much laughing and merriment as there was at this graduation party in the middle of June, 10 years ago.



Even a baptism is not delayed by rain in Washington and this one of my cousin Reuben was very well attended, despite the tremendous downpour (also in the month of June).  In fact, we had all the more enjoyment singing at this joyful event.



This part of the state, the Hoh Rain Forest, averages 150 inches of rain a year and produces the lush, emerald green canopy of mosses which drape down from the maple trees and the abundant green vegetation that covers the forest floor.  This particular spot has always been a favorite of mine since childhood.  For some reason I have always been a huge fan of moss.  There is something about that thick, green, plush carpet of plants covering everything in sight that seems comforting to me, much more so than the warm sands of a beach in Florida.  On dry days it has always been a pleasure to go to one of my "mossy spots" where there is a flat enough area to sit down in the moss and enjoy picnicking and then just sit back and rest in the soft blanket of moss.



And often at the end of the day, as the cruise ships are leaving for Alaska or the South Pacific, I see rainbows like this one in Port Townsend, which not only show off the most vivid riot of colors found in nature, but also reminds me every time that God has promised that the rains are under His careful control and that, though the rain can at times be troublesome, there will always be a sunny day ahead which folks in Washington enjoy all the more because of the rain that has passed and left the air all the more clean and fresh.

Tags: weather, weekends

Some friends from church invited me to a Scandinavian folk dance and Santa Lucia festivity in Poulsbo.  This was on December 13, the day traditionally associated with St. Lucy, who was an Italian Christian who was martyred because she refused to renounce her faith.



Here is the girl representing St. Lucy, with seven candles on her head and bearing gifts of sweet bread.  She wears a red sash representing the blood of her martyrdom.  She is followed by girls wearing white gowns and gold sashes and head bands, along with a single candle.  At the very end of the procession are boys wearing tall, pointed caps with stars on them.  Everyone sings the song of Santa Lucia.



It was fun trying to figure out the best settings on my camera to capture this procession, lighted only by candle light.  I had many failed attempts until I finally found settings that gave the proper exposure and color balance without blurring the scene as they walked past.  This was not easy and it was good that I had my F/2.8 L-series lens.



The ceremony was very beautiful and interesting.  I don't know that I quite understood all the of the traditions behind this festival, but it was an interesting look into the celebrations of a different culture.  The music was very pretty too, with the Santa Lucia song being sung a Capella.



The children also demonstrated their folk dances, which were quite lively and appeared to be a great deal of fun.  You can see in this photo how some of the boys would raise up the girls straight up into the air as they circled around with a lively step.



It was a real treat to see these very young ones enjoying themselves so much in this kind of community activity where they all had to work together and learn the proper courtesies of this kind of dancing.  It was also fun to see them dressed in traditional costumes.  They have all worked very hard to learn these dance routines well enough to do such a good job in this public event.

Current Location: Poulsbo, WA

Since it is almost time for my favorite season of the year, Autumn, I thought I should write a quick blog of some of the enjoyable moments of this past summer.  Then I can start all over for the next season collecting favorite photos to post later.



One of the big events of the summer was the wedding of my good friend Candice and it turned out to be a perfect summer day for a wedding, not always guaranteed for outdoor weddings in Washington.  I snapped this shot of a little flower girl before the wedding, helping to water the flowers.

Much of my time has been spent helping cultivate the pumpkin patch at Creek House Farm in Port Orchard, home of the personalized pumpkin which has been a real challenge in this off and on summer, but a great deal of fun as well.



Here you see some of the fine artistic hand that goes into personalizing these pumpkins in August so that they will look amazingly beautiful as the scab heals and creates a lovely raised lettering that will be truly impressive in October.  You can see an example of the finished result in my blog from last year.



The pumpkin blossoms are looking pretty colorful by August, but the weeds seem to enjoy the warm, often wet weather even more than the pumpkins and keeping them away has been a constant challenge.  Yes, there are small pumpkins just starting to grow under those big leaves.  Running down the rows of the pumpkin patch is a great way to spend a summer day,



as is eating little green apples in the rain...



or playing with newborn goats as this sweet little girl is doing.

Among my favorite things to do is to go on adventures, generally involving plodding out into uncharted territory, where no trails exist and lots of possibilities of discovery lurk around every corner.



One such adventure excursion led to finding this very old electric cook stove buried deep in the woods.  This model appears to be from about the 1930's and would have been one of the earliest electric models around.  I'm sure the owners of this were very proud to be able to cook with such a modern appliance that required no fire, just the flick of a switch.  Some folks would consider this unsightly garbage (you may be thinking that right now), but to me it is a fascinating part of history, just waiting to be discovered and then examined and pondered as to just who might have used this and what they used it for.  Can you imagine cooking a pumpkin pie in the tiny oven and frying some farm-fresh eggs on the range top?

Another kind of adventure I enjoy is exploring by car, going on long journeys into new territory (away from any cities of course) in the hopes of finding some new place to visit.  I have found some of my most treasured places by going off the beaten path to see where a different path may lead and what might be at the end of a rarely traveled country road.  Recently, I decided to head off in a new direction far to the south, and explore the farming country around Buckley, Enumclaw, and toward the Green Valley.  Friends of mine had moved out there in the past year and I had never even tried to find where they might be.  So, using a very inaccurate map from Google (which had me turning left over a guard rail and down into a steep canyon) and a little common sense and just "exploring" I set off on the journey one weekend, with the thought that I would try and find their home.  Yes, I know a normal person would have called ahead for directions, arranged the time to be there, and all of that sort of thing.  But that really rather spoils the adventure of it all, don't you think?  People who operate this way (the majority of you, I suspect) must lead rather dull lives, always doing things the proper way, with a plan, a purpose, and an agenda.  As for me, I prefer to just strike out on the road and see where the road leads me and if I find what I'm looking for, how nice, but it is the journey, the many things along the way, the unexpected turns that make life enjoyable, not just the destination.  In this case I did arrive at my hopeful destination and rather surprised the occupants of a bright green house, far off the beaten path. I found the correct house, just down the driveway near the abrupt end (just below that guard rail Google wanted me to plunge over) of a road not really connected to anything, except another unassuming road turning off a country lane.

The family graciously accepted me into their home and made me feel welcome, still surprised I could have found the place without proper directions.  They too had discovered a path, which they then followed until it led down the hill and into a lovely creek valley, lush with wildflowers and plenty of rocks for throwing into the creek.  I was very pleased to be able to take this delightful trail through the woods, down to the stream, and enjoy watching their little girls very much enjoying the water and nearby flora.



The youngest enjoyed playing with the sticky, velcro-like, thistle burrs which grew all along the stream.  They were not terribly pokey, but would attach themselves to anything, even the end of your finger, which made for no end of fun.  We attached these to leaves and floated them down the stream, trying to make them so that the leaf would remain upright, and the prickly occupant would survive the rapids of the rippling brook down stream as it washed over the rocks.



There were also some very lovely little orange flowers, really quite delicious in appearance, which the bees were also quite attracted to and I was quite pleased to catch this fine specimen trying to find the sweet nectar to take home and make into honey.  Hmm, I wonder just where that honey is!  Wouldn't it be fun to follow the bee back to his hive and collect some wild honey?  Ah, that reminds me somehow of The Berenstain Bears and one of my favorite stories to read as a child.

The rains have started now and summer appears to be over for awhile anyway.  I know it will come back later in September and October for one last showing of sun leading into the crisp days of Autumn.  But, as you may know, I truly love the rain, having been born in Washington, on the rainy side, in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains, not far from the rain forest.  So I feel the most at home in the rain.  Besides, without the rain, how could you ever have such a lovely thing as this delicate rose blossom, from my own garden?



Doesn't that rain look magnificent, perched oh-so-delicately on the very edges of the pretty pink blossoms?  Sorry folks, you won't find this in Phoenix.  Yes, I think I'll stay in Washington.  I don't think I could truly enjoy living anywhere else.

Tags: friends, weather, weddings, weekends

I know I haven't written a blog since Christmas.  It is just that I haven't time to look over my photographs and find any worthy of a blog.  So, for those who are still checking this blog, here are some scenes from my drive home from work last night.



This is a shot of the Olympic Mountains as I was driving north of Shelton.  This is always one of my favorite spots along the way.



Can you see the profile of Washington lying down, forming the peaks of Mount Washington on the right?  Mount Ellinor is on the left.  Both are excellent for casual mountain climbers who want to get a good view.



Here is a view from the Skokomish Valley, with the contented cows feeding on the rich green grass and the sky taking on bright colors.  From Highway 101 I was able to see an even more brilliant sunset, but by the time I drove 2 minutes to get an unobscured view, the colors were waning.

Tags: weather
Current Location: Shelton, WA

It has been a busy Christmas season this year with both of my sisters coming to Hoodsport for a family Christmas.  I haven't had time to blog along the way, but I did manage to get a few shots of the events from this year so I'll share those with you.



I think our Christmas tree was especially nice this year and I had fun learning how to photograph it properly using the natural light from the tree lights.






Early in the month, we had very cold weather for more than a week which allowed the salt water of Hood Canal to completely freeze over in some spots such as this one just north of Hoodsport.



It also made for some beautiful icicles along Highway 101



These ones were more than 10 feet tall



We had a real nice Christmas program at church with a good size group of children singing and reciting pieces





I was blessed to be able to visit with a family from Montana who used to live around here, but I haven't seen in quite awhile.  We all enjoyed some great fellowship and delicious wholesome meals including some organic chickens they had brought all the way from their farm in Montana.

I have been working on learning more about portrait photography so I can try and use my camera to take nice photos of the families I know around here.



My cousins are so cute to watch and I've captured a few shots of them in their moments of play



Are you my mother?  This book has always been a favorite of mine and it was fun listening to it being "read" by a two-year old.

Tags: church, family, friends