Broody Girl

Of our two chicks, Titi keeps deciding she wants to sit on eggs.  She gets very annoyed when we take her off the nest.  She fluffs out her feathers and gives us a piece of her mind.

Here is Titi on her nest where she would like to spend all day.

After I get her off the nest, she prepares to pay me back.  See that raised foot!

See my nice brick path.......she kicks all the mulch on it!

See all the kicking they've done!!  What a mess, they figure that is their job.

Sugar and Cream

 Isn't this a cute little set!  What do you think the basket is for?  Flowers, or maybe something else?

 This is the back view of these pieces.

Noritake, Handpainted, made in Japan

Giving Thanks

Did any of you happen to see 60 Min Sunday night?  There was a wonderful article on tortoises.  The bad part is how endangered some of them are, the good part is how people are trying to save them.  Anyhow, they are very beautiful animals. 

Galapagos tortoise

It makes me want to thank people that do all these jobs of saving things on our planet and those that study them.  These people don't get as much recognition as they should. 

I guess I got in this mood of thanking environmentalists of all kinds after watching a program this afternoon called "Saving the Bay".  It is about the San Francisco Bay and it's history of about the last 60 years. 

When I was a teenager living in south San Jose, CA in the late 1950s it was common in the summer to smell rotten fruit, especially strawberries.  The smell came from Alviso, a tiny town at the south end of the bay.  The canning plants would just dump their waste straight into the bay (like, as it turns out, all the cities along the bay), and summer was strawberry time. 

The bay was also being filled in.  Three women that realized what was happening and started a project to save the bay.  They ended up getting the garbage cleaned up and water treatment plants required.  The dumping and filling in was stopped and the water was cleaned.  The smells in the summer stopped and after all these years are barely remembered.  Quite a story and I am sincerely thankful to those wonderful women that spent much time and effort to wake people up to a problem needing fixing.

The bay is monitored closely now and is always being improved.  Marshes are being restored too.  Even now they are creating oyster beds for indigenous oyster.  Oysters filter water and thus clean it.  Plants and animals riding in on ships from foreign lands are always a threat though.  So the struggle to keep the bay in good health will keep going on.  And my thanks to those that fight the battle.

CalBug 

My little contribution of transcribing insect collections on CalBug is up to 1759 transcriptions. 
If you are interested the site is:   http://www.notesfromnature.org

Most interesting insects to me are the yellowjackets because they have so many differences in their stripes. And then there are the dragonflies, they have such beautiful designs on their wings.

Wind Sailing!

(Just for those sweating away in Eastern part of the US!  Think cool!)

 This is what we came upon on our ride home from town to my sister's house.

Port Townsend Wharf

See that house on the hill, it's a Victorian for sale!

 Views from a trail near town...

More about Port Townsend

 I always bring good weather to Port Townsend.  Otherwise the best weather only is in 2 1/2 months of the year.  It really doesn't get tons of rain like Seattle because it is in the rain shadow of the Olympia Mountains.  But the mountains don't stop the overcast, fog and wind which is especially prevalent at my sisters house since it is right smack dab on the edge of the Puget Sound.

So we had all 10 days of wonderful weather!

City Hall

Old Town Lighthouse

My very favorite of the Victorian buildings in town.

Near where we ate lunch.

You can see by the shadows that we ate lunch late.

The Fountain

A gentleman in the 1800s put up this statue to honor the memory of his father and brother.  Through the years she has been dressed in all different kinds of dress to commemorate holidays and events.  I think the times are more sedate lately, it was 4th of July weekend and she wasn't dressed up in bunting or something.

Fort Warden is an old fort that has been decommissioned and is used for all sorts of classes and events.  The lighthouse is at the northeast tip of the fort property.  They even have an RV campsite there.

The lighthouse and Marine Science Museum near Fort Warden

Fort Warden

Wildflowers along the road

In the art garden behind an art gallery

Farmer's Market in Port Townsend

Every week they have a wonderful Farmer's Market in Port Townsend.  It was pretty crowded so didn't take many photos inside the market.

 Lots of beautiful plants for sale.

 And lot of fruit and veggies!

 There is lots of different kinds of cooked foods and lots of art and craft displays.

And a lot of organizations represented!  This photo is from the display at "The Gathering Place" booth.  The Gathering Place is a special place for adults with mental challenges.  It is really a special place.  They have many classes for the "clients" to learn all kinds of activities.  And they have lots of fun with their fundraiser which is making doggie treats to sell.  It is a great organization and I wish we had one like it here.  They also sell calendars every year with paintings from the town artists, of which there are many.

They have a band playing some great music and other forms of entertainment.

A little park area adjacent to the market

Another bit of entertainment

One of the side streets.


More photos tomorrow, too!

Back Home from Port Townsend, WA

I have returned from my trek to Port Townsend, WA to help my sister and her husband pack for their move to Tucson, AZ.
 

Seattle's waterfront from the ferry.

The Space Needle always reminds me of "Frasier".

Lots of space on the ferry on such a beautiful day.

 

A few pictures of their yard to set the scene!

From the master bedroom

A cruise ship from Seattle leaving for Alaska

We worked really hard packing boxes but we did take time off here and there. 

We had to visit the Farmer's Market and I'll post photos tomorrow.

Coming Home!

Today, I am flying home from Port Townsend.  I hope to post pics tomorrow!

Japanese Plate

I use this plate a lot for pot lucks.  It is so colorful!

There are two maker marks underneath, both of them characters.  I assume this plate is Japanese, but for all I know it could be Chinese.