MIXED MESSAGES

This morning there was a new, lower snow level on Mt. Si.

This is as seen from the end of our street after the snow had melted quite a bit

and faded into the lush green hillside.  Snow and cherry blossoms!

In one short outing, I experienced , alternatingly, the falling of

hard-hitting hail AND soft cherry and apple

blossom petals!

RETURN TO THE PALOUSE

Once again we had the privilege of being invited to visit our oldest grandson and his wife who are at WSU, which is clear over near the Idaho border.  The terraine is beautiful with fallow parchment fields and spring green shin-high wheat, growing in striking alternating stripes.  Of course, I scoped for barns as we drove!

The rolling hills here seem to have produced a rolling barn as well!

Doesn't this just make you want to pick it up under the armpits and say,

"Stand up straight!"

This collection of oldies was located attop a hill with a newer home.  I approached to ask permission to photograph, and I think the young lady took pity on me enough to say "yes", even though I know I took her by surprise.  That's because it was raining hard, I was soaked and dripping, and my feet were mud-covered.

This is another view of the old barn, which seems to be newer, even, than a previous structure, (to the left, on the ground) now flattened to its roof line:

.

I don't know the meaning of the bright goldenrod color(above the door, and on one side); whether the wood has aged that way (i.e.lichen?), or whether the original paint was even brighter. But I like the added character.

Whoa!  What was THAT?  Yes, indeed: a round barn!

Yippee - something different for my collection!

On closer scrutiny we were glad to see that it was not a converted barn-to-house,

but that it is indeed a working barn:

Usually I do not give a barn a second glance if it has a (gag) metal roof.

But this structure had this wonderful old red color and several angles,

and I couldn't resist:

Last of all, just before sunset, this grand old barn caught the goldenrod hue of the sky

as if to underscore the color it had once been:

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

While picking up a friend just before dusk last evening, I couldn't help but spot this huge barn on the back of their property.  The first thing out of my mouth, even before saying a courteous "hello", was 'Oh! May I come back and photograph your barn? Please?"

Permission granted, I was there mid-morning today. I felt an urgency; as if I needed to be there

before the door fell off!

What is keeping that door attached?  Upon closer inspection, it was still hard to tell. 

This looked like the muzzle of a wizened old dog with a loose tooth:

The wood has aged into different colors on every side.  Was it red when it was new?

So, why do I have photos of only frustratingly cropped parts of the barn?

I call it "selective standing".  These pics are not cropped (nor enhanced) at all.  I had to shoot while positioning myself to keep the bright yellow tractors and farm machinery out of the frames.

They were hugging the barn on all sides.

Thank you, dear friend.  And...oh!...uh... "good-bye!"

BARN RAMBLE

Well, I got this backwards; it has been too long since I posted!

As D and I were on an errand this morning, (see quince pic, below) I asked him to pull down a road

toward this enticing barn.  It was more like a weedy rut through a pasture.

But, here was the reward at the end:

BARN RAMBLE, BY ACCIDENT

What a beatiful morning it was!  Frost came first, and surely polished nature to an unusual brilliance.

D and I drove out on an errand, and this time I was sure to grab my camera.

This flowering quince was growing wild with abandon, embellishing

an "abandoned" farm implement:

PICTURE THIS... You're gonna' have to!

No, this is not a photo of a blue sky, though here in the beautiful Pacific NW, we know it is worthy of a picture.  This is a photo op, lost.  Two nights ago, D and I drove out a near-by country road to visit a friend.  Just as we were leaving home, something said to me, "Grab your camera!"  I answered back, "Nah...it is almost dusk; I won't need it." 

Well, as we crossed the river a 2nd time, what should we see but a very large bull elk and 6 lovely does, standing still right in the middle of the river.  They were not crossing; they were simply standing there with the river rushing  by, swishing their bellies.  It was indeed, a picture-perfect moment, with the mountain in the background; a unique viewing of the usually-out-to-wild-meadow-elk.

This then, is titled "Photo Lost"

or

"Lesson Learned!"

or

"Always take your Camera!"

GERIATRIC PUSSYWILLOW ?

 It was one of those "Turn around!" moments, except I said it outloud to myself!  The late afternoon sun was bright, and seemed to be stuck in the willow brambles; each spent pussywillow was aglow as if from the inside.

I have never noticed a "spent" pussywillow before.  I love them as new little soft grey buds, but past that I have not paid attention until the willow tree is dripping with long green fingerlings.

And what is that little pod at the base of the "bud"?  Surely it can't be the

protective casing from which the pussywillow first emerged?

IN MEMORIUM

   

Three days ago, after I took the photos of the spent pussy willows and as I was returning to my car, I spotted a juvinile magnolia tree with flowers in all stages of bloom.  Hurriedly I snapped a couple of pics, as to do so, I was in someone's front yard.  Now I wish I had spent more time!  Yesterday morning we had a heavy frost.  As I was driving out on errands - what did I see but parchment-brown blossoms on every single magnolia tree (there are many) in the area.  Large, brown blossoms had replaced the luscious pink and white, drooping as if in embarrassment.  So sad.

These pics do not honor that poor deceased blossom the way they would if I had known the shortness of their lives, but I am so glad I "visited" with them!