HI-HO! COME TO THE FAIR!

I call this one "Wild 'n Crazy":

Things are always looking up at the Fair!:
Running into family members was fun. Here is A, with friend S:
This was my favorite of the cotton candy series; I posted another one by mistake, below.

HI-HO! COME TO THE FAIR!

Amongst all the bright and garrish colors, these are the best colors of all, flying high above the highest ferris wheel:
Two young men were working on this amazingly-detailed sand sculpture:
Our family went the same day, so it was fun to run into them once-in-a-while! Here is A, with a fair favorite:
Colorful circles 'n stripes:
More fun color:

SOLO RAMBLE MORNING

I began yesterday by allowing extra time before my appointment in Fall City. It was foggy when I left home, so I was anxious to see what Snoqualmie's old mill pond had to offer. No fog. But some reflections and a lot of peace and quiet!


This is the vantage point that gives a good reflection of Mt. Si. I was thrilled to see something else for a change: lots of beautiful clouds:

SOLO RAMBLE - A 6-BARN MORNING!

I was gone only half a day, but it felt like an eternity of relaxation and adventure and fun! I loved talking to the farmers for permission, or breaking through brambles to get to an abandoned barn. I drove highway 203 between Fall City and Duvall, collecting these Barns with Personality. Yes, this one was really just this green:


The farmer here was very gracious to let me poke around the premises. He told me the barn is over 100 years old:


This site only allows 5 photos at a time. My 6th barn's details are all the windows in one of the photos in the next set of photos, below.

SOLO RAMBLE - BARN DETAILS

Here are a few details found around the barn sites and by looking closer at other barn parts:

MACRO MONDAY - AUGUST 25th

Yard flowers are almost gone, but here are some "live" ones, before I have to start looking for Fall foliage. I am happy that these are all SOOC and not cropped. Astrantia bud:

Center of a dogwood bloom, just before it started dying:

Strawflower bud:

26 THINGS CHALLENGE - 3 MORE

Went on a tour of Boehm's Chocolates yesterday, and I found 3 on the list! This first one was taken from the steps of the Swiss-chalet-style place. This is the porch railing decor, showing the garden in the background "between" the cut-outs:

For "Hand-made", hand-dipped chocolates:
This tape deck inside the founder's home, now a museum, for "Old-fashioned":

26 THINGS - COLOR

My contribution to this category is this one from the Bellevue Arts Fair:

PEAS ON EARTH - LANDSCAPES WHERE WE ARE

I am starting late on this week's theme for Peas on Earth - Where are You? I thought I would start close to home; in fact, real close, as shown below, taken from our front porch:

This is also from our front porch, during winter:
These are the ridges behind our house, taken right after the first snowfall last Autumn:
This is from the top of those ridges, showing our little valley; the X is where our house is located:
Not far from home, sunset on the river. We live between 2 forks of the river:

PUFFIN

In all the years I have been visiting the southern Oregon coast, I have tried to see a Puffin. We have made day outings to places where Puffin sightings should have been - nothing. This year, at last! I think they are so adorable, and I was so excited to be able to photograph this little guy. He was very obliging:

WHIDBY ISLAND

While we waited for our ferry at Mukilteo, I took this of its twin:

Admiralty Head lighthouse:
And inside the lighthouse:
We made our "base camp" at Useless Bay, then walked about 4, 5 miles, round trip. The tide was way out here, but the bay is aptly-named because the beach is a long expanse of shallowness:

Just hangin' at the Whidby wine-tasting place:

DAY ON WHIDBY ISLAND

Finally, after long absences from home, illnesses, Pat and I were able to go on a photo outing! We chose Whidby Island because of the extreme heat, thinking it would be cooler by the water (it wasn't). We both yearned for sea air, sun, shore bird sightings, long beach-combing walks, and the adventure. We got all we hoped for!
And, more, as the eagle photos show.
This guy seemed to be trying to sight for his meal:

Then suddenly he seemed to be scrutinizing ME:
Lastly, he decided I could take his picture, er, um, portrait, if you please:
Blue sky was reflected in extremely shallow tide waters, almost making this look like a watercolor:
These sand cliffs above Double Bluff beach offered great dimensions in shadows:
These were all straight out of camera, and hand-held; I experimented with settings, but had a polarizing filter on for all shots.

26 THINGS CHALLENGE: LIGHT

This is my first posted photo from a day on Whidby Island yesterday. I was stepping over this 2" clam shell and I saw the light. The sun was shining through half of the open shell and it looked to me like a tiny Tiffany lamp. The macro is not good because I wasn't using a macro lens.

PEAS ON EARTH, WK 2: PLANTS/FLOWERS

For this post, I tried to think of flora native to the Pacific NW. I posted some ferns, including this one:
This might even be exclusive to the PNW, but I'm not sure. Skunk Cabbage grows only in the wet, shadowy parts of a forest. No, skunk don't eat it, but it smells like those creatures!
I have heard that hazelnuts grow only in the PNW and Sweden: (again, I am not sure)
Shelf Lichen can grow to be large enough to sit on, and is very, very hard: