Believe in yourself

 

 

You know it's a slow day, when you get sucked down the funny cat hole on Instagram. 

The other Washington

 

 

Our granddaughter Nova is in Washington DC this week, on a educational tour with a group of kids from her school. It sounds like there are 11th graders from all over the country, this being a common trip for high school groups now, especially in the spring.

Their agenda was packed with activities and visits to the various monuments and museums. She took this picture at the Supreme Court this morning, and they were getting ready to meet our Senator, Maria Cantwell. 

 

You know me, always obsessed with the weather. Washington DC has been crazy. In the mid-80's all week, but tomorrow the temp drops below freezing with snow in the afternoon. Shorts to parkas. 

The kids fly back to Seattle on Friday, followed by a long school bus ride over the mountains, with luck arriving in the Valley about 1 am. What an experience. 

Trying hard

 

 

 

Spring is trying hard, although we have to get through this cold spell first. Here in the lowlands, we're about to turn the corner. Up in the mountains, a different story, with blizzard warnings and feet of snow piling up this week.

Who doesn't long for spring? The older neighborhoods in Seattle are so beautiful because decades ago, homeowners planted ornamental flowering trees and old fashioned shrubs like forsythia, lilac and viburnum. The new builds are usually low-maintenance landscaping and most don't have space for even a tiny yard. 

We had a mini-spring stretch of weather in February, but I haven't been outside to work since then and it shows. John starts mowing after daylight savings time (his tradition) but that's not going to happen this wet week.  

 

Over in Carlton, a busy weekend. Friends and neighbors helped to move the backyard playhouse from the old house to the farm. Quite a project. Little did Tom know, when he built it for the girls, that it would someday be repurposed as a chicken house. 

In sad news, the game warden killed the Carlton cougar. It is a shame but cougars are rarely relocated. They suffer and struggle to survive in a new territory, or find their way back to their home range. You can't change feline nature. 

Remember that old folk song?  

 

Lofty seats

 

We went to the  Seattle Symphony yesterday afternoon to hear a piano recital. Subscribers have the benefit of exchanging their tickets for better seats, once per season, of course depending on what is available. 

This recital was sparsely attended, so we dropped by the box office and scored seats in the Founders Tier, where we plopped ourselves down in the front row center. (This is the section where you make a hefty donation just to have the privilege of purchasing tickets.) 

 

So quite a treat-- I felt like a King and Queen of something. Our regular seats are fine in the fourth row, but we can't look down on the entire beautiful hall. The sound is supposedly better on the upper tiers, although my tin ear doesn't really notice.

The piano soloist, Conrad Tao, performed a program called "Poetry and Fairy Tales: Brahms, Ravel and More." He is very talented and the small audience was enthusiastic. 

Well, I'm glad to be back in Seattle this week, because March is coming in like a lion with stormy weather and feet of snow piling up in the mountains. The flowers are shivering with spring just around the corner. 

This switch to Daylight Savings Time is discombobulating. Not to mention, unhealthy. But we feel oh-so-lucky being retired-- this was once the worst day of the year. 

Head em' up

 

A herd of panicked deer came stampeding around the yard yesterday afternoon. Maybe a dog scared them? Hopefully not a big feline. I went out on the deck and they stared at me like I could help. Our town deer are semi-domesticated.

Speaking of the Carlton Cougar, the game wardens have set a trap to capture it. I don't know what the plans is, or if it can even be relocated to the wilderness. In the meantime, an unnerving situation in that little farming community.

Well, I'm packing up this morning for the long cattle drive back to Seattle. No worries about snow on the passes, but the second half of the drive will be wet. 

 

Country delight

 

 

A pretty view of the farmhouse last night when I left after dinner. They've already transformed it into a such a warm and charming family home. 

The winding drive back to Twisp, at least this time of year, is pitch black, but with no cars on the road I just poke along watching out for critters. The other night in the rear view mirror, it looked like someone was tailgating, but it was just the full moon. 

 

Speaking of critters, their neighbor took this picture of a bold-as-brass cougar walking along the road, just a mile from the farmhouse. Usually secretive animals, it's unnerving to see a cougar in broad daylight. They did notify the local game warden that he's hanging around the neighborhood. Yikes. He certainly looks well fed.   

 

 

Anyway, what a wild and beautiful place, right up against the western wilderness. Yesterday I took Nica outside with me (she could spot a cat a mile away) and listened to birdsong-- in a few seconds, the Merlin app lit up with seven different species. And it isn't even spring yet!  It will look like paradise in a few months when those hundreds of fruit trees bloom.