Enjoying the Family

July gave us a chance to spend a little time with our out-of-state kids.  We didn't take many pictures, but we enjoyed being with them.

We stopped in the "burg" to see Katie, Martell and Sally.  We didn't take the camera to the geology museum, but we enjoyed watching Martell give a tour to some cub scouts and seeing the exhibits and the famous fish tank.  Before the fish died due to a power outage.

We enjoyed playing with Sally and watching her play.  We brought the little grocery cart that has been living in the rafters of the garage for many years and Sally liked pushing that around.

Martell had class, but we talked Katie into going to the water park with Sally.  It was a  quick visit - just before nap time.  But we loved watching her explore firmly attached to her mother's finger. Her hair doesn't look that red indoors or even when it's wet indoors, but a little damp in the sunlight it seems quite red.

David and Mike and Nate enjoyed some good laughs and went to Sacred Harp singing.  We went to church in N&M's ward.  M played the organ and N taught the priesthood lesson.  Good to see them contributing and to meet people in their ward.

 

Sue and Mom/Grandma went to a quilt show.
We enjoyed taking the grands around to various places including Erin Thomas' marriage to Travis Mumford.  It gave us a good idea of their amazing strength and vitality and insight into their limitations in this 10th decade of their lives.





+One the way home we stopped at Shoshone Falls.  We've never stopped there before, but would like to see it when the water is high.

The last stop was one or our traditional favorites, Deadman's Pass overlook in Oregon where we ate our cheese sandwiches and drank our V8 juice and stretched our stiff legs.

Rasmussen Family Reunion

All of the first two generations were there
       Many of the next two generations were there.... Sixty-five or more in all.
               Some were missed and some are yet to be born...

Gretchen planned generational challenges.

Kathy! Kathy! Kathy! - she gets the cookie from her forehead into her mouth without hands!

Ann was the winner with four cotton balls transported by nose

Shooting pop can pyramids with rubber bands

Three legged races and cherry seed spitting were for the greats

Gary and Mignon Mills Family

 JD & Ann Hancock Family

 David & Paula Thomas Family

Paul & Leslie Williams Family

David & Sue Rasmussen Family

UMMMMMM.......

David gave me a chocolate tasting party for my birthday.  About nine varieties of Chocolate arranged from light to milk to dark and darker.  yummmmmmmmy. A few friends enjoyed the initial party with me and  I've taken the leftovers to several other little outings with friends.  They were all amazed.

The Birthday Boy and his Day

My Birthday gift to DER was a day away - it certainly was a selfish gift.  It was a good restorative day.
We went to Ebey Landing State Park.  Ebey Landing was once one of a series of WWII era gun emplacements intended to protect Puget Sound.  It is not the most extensive of them.  It is smaller than Fort Casey and Fort Worden.

One of the entrances  to the facility used to store ammunition and materials is shown here.  In this place all the small rooms are off to the left of this one short hall.  We didn't explore much because we hadn't brought more light than DER's keychain flashlight.  The exit is shown from the inside below.  Obviously some efforts have been made to remove graffiti

When this emplacement was built, they made brick tree wells to allow existing vegetation to thrive as they covered the concrete bunkers with soil.

 There are warning signs all around the hillside that caution you about falling into one of these overgrown tree wells.

Along the networks of bike trails you will see this structure that was once support for the water tower, small wild flowers and Rhododendrons in the wild.  We were there too soon in the year for a beautiful display of blooms.  Another year.....  I didn't take pictures of the heavy "tinder" in an area that is just left alone.  As most of our hiking is on maintained trails, this was a surprise to me.  This was a second growth forest.  There were no real tree giants to be seen.

We had a picnic with a view of a shimmering sea.

 

We didn't cook but I liked the shape of the rusty curlicue on the grill that was available.

A walk in the woods led us to a small lake being fished by a bald eagle.

And we enjoyed walking along a typical rocky Puget Sound beach populated by ribbons of kelp. driftwood, seagulls and....

.

......the endless fascination of seafoam waves approaching the shore.

Quieter Pleasures

The "wow" factor may be what we first notice, but there is a quieter beauty.

 The beauty of small things,

 of small things multplied many times to make a rich carpet of oxalis.

 

The beauty of changing conditions. 

Here a late frost browned one camellia bloom, 

but the later bloom is was protected by a slower maturation and is beautiful.

And the beauty that shows us the passage of time in unlikely ways.

There is beauty in the small fresh new growth of red leaves against a sage green trunk  and






  

 the irregular shapes of trees against the sky.

One of my favorite small unobtrusive beauties are the textures of
tree bark.

Then there are the weeds....

 Who knows what beauty lies unnoticed when all we see is the wow factor.

The "Wow" Factor

Well, the flowering cherry trees and the Rhodies are probably the reason people love the Arboretum. 
They have great "wow" factors. 

 The old Rhodies are tall and impressive with their dancing tree like limbs.  One year we saw a small owl camouflaged in this habitat.















We weren't the only ones with our camera out.

The Cherries light up the hillside. 

The trees are loaded with lots of bloom.

The blooms are often shades of pink or purple, but they flowers come in many colors and sizes.

The leaves of some of the rhodies hide some special interest on the underneath side.

Skunk Cabbage & Ferns

We've been taking pictures of Skunk Cabbage for years.  The bright yellow seems to call a cheery note in the wetlands in early spring.  It signals the change of seasons for us.

  Ferns like the same moist habitat as they unroll in the spring. 

Wet feet don't bother skunk cabbage. 

The details are fascinating.  I don't know if you can see the pattern on the yellow part of the skunk cabbage formed by the shape of the central flower.