Out and About Adventure - Alki Beach

Tidepool! Anemone! Eee! I like tidepooling - and even though I've probably seen thousands of anemones, broken muscle shells, and barnacles I still enjoy them. Each pool is a unique world of which, for a moment, I am the all-seeing eye. I'll play with pool after pool after pool, because you never know if the next world will have something spectacular! A really good find, say an octopus, makes each pool worth it. Sometimes, it's just cool stuff to look at - like the colors of this anemone!

So, I'm mucking about in the tides..head down and all of a sudden I see a really dark seagull flying above - BALD EAGLE! I got really excited because I wasn't expecting to see him, plus this is the first bald eagle I've seen up here. I wish I had a better lens but it was cool to watch him surf the updrafts along the beach! 

I saw this crow flipping shells and cawing so I knew he found something good and I went to check it out. It looks like someone overturned the bigger rock on the left and the crow was right there to feast. I feel bad that this world basically just had an apocalypse but the crow sure didn't. Under one shell was about a dozen hiding crabs!   

There's at least three crabs in this picture, can you find them?!

Another thing I love about meandering the beach is taking time to observe the strange textures. I love how distorted and alien the beach landscape is, especially when it takes something familiar like the roots of a tree (below) and changes them.

Alright, what were you thinking in this picture? "I claim this laaand...for SPAIN."

Roses in Fall

I love moving and becoming acquainted with a new area and the intimate relationship that is formed from exploring your new neighborhood. I find it's best as a slow process, often in short bursts, only taken in one direction at a time. One hour here, a few there - today we will walk only North and find out what lies there! Shortcuts here, hidden stairs there, everyday something new to add onto the mental map of my new neighborhood. On one such recent exploration we discovered that we are super close to the zoo! And, the Zoo has an incredible Rose Garden, totally free! 

 
I never plan on going to a rose garden, but somehow I always find a way there. I don't particularly like roses, they're difficult to grow and way to expensive. But I'm always surprised at how much I enjoy walking through them. Somehow all the roses, all together, they just take over your senses and everything just sort of becomes lovely. I'm always blown away by the variety and the colors, I feel like I see a new one each time. It's as if breathing in the perfumed halos surrounding each bush temporarily get you rosey high.

The most exciting part of this walk was the discovery of the Sensory Garden! Each plant had a unique characteristic  to convey through one of your senes. We stopped at each plant, sniffing, feeling, or marveling. The educational walkthrough is fascinating, bringing a huge variety of sensory flora with labels like 'textural interest.'

I'm definitely so glad to have found both gardens! Since they are so close I'm excited to visit often and watch the fall changes in the garden and along the walk. Fall is really when I like to walk with no purpose. I get giddy over each changing tree and each unique leaf changing in its own pattern, I have to stop and examine each leaf, see it veins, colors etc. Although it lasted hardly a few hours I felt happy to celebrate the fact that I'm learning to relax and and really appreciate the small moments. Cheesy Sunset Story in 1 Run-on: Walking along the top of a hill, the sun was setting, casting amazing sun love glow (yea thats a real time of day) and the clouds were still dark and heavy, waiting, but earlier rain had cleared the air and across the gleaming canal is a hillside speckled with houses and bursts of fall, yellow, orange, red, gold coming to a point at Salmon Bay, beyond is the Sound and beyond that, the sharp Olympic range swallowing the sun. It was just like, yea, I think I'll just stand here a minute.