Seagulls Like Fruit

At the beach yesterday, I couldn't interest the seagulls in the cherry pits, but this one really went for a whole cherry. She even seemed to have a little smile afterwards.

Baby Robins

My cousin Tracy is an excellent photographer and she lives next to a wooded area. A great combination that resulted in some special photos. The robins' carefully crafted nest looks woven.

Spring Colors

Spring Daffodils

Multnomah Falls

Spring Is Coming

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I drove up the Columbia Gorge to look at icy waterfalls. Each time I left the comfort of the truck to take photos, the freezing air bit my bare head but it was worth it to feel the last winter scenes of ice and water on river rocks.
Snow had fallen for a few days in town where we'd come from, but this was serious mountain ice and snow. Many falls had frozen water hanging everywhere instead of a continuous water rush.
It has all thawed now and you can smell everything growing. Soon the warm smells of spring will be everywhere.

I Love Old Dogs

I love old dogs. Maggie was 15 years old last summer when she breathed her last breath at home on her own terms. Suddenly ill, she spent an uncomfortable night between this life and her next. Then quietly her sweet old body was of no use to her anymore and she was gone from me.

What a journey her life was. 11 years ago I got her from an animal shelter where it was clear that she'd been someone's backyard dog. She'd obviously had many litters until the backyard breeders gave up on her and dumped her at a park. They had no clue what a gem she was, to say the least.

She was gentle and sweet from the start. Timid about sleeping inside with me and my other dog, it took six months for Maggie to learn how to play. She took her cues from him on perfect behavior, yet here and there her spunkiness began to grow. She learned to ask for treats on her own and she learned what joy felt like when she ran next to her best buddy.

Soon after I got Maggie, we were all walking in a large park, she took off without me realizing it. After a bit of frantic searching, my other dog helped me find her in an abandoned fruit orchard. Maggie was on her stomach pawing ripe pears into her mouth as fast as she could swallow them! It turned out that Maggie loved all fruit, though pears were her favorite. After that I kept closer track of her and bought her a bag of pears now and then.

Maggie just got cuter as she aged. By her final year she was an only dog I took everywhere and I left her for a while in my SUV with restaurant leftovers in the back. Surely she was too polite and decrepit to get over the back seat to the leftovers. When I returned, she was sleeping sweetly in the back seat just the way I'd left her. Only after I put something in back and glanced at the closed leftover container did I discover her ruse: she'd gutted the meal remains, left the lid in place, then returned to her seat. All I could do was smile and hug her.

Soon thereafter she passed and I thought about Maggie's spunkiness a lot and how lucky I was that I got to know her as an old dog.

Raven Closeup

Great Blue Heron

Dandelion Seeds from November

Drop of Water

Leafy Lichen

Garden Protector

Be Seated

This Guides Rain Water Over Paving Stones

Water Bowl

Stone, Water, Plants

Saturday I took a walk in the Portland Japanese Garden. Walking through three of the five gardens, I thought about how place influences thought and mood. This garden's spirit breathes into me and by matching my breath with it, I am calm and notice more. I see how with the same mathematical precision as the chambered nautilus and the sunflower, the gardeners set each thing granite, bamboo and brass. They breathed life into stone walkways and bamboo fences. My steps and thoughts are as quiet and sweet as the moss that covers everything.

An overcast sky provided ideal light for photographs. As much as I love vivid, natural colors, these textures and shadows led me to take several black and white photos.

One Morning...

When it was a little warmer, I sat on my back deck and watched a woodpecker on the neighbor's roof who was looking for insects.

Kitten Under the Maple