Middle Fork of the Nooksack

Today, 15 Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center (who would have guessed, in the rain?) to carpool for a hike on an old road up the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River. Although the above picture just shows the men, half of the hikers were women, including me. I was so happy to be back with my cohorts, after having missed only one week, it felt like three.

The original plan for today was to head up to Sauk Mountain, a long drive for a short but usually very beautiful flower-laden hike. But so far this year, the road to the trailhead isn't even open all the way up, and the flowers are probably a little behind schedule. So instead we hiked four miles up the road, with a hopeful view of the Twin Sisters. However, they were hidden most of the time behind the clouds, as we coped with light rain and cool temperatures. Since we went up 2,000 feet in four miles, I was glad for the cooler weather.

When we stopped for lunch, you can see that the clouds still threatened to unload even more rain, but by the clothing you might surmise it wasn't really cold, and you would be right. The temperature did seem to drop when we stopped, because we were drenched after the uphill trudge.  I walked over to snap this picture of the Sisters (click any picture to enlarge). It looks almost like steel, but this is a color shot.

The clouds seemed ominous, but we are nothing if not hardy, as well as prepared for any weather conditions. One thing about hiking in this part of the country, you must carry rain gear with you even when it's hot in town and there's no chance of rain. In the High Country, it's always a possibility.

As we were walking back down, I saw this juxtaposition of little purple flowers, old wood, a rock outcropping, and new leaves in the foreground that caught my eye. The day was very renewing in many ways, not the least of which was the company I was with, as well as my trusty camera. And you, dear reader, with whom I love to share my weekly hikes.
:-)

Palindromes

Today, on the way home on the bus, I was pondering the curious fact that for some reason I've written exactly 26 posts each month in 2010. It happened completely by chance until last month, when I noticed it for the first time, and I intentionally made sure that May contained 26 of them. Then I forgot about it until yesterday, when I realized that if I wrote another one today, I would also have 26 posts for the month of June!

I was thinking about it to myself when I spied a house number, 2112, and realized it is a palindrome. A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction.

My sequence of 26 posts is not a palindrome, but the whole idea of different combinations, lucky and unlucky ones, numbers that read the same in both directions, repeating numbers, fascinates me. I'm superstitious to a certain degree, and I realized that I had to find out what 26 means in numerology. Not much, actually; it's the 2 + 6 = 8 that seems more important to numerologists. In doing a little research, I realized that I am actually more interested in mirror images, like palindromes. I have long considered my lucky number to be 11, which is one. Dates are often palindromes, the last one having been January 2, 2010, or 01/02/2010. The next one will be November 2, 2011, or 11/02/2011. Is this interesting to you as well?

Just a little teaser before I let you go: are you aware of some of the cute phrases that are palindromes, such as "Was it a rat I saw?" or "Dammit, I'm mad!" Aren't they fun?
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Galactic eye

Luc Perrot, www.lucperrot.fr

Today I saw this incredible picture on the Astronomy Picture of the Day. It's a composite made of eight images from a fisheye lens put together to make what looks to me at first glance like a God's Eye. He took the pictures at night, illuminated with a lamp, and put them together to make a complete circle. In the middle is the Milky Way, and if you look closely you can also see his tent, a shoreline, and much more. He took this on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Click to enlarge to truly appreciate the image. APOD continues to amaze me, and I never miss a morning picture to give me a more accurate perspective of the world. Sometimes I get too focused on minutia when I need to look at the bigger picture.

Another wonderful thing from the blogging world that I discovered through Sharon's Paws Create is a website filled with donated art that goes to help the animals suffering from the Oil Disaster. Sharon has donated some beautiful art, and the other amazing donated art that is being sold will bring tears to your eyes, they are so poignant and beautiful. Go on over to Ripple to buy a beautiful piece of art for $10. Here's what they are about:

Each sketchcard on this blog $10. The $10 is a donation to help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill. Every penny is donated. The two nonprofits that are benefitting are The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and The International Bird Rescue Research Center. You can purchase a card if you donate directly to one of the nonprofit and email me the confirmation and your address to ripplesketches@verizon.net. The artist will mail you the signed card.

The creator of the blog also adds, "We don't have to feel helpless. We can help. Our small actions together will ripple outward."
:-)

Hiding out

From Kitty Loco Designs

The news today scares me, again. So I'm going to spend the next few days hiding out, not going into any places where somebody might be out with a gun. Like Starbucks. Or a department store.

You might have heard about the Supreme Court ruling that was passed today, making sure than gun owners will not be hindered in their right to bear arms. Of course, this means everybody, anywhere, for any reason has this right. Right? I certainly hope not. But the way the gun control opponents are celebrating this ruling does not make me feel any safer.

I just finished reading the whole page on Wikipedia about the Second Amendment, trying to figure out how we got here, and it's fascinating to me how much of a difference in interpretation you can get by simply changing punctuation within a sentence. Take this one, for example. On September 4, 1789, the Senate voted to change the language of the Second Amendment by removing the definition of militia, and striking the conscientious objector clause:

A well regulated militia, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

A few days later, the Senate then slightly modified the language and voted to return the Bill of Rights to the House. The final version passed by the Senate was:

A well regulated militia being the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

No wonder there is so much controversy now about what the Second Amendment actually means. But for now, I'm just going to hide away until it feels safe to venture out of my home. There is some really good reading in both of those links, the first from Yahoo News about today's decision and the other from Wikipedia. I've spent quite a bit of time this morning wondering about the wisdom of this 5-4 Supreme Court ruling.
:-{

Birds big and small

I was able to capture this picture of the hummingbird's wings in flight (click to enlarge) last week when he came to check out my flowers. I  believe this is a rufous hummer (although I could be wrong), and he's the same one who came within inches of my face while checking me out. He flew away when I introduced myself.

There is something about the flight characteristics of hummingbirds that reminds me of a giant mosquito, although far more lovely and plus they don't bite. One of my Flickr friends got a picture of a hummer with his incredibly long tongue sticking out. They really do have amazingly long tongues. I snagged this picture off the Castellow Hammock Nature Center.

See what I mean? This gives them the ability to reach WAY down inside those flowers for the nectar as they hover. I love these guys, and they do indeed brighten my days, watching for them as I gaze out the window at my usual visitors, the goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees, towhees, and yes, even the sparrows.

This is a recent picture, taken this week by boonibarb on Flickr, of my little eaglet nicknamed "Phoenix." We watched him (her?) hatch at the end of April on the Hornby Eagle web cam. He is peering over the edge of the nest in this picture, wondering when Mom or Dad will be bringing some food. This young eaglet will fledge in a few more weeks. Right now he stretches his incredible wings daily and hops up and down, getting ready for the big day. I am just about ready to stop watching the site, because I've become very attached to this little guy, and fledging is a very intense time when a young eaglet doesn't always make it.

When he strays too close to the edge, I want to stop him, or if his parents make him wait a little too long for his dinner, I get stressed out. I'm not alone; there is a chat room and I listen to (actually read) what the others have to say, and I realize that we are all watching this saga closely. Last year I stopped watching another eagle cam at about this time, because the three eaglets had become way too important to me. One hatched a week later than the others and was nicknamed "Tink" by the eagle cam addicts. You realize very quickly that you are not watching a Disney movie but real life, when anything can happen.

But, that said, I truly enjoy my excursions into the life of the birds, large and small, and I even love the hawk that sometimes comes over to dine on my well-fed little birdies. I posted this picture a while back of an immature Cooper's Hawk, taken through the bedroom window with my telephoto lens.

Enjoy your weekend! I hope the weather is wonderful in your part of the world, and that you have some feathered friends to keep you company, too.
:-)

Exceptional flowers

What makes a flower picture really exceptional? The Retired One (whose May contest I won) has challenged us to enter her June contest on "Flowers." Well, that's a tall order, when I realize that a flower all by itself is beautiful, and a photographer can find all kinds of reasons for thinking that her picture is exceptional. I took this one when the flowers I set out to attract hummingbirds came out, and I think it's pretty exceptional, but there are so many others that are even more attractive.

You can always hope for a brilliant insect to land on a flower, adding a certain other dimension to the picture, and what could make this beautiful white Canterbury Bell more exceptional that the addition of a green-hued insect? (Click any to appreciate fully.)

Yesterday while walking to the dentist's office, I spied these beautiful California poppies. They helped me remember all the times I saw them previously and immediately made my feel good. Of course, getting to the dentist's office was not something I was looking forward to, no matter how much I might love my dentist, and I was glad to snap a picture of these orange beauties.

Now that it's been a day since the dentist put that permanent crown on, I'm still hoping that the sensitivity I'm feeling will dissipate. After all, I didn't have it with the temporary, and after all that pushing and pulling I am hoping that is the reason for the continuing sensitivity. Having dental work is not that different from other kinds of pain: once I have it and it goes away, I can't remember when I had the pain before. Is that normal? I'm not talking hot and cold sensitivity but a mild ache when I bite down on foods.

I'm hoping that life is treating all of you well today, and that summer is taking ahold in your part of the world and making the wonders of the season available to you. Finally summer seems to have arrived in the Pacific Northwest, as we had our first day over 75 degrees on Wednesday. It had been a full nine months!
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My dental team

 

 Well, instead of joining the Senior Trailblazers today to head up Church Mountain, I went to the dentist's office to get my permanent crown. If I didn't do it today, a Thursday, I would have to wait until July 7 while my dental team heads off for vacation. That just didn't seem like a good option, so instead of Church I went to visit Dr. Olivia Collier and her excellent team. Say hello to Dr. Collier with my entire dental array on her right (click to enlarge). Here's a link to their website with more about Olivia and her business partner Jon.

Nicole, her assistant, made my temporary and lodged it into my mouth so well that Olivia had to numb me up and cut it off!!! I had never experienced anything like this before, and it was such a beautiful temporary (before being cut into pieces) that I suppose it would have lasted just fine until July 7, but now it's all over. Nicole said this is the second time this week that all the pulling and pushing in the world would not get the temporary to come out. And there I was flossing gently and carefully! I don't think it would have made any difference if I had treated it like a regular tooth.

This is C.J., the receptionist, and Employee Extraordinaire. Olivia said that C.J. was her only other employee for years, and she was a dental assistant before becoming the bookkeeper and receptionist, and when my temporary needed a little adjustment, she shaved it off to fit! Since I don't have dental insurance and I am paying the whole thing myself, I wanted to have the best care available. I think I found it.

Even though going to the dentist is not my favorite thing to do, I am pleased to know that I am in good hands when I visit my dental team.
:-)