Winter Wishes

It's Winter again.

My end-of-the-year gallimaufry of images celebrating the Winter Solstice and the holiday season.

Holiday greetings
to all of you!

Skies 🌝

Full Cold Moon - Dec 14 2024 7:55PM
Last Full Moon of the year.

At Latitude 47N Winters can be dark.
One of the earliest sunsets of the year,
December 18th 4:15PM.
Amazing cloud reflections.

They say Montana is Big Sky Country -
But this Washington sky is pretty BIG.
For scale, the tops of the mountain range in
the lower right ... 43 miles away.
[Be sure to click on images for better view.]

Vintage Holiday Card ... 📪

A favorite from my Postcard Collection.
I featured this card in my December 2014 post.
Still a favorite, so wanted to send it to you again.
Wow ... 10 years has flown by!

Address side of the postcard.
Postmarked 1907 ... stamp is missing.
Mailed 117 years ago!

As of 2023, about 10 trillion images were stored online via cloud storage and other media platforms. Thanks to Google we can find a 1907 stamp. 

A one cent stamp, 1907.

Extended Flower Joy  🌺

Ok, here is the story. I love fresh cut flowers. In the image above, on the left, you'll see fresh Gerbera Daisies purchased on a Monday. On the right, same flowers on Friday. A couple are drooping, but I don't want to toss them out. Found an ice cream dish, added a little water, and positioned the Daisy on top. Easy to move around and add a little color to any part of the room. I don't think I'm unique in doing this sort of thing, but thought it worth sharing. 

Holiday Decorations  🎄

A home in my neighborhood. (Not mine ☺)
I like decorations when they are done tastefully.
These neighbors did it perfectly.

Many of the sailboats in the Marina
have lights on their mast.
Can you imagine living on a sailboat?

Ships  ⛴

Sometimes the light and clear air give me a good 
opportunity to capture one of our State Ferries.
This Ferry sails between Seattle
and Bainbridge Island.

Despite the ship moving to the north, the wind
was so strong, engine smoke is also blowing north.
(In this image north is to the right.)
You know it's rough when you see the white caps.

Birds  🐦

Reposting 3 of my favorite hummingbird captures ...

My favorite Hummer at Sunset
[First posted in 2023]

👉 Critter lovers check out Saturday's Critters 👈

Here's lookin' at ya
[First posted in 2023]

More Hummers at Sunset
[First posted in 2023]

Closing thoughts by Nat King Cole ...

Thanks for stopping by and best wishes for the holidays.

                         John

Autumn Transit

The usual gallimaufry of images with an emphasis on the seasonal change as we move through autumn.

Trees

In my neighborhood.
[Click on images for better view!]

Another in the neighborhood.

Thankful for all of nature's beauty and linking up with Thankful Thursday

Looking up!

The tree I saved.
1. My favorite tree in summer 2023.
A beauty.
2. My favorite tree late fall 2023.
A beauty.
3. After re-potting spring 2024.
Almost dead. Soil not holding water.
4. First signs of recovery early summer 2024.
Watered with gallons daily!
5. October 2024.
Almost total recovery.
6. November 20, 2024.
Leaves on the way to RED 😊
A beauty again.

Details: 

I love this tree. A person in charge of the property thought it needed to be transplanted into a larger pot. And so it was. And then, I began to notice the leaves turning brown. At first, I wasn't sure what was causing the leaves to turn brown. Then it hit me ... the soil in the new pot was a bit on the sandy side and was not holding water as well as the soil in the previous pot. Although it was not ultimately my responsibility, I decided to try extra watering. Quickly, as seen in photo 4, I noticed some new green leaves. I vastly increased watering and the result is in photo 5. Usually, in the fall, the leaves turn to red as seen in photo 2. This year, the leaves are late turning red, but they are turning quickly. I happened to have some nice sunshine today, November 22, and snapped the picture of leaves below. This is a beautiful tree. Although I'm pretty sure the water saved the tree, I also spoke to the tree daily telling it how beautiful it is. 😉

Autumn leaves, my favorite tree,
November 22, 2094

Skies - Linking up with Skywatch Friday

This pano shows the western sky as viewed from home,
around sunset in mid-October

Red sky at night ...
All of the sky pics in this post are taken from home.

Zoomed in on the shadows created by mountains.

Cross-Sound ferry on a stormy evening.

Tiny break in the clouds near the horizon
moments before sunset.

Late afternoon ... occasional sunbreaks 

Note the "sun pillar" ... part of an exceptionally
red and unusual sunset.

Ships

I enjoy snapping pics of (mostly) large ships coming and going in this port city. All of the photos below were taken from home during October and November of this year. We have a great variety of vessels. When capturing them, lighting is always a challenge.

Fully loaded container ship,
arriving Port of Seattle.

This is a bulk carrier. Frequently seen in Seattle for
transporting grain to Asian countries.

Passenger only fast ferry.

FOSS is one of the major tug operators in Seattle.
All FOSS tugs are named after members of
the family. This one is Wedell Foss.

The position and sunlight made this a difficult 
capture, but I like the way it turned out.
A container ship heading into port in late afternoon.

A mostly cloudy sky with a break near the eastern 
horizon allowed the morning sun to really
light up this EVERGREEN container ship.

After sunset, a departing MSC
(Mediterranean Shipping Company)
Olympic Mountains in the distance.

This sailing vessel is a popular option with tourists.
Mostly a summer activity.

My newest old book.

Rex Brasher's Treasury of Bird Paintings
Published in 1967

Title page.

Watch an excellent 6-minute video to get the full story of Rex Brasher  (Be sure to turn on audio.) I discovered the video thanks to Field Notes, a publisher of pocket size notebooks. They recently released notebooks with covers featuring Rex's bird paintings. (See examples below.) Rex made it his life mission to paint every known species of bird in America. And he did it! He published his paintings in Birds and Trees of North America. After researching Rex, I tried to find a copy of his book. They are now selling for around $20,000 so I decided to go for something more economical like this Treasury of Bird Paintings. The cover of my copy is quite worn, but the interior is in good condition. The paintings are wonderful! How did I live so long with an interest in birds without knowing about Rex? What an amazing human!

Biographical Sketch of Rex
I know the text is too small to read, but I just wanted
to show you the nice presentation.

Green-Winged Teal

Flammulated Owl

Ferruginous Owl

Pigmy Owl

Examples of the Field Notes covers featuring Rex's paintings ...

Link to Field Notes honoring Rex Brasher

If you love birds, be sure to check out Saturday's Critters!

Thank you for stopping by John's Island!

Coastal Adventure - Part 3

Coastal Adventure Fall 2024

The images below are all in order, starting with departure from Los Angeles Union Station northward toward Seattle. I'm not adding captions on all photos, since for the most part, these are just the sorts of scenes you'll see aboard AMTRAK's Coast Starlight. Aboard this train, I'm sitting on the right side, so most of the shots are looking eastward from the train.

Departing Los Angeles Union Station right on time.
On the larger image, railfans can see we have the GREEN signal.
[Click on the image for the larger view.]

At station stop, Santa Barbara

Truth be known, one doesn't really see that much of the Coast
on the Coast Starlight. Having said that, there are a few 
spots where there are some nice views to the west
like the one above.

Critters are spotted quite often.
Good reason to link up with Eileen's
Saturday's Critters

Thinking this train could be renamed
Farm Special

The train climbs significantly to get over the Coast
Range of mountains and will end up in the 
Sacramento Valley ... another giant farming area.

Purely a random capture that leaves me with a smile.
I had the camera ready as we moved through this cut.
Look at the larger image and you'll see the person
standing up above us was snapping a photo 
of the train. Question: What are the odds that
person will ever see this photo? 😊

There are some amazing old trees along the way.

I wasn't expecting oil wells!

Sunset at the end of the first day.
The trip takes 2 full days, with, of course,
1 overnight.

Early morning arrival at Klamath Falls, Oregon.
A beauty of a day ahead, however, some smoke
and haze in areas.

Klamath Falls boarding sign.

We're into the forests of Oregon.

I'm including this shot as it fascinates me how the 
railroad will put up these wires in areas where
bolders from above, or big trees, might come
down on the tracks. I doubt if the wires would
stop the bolders, but they might notify dispatch
who would then notify the train.

I'm ending this series of photos with this image taken
at the Eugene, Oregon station stop. The conductors on
the train announce these stops as "fresh air" stops. I thought
it amusing that lots of folks who step off the train
for fresh air light up a smoke.

Thanks for joining me on my Coastal Adventure.