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| Waterfront Trail along Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington Note - Click on images for enlarged, better view. |
The long days of summer are here. The pandemic is fading. Masks are no longer needed on my daily walk along Seattle's Waterfront Trail. It's so nice to see someone share a smile in passing. Every day the steps are the same but the story is different. Most of the photos below are taken along the walk, some are from home.
Birds
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| Purple Martins |
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| I believe this is a House Finch. I happened to be sitting on my deck with camera nearby when this little bird landed at the top of a tree nearby. I am happy with this lucky catch. |
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| One of my recent hummer visitors. I've been feeding hummers for about a year now. Some of them, I believe, are accustomed to me sitting on my deck watching them. Occasionally, after feeding, one will fly about an arm's length away from me and just hover for a few seconds. I wonder if they are saying Thank You. 😊 |
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| Just one of the blooms in the Rose Garden along the Trail. |
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| Rose Garden along the Trail |
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| Wild Rose |
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| Purple Lupine |
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| California Poppy |
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| Flowering Black Locust |
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| Wild Flax ... delicate and pretty! |
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| Iris |
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| One day, while walking the Trail, I sat down at a bench for a few minutes to enjoy the view of Elliott Bay. I glanced down and was amazed at all the tiny daisy blooms. |
Birds AND Blooms!
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| A very kind friend of mine gave me a subscription to Birds and Blooms for this year and I just wanted to say Thank You! This little magazine is loaded with cool photos and information. |
Ships
The Spar Vega Story
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| The ship uses its own cranes to move the sand/gravel to barges. |
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| At times barges were on both sides of the Spar Vega. |
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| The unloading process is super dusty. |
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| It surprised me that the Spar Vega carried its own heavy machinery for moving the mix. See closer look below. |
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| The ship's cranes seem to have no trouble picking up and deploying the heavy machinery. |
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| A port pilot boat arrives to check things out. Note the stairs leading down to the boat for visitor access. |
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| When the work was complete the pilot boat did a tour around the ship before the Spar Vega departed. It took 3 days for the unloading process to be completed. |
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| A container carrier arrives just before the Spar Vega departed Elliott Bay. |
Books I'm enjoying and recommend ...
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| Ghost Rider by Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist of the legendary rock band Rush. |
Within a ten-month period, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie. Faced with overwhelming sadness and isolated from the world in his home on the lake, Peart was left without direction. This memoir tells of the sense of personal devastation that led him on a 55,000-mile journey by motorcycle across much of North America, down through Mexico to Belize, and back again. Peart chronicles his personal odyssey and includes stories of reuniting with friends and family, grieving, and reminiscing. He recorded with dazzling artistry the enormous range of his travel adventures, from the mountains to the seas, from the deserts to the Arctic ice, and the memorable people who contributed to his healing. Ghost Rider is a brilliantly written and ultimately triumphant narrative memoir from a gifted writer and the drummer and lyricist of the legendary rock band Rush. I recommend the audio version on Audible.
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| The Hummingbird Handbook, by John Shewey |
Just purchased yesterday at the Seattle Audubon Nature Shop, The Hummingbird Handbook, by John Shewey, is the best book I've found on hummingbirds. Highly recommended for hummingbird fans and available on Amazon.
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Alert ... ALONE, Season 8, premiered on The History Channel on June 3rd. It is also available without ads on Amazon Prime, all 10 episodes, for about $20. And if you're wondering why I mention this, check out my ALONE Season 7 post.
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Closing thought ...
"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."
Anne Lamott
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, I enjoyed seeing your beautiful birds. I love the Hummingbird, the House Finch and the cute Purple Martins. The flowers along the trail are lovely, the Poppies are one of my favorites. It is amazing to see the boat delivering materials needed to make concrete. It must be high in demand and very expensive to deliver by ship. The books sounds interesting, I have a lot of bird books but not one on Hummingbirds. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend. PS, thank you for the comment.
I used to take that magazine years ago and really enjoyed it. I'll have to see if they have it online. Love your early summer flowers and the ships are a favorite of mine. That's some heavy loads!
ReplyDeleteSo many terrific photos!!
ReplyDeleteI used to get Birds and Blooms too quite a few years ago.
Beautiful post. birds and flowers shown in such detail. the small blue flower in question is Wild Flax. They are so delicate and pretty.Thanks so much for sharing these lovely images. Great shots of the Purple Martins as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post filled with delights. I enjoyed the ship and its comings and goings, as well as all the birds and blooms! Thank you so much for all the work you do in creating these posts. :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that you are still doing the daily walk. I good walk gives you great opportunities for photos. There's much to see on this walk.
ReplyDeleteWhat pretty birds and blooms, loved this post!
ReplyDeletesuch an amazing post dear John and everything is of my interest :)
ReplyDeletebirds shots fill my heart with deepest joy believe me and i am so thankful for these wonderful images !
regular visitors know you and your kindness and of course the few second hover is tribute indeed :) i can say this from my personal experience back in village home where when i would sit to wash dishes and pots i would sprinkle left over rices or bread crumbs near garden area where bird would come immediately and eat everything instantly ,mom would make bread into crumbs in her spare times and put them in front yard for birds ,few of them would feel thankful and give sweet look .
i loved the ship story of unloading material ,i so enjoyed it ,closeups are BRILLIANT !
ghost rider sounds sad but heart warming story ,this is great that author found his way to normal life by going through such amazing adventure .
thank you for kind words on my blog always ! i am blessed to find you as blogging friend as your blog is pure happiness to me !thank you again and best of luck for walks!!!!
I think Anne Lamott got it right.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing to me how the same walk can provide something new every day. Great post.
The Purple Martins are a great looking bird.
ReplyDeletePurple Martins! I love them. All your birds and flower photos are beautiful. The ship and barges are interesting also.
ReplyDeleteMind blowing post
ReplyDeleteHello John
ReplyDeleteLovely reading and looking at your post.
You have some lovely walks with always plenty to see.
The flowers and birds are so colourful.
I like the quote from Anne Lamott too.
Enjoy your June days.
All the best Jan
John--I especially loved your photo of the hummer. No doubt the hovering near you was a thank-you gesture . Your walk map shows what a wonderful path you have for walking. Walking is perfect exercise for the body, mind and spirit. Annie Lamott's quote gets it right. Thanks, too for all the other wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteI am not convinced the hummer was saying thank you, but I am quite sure that backyard birds get to know the bringer of food, and become relaxed around him or her. My wife always takes care of the hummingbird feeder and I the others, and often the hummingbird will sip at the liquid, and then hover briefly in front of her face - always hers, never mine. Great post here, John. Lots to digest and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteHi John :) I haven't watched Alone since season 5 I think...I have to get back to it, I love that show! And what a nice gift of that magazine subscription! You inspired me to get a hummingbird feeder btw, and I hung it up in the backyard near the other feeders, I have daily customers and it's so neat!! :)
ReplyDelete