John's Island: November 2024

Friday, November 22, 2024

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.

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

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!