Spring has sprung!

Spring has sprung!

I told AI I was putting together a post for my blog and
giving it the title Spring has sprung.  I asked for an
image to use with the post. Here is the result ... I like it.
How about you? Now, I know some of you don't care
for AI, but the genie is out of the bottle and we better
learn how to get along with the genie!

Out on a walk in the neighborhood, I spotted these Crocus
blooms.  Nature is an amazing creator.

Update: April 10 2025
Thankful for the beauty of nature.
Linking up with Michelle's
Thankful Thursday

In earlier posts this year I captured the Daffodils in this
traffic circle from the time they broke ground until they
bloomed. Here is one more look with almost all of them
in bloom.

Skies

It's all about the clouds.

Looking across the Sound this fog/cloud phenomenon caught 
my attention. It looks strange, doesn't it?

A good while after sunset but still plenty of light 
in the western sky beyond the Olympics. Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

Ships

I like to catch a sailboat alongside a large
container ship ... it's nice for scale.
This view is looking west from Seattle
across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island
and the Olympic Mountains in the distance.
The ship is the Honiara Chief

A MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Company - vessel
arriving in port in the early evening. Note the way the
containers are stacked ... plenty of empty space on this ship. 
This view is looking across Elliott Bay toward West Seattle,
and Vashon Island in the distance.

Update: April 14, 2025
The Carnival Spirit arrived in moonlight
this morning at 5:15AM. The Spirit is the
first cruise ship of the season to dock at
Cruise Terminal 91.

Superior Spring Publications

LivingBird
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. What they say about themselves:  “We believe birds are a gateway to caring for the natural world.” They publish LivingBird which I’ve found to be the premiere birding magazine. The image above is the cover of their Spring 2025 issue. Check out their website for lots of free birding information.

Linking up with Saturday's Critters

The Methow Naturalist
A Quarterly Journal of Natural History

Within the last year I discovered The Methow Naturalist (TMN). For one who is interested in the evolution of nature and humans, it is an amazing find. TMN is published quarterly and the image above is the Spring 2025 cover. If you are open to studying nature and human history, check out their website. Warning: Your assumptions (beliefs) about why things are the way they are may be challenged. 

Closing thought ...

A screenshot of a positive morning routine
found online that is worth repeating. 😊

Thanks for stopping by John's Island.

Glacier Park 1925

A Souvenir Folder

Glacier National Park

on the Great Northern Railway

- Postmarked May 22, 1925 -

Thanks for stopping by. Take a moment from your busy summer to enjoy a look at Glacier National Park. Record heat has been the issue in Seattle lately and that set me looking through my collection to find something that might put some cooler thoughts in mind. Glacier Park seems to hit the spot. I wonder if the original recipient of this little folder, in 1925, made it to the Park in that year. We'll never know who that was, as it turns out, since someone, somewhere, along the line, decided to erase the addressee. Irregardless, I can say this:  The 2-cent postage was a deal!

Here are the images, which were also published individually as postcards ...

Trick Falls, on Two Medicine River

Click on the images to view a larger version.  Please feel free to download the images for your personal use. The copyright on all these images has expired and the images are now in the Public Domain.

Ice Berg Lake

Maybe you are wondering if Ice Berg is correct, or should it be Iceberg? I thought this would be a good opportunity to ask AI (Artificial Intelligence).  Here is the way that went ...

Me: Was it ever proper to write the word "iceberg" as two words "ice berg"?

AI: No, it has never been standard practice to write the word "iceberg" as two separate words ("ice berg"). The term "iceberg," referring to a large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea, has consistently been written as a single word since it entered the English language in the early 19th century. The word originates from the Dutch word "ijsberg," which is also written as a single word.

Of course, AI is only as smart as what it has been taught. (True for humans, as well. 😊) I did a little research on my own and could not find this postcard on Google. However, I found plenty of others with the spelling “Iceberg”.  So, my guess is, the one who produced this postcard took a little “artistic liberty.”

Josephine Lake

I especially like the reflections in the card above and one below.

Two Medicine Lake

McDermott and Josephine Lakes

Many Glacier Hotel
Known today as Glacier Park Lodge.

St. Mary's Lake from Baring Creek

Forest Lobby, Glacier Park Hotel

When you see images, like the one above, of the hotel lobby, as it appeared about 100 years ago, you may wonder what it looks like today ... if it's still there. Well, it is still there, and it is now called Glacier Park Lodge lobby. Thanks to Wikipedia and the Internet we can see a 2010 image ...

"Forest Lobby" via Wikipedia
Image by Acroterion

If you download the 2010 image (using the Acroterion link above) and zoom in, there's lots of detail to enjoy. I can see that the dining room, at the end of the lobby, is still called the Great Northern.

Belton Chalets, Western Entrance to Park

1. Chief White Antelope
2. Chief Three Bears
3. Chief Gambler
4. Chief Medicine Owl
5. Chief Lazy Boy
6. Chief Two Guns White Calf
7. Chief Fish Wolf Robe

Lastly, the 7 Chiefs ... Since I am one who loves trains, and a fan of railroad history, I would like to think that the images of Native Americans were included as a way to honor them. However, some research revealed images often depicted Native Americans to evoke a sense of adventure and the exotic. This romanticized view of the West was intended to attract settlers, tourists, and investors by portraying the region as a land of opportunity and excitement.

Things at John's Island have been busy and I haven't put much time on the blog. I decided that the USA Birthday cake had been up long enough, so I hope you enjoy this post.

For all of you out there in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you're having a good summer. (And those in the Southern, winter 😊) Thanks for stopping by.

New Art

Fun with A I

I spotted an image I like on the web and made a screenshot. I uploaded the screenshot to ChatGPT and asked it to turn the image into a drawing. The result is below ...

I found the result interesting. So, next, I uploaded one of my own photos showing the scene from Seattle across Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains. Again, I asked for a drawing ...

Here are the results, including some variations ...

Interesting the way it put the flag on a boat.

Requesting no boats.
But there are some ... moored to piers.

Put the mountains more in the distance.

The pencil sketch is really nice!

What are your thoughts on this? 😊