Travels with George and Marta – Page 36 – Journeys in the Botanical World

Photohunt: Addiction

Posted on April 24, 2010 by MartaApril 24, 2010

This week’s Photohunt theme is addiction. I have a serious addiction to two things; Internet and sweet sugary drinks. Do you call it soda or pop? I call it soda. I grew up in a house where there was always a bottle of soda in the refrigerator. Remember those large 32 oz glass bottles? We used to always have one in the refrigerator and it was so refreshing on the hot summer days. I went away to college and they were cheap drinks so I started drinking even more. But it got really bad when I went to work for a software company which stocked the refrigerators at work with free soda. I was drinking 3-4 a day or more. I used to stack the cans up in my office.

I did this for about 10 years and gained over 20 pounds. In 2000, I made a strong effort and stopped drinking them. It was amazing how I started to lose weight. It was a good motivation to keep me away. I started exercising in and in a couple of years I had lost almost 35 pounds. I’ve stopped exercising so I’ve put some of the weight back on but not all. And I’ve been able to control my urges and not drink soda very often. I did break down recently as you can see from the photo above. But I got really small cans, I have only drank one a day and I don’t intend to buy another 6 pack for a while.

The internet… well that is another story. What’s your addiction?

Umtanum Creek Falls

Posted on April 20, 2010 by MartaDecember 26, 2014

We decided to drive over to Ellensburg in Central Washington and see what was in bloom. Ellensburg is about 125 miles east of Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass. It is farm oriented town with many cattle and hay farms. Central Washington University is also located in the town. We invited two of our friends. One is a birder and he was interested in checking out the bluebirds and whatever else he might find.

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to Central Washington. We were early for lunch so we got off at Thorp to go over to Hayward Road. The bluebirds were out but not many flowers in bloom beyond violas and desert parsley. We saw a sign at the beginning of the road that said “No Wind Farm Traffic”. At the top of the ridge, we found the road widened and a steady stream of large dump trucks heading onto the top of the ride. Construction had started on a new wind farm. We decided we didn’t want to mess around with the large dump trucks along a dirt road so we turned around. We will need to find a new favorite spot for wildflowers in the area. We headed on into Ellensburg and stopped for an early lunch at Campus U-Tote-Ums drive in.

The hike was off Umtanum Road. This road starts just before I-90 on Canyon Road south of Ellensburg. It swings under I-90 and through hay farms before turning west. The road climbs along the foothillls of the Cascades through the shrubby steppe – a bushy area dotted with tall pines. We started spotting blue birds. The Yakima Audubon Society have put up nesting boxes along the fences and we saw lots of activity. We saw a mixture of both Mountain and Western Bluebirds. Both are beautiful but we particularly love the male Mountain Bluebirds which are brilliant turquoise. We did a little bit of exploring along the roadsides to see what we might see in wildflowers. Not much. Violas, desert parsley, a few white onions, a few bluebells.We did find lots of wax and golden current in bloom.

The road turns to dirt and curves into a canyon. The trail head was around one corner. There was just one other car in the lot. We took our time along the trail stopping with the spotting scope to see what birds we could see. We also found evidence of very active beavers at the start of trail. Many young aspens had been cut down and several dams along the creek. But the hillside was still yellow gray and the trees were leaf less. It will probably be two more weeks before the hillsides color.

The trail was very easy – really a walk. It was a good place to explore. The trail followed the stream and was a little over a mile. We came to a rocky outcrop and the stream dropped over into a curved basalt bowl. It was a little unnerving for me. I slowly crept to the edge and looked down. The falls were spraying over and dropping down into the dark pool. There were two scramble trails that went around the bowl and down a very slippery slope to the pool at the bottom. I had no interest in going down and decided to stay at the top while G and our friends scrambled down.

We returned to the car. It was now overcast but still warm. We headed back about 4pm making a short stop at the Taste of Italy Espresso stand before heading over the pass.

Mountain Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Viola trinervata

Wax Currant

Busy Beavers - Umtanum Falls Trail
Evidence of busy beavers

Beaver Dam

Along the trail

Muddy top just before the falls

Top of the Falls

Umtanum Creek Falls

Marta at top of the Falls

Vegetable Garden 2010 – #1

Posted on April 18, 2010 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

Tomato starts

April has been very unpredictable. We had a beautiful February and then suddenly mid-March – we’ve had a wild ride of weather. Some days beautiful. Other days freezing or torrential hail. It got to a low of 27 degrees on April 9th. Our Magnolia had started to leaf out and many of the leaves are frost damaged. We had several other tender plants burned. We did not cover our lettuce and it survived although the older leaves were stressed. We cut those off. Today it is 70 degrees.

We are hoping that the worst is past. We moved our tomato plants to the unheated greenhouse today. This will harden them and we will move them up to larger pots but keep them in until mid-May. G started some carrot seeds and we may start some radishes. We need to plant them where they will get more water because they typically are pretty pithy due to lack of water.

Our peas are still growing. I’m not certain how well they will do since they got fusarium wilt. They are still green so my fingers are crossed. The lettuce is starting to look pretty good although very small.

Now all we need a little heat.

Lettuce and peas

Raspberry, blueberry and apples

Tomato starts (The blue plant is a salvia we collected in France)

Our greenhouses and yard – blue is mostly muscari and pulmonaria

Photohunt: Covered

Posted on April 17, 2010 by MartaDecember 26, 2014

This week’s photohunt theme is covered. Okay, I admit. I had a lot of difficulty with this theme. I had a couple of ideas and finally decided to go with the idea of covered with sand – the sand dunes of the Namib desert in Namibia.

Visiting these dunes were one of the most amazing experiences. The Namib desert covers over 30,000 square miles along the coast of Namibia. Some of it is dry dusty gray. Some of it is rocky. And some of it is brilliant red-orange.

The red sand dunes are in an area called Sossusvlei. Getting there is an adventure. It was a 6 hour drive from Swakopmund along the coast. We stayed at a desert resort about 45 minutes from the gates. The best time to visit the dunes is at the early morning when the sun just reaches the dunes. We got up and made it to the gates when they opened at 7pm and rushed towards the most famous dune – Dune 45 which is 45km from the gate. We arrived about 8am and started our climb. I was amazed at how cold and soft the sand was early in the morning. We climbed to the top for the vista above – everywhere we looked – it was covered with red sand.

Early morning sun shadowing the dune

Climbing the dune

Valley vista

Our footprints down the side of the dune

Farther up the Valley

Acacia Tree and Dune

Lakewold Garden

Posted on April 12, 2010 by MartaDecember 26, 2014

We did not have any special plans for Easter Sunday so we decided to spend it in a garden. One possibility was to go to the Tulip fields again since they were in bloom but it would have been terribly crowded on Sunday. Instead we decided to go South to Lakewold Garden in Lakewood just sound of Tacoma.

We typically visit in mid-March so this would be our first visit in early Spring. The day was overcast but the garden was lovely. And we had it almost to ourselves.

The gardens were started in 1910 as part of a summer home on Lake Gravely. The original design was influenced by the work of the Olmstead Brothers. The property was sold several times over the years until it was sold to George Corydon and Eulalie Wagner in 1938. Eulalie Wagner loved to garden. The landscape gardener, Thomas Church, first visited the garden in 1958 and returned to advice on the garden over the years. The garden opened to the public in 1989.

We love the location and the different rooms of the garden. As you arrive, you can walk along a long circular driveway lined with 20 feet Rhododendrons. This takes you to the door of the house which looks over the Flag Pole Lawn. There is a large Paulonia tree that we would love to see in bloom but we will need to return late in May or early June since it is late to bloom.

From the Flag lawn, you can enter into the small fern garden room. It is filled with interesting small shade and woodland plants. The triliums were in full bloom. Exiting the Fern room, you walk along the brick path lined with boxwood beds filled with tulips. The two majestic Mt. Fuji cherry trees were budded but not yet in bloom. The walkway leads to a lovely statue at the end of the path – but off to the side is a curious Quartrefoil pool. I love the pool and the symmetry but it is the hardest thing in the world to photograph.

Continuing down a side path, you can enter into several rooms lined with Japanese Maples and other beautiful trees such as Stewartia and Parrotia with beautiful bark. There are several trees of distinction in the garden. There are also several view points across the lake or up the lawns to the house. There is a new rock garden that is still getting established. Along several of the walkways were large naturalized swatches of fawn lilies (Erythronium). We have several native versions of this flower but I love the larger garden varieties.

Returning to the house, there is a large wisteria arbor over the outdoor eating area. Nearby is a knot garden, rose garden and perennial beds. Throughout the garden were several varieties of cherries in bloom. I loved the light yellow cherry blossoms of the Ukon cherry.

Before leaving, we made a stop at The Garden Shop to make a couple of plant purchases. We had to get a couple of blue poppies and a replacement Chilean Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum).

Here are some photos of the garden:

Driveway to the house entry

Cherry Blossom

Brick walk

Garden bench

Quartrefoil Pool and flowering cherry

Closeup of statue at end of brick walk

Woodland room

Garden detail

House

Wisteria arbor

Knot garden

Fawn Lilies – Erythronium

Hunter statue along the Flag Pole Lawn

Related Posts: Lakewold Garden – May 2007

Photohunt: Vertical

Posted on April 10, 2010 by MartaNovember 2, 2014

This week’s Photohunt theme is vertical. I went out for a walk in a local park this week and it came to me what I would post – trees! I could go with tall vertical Redwoods but I decided to do something a little bit different. Still tall and very vertical – Tingle Eucalyptus – Eucalyptus jacksonii – from SW Australia.

What is really cool about this area is there is a tree top walk which lets you get up among the tree tops! You can walk along the vertical tops of the trees. There are also options to climb vertically up the tall trees but we didn’t have nerve to try that.

Here are some shots of the tree top walk at Valley of the Giants outside of Denmark in South Australia.

Addendum: A couple of people wondered about the walk. Yes, we did actually do it. It was a little scary at first but I got used to it. It didn’t sway much so that was good. The metal felt very secure. Here are two pictures of us on the walkway.

Photohunt: Sweet

Posted on April 3, 2010 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

This week’s Photohunt theme is Sweet. Perfect for upcoming Easter holiday with all the candy. I’m a little lazy this week and didn’t come up with much new. I’m bringing back an older picture again this week from the Sunday Slow Bakers. This time it is the Sicilian Pistachio Bars. These are great bar cookie and they would be perfect for spring. The ingredients included pistachios, almond and lemon.

Music of my mind

Posted on April 1, 2010 by MartaApril 1, 2010

I grew up in the ’60s. It was in a mid-sized town in California central valley. Our city had a distinct racial mix. The northern side of town was primarily white. The southern side was primarily Afro-American, Hispanic and Asian. It was almost split right down the middle. Cross over Main Street and the racial population changed.

I grew up on the south side. This radically influenced the music that I listened to. The first 45 I purchased was “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. But as the ’60’s progressed, the music I listened to changed. It was not the typical top 40 of the day but the Soul Train sounds played on the stations in Oakland. Motown, Philly, Atlantic. Those were my tunes. Slow dancing to The Dells 6 minute single – “Stay in My Corner” or Smokey Robinson “Tracks of My Tears”.

The Psychedelic or folk sound of San Francisco may have played on the radio in the day but it was Wolfman crackling in at night that I loved. It was not until I got to college in the early ’70s that I started to listen to bands like Crosby Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Joni Michell, Quicksilver Messenger Band, The Eagles, The Dobbie Brothers.

But I never listened much to Bob Dylan. I found his voice harsh and never really understood him. Last year we saw the movie “I’m Not There” which is great both in the unique approach to a biography and the music. My mind opened to his sound. G brought home the sound track this week from the library. It has been fun to listen to the covers and realize the large number of songs that have ended up being a quilt of my generation. I have been listening to some of his original songs on You Tube along with the covers. It led me to find a great cover by Joni Mitchell of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. She recorded it in the early ’90s so it is similar to much of the music she recorded in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I love this sound from her. And it is so different from the original I didn’t recognize it.

And Dylan’s original

Finish line

Posted on March 31, 2010 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

I made it! A whole month blogging every day. That was the goal of March Madness. I hope to keep up blogging regularly. Stay tune.

And thank you for you visiting my blog and your support.

Edmonds Waterfront

Posted on March 30, 2010 by MartaNovember 2, 2014

I need a little reminder of the beautiful days we had last month. Here are a few pictures of the Edmonds waterfront area. There are several public art installations along the waterfront. This guy is crawling up the stairs from the sand. It is part of the work called “The Locals” by Georgia Gerber.

Farther along the waterfront is a fishing pier. It has a whimsical metal art work representing salmon swimming – “School of Fish” by Buster Simpson. Turning around – a great view of the marina and Olympic mountains in the distance. Art by mother nature.

More on the public art in Edmonds – Public Art Collection

“School of Fish”

View from fishing pier