Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Between the Rain Storms

Between the rain storms I've been able to get out for some fresh air, brisk walks, and seeing the sights.  Friday Karen and I went to Seattle for her birthday.  A stout wind greeted us when we got to Green Lake and set off on the 2.8 mile walk around the lake.  I was stoutly winded by the time we got back to the car!  What a gift this lake is to the hundreds of folks each day who run, walk, skate, push strollers, and ride bikes through the park in one of Seattle's lovely neighborhoods.  We enjoyed the walk, the conversation, the sights, and this great old birch tree with its peeling bark.





On Saturday Tom and I took in some of the Camano Island Studio Tour, where we stepped inside artists' studios and under awnings to talk with painters and sculptors and enjoy their various mediums, styles, and works.  We found these lush greens scenes on the island. 




Last night about 7:30 we took a walk through our neighborhood.  Here's what we saw:






And as I was heading off to bed, this is what I saw out my kitchen window.




3 comments:

Karen S. said...

What a pleasurable visual jaunt today via your blog! "Stout" is just the right word for the wind that day. So enjoyed our expedition and look forward to more.

Joan Husby said...

Wonderful photos. Here's something I found about Green Lake: On Christmas Eve the Park Department determined that the ice was too thin and put a stop to the skating. But the skaters protested in such numbers that the Park Board reconsidered and allowed skating at the south end only where the ice was thickest. In 1909 Green Lake was still the lake left by the last ice age. The tributary from Licton Springs was at its north end, and the outflow to Ravenna Creek and Lake Washington’s Union Bay was its east end. This meant that the lake’s south end was the least disturbed.

Two years later in 1911 the lake was lowered seven feet, in order to landscape a lake-wrapping park on the reclaimed shoreline. The lowering, of course, put a stop to the lake’s ancient circulation. The result was the “Green Lake Itch,” although this was never a rash concern in the winter.

This info is part of a long essay about early Seattle winters, at:
http://pauldorpat.com/seattle-now-then-archive/a-history-of-seattle-snows-exposed/seattle-snows-part-4/

Ginger Kauffman said...

Thanks, Joan. Very interesting bit of history!

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