In Praise of Idleness Drawing 38

Spider web

Wordless Wednesday: 12 Views of a Summer Morning at Jello Mold Farm

A Return to Jello Mold Farm on a Foggy, Fall Day

Jello molds with spider web

While I was in the Skagit Valley, I took a quick side trip to walk the flower fields at Jello Mold Farm.  It was a foggy morning, so instead of photographing in the morning light, I worked under white/gray skies.  But there was a surprising amount of color in the fields this time of year, especially in the dahlia beds.  Our warm weather has extended the growing season.  Here are a few photos from my fall visit:

Dahlia

Monk’s hood with spider web

 

Tree Walk at Seward Park

Seward Park, Seattle

“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.”
— Karle Wilson Baker, from 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts by R. J. Palacio

Earlier this summer when I walked the perimeter of Seattle, I passed by Seward Park without taking the time to explore it.  So I returned on Friday to see what this popular city park was all about and to walk the 2+ mile road edging the “peninsula” that juts into Lake Washington.  The city of Seattle has published a “Tree Walk at Seward Park,” and with this printout I set out to identify some of the magnificent trees in the park.  Let me take you along on my jaunt through Seward Park.

View of Mount Rainier across lake Washington from Seward Park

Row of Bolleana Poplars along the parking lot

Leaves of the Bolleana Poplar

Garry Oak

Leaves of Garry Oak

Spider web

Madrona bark. According to the city brochure, “Seward Park is home to Seattle’s largest collection of Madrona trees.

Another Madrona with peeling bark. Madronas are native to the Pacific Northwest.

Most of the trees in Seward Park are native Douglas Fir trees.

The cones of the Douglas Fir have dragon-tongue-like protrusions jutting out from the cone bracts.

Sketch of Douglas Fir cone

Leaves and acorns from Northern Red Oak

Threadleaf Falsecypress

Traffic circle at Seward Park

Blue Atlas Cedar

The clusters of the Blue Atlas Cedar look like spiky beads on a bracelet

Coastal Redwoods

Leaf litter beneath the Coastal Redwoods

Port Orford Cedar

Trail through the trees, Seward Park

 

That Golden Time of Year

“Yellow the bracken,
Golden the sheaves . . .”
— Florence Hoatsen

Watercolor sketch of fall leaf

Last week I celebrated the color red in the landscape.  Today’s post gives equal time to the yellows, golds, and greens.

Path at Green Lake

White birch with dappled leaves

Watercolor sketch of ginkgo leaf

Watercolor sketch of fall leaves

 

 

 

Spider Webs: Patterns of Loveliness and Mystery

“The web glistened in the light and made a pattern of loveliness and mystery, like a delicate veil.”
— E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web

Spider web in the morning light

It’s that time of year when the spiders are busily spinning huge webs.  There are several trees in my neighborhood that are swathed in gossamer veils.

Gossamer veils of webs decorate these trees

Another tree covered in webs

Patterns of loveliness and mystery

First Snow

Snow-frosted hydrangea

Spider web dusted with snow

Seattle got its first snow of the season yesterday.  I’ve heard predictions that this will be a snowy winter for us.  The forecasters might be right — this is early for snow to hit the city.  Some years we don’t get snow in Seattle all winter long.

I enjoyed my walk to work yesterday morning.  The snow was just beginning to stick, and I thought we’d be lucky to have an inch or two before it melted.  Some kids were already out sledding. 

The day grew increasingly blustery and cold.  By evening, two to six inches of accumulation were predicted, and temperatures dropped to the teens.  With the wind, it looked like a real blizzard outside.  The branch libraries closed two hours early at 6:00 p.m. to give staff extra time to get home on icy streets. 

Now it looks like the cold and ice will last until late Wednesday.  I’m glad we have no plans to travel this Thanksgiving.  I can relax and enjoy this first taste of winter.

Kids sledding at Green Lake on the first inches of snow

The last two sleds for sale at the hardware store in Greenwood

Maple leaf disappearing under the snow

Dew-Strung Gossamer Webs

September
by Alex Smith

Best I love September’s yellow,
Morns of dew-strung gossamer,
Thoughtful days without a stir,
Rooky clamours, brazen leaves,
Stubble dotted o’er with sheaves —
More than Spring’s bright uncontrol
Suit the Autumn of my soul.

Spider web in a tree

Be-jeweled spider web

Spider web in horse chestnut tree

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place:  from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”
     — Pablo Picasso

Spiders’ Lacework Dwellings

I seem to see lots of spider webs this time of year.  My friend Carol and I saw these three at the Seattle Japanese Garden.

Spider web suspended in the trees

Web against the blue sky

My favorite web, reflecting the colors in the turning leaves

The Spider

By Robert P. Tristram Coffin

With six small diamonds for his eyes
He walks upon the Summer skies,
Drawing from his silken blouse
The lacework of his dwelling house.

He lays his staircase as he goes
Under his eight thoughtful toes
And grows with the concentric flower
Of his shadowless, thin bower.

His back legs are a pair of hands,
They can spindle out the strands
Of a thread that is so small
It stops the sunlight not at all.

He spins himself to threads of dew
Which will harden soon into
Lines that cut like slender knives
Across the insects’ airy lives.

He makes no motion but is right,
He spreads out his appetite
Into a network, twist on twist,
This little ancient scientist.

He does not know he is unkind,
He has a jewel for a mind
And logic deadly as dry bone,
This small son of Euclid’s own.

Playing Tourist in Seattle: The Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden in Seattle

I saw signs of autumn this week at the Japanese Garden in Seattle.  The edges of some maple leaves had already turned orange.  And the spiders were busy building webs.  I plan to return in October when the fall foliage should be at its peak.

The Japanese Garden is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.  It’s a lovely oasis in the city and well worth a visit.

Bridge over the ponds in the Japanese Garden

The leaves were starting to turn in the garden.

I love the pattern of leaves with their shadows.

Lily pads

Reflections in the ponds at the Japanese Garden

Feeding frenzy: koi vs. thieving duck

Colorful koi at the Japanese Garden

Ginkgo leaves

Green pine cone, Japanese Garden

I love how the spider web reflects the colors of the leaves.

One of several Japanese lanterns on the grounds of the Japanese Garden