Spring Scenes - Five on Friday

Hello Friends, I hope you are having a good week! 

We have had a stormy week with lots of wind, rain, 

and a little bit of sunshine, too. 

Today I would like to share with you, five scenes 

that made me smile this week. 

1. One morning I woke up early and caught 

the sunrise on Mt. Rainier. 

The river valley was full of mist 

after heavy rain the night before. 

Beautiful alpenglow. 

Every moment a different scene. 

 Full illumination. 

2. Another view of sunshine, late in the afternoon

looking out my glass kitchen door. 

Beautiful shadows.......

Potted Iris and primrose catch the light.

3. Looking further we can see that the wild plum trees are blooming. 

Kai says hello! 

With a closer look we can see it is very windy. 

A Steller's Jay enjoys the view. 

Clouds moving in.....

4. In between rain showers, I ventured out 

to see what was blooming in the yard. 

Here we see more plum tree blossoms. 

The property has many of these - progeny from 

a long ago Italian Prune Plum that was broken in a storm. 

The new shoots reverted back to the original rootstock. 

The fruits were smaller and loved by the wild pigeons

and have been spread far and wide,

much to our delight. 

The holly has a similar story. 

They pop up here and there and of course

we love them dearly. 

You can see the Hellebore (Lenten Rose) 

is blooming beside it. 

Daffodils are ready to bloom. 

You can see the mossy rocks - a testament to our 

very wet and mild winters. 

A wider view. 

 A lovely ground cover is spreading beneath

the bench. Native plants and ferns fill in behind. 

Two blooms nearby. 

Kai enjoys the garden, too. 

The twiggy shoots are Salmon Berry 

which have lovely pink blossoms in a few weeks. 

Primrose are also blooming. These are still in pots, 

but I planted them soon after and forgot to take a photo. 

You can see the slugs have been at the leaves, 

so I have put out pet-safe, 'Sluggo'. 

5. Lastly, I wanted to show you the land we just had cleared

by my son's childhood friend. 

I've know him since kindergarten, but now he 

has a son old enough to help him out! 

Where does that time go?

Ramblin' Man wants to build a storage/wood shed. 

Only the young alder trees were taken down. 

They were damaged in an ice storm in 2012, 

losing most of their branches and were starting to fall. 

Left standing are Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir and Hemlock. 

You can see the very large pile of branches that 

needs to be chipped. It is taller than I. 

Kai investigates an interesting scent. 

This area was cleared years ago 

but had become overgrown. 

It was once a paddock for my children's ponies. 

We will seed it with wildflowers and grasses. 

Whitey Bear and Kai check out their new playground. 

Sad to cut the trees down, but they were not healthy and a danger.

Now we have plenty of firewood to last for a while. 

One thing that didn't make me smile this week....

 this very large Hemlock that blew over in 

 high winds and is caught up in the trees. 

Of course, Ramblin' man is away at a Sales Conference. 

We only get big storms when he is out of town, 

it seems :) 

You can see the back of my Ford Ranger

to the right of the photo which gives you

perspective of its size. 

It's always something.......

Hopefully it will fall in the next storm. 

It will just miss Ramblin Man's lawn equipment shed. 

 That is something to smile about! 

xxoo

I hope you have something to smile about, 

Dear Friends! 

xxoo

"Psychoanalysis on the basis of one's woodland is out of place. 

But you can't help thinking that there must be something

written there, if only you knew how to read it."

- Geoffrey Charlesworth - 

The Opinionated Gardener (1988)

 Today I am linking with: 

Love Made My Home - Five on Friday