Here in the Cascade foothills of Washington State,
nothing much happens,
unless you count the weather!
Let me share with you five weather related scenes
from the beautiful month of May
as I capture some lovely moments.
1.
Rainbows are sometimes the beautiful reward
after a rainy day.
This rainbow has a very faint double to the right.
We are gifted with rainbows, mostly in spring
and summer, when the sun is low on the horizon
on hazy, misty days.
I do think the pot of gold is buried here......
What do you think?
Someday I will read in the local newspaper that two
loggers found a trunk full of gold coins here....:)
xo
2.
Some days are just ordinary weather days, with
a few fluffy clouds, but when the sun
gets low on the horizon. the hills turn
gold and the clouds turn pink.
You can barely see Mt. Rainier hiding in the background.
The sun-rays are creating deep shadows
in the little valley below.
Soon the sun is so low that only the high plateau and
puffy clouds are illuminated.
Clouds are so interesting.
Here they seem to be clinging to the peaks
and forming flat, swirling clouds above.
Mt. Rainier was not the feature in this
evening's light show and remained obscure.
You can barely see it behind the clouds.
3.
Not so on this evening.
Here, Mt. Rainier is the feature.
This view is facing South-East.
We can only see the reflection of the sunrise and sunset
on the clouds and the mountain tops.
The camera gives the impression that 'The Mountain',
as we call it, is farther away than it really is.
We have to look up slightly to see it and it appears about this large
to us with the naked eye. My camera can't capture
the entire scene when I make it true.
By highway, it is about 60 miles away.
As the crow flies, much less,
but with several high mountains and valleys in between.
By highway, it is about 60 miles away.
As the crow flies, much less,
but with several high mountains and valleys in between.
As The Mountain reflects a beautiful sunset,
we can zoom in closer to see the shadows
created by the many glaciers and rocky outcrops.
This side of the mountain is not used by climbers
(very often), and you can see the obvious reasons.
Climbers from all over the world come to climb the 14,410 ft. Mt. Rainier.
Tragically, some die every year in their attempts to do so.
You can see the large amount of snow at the peak
and just below.
We had a good 'snow-pack' this winter.
Here you can see a closer view of the glaciers.
These glaciers are about 2000 ft high.
These glaciers are about 2000 ft high.
I believe the lowest one is called the Carbon Glacier.
Here we have a better view of the second glacier.
These glaciers feed important river systems
leading to Puget Sound.
You can see fissures above these glaciers.
Mt. Rainier is an 'active' volcano,
which is currently inactive,
but land movements happen constantly.
The last estimated volcanic activity was documented
by eyewitnesses in 1894.
It is considered one of the most dangerous
volcanoes in the world because
of the large population living
below it.
If one of these glaciers ever broke loose,
it would be a disaster.
This would be called a 'Lahar', which would
travel at 40 miles per hour, bringing with it
everything its path and covering the valley floor
with up to 40 feet of mud.
There are many Lahar warning systems in place
in the towns within the paths of one of these.
Lucky for me, I live in a higher elevation.
You can see fissures above these glaciers.
Mt. Rainier is an 'active' volcano,
which is currently inactive,
but land movements happen constantly.
The last estimated volcanic activity was documented
by eyewitnesses in 1894.
It is considered one of the most dangerous
volcanoes in the world because
of the large population living
below it.
If one of these glaciers ever broke loose,
it would be a disaster.
This would be called a 'Lahar', which would
travel at 40 miles per hour, bringing with it
everything its path and covering the valley floor
with up to 40 feet of mud.
There are many Lahar warning systems in place
in the towns within the paths of one of these.
Lucky for me, I live in a higher elevation.
The Mountain will stay this gorgeous shade of
pink for only brief moments in time.
4.
On this day, high, fast moving clouds float past,
leaving cloud shadows on The Mountain.
Late afternoon with filtered sunshine.
Alpenglow.
Soft sunset reflections as the day nears its end.
A bit of cloud drama.
Cotton Candy skies.
A storm moves in on this morning.
You can see the blue skies being swallowed
up by an ominous gray cloud-bank.
It suddenly became very dark with a brisk, cold wind.
One last bit of sunshine glimmering on the hills
before the storm moves in.
Can you see the crow in the fir tree?
This beautiful fellow is standing guard
over a nearby nest.
This couple has been nesting here for years,
but the nest they previously had
in the fir grove along our drive,
blew down in a storm this past winter.
I was glad to see they built a new one
where we could still enjoy their presence.
Once the nestlings have fledged,
they will all join the larger flock
who summer in the valley below,
but roost in the high foothills together
every evening all winter.
I see them flying over, calling to each
other at day's end.
Keeping watch.....
Since the storm, the clouds and cool weather
have remained,
for over two weeks now,
but next week promises more sunshine.
My gardens have been lonely,
so I hope to take you for a visit
as soon as the sun shines once more.
xoxo
"They have climate in England; we have weather."
- Helena Rutherfurd Ely -
A Woman's Hardy Garden (1903)
xoxo
Thank you for your sweet visits, Dear Friends.
I especially loved finding out your birth order
in your comments to my previous post.
Every little experience in life and how we
respond to it (response-ability), creates the unique person
that we are.
xoxo
Today I am linking with:
Five on Friday
Won't you join the fun?
