Wordless Wednesday 5-23-18: Summer Fog in the Pacific Northwest
Ascend to a Higher Development
One can ascend to a higher development only by bringing rhythm and repetition into one’s life. Rhythm holds sway in all nature.
Rudolf Steiner
We can find Nature outside us only if we have first learned to know her within us. What is akin to her within us must be our guide. This marks out our path of enquiry.
Rudolf Steiner
What the human being sees, what is poured into his environment, becomes a force in him. In accordance with it, he forms himself.
Rudolf Steiner
As the winter solstice approaches and the holiday season is in full swing John, Ryan, Finn and I wish everyone a happy and peaceful end to 2017. Even though our December days are fuller than ever we’ve been careful to protect time for family and in the evenings we are studying hiking guides and making plans to spend more long summer hours exploring nature and marking out our own paths of enquiry.
XOXO Lisa, John, Ryan and Finn
A Serene and Settled Majesty
There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.
Washington Irving
When the stresses and sounds of daily life are just too much my go-to escapes for some peace and quiet are the gym (during off-hours) and the mountains. I’m usually a fair weather hiker so you won’t find me in the woods during a snowstorm however our corner of the PNW has plenty of mountain hikes where you can enjoy both snow and flowers in the middle of August. Pack a few extra layers for changing conditions and you can throw snowballs in short sleeves then enjoy a picnic lunch next to wildflowers on the edge of an alpine forest. I leave home with my head full of problems to solve but by the time I’ve driven away from the city and up a winding tree-lined road the buzz starts to fade and after a few hours wandering through fields and forests they seem very far away.
We left Bellingham on a warm August morning for the Mount Baker Highway and Artist Point but by the time we reached our destination the mountains were surrounded by fog and our trailhead was still covered by a few feet of winter snow. Instead we turned to pathways I usually overlook in my haste to find famous mountain vistas and the misty alpine air added a new layer of peace and quiet.
If you’d like to explore, hike or snowshoe at Artist Point the Washington Trails Associaton website is full of information, maps and trail reports.
If you like these lovely alpine flowers they are a small patch of avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum) native to coastal British Columbia and the alpine and subalpine Olympic and Cascade Ranges of the Pacific Northwest of Washington and Oregon. Erythronium montanum flowers shortly after the snow melts in late spring, in damp subalpine woodlands and alpine meadows, often in extensive patches. Blooming plants may persist into midsummer about the edges of snowfields. – Wikipedia
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene
A Word A Week: Atmospheric
Summer fog rolling across Heather Meadows in the Mt. Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest.
Posted as part of Sue’s A Word A Week: Atmospheric.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Window
The Glacier Public Service Center on the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway welcomes visitors to the north side of the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest and North Cascades National Park in Washington State. The stone and wood Cascadian style Center was built in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and is listed in the Federal Register of Historic Places. There is a 24 hour self-serve information center outside of the building but during peak tourist season the interior is open for visitor services, books, maps and recreation passes.
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Window
Travel Theme: Stone
During a recent hike in the Mt. Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest we ran into a layer of high mountain fog which hid the fantastic views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan and directed our gaze lower, to the rocky foundations of these mountains. I had a chance to see what I’d overlooked during my previous visits when the glaciers and peaks were so clear they captured all of my attention. This time I really enjoyed the color of the stone, the diagonal layers of earth forced up by geological movement and the tenacious alpine plants clinging to the cracks and crevices.
Capture the Colour 2013
Through September and October I’ve had the pleasure of reading bright, colorful posts from participants in the Capture the Colour 2013 contest. I thought this particular challenge sounded like a lot of fun but fall has been so busy I haven’t had time to check out the sponsoring website to look through the details. This morning however the always kind Milka at MilkaPejovic.com recommended I submit my own photos as it is part of the submission process to suggest fellow bloggers also create new posts featuring the colors of red, blue, green, yellow and white. Well, the contest ends tomorrow but I decided to stretch my free time a little longer and pick five photos from my archives that fit the requirements. I hope you enjoy the colorful trip through my corner of the world.
Blue – public art in Lynnwood, WA
Green – Picture Lake just off the Mt. Baker Highway
White – Another view from the Mt. Baker Highway
Yellow – Flowers in Edmonds, WA
Red – Flowers on my deck in Edmonds, WA
To finish my post I would like to suggest the following five bloggers look through their archives for colorful photos.
Around and About the Pacific Northwest
Perceptive Pot Clueless Kettle
Wordless Wednesday: 9-25-13
Travel Theme: Through
Alisa’s weekly travel theme is all about the word “through”. You never know what will come into focus through these view finders but this time we saw crystal clear views of Mt. Baker, migrating birds heading south for the winter and someone out for their last warm kayak trip of the season.
Posted as part of Where’s My Backpack’s weekly travel theme: Through
Wordless Wednesday 9-18-13
Black and White Tuesday: 9-10-13
Hiking in the Mt. Baker National Forest on a foggy summer day limited our views of the sky scraping mountain peaks but emphasized the beautiful rocks and landscape under our feet.
Wordless Wednesday: 8-28-13
Northwest Frame of Mind 