Summer in the ponds

It's been awhile since I walked around the ponds. I got tired of seeing the same thing, and then I got sick. Today I went to town on the bus to pick up a library book and hit the farmer's market, and on the way home noticed how low the water is, so I thought I'd check out the change of scenery. That little family of ducks was adorable to watch, if hard to focus on. They were moving fast! More photos of them further down.

Back in the winter, water rushed under these bridges barely missing the walkway. Now, this one is just a pile of rocks and the one below isn't much better.

A yellow waterlily about to burst open here -- need to come back in a few days to check it out.

Wild sweet peas are just one of the many things I love about an Oregon summer.

Hard to tell what these are -- puffy purple balls, basically, in speckled light. Lots of wildflowers blooming today, though very little wildlife other than lots of beautiful dragonflies.

Much of the ponds are covered or nearly-covered in these lilipads. I wonder if they will bloom? More to check on later!

Obviously, I had fun watching these ducks!

To the uninitiated, this looks pretty boring. But that left bank, all the way along the ponds and further, is Oregon black gold. Wild blackberries! They are just coming into season and I expect to head out there more than a few mornings once the serious ripening starts. I get a little crazy for blackberry cobbler. I found a few today that were ripe and sweet.

Pretty and peaceful in the noon-day sunshine.

The state of the garden, at the moment. The squash plant is going bananas, the chard is still out-producing my ability to eat it. The nasturtiums are bright, and the rosemary loves the heat. I had to pull the parsley plants a few days ago because they were going to seed, not producing anymore leaves. I planted some seeds and hope to have more soon enough.

Looking close at the other end, the eggplant has a purple blossom opening and inside the red cage the pickling cucumber -- stunted by snails -- is also blossoming.

Spent $4 for a small container of fresh figs at the farmer's market this morning. I was thinking of fig season a couple of days ago, and while it was pricey, I was willing to pay it. Yum! I can eat lots of fresh figs when I get the chance.

And in the manner of small victories, I attached the swivel plastic door to the cat's enclosed litter box this morning and she didn't even hesitate to go through and back out. When I bought this box, several months ago, I wasn't brave enough to attach the door until she grew accustomed to the newness of the box. It's never wise to give a cat any reason to be uncomfortable with its litter box! Time passed and we both got used to the box the way it is, but I remembered the door today and it seems to work for both of us.

As I said. Small victories.

Sunshine, and the beauty of simple nature

Spectacularly bright and beautiful day at the ponds this morning. Not the first sunny day we've had, by any means, but the first day of any kind that I've felt like walking down there for about 6 weeks now. Whatever that virus was, it was a doozy. But I began to notice the return of energy and the departure of malaise and depression a couple of days ago, and it continues. My legs still feel weak, and I don't walk fast, and I begin to feel tired before I get home, but still..... progress! I'll take it. So soul-satisfying to be walking these favorite paths on such a beautiful day and not ONE human encounter the entire time. They will be out in droves as the sunny days progress, but this morning the ponds were all mine. Mine and the birds, that is. Lots of those, too!

Lupine blooming everywhere, in great clusters like this and swaths of sunny hillside. One of my favorite wildflowers.

Then there was this. Way over on the far side I noticed these tracks and scratches in the gravel. I put my foot in there intentionally, to show the size of that print. Could be a big dog, I guess -- a really big dog. There's a matching one in the shadows to the right. Seems like too much of an urban area for big cats, as in cougars, even with all the acres of wetland and nature. It also seems possible that the one nearest my foot could be a human hand, so maybe not so mysterious.

So -- a wonderful walk to start my day. I see more to come, as my body continues to recover from the onslaught.

Another day, another lettuce wrap, a little snow

I had some fresh hummus leftover that I needed to use, and a hankering for some ground beef (normally enjoyed as a taco inside a tortilla with sauteed onions and red bell peppers).

But I'm still on this wrap gig, so I did a little perusing of other wrap recipes and ended up with my own version.

Mixed half an avocado with some of the hummus and spread it on three lettuce leaves, topped with little meatballs made with an easy, luscious Asian sauce.

Then I topped that with a mixture of raw veggies and mango tossed with lime juice. Topped it all off with a drizzle of sweet Thai chili sauce. Didn't really taste this much in the end product, so I should have used more but it's a new product to me and I didn't want to go overboard.

Gotta say, it was delicious. The Asian sauce was a mix of equal quantities of honey, fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil, added to the skillet about a minute before balls were ready to eat, then let the sauce form a glaze during that last minute.

Really nice, all in all, though I have to admit that while it looks like a lot of food, I do not feel full after eating it for some reason. Probably because I'm used to more filling, heavier foods. Still, there was a quarter pound of beef in there, plus the hummus and avocado and various veggies. An hour later, I'm still hungry. Of course, that could be because I spent 45 minutes on the cycle machine at the gym earlier and then went for a brisk 35 minute walk right after lunch. You think? Burning a lot of calories.

I took that walk because I wanted to get some photos of all the snow on the hills around here, and thought the bike bridge would be the best place to get them, since it's the highest point in these parts. Earlier, when I went to the gym around 8:30, the skies were clear enough that I could see the hills all around. By the time the sun began to shine, around noon when I headed out, the hills were mostly all clouded in. Bummer!

I took this photo because of the Frank Lloyd Wright quote: Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. Every sign has a quote on it, sometimes from people who surprise me.

At any rate. I've lived in Oregon for the better part of 15 years, all in all, so you'd think I'd know not to head out of the house in weather like this without a jacket or umbrella, but like a rookie I was fooled by a little sunshine. It was brisk, too, but I was more concerned about rain on my camera.

Wasn't long before I realized the mistake, but of course I wouldn't turn back. Just hustled down to the bridge.

Heavy use of telephoto over the top of car dealership. This is the southside, near where I lived for awhile.

It looked much better this morning, when it was clear and every rooftop stood out bright and white. But since I'd walked all the way down here.....

Looking back towards home, from the bridge. You can't see where I live from here, but it's around a couple more bends in the road right about where those apartment buildings on the right meet the road.

Notice the lowering, black clouds coming in.

Far in the distance, show on the Coburg hills. Yesterday when I drove to the gym, these hills were white from top to bottom, and of course, quite clearly so. Funny how that so rarely happens when I have the camera handy.

I made it about halfway home before the first wet stuff started coming down, but it only lasted a moment and by then I'd put the camera under my sweatshirt. I was also mentally making a list of the various shelters between there and home. A bus stop, the parking lot for pond viewing closest to home. But, though the rain was coming down it wasn't heavy and I didn't get soaked.