We have had some nice weather when the wind doesn’t blow, and I got out with my kayak on one of the local lakes earlier this week. It was quite lovely. There were fewer birds than I expected, a few people fishing and that man with the strange board buzzing around everywhere at high speed.
I love to watch and photograph birds from my kayak. It is very quiet and animals are more comfortable around it than around an upright person. Of course, it’s not a stable platform and it’s always moving at least a little bit so not the absolute best for photography but still.
This time I found a very cooperative and tiny Western Wood Peewee that called and called and I am surprised I didn’t get any images with its mouth open. Also a baby American Robin, an immature gull and the elegant Common Loons. Topping it of was a beaver, dragging a branch to its lodge to feed its youngsters.
And on a hike I found a couple new to me, wildflowers.
Molly’s dad was hoping to get Molly some experience in his new canoe and I just wanted to enjoy some lake time before winter really gets started. Molly got very little experience and after jumping out of the canoe twice, she got to spend the rest of the afternoon in the truck. Next time I won’t be along to distract her. There were quite a few ducks, some grebes, a couple of herons and an otter to provide entertainment as we enjoyed one of the last nice afternoons.
It had been a long time since I had my boat out on the water. Last year I suffered from moderate to severe back pain for months on end and I was unable to load and unload the boat on my own so it gathered dust in the garage for over a year and a half. This year I am feeling much better and yesterday I took it out to Patterson Lake and enjoyed the beauty and solitude of an April morning. Two weeks ago the lake was covered in ice.
My dear friend came to visit from Wenatchee early this week and we got to enjoy good times spent outdoors. She and I learned to paddle kayaks on the Columbia and now she is a competitive paddler while I simply enjoy a day in my boat whenever I can. I do miss the water of the big river. Up here I have small lakes and they have their own charm, that’s for sure. On Monday we took our boats over the North Cascades to Diablo Lake, a reservoir on the Skagit River. Diablo and Ross Lakes both have greenish-colored water from all the glacial deposits of the high Cascade Mountains. They are deep and cold. We had smooth glassy water to begin and as we went up the gorge we had a nice wind behind us. Of course that was a wind we had go against on the return trip. As we got to the big open water, it was pretty stiff and we had an interesting swell when we turned up the Thunder Arm of the lake. It was lots of fun!
The next day we had planned a hike to a lookout but after a big rain storm and the threat of more rain showers we decided to stay closer to the valley bottom and enjoyed a nice three mile walk in the woods. The early morning rain left everything fresh and fragrant. The flowers were outstanding. The scent of the wild roses was enough to make a person swoon. Well, maybe not so much. It was lovely though. I managed to lose my lens cap along the way so if you are on the Patterson Lake trail and find a small lens cap, please let me know.
My Everyday Photos 