Solstice and strawberry moon

Yesterday I went down to a beach just after 5 am and watched the solstice sunrise with friends. There were seals, possibly an otter, a hummingbird, and passing orcas. There was a faint sundog to one side of the rising sun.

In the evening I mediated and watched the full moon rise just before 9:30. There were seals, an eagle in the tree above us, drummers on the other point, and a collection of people who are good to spend time with.

Solstice and strawberry moon, all at once. I’m told that it will be 70 years till it happens again. I made a conscious decision not to take a camera, in order to be in the moment, but I took some snaps with my phone.

The world is a beautiful place, especially where we live.

Pink…

The dianthus is blooming.

… and blue. This is some kind of ornamental (?) onion that pops up in the lavender bed every year. It’s very subtle but I really like it.

Odds and ends

A few photos from around the yard.

More crocuses

Crocuses are just endlessly fascinating.

February 9th: spring is evidently here.

I guess this means gardening is in my future….

Crocus crop

They’ve been busily popping up everywhere…. and I’m finally getting round to posting some pictures of them.

Green and green

Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)

It’s amazing how different the greens of different kinds of lichen can be.

British soldiers (Cladonia bellidiflora)

 

For a grey day, some colour

This was left over from taking photos of autumn leaves a few weeks ago.

Green ice

Well, it has green reflections from the cedar, at any rate.

 

In the pond waterfall

It’s all about the colour.

Fern and sky

Let’s put in a pretty picture after all that ranting.

Leaves on ice

I simply can’t resist ice. And things on it or in it. And these leaves were being particularly lovely, what with the frosty trimmings.  

Autumn: looking up

And up…

And up…

And down.

Autumn hydrangea

It’s pissing rain right now, so I’ll pretend it’s nicer weather and post some pictures taken a week or so ago, of the hydrangea.

This is the same plant I posted pictures of here.

Even as the flowers turn over and fade it stays beautiful.

Today’s forest

Overcast, but not raining—but there had been rain during the night. Now that the rains have started up everything is starting to look so GREEN.

Grey

But not all grey. One last picture from the excursion to the Interior; mostly last year’s pinecones, but there are a few from this year too.

Primary colours

Red, blue, and almost yellow.

The other irises

The owners who landscaped around our yard and around the pond, long before we bought the property, planted yellow flag irises. Sigh. Much of my yard work every summer is a long, futile, and very muddy attempt to fight this invasive species back. (One strategy I’ve seen described: cover the plants with a heavy tarp, weight it down, make sure it extends well beyond the area of the plants; leave the tarp in place for several YEARS and you MIGHT kill them.)

But elsewhere in the yard—in a dry spot—there’s another iris. I don’t know what it is, some sort of purple flag? I don’t think it’s a native variety, but it’s hard to know. Unlike most irises I’ve seen, it’s got very subtle colours—the purple and yellow together almost have a brownish tinge. The flowers are smaller and seem less floppy than many irises. It’s so self-effacing that the flowers always take me by surprise: omg, there are flowers here!

It’s not flashy, but it sure is elegant.

I do like water lilies.

Don’t you?

Peekaboo.

Look at me in all my glory

In light…

…or in shadow, against the blues

And white isn’t too shabby either!