I’m dreaming of a grey Christmas. . .

I’m dreaming of a grey Christmas. . .

A grey and cloudy vista can be morale boosting or demoralizing. Personally I have no real preference. I like clouds. I can’t imagine a bright sunny Christmas day in the northwestern prairie where I live.

A tad more snow

Earlier this morning before the sun had finished rising over the hills, the scene invoked Homer’s “rosy-fingered dawn.” Still pretty, isn’t it?

River Sun

We went fishing this afternoon, and the sun was low by 2 PM. The flying saucer-like object in the center of my photo is likely some sort of lens artifact.

I think my husband’s photo invokes the essence of the day’s crispness and contrast exquisitely.

Golden Thanksgiving Morning

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for the beauty God has given us. The sunlight’s gleaming gold crested the fields and basalt hills only briefly. Clouds recaptured the hills immediately after I took the photo.

Fields Spring State Park

Fields Spring State Park is four miles south of Anatone, Washington (pop. 38). The Park’s vistas, pleasant walking trails, and clean rest rooms ensure our return visits at least once a year.

Red vine maple, an attractive accent along the trail. . .

 Fields Spring vista

Craig Mountain Panorama

A fallen fence provides scenic entropy.

Autumn’s first snow at dusk

Because of our relative proximity to the Mountain Time Zone about 170 miles east of us, dusk comes just before 4:00 PM these days.

Somewhere under the rainbow

Sky and landscape join as one; colors arc, one festal bowl to meet another. . .

The color of prairie

7:10 A.M. and the bronzen wheat will be light golden brown in about four minutes.

Lyon’s Ferry and Palouse Falls State Parks

Lyon’s Ferry State Park, site of our picnic lunch

Lyon’s Ferry State Park

Palouse Falls State Park: Everyone had the same idea to come here today. The parking lot near the falls was full, and we and others had to walk a quarter mile from a remote parking lot.

The walk from the remote parking was worth it; I love sage.

Basalt formations rock!

The 768-foot-high Palouse Falls

A basalt formation above the falls

The walk back from the falls to the remote parking is well worth it again.

Railroad bridge at Lyon’s Ferry, as we head home

Tug at Lyon’s Ferry Marina, where we purchased refreshing fruit before heading home.

This mama wild turkey had a brood of chicks in tow under cover of tall grass near Starbuck, WA (zero connection to the coffee company).

Windmills between Dayton and Pomeroy contribute electrical power to Eastern Washington state, known as the Inland Empire.

20th Anniversary Road Trip, Part 2

For the second installment of our 20th anniversary road trip, my husband and I decided to revisit Lower Granite Dam because of its varied scenery and proximity, and the fact that the slow-healing bone bruise on my spine did not cry out for hiking. The dam is in a beautiful area between Clarkston and Pullman, along the Snake River. Heading home, we were entertained by a troupe of pelicans flocking on the Snake River near the Port of Clarkston.

It was a lovely, warm, sunny day, full but not taxing, and there was even time to divert to the Co-Op in Moscow, where I bought a couple of ounces of licorice tea before heading home.

Please click photo for larger image.

Kirby Mayview

Our picnic spot below Lower Granite Dam

Fish ladder at Lower Granite Dam

Fish ladder

Boyer Park

Syringa

Pelicans on Snake River near the Port of Clarkston