Mist

The mist in the mornings is amazing, so thick sometimes  you can only see a few feet ahead. It makes for the most awesome light!

 

A Seattle Sunset

When the skies are clear, the sunsets here are so colourful and brilliant.  We had a late-in-the-day walk with the dog.  He is very accommodating, stopping and “posing” in just the right spot!

We are really enjoying having an area to walk in so close to home.  In the late afternoons, you have the lights of the neighbouring houses peeking through the trunks of the trees.

My youngest was really excited to discover holly.

Autumn Fairy

One of our neighbours recommended Stevens Pass as one of the best places to see the fall colours, so I was really excited when we had the opportunity to visit up there.  We did not get much notice, so I had to put together a costume real quick.  I was glad I had been planning for a while.

We put together a headdress from autumn leaves and cream flowers.  (ps glue gun + haste = burnt fingers) I had wanted to experiment with a black swan dress I had had for a while.   I roped in my husband to play assistant.  It rained intermittently, so we made use of the first break of the clouds.  The clouds created awesome soft light.

 

 

 

Fetching our puppy

We are quickly on our way to winter (we haven’t had one yet!  Left Melbourne at the beginning of autumn and arrived in Seattle at the beginning of spring.)  Shortly after we arrived, we found a lovely family selling Golden Retriever puppies.  The catch was that they were in Quincy, on the other side of the mountain.  It was a great opportunity to see more of Washington state.

There is lots of farmland, with beautiful houses and barns.  The trees were all budding new leaves, bright-green all along the roads.

Snow was melting up in the mountain passes.  Small waterfalls were pouring down the mountain sides next to the road.

We drove past some of the ski resorts, the closest we have ever been to snow.

Our puppy was just too sweet in the car.  He cuddled with the kids, they were fighting about who got to sit next to him.

He kept looking out the back window when we drove away from the farm where he was born.

The other side of the mountain is not nearly as hilly as where we stay.  Lots of beautiful lakes and low rolling hills and large plains filled with farmland and wind farms.

We made a few pitstops for Binks to take a walk and stretch his legs.  (We made it home with no accidents!)

 

It was a beautiful trip!  Loved seeing more of the country.

First Days in Seattle

We arrived in Seattle during the first days of spring, with regular blue skies and bright flowers starting to peek out everywhere. 

After so many hours travelling, we were grateful to arrive at our temporary home in Redmond.  The corporate housing was very pretty, with a great view over the river out the back.  It was in a complex with lots of families around.  The kids had friends to play with every day.  The stairs just weren’t so great up to the bedrooms.  They were quite steep and all of us slipped at least once, hubby taking a fall.

 

Driving there was interesting, especially since we were tired.  “Wrong side of the road” kept making it feel like we would be t-boned every time we turned left.  A friend had given us the tip “righty tighty, lefty loosy”.  It doesn’t just work for opening jars.  When you turn right, keep tight to the edge and when you turn left, keep loose.  It is easy when there are lots of cars around, since you mostly follow the other drivers.  The concentration has to kick in when you are the only driver around. The roads are mostly quite well-marked and spacious, which made it a lot easier.

The trees here are tall and green, new shoots were budding everywhere.  The cloudy skies were something to watch, the kids finding creatures in the sky.

 

A beautiful walking trail runs behind the corporate housing.  It runs along the river.  It was permanently filled with families walking their dogs, cycling or rowing on the river.

  

All the streets are lined with trees as well.  It makes you feel a lot closer to nature.  All the plants and trees camouflages the buildings.  It doesn’t feel like you are close to a city.

Redmond is really beautiful.  We are slowly finding our way around and getting lost a lot less often!