
Wordless Wednesday


When I learned that today’s Word Press Daily Prompt was “Record,” nothing came to my mind. Hours later, it occurred to me that I am recording the work my friends and I are doing in Seattle’s Greenbelt, in part by taking photographs!
From time to time during the last few weeks, I have been digging out a carpet that has been buried in the Greenbelt for decades. I discovered the carpet on a day I was trying to remove blackberry root balls and couldn’t get a shovel to go into the ground.
At that time, I scraped away some dirt and saw this.
When I removed more of the dirt, I found what was keeping me from digging. It is hard to tell from this photo, but what you are seeing is a dirty carpet.

Earlier in the day I had noticed this:

I had uncovered a scrub brush in the Greenbelt the day before, so when I first saw this piece of plastic I thought it might be another brush. After finding the buried carpet though, I realized that what I had thought might turn out to be bristles was actually part of the unraveling carpet.

The carpet was big and heavy. In some places it was three layers thick, so I didn’t know if I would be able to move it enough to free it from the roots, blackberries and ivy but I kept at it.




Yesterday, I finally succeeded in freeing the carpet and rolling it up.


It is too heavy for me to move so that will have to wait until there is a group of people who can take it away. Hopefully that will be tomorrow when a city work team comes to cut down more of the blackberry vines.
Moments after rolling up the carpeting, this caught my eye.

That will have to be a project for a different day!
Spring is beginning to show itself, although not as fast as I would like. The trees are beginning to bud and the tulips leaves are pushing their way up through the ground. The red tulips that were in my garden last year were stunning.
To see the photos click on this link: # MondayRed

Last Thursday, as I was coming out of my doctor’s office, I could tell that someone was calling me on the phone, even though the ringer was off. I decided to stand near a window to take the call. When I looked out the window, I saw a seagull standing on the ledge in front of me. The bird appeared to be looking at the building across the street.
I was on the phone for a while. During that time, the seagull stood completely still. When I finished the call, I decided to photograph it. Within moments, the bird began to move. At times I felt like it was posing for me!



This was my favorite photo of them all.

I am aware that if I hadn’t taken the call, I would never have seen the seagull and would have missed out on this wonderful, unexpected, experience.
Weekly Photo Challenge: The Road Taken

Shared with Senior Salon

Every time I thought about “A Good Match,” my mind went back to a 2013 photo. I felt a sense of fascination when I first saw this tromboncino squash…. and I am still fascinated by it. To me it is the epitome of a good match.

Tromboncino squash are considered summer squash and are used in the same way as zucchini.
What I find most interesting about this form of squash, though, is that if you allow it to continue to grow, it will turn into a winter squash. In that process, it changes color and the skin becomes hard. The inside becomes sweet and reminds me of acorn squash. I really love eating it at that point.
I also love how big the squash grows. This one was five feet long!

(I took the photo above by taking a picture of myself in a mirror. My arms weren’t long enough to take it facing me. Besides, in 2013, I probably didn’t even know what a selfie was!)



I used to have repetitive dreams of being in a house that had a lot of secret rooms. When I walked down one hallway, I would inevitably discover a new hallway that led to rooms I hadn’t seen before. The house went on and on and provided me with a never ending adventure.
That is what it has been like for me to work in the Greenbelt. I enter one area after another that is covered by blackberry vines, ivy and bamboo. I never know what I will find on the other side of them.
One day my adventure started here.


As I cleared a path, I saw many downed trees.

Soon, I came across this tree. It looked as if a maple tree that had fallen had birthed a new tree.




I discovered that another part of the tree had traveled north and it too had become a maple tree.



Other parts of the tree had traveled to the west and to the south. There was a new tree at the end of the western portion. I haven’t reached the end of the southern part yet so I don’t know what I will find there.
It is mind-boggling to me that a tree which has been so beaten down by the environment has such a strong will to live, and due to that will has accomplished what seems impossible. I look forward to the day when all of the invasive plants have been removed and the trees can reach for the sky without being hindered.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Against The Odds

Shared with Senior Salon
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