Picnics - 9/13/14

Or - Lemon Tree, Very Pretty and the Lemon Flower Is Sweet...

I think I've said this before, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!" 

(Thank you, Mr. Burns)

Aye, and I was looking for that promis'd joy and it weren't coming.

The day before yesterday, we were all ready for a picnic on the lake. Our bags were packed, we were ready to go, the mini was waiting, just out the door. But, unfortunately, the mini was...kaput. 

Ja, das verdammte Auto würde nicht starten. Die Batterie war tot.

ARGH!!

I hate it when my plans go agley.

So after some wrangling and frustration, we got the Emergency Roadside Assistance (Thank you, USAA, and me for adding that service) to come out and tell me that the battery was dead.

OK, long story short (Too late, Bozo!!), we got the mini jumped and she's a-working jes fine now.

So then, yesterday, we tried to get back our missing picnic. Note the words, 'we tried'.

I thought we'd try someplace different. Remember, we found a real gem in Lincoln Park the other day and I was hoping lighting could strike twice so I went to Google Maps and scoured the area near us for a likely location.

I thought I had found one at Seahurst Park...it's along the Sound a bit south of Lincoln Park. 

Off we went!!

First bad omen was that Garmin, usually a trusty scout, took us to a Seahurst Park that was protected, gated community. 

Hmmmmmm, not good.

So I chose the second Seahurst Park and Ol' Garmin took us there...to the right park. Unfortunately, it was a bright, sunny, pleasant Saturday. The park was jammed packed.

To get to the beach, I would have had to park about a half mile away, no problem, and then carry everything down the hill to the beach.

If I go down then, logically, to return I must go...up.

I'm not a big fan of up. Not at all.

We scrubbed this mission.

But on our original trip, getting lost, we saw some interesting sights and so we drove back to them to get some pictures. Get something out of it, right?

And we got this...can you imagine, you round the corner heading home after a hard day of slopping coffee at the local Starbucks and, BAM!! you get this view.

Kinda cool, eh?

We drove on just a bit more and found a viewpoint where we could overlook the Sound...and the ferries.

At one point, we could see four ferries operating.

And we could see some of the shoreline around Des Moines. Ah, the tough life.

And finally this shot of a Washington Ferry plying the Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

And it smelled good, too.

Ok, you get lemons, yada-yada-yada...and we headed off in a different direction.

First stop was a Goodwill. We've become quite adept at haunting the local Goodwills and Vinny de Pauls for fun AND bargains.

Yeah, fun. It's fun to wander around and look at some of the wild things they have for sale there. So we stopped at the Goodwill we'd passed on the way in. I figured, with all the tony houses out there they'd have some classy stuff in this store.

Hahahaha, nope. In fact, I think the Vinny de Paul over in Renton has a better selection. Regardless, Carol got another bird book, The Backyard Bird Feeding Bible. Who woulda thunk they'd be able to make a book on that topic, eh? And it's a fairly large tome, too.

Having had our fun at Goodwill, we went to our old standby, Our Park. The one over by the Renton Airfield.

And it was just as lovely as I expected it to be. We'd arrived with a couple hours of daylight left and it was beautiful. The light was great, the breeze was cool and the solitude was needed. Now, having mentioned solitude I have to point out there was a man sitting at the picnic table, reading a book; a family, hanging round their truck and watching the planes come in and go out; and another couple sitting off to our left near the lake. In other words, this is a busy little park but we always feel like we've got it all to ourselves when we're there.

Go figure.

We found our spot in the shade and spread out our blanket and had our dinner. Things just taste better when you're eating with a lake-view. Turkey burgers and potato salad. Mmmmmm...

AND, a great view. We get to watch the planes coming and going...

...and, occasionally, we get a laugh from something like this!!

"DEVIL QUEEN OF NY - WILL YOU MARRY ME!!"

Whadya think? Did she say yes!?!

Here's a view of the park...you can just about make out Carol sitting on our blanket at the crest of this small rise...just to the left of the left-most tree in this picture. The airfield is off to the left of that.

After a nice dinner/picnic I got the bug to go over to the Cedar River and see if the salmon were running and so, off we went.

To the Cedar River. They have some nice paths along the river.

And a picture of Carol. 

Pretty nice!!

 

And some more wildlife...there were a lot of ducks settling down for the evening.

I still marvel at ALL the wildlife we're able to see here. I mean, we're living within six or so miles of Seattle, Washington and we're seeing ospreys. eagles, killdeer, ducks, Canada Geese, raccoons, chickens, squirrels, flickers, seagulls, herons and salmon swimming up river.

You can't say that if you're living in L.A. or New York!! Plus, the weather here is Smokin'!!

Shhhhhh, I'm trying to sleep!! I'm not dead!!

And this river is right there!! It's always got water and, unlike the Rio Grande running through El Paso, this water is clean!! You can float down the river or wade into it for fun. 

Right there!! 

Understand, I grew up in L.A. and all the rivers were concrete with a small trickle of water running down the culvert in the center. Having this river so close and so accessible is really a treat.

The sun was behind the mountains and dusk was fast coming on. Things were winding down for the ducks and for us. We'd walked and talked and even sang a very bad rendition of Under the Boardwalk together. Good thing it was late and there weren't many people around. 

We could have been arrested for verbal abuse...several times at least.

G'nite, Little Buddies!! 

And you too, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

And now I'm playing a little catch up. We were at our park and saw this Fine Fellow doing some hunting. It's an Osprey. He'll be migrating soon, heading to some tropical paradise but, for now, he's ours and we always enjoy seeing him.

It's cool to watch him hovering in one place turning his head left and right scanning for the small glint of light off a fish.

And when he sees that, the wings fold back slightly and, swoosh, he is down, into the water and then back up with dinner in his talons.

It's tough for me to follow these guys without a viewfinder on my camera so any pictures I get of him are really just strokes of luck. I'm strongly considering getting another Point 'N Shoot camera with a viewfinder. Strongly...gotta save some dough, though.

Hahahaha, ain't that the way, eh?

So, we took our lemons and made some lemonade. It was semi-frustrating but we were able to salvage something out of it. 

Because, life is short and going through it pissed off and angry is no fun at all.

Hahaha, gotta learn to laugh at myself a bit more.

Life is good.

(Albeit a wee bit frustrating at times.)

  Hooah!!