Winters in Washington State can seem rather long. I know, we sound very whiny to people with ‘real’ winters, like in Minnesota. “Can you even call it winter, when it rarely drops below freezing,” I imagine they would jeer. Fortunately, one of our kindliest and most supportive blog readers is in Minnesota, and she never mocks our winters.
This winter has been a bit on the cloudy and wet side, and it starts to get people down. I’ve noticed a general malaise and discouragement among many of my peers. As they say, “Waning windy western Washington winters weary wet workers” (well, OK, only Elmer Fudd actually says that). Happily, God seems to provide a respite in the latter half of February, such that we often get a couple of days of warmth and sunshine before the rains of March set in.
This afternoon I was working upstairs, and I noticed Mount Rainier from my bedroom window, peeking from behind a stand of tall Douglas Fir trees. I ran downstairs. “Kids, let’s go find us a Mountain,” I shouted.
While we were out, I noticed a plane about to hit the moon. As you see, it was a near thing.
Many visitors to our fine state deny the existence of Mount Rainier, never having actually seen it during their visit. “It’s just a big hoax,” they assert. “Kind of sad, really, to make up a mountain so that people will think they have some scenery in their swampy, pathetic state,” they sneer. (Truth be told, we’re fine with that — it is crowded enough here already — we don’t need a lot of Californians moving north.)
Too bad this isn’t the view from my window …
Still, when the weather is clear, we rush out to take pictures to send to our friends and relatives. When we first moved here, Kathy’s folks visited us for a nine-day stretch. It rained the whole time, and they never saw the mountain at all.
Daniel, David and I found a good spot where we could see the mountain pretty clearly, and I tried out Kathy’s new tripod, hoping to get a decent picture or two. The light was a bit hazy — I probably should have gone out earlier in the day for a better picture.
We try not to put our children on a pedestal …
With a glorious, warm, sunshine-y day like that, we felt we just had to celebrate. What luck that the kids all had gift certificates from Baskin Robbins!
Daniel was determined to try all 31 flavors, but his survey was cut short by impatient parents.
Tim
Project 366, Day 39
Another fine blog brought to you by Tim “Rakin’ in the Chips”, Blogger for Hire.
