As the days continue to get longer and lovelier, work continues to get busier, leaving me less time and energy to leave the apartment. During the hectic days of April and May, I dream of summer when work will be comparatively quiet, and there will plenty of time for all sorts of adventures. For now, I'll have to settle for watching the ever changing spring weather outside the window over my desk, and make the most of weekends. This weekend, we had plans that kept us close to home, but we still had time for a couple long walks on the Powerline Trail and around Redmond. The neighborhood is constantly changing this time of year. For every tree that has already shed its blooms, four more are just beginning to burst into flower. Spring can feel so fleeting, but there while the specific varieties may change, there will be plenty of blooms to find for many months!
Read moreLife: Week 13
Spring is most definitely, finally here! The early cherries are blooming, and there nearly everything else is covered in tiny buds. On sunny days, the breeze carries the distinct scent of cherry blossoms. After a lazy Saturday recovering from a stressful week, we decided to explore a nearby lowland trail. I'd actually hiked a couple of short loops in the Paradise Valley Conservation Area with my mom and her dogs, but Andy had never been! We were both surprised by how lovely the trails were, although the shared mountain bike trails were extra muddy from all those bike tracks! It was mostly a wet and cloudy walk, but the sun did briefly come out as we made our way back to the trailhead. I was happy to see tons of trillium and fern fiddleheads poking through the undergrowth, sure signs that spring is marching ahead!
Read moreLife: Week 12
After a long wet winter, it's finally beginning to feel like spring! It rained almost every day this week, but most days, there were at least a few hours of sunshine. The rhubarb in my parents backyard has finally started to sprout, a promise of rhubarb pie in the near future. Skunk cabbage is blooming, and while I have yet to see any, I've heard the trillium is too. Even so, our March Alpine Trails Book Club hike on Saturday was surprisingly wintry. On a trail a little over 2000' above sea level, we wound up in an unexpected snowstorm. While the cold, damp weather made our 7 mile hike one of the quickest in book club history, the storm made for some magical conditions along the trail. Once again, winter seems reluctant to leave Puget Sound!
Read moreLife: Week 11
After a frustrating week filled with rain and too much work stress, it was extra lovely to have my cousin and her daughter visiting from Portland for the weekend! We spent the weekend brunching and aimlessly browsing bookstores. If I can't be out on a trail, bookstores are definitely my favorite place to be, so spending almost an entire weekend in them did wonders for my stress level, although my bank account certainly didn't benefit from all that book buying! If I keep this up, soon my to-read book pile will tower over my bed, and I may run the risk of waking up to a book avalanche one day soon. At least they're mostly paperbacks...
Read moreLife: Week 10
The photo above is not remotely representative of this past week! It was a week of rain, rain, and more rain, with just a few hours of patchy blue sky to remind us what we'd been missing. Obviously, the moment I saw sunlight hitting the trees outside my window, and I had to dash outside for a short walk on the Powerline Trail. While it still looks very much like winter out there, I was able to spot a few early bloomers. Hopefully there will be more to follow soon. I'm definitely ready for some color around here!
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