Seagull Surveillance

Beware! As you enter the United States of America by crossing the bar into Tillamook Bay, there is an line of seagulls along the jetty.  These highly trained birds are suspiciously watching your every move. 

If you happened to throw a fish out of the boat though, they would instantly become your best friends.

Thanks for Keeping House

On this National Day of Service, I want to thank everyone who spent their valuable time today cleaning up our beaches.  It is so important to the wildlife, ocean, and ourselves to take care of our "home."

A special note of thanks to the coastal residents who, not only today, but everyday walk the sand picking up litter and disposing of it properly.  I am reminded of a sign I once saw at an elementary school...

Take care of yourself.

Take care of each other.

Take care of this place.

Deer Candy

According to this photo, I apparently started gardening very early in life.  Roses were my specialty and I am pretty sure Dad helped out some in the beginning.

Once I arrived at Saltair Station, I was advised by the locals that coastal roses are actually "deer candy."   Deer can strip a whole rose garden in a matter of minutes.

After learning this first hand (not heeding wise advice), my rose beds now contain Crocosmia which are less exciting to deer and a favorite hangout for hummingbirds.  They just don't smell as fragrant as the Mister Lincoln roses I grew up with!

Beginnings

But we have only begun

To love the Earth.

We have only begun

To imagine the fullness of life.

How could we tire of hope?

--so much is in bud...

We have only begun to know

The power that is in us if we would join

Our solitudes in the communion of struggle.

So much is unfolding that must

Complete its gesture,

So much is in bud.

--Denise Levertov

Easy to Believe

“It is easy to believe we are each waves 

and forget we are also the ocean.” 

- Jon Muth

I Shall Come Back

I shall be coming back to you 

From seas, rivers, sunny meadows, glens that hold secrets: 

I shall come back with my hands full 

Of light and flowers…

I shall bring back things I have picked up, 

Traveling this road or the other, 

Things found by the sea or in the pinewood. 

There will be a pine-cone in my pocket, 

Grains of pink sand between my fingers.

I shall tell you of a golden pheasant’s feather. 

Will you know me? 

--Hilda Conkling (age 10), 1922

All Things Connect

Humankind has not woven the web of life.  

We are but one thread within it.  

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. 

All things are bound together.  

All things connect. 

 ~Chief Seattle, 1855