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{Glimpses} At the right place at the right time…

My bird obsession has really hit an all time high. When driving the back roads, I will pull over every time  I see birds, but when I see a whole field of birds I get extra excited. Today when I was driving home, I saw a bunch of people pulled over on the side of the road. To the right, there was a field completely full of snow geese and behind that, a field of daffodils in full bloom. In February, the daffodils started blooming and in March we’ve been experiencing spring weather and the promise of tulips on the way – which is all a bit out of character and much earlier than normal. The snow geese and trumpeter swans have been around for awhile, but they are getting ready to leave soon and the blooming of the fields doesn’t always cross over with the birds still being around. Seeing the moving blanket of white next to the solid blanket of yellow is reason to pause and soak in the splendor.

I pulled over at just the right time and I was so grateful that I had my camera with me in the car. The sound was incredible and all of a sudden, the birds took flight. They were swirling overhead and honking, shimmering in the sun – TONS of them as far as the eye could see. I think one of the coolest things that I witnessed was all of the people in total awe on the side of the road looking up into the sky, and not down at their phones. Some had cameras because they had come out to the flats to see the daffodils but many were just watching. Afterwards, everyone got into their cars to drive away, all with smiles on their faces.

I found this little video of a the snow geese in Skagit Valley, filmed not too far from where I was today and I wanted share so you can sort of see/hear what I mean. 

I love how simple things like this can totally make my day.  Nothing like the beginning of spring time to help put a pep in your step. 

What makes you pull the car over or stop in your tracks?



{inspiration} family night out…

It’s that time again – the tulip fields are starting to bloom & our rubber boots are out.  Like every year, one of the local bulb farms has what they call “locals night” where they let those of us that live in the area into the fields to ride the tractors, play in the mud, take tons of photos, & enjoy the fields before tourists come in bus loads. It’s a family tradition to attend & Sayer has been to this event ever since he was born.  Today was cloudy & raining all day, but the sun came out just in time. The light & color was perfect.  We have family visiting from Boston so we had a chance to show off our beautiful surroundings tonight. Sayer was particularly interested in the puddles & his reflection. However, his last jump landed him bum down in the mud so…. it was time to go home. It was a fun evening. How’s your week going?

* If you didn’t get your Tulip Town photo fix, you can view “Locals night – 2011” here

Corn mazes, tractors, & apples… oh my!

Today Sayer and I celebrated a local event, Festival of Family Farms, by visiting Gordon’s Skagit Farms– one of my favorite places in the valley. I picked out my pumpkins in Gordon’s pumpkin patch every year growing up. I even found a double pumpkin when I was in 5th grade if that gives you any idea of how magical a place it is. I took the first college painting class that I taught, on a field trip there to paint on location. So, I really enjoy taking Sayer to Gordon’s when I have the opportunity.


I learned that Sayer is really good at finding his way through a corn maze. He is like a little GPS. It was awesome to watch him cruise through the mazes. There were also lots of carts to fill with either apples or pumpkins. We just used it to ride around in & push- we’re going to get our pumpkins a little later…

But really what we spent most of our time doing, was going from one tractor to another. Sayer can’t get enough of sitting and pretending to drive so he was in heaven. There were 4 different tractors scattered about – every vintage. 

Every now and then, we needed to let someone else get on the tractors. Which gave us a perfect opportunity to go visit the chickens.

After the last tractor ride, Sayer picked out some apples & some cider before we headed home. It was a nice way to say hello to October! What did you do this weekend?

Corn mazes, tractors, & apples… oh my!

Today Sayer and I celebrated a local event, Festival of Family Farms, by visiting Gordon’s Skagit Farms– one of my favorite places in the valley. I picked out my pumpkins in Gordon’s pumpkin patch every year growing up. I even found a double pumpkin when I was in 5th grade if that gives you any idea of how magical a place it is. I took the first college painting class that I taught, on a field trip there to paint on location. So, I really enjoy taking Sayer to Gordon’s when I have the opportunity.


I learned that Sayer is really good at finding his way through a corn maze. He is like a little GPS. It was awesome to watch him cruise through the mazes. There were also lots of carts to fill with either apples or pumpkins. We just used it to ride around in & push- we’re going to get our pumpkins a little later…

But really what we spent most of our time doing, was going from one tractor to another. Sayer can’t get enough of sitting and pretending to drive so he was in heaven. There were 4 different tractors scattered about – every vintage. 

Every now and then, we needed to let someone else get on the tractors. Which gave us a perfect opportunity to go visit the chickens.

After the last tractor ride, Sayer picked out some apples & some cider before we headed home. It was a nice way to say hello to October! What did you do this weekend?

Corn mazes, tractors, & apples… oh my!

Today Sayer and I celebrated a local event, Festival of Family Farms, by visiting Gordon’s Skagit Farms– one of my favorite places in the valley. I picked out my pumpkins in Gordon’s pumpkin patch every year growing up. I even found a double pumpkin when I was in 5th grade if that gives you any idea of how magical a place it is. I took the first college painting class that I taught, on a field trip there to paint on location. So, I really enjoy taking Sayer to Gordon’s when I have the opportunity.


I learned that Sayer is really good at finding his way through a corn maze. He is like a little GPS. It was awesome to watch him cruise through the mazes. There were also lots of carts to fill with either apples or pumpkins. We just used it to ride around in & push- we’re going to get our pumpkins a little later…

But really what we spent most of our time doing, was going from one tractor to another. Sayer can’t get enough of sitting and pretending to drive so he was in heaven. There were 4 different tractors scattered about – every vintage. 

Every now and then, we needed to let someone else get on the tractors. Which gave us a perfect opportunity to go visit the chickens.

After the last tractor ride, Sayer picked out some apples & some cider before we headed home. It was a nice way to say hello to October! What did you do this weekend?