Summer in Cool Seattle

Yesterday afternoon my little dog, Kuro, and I went walking in the pleasantly cool weather we have been having lately here in Seattle.

We stopped at some blackberry bushes and I sampled my first wild blackberries this year. It seems that mid-July is a little early for the blackberries to be ripening but you can't argue with the sweet taste of ripe berries.

Ripe blackberries - July 10, 2016.

A little further along our walk I was looking at some Big Leaf Maple flyers and remembered that as a child playing with my siblings and friends we would pop open the seed part of the flyer, remove the seed, lick the inside of the now empty flyer and stick the wing to our nose. After I tried a few without success I remembered they had to be ripe and dried out before that would work. Probably just as well since I can't imagine what passersby would have thought if I'd been able to glue one of those things to my nose and walk on down the street. "Hey, Sally, look at that goofy old man with the funny thing on his nose!"

Maple flyers not quite ready to serve as nose wings.

This evening I decided to leave Ikuko to watch the depressing news of the world and took my little dog out early to survey the other results of the unusual warm weather we had earlier in the year.

Along one side of a nearby playground there is a patch of wild roses. Earlier in the year their fragrance would float down the hill and draw me closer to that sweet smell remembered from summer days long ago. Two years ago the park service cut the whole patch right back to the ground but they have regrown and are nicer than ever.

Wild Rose flower and fruits.

Colorful Wild Rose hips and blooms.

An unusual white (maybe albino?) Wild Rose flower just as sweet.

We came across a Mountain Ash with branches beginning to droop with the weight of the ripening fruit. The old folks would say it's going to be a cold winter when the Mountain Ash has lots of fruit.

Mountain Ash fruit ripening a little early.

On the north side of a protected rockery I found a Bleeding Heart still in bloom.

Bleeding Heart snuggled up against the side of a north facing rockery.

On a nearby south facing rockery we saw a Hen and Chicks, or maybe the Rooster of the family sending up a bloom stalk similar, but on a much smaller scale, to the way the Yucca families erupt with flower stalks.

Exposed on a south facing rockery this succulent thrives in the long summer days.

Here in the city some plants are forced to eke out an existence under difficult circumstances. We see Salal here and there and Oregon Grape is also found by roadsides and even in some yards. 

This, and most, Oregon Grape looks healthy this year, but is barren.

This year the Salal is doing fine but the Oregon Grape seems to be having a tough time. Some of the plants have just a few fruits but most are barren. Many of the Oregon Grape plants had small mummified fruit where the bright blue berries should have been.

Urban Salal bearing plump fruits.

Oregon Grape with just a few meager berries.

In another park where there is the right micro-climate we saw a nice crop of Fire Weed blooming earlier than usual, already about one-quarter up the stalk as its buds open, flowers attract the hungry bees and then the seed pods form.

Buds to flowers to seed pods as the Fire Weed attracts bees all summer.

Kuro and I agree that walking, even through our city neighborhood, is much more pleasant than watching the TV news-people rehashing events of the day, week and year, ad nauseam. 

While walking I also find it pleasant to challenge people to smile. If I smile and give a pleasant greeting most people will reciprocate, some with a wide smile, some with just a pleasant "Hello," although there is the occasional sourpuss who will rudely ignore the greeting and walk on by with head down.

Even that occasional snub is inconsequential if I treat it as a game and instead count the friendly returns. 

I agree with Louis Armstrong as he sings:

"Grab your coat and get your hat

Leave your worries on the doorstep
Life can be so sweet
On the sunny side of the street"