Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens, looking a little apocalyptic in a haze created by the Lake Chelan fire currently burning in eastern Washington.  Last year we visited here as the wildflowers were starting to bloom.  This year we overshot, with the main bloom of prairie lupine already past.  Too early, then too late.  Next year I hope to get it just right!

Gorge-ous Sunrise

After at least a dozen sunrise drives up the gorge in the past year, I was finally rewarded with a colorful sunrise! And in summer, no less! We left later than planned on Saturday so I thought I would miss the twilight and sunrise times, and I did. But maybe because of the heatwave we're going through, there was a surprising amount of haze in the air, and the sun rose weak and red, and the sky glowed a great peachy orange. A short backtracking detour to the westbound vista point near Multnomah Falls got me to the vantage point photographed here. Lucky, lucky timing!

Linking to Weekend Reflections and Skywatch Friday.

Caught Between Seasons

School started here yesterday, and the construction fence that has blocked the path between my subdivision and the schools is still in place, although a little worse for the wear after all the people who have squeezed through it this summer. I hope the work finishes soon; even though I don't have any kids in school this year, I use that path all the time walking Clover!

Linking to Good Fences

104° and Sunny

That was our weather forecast today, which is the same as tomorrow's and coincidentally, yesterday's.  Clouds don't figure into many weather forecasts in the summer here, and I tend to avoid photographing too much sky if I can help it.  It's usually a blank canvas in the worst sense.  No mention of clouds in today's forecast, but when I left the house this afternoon to run some errands in town, look what I saw!  This is why I chose to drive in the opposite direction of town, and why I'll have to run my errands tomorrow.  But hey, we had clouds!!!