Mount Si

Nature’s Gifts

emyloom 1 Comment

I am thankful this today for the awesome beauty in nature. All around the world but especially for the beauty I see every morning when I wake.

In this season I have enjoyed the beautiful changing colors of the trees, gorgeous sunrises over Mt Si and a first dusting of snow on its highest peak.

Often in morning the elk are in my yard or I see them grazing in the fields along my four mile route to work. Several times I’ve seen them crossing in the middle of the Snoqualmie River.

It has been raining for days and on that same route I cross two bridges over the river. It is full and pushing the limits of its banks. To see it meandering through the tree lines banks brings a calm and peace to my heart.

The flowers are gone for the season but the birds still visit my patio. From my kitchen window I can see the Anna hummingbird drinking from the bright yellow blown glass feeder.

Last week a small sparrow splashed about in the deep red bird bath. He seemed so full of joy. I was amazed because it was quite chilly out and I know that was an ice cold bath but he didn’t seem to care.

I hung a suet cake for him only to see it ravenously consumed in a day by the regal deep blue Steller Jays with the prominent black crests. They are lovely but quite the naughty rascals.

A few weeks ago the black bear crossed the lawn looking for food in my trash. Sadly he found nothing here to fatten him up before his long winter nap.

Several times in the past few weeks the rain is interrupted by short sun breaks. When they arrive I am guaranteed to be blessed with a rainbow over the mountain.

I often have my camera ready and get photographs of these awesome events (the 4000+ pictures in my iphone are witness to this). However, when I am driving or when my phone is not around, I do something Josh told me once long ago when he was only five. He said to just blink my eyes and “Take a picture with my heart”

“For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

He Makes My Garden Beautiful

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Sunday morning and we have another dry day in store maybe reaching 62°.

Today I am thankful for this break in the wet weather. Also thankful for Rogelio who showed up yesterday at 7:30 and worked all day to clean up the storm mess and fall leaves on this five acre paradise.

Rogelio has so many amazing qualities the at the top of the list is his skill to turn the mess of my yard into a woodland paradise. He clears the flower beds, he creates rock gardens, trims the shrubbery, and edges the lawn. In 8 hours he can accomplish more then I could in a month of weekends.

I have always told people that Rogelio got all the credit for the beauty in my garden.

Rogelio has shared many other talents with us. He has helped build fences, helped haul away junk, polished concrete floors, updated and installed lighting, laid patio bricks and the list could go on and on.

Rogelio says believes hard work is the key to happy life. He says that the struggles of life makes you strong and give you a will to live. “Man has to fight for life.”

Rogelio is not just our helper he is our friend. Thankful for his help these last 23 years.

The Mountain

emyloom 1 Comment

I once lived 15 miles from this mountain on the outskirts of Redmond, WA. To reach our home we would drive down Union Hill Road and as we approached our turn we could see the mountain. It looked as if it was sitting right in middle of the road and even at that distance it appeared majestic. When my youngest son was just a toddler and he saw the mountain on the road, he would say, “There’s the mountain of my home.”

This mountain is Mount Si. It is located on the edge of Cascade foothills near the towns of North Bend and Snoqualmie and now I live in its shadow.

It rises 4167 ft and was named after a homesteader Josiah Merritt known locally as Uncle Si who in 1862 built a cabin at its base.

In the early 1990’s, the mountain, along with with the smaller peak Little Si, and the community were made famous by the quirky David Lynch TV drama, Twin Peaks. In the summer the community is filled with fans of the series following self guided tours of the landmarks around the area and taking pictures of the mountain.

Yes Si is famous, however, most of us locals just think of Mount Si as our treasure. We have photographs upon photographs of this magnificent mountain and it’s ever changing faces; sometimes shrouded in the clouds, frosted with snow or bathe in the evening sunlight.

That’s the way it was tonight. There was a colorful sunset and the light hit Mount Si and covered it in a golden glow.

So for about the 4000th time in the last 35 years, I captured another face of “the mountain of my home.”