Category: Nature

The flaming colors of these tulip flowers are gorgeous.
There has been a little rain every day since Thursday— offering me a  respite from watering my lawn-in-the-making three times a day.

It was a warm spring day topping out at 69 °F (21°C), but high temperatures will drop down to a more seasonal 58°F (14°C) tomorrow.

The National Weather Service is predicting a toasty last half of summer, due to an expected La Niña climate pattern.
We will get more upper-level ridges of high pressure (heat domes) than usual. These are common in summer but tend to be most persistent during La Niña.

Happy Earth Day.

There is reason for a little optimism that we can save our planet.
Experts say that global carbon dioxide emissions will probably peak next year and certainly by 2030, using a scenario based on current policy settings.
The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable.
The reason is that using renewable resources (such as solar, wind) are now the cheapest ways to capture or generate energy.

Sometimes when I water my lawn, there is a robin nearby.
They must be looking for earthworms crawling out of the wet soil.

Check out this amazing picture taken last Monday during the solar eclipse (seen as a partial eclipse from Montreal).
Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin explains in the New York Times:
The plane passing over Montreal during the partial phase of the eclipse left a typical contrail in its wake. When this happens in full sunlight, the shadows cast by contrails on clouds are usually too diffuse to see. In this case, the sharpness of the shadows was explained by the eclipse.
Though the shadows of the contrails appeared to be on a layer of clouds above the aircraft, as though cast from reflected light from the Earth, this was an illusion. The shadows were made by the light of the sun, cast downward onto clouds below it.

There are still blossoms on the trees here in the city.
Here’s one on a young magnolia tree.

There it is: the first time ever since I had lived in my ole house, that new topsoil and grass seed have been put in.
(Yes, yes- I know that lawns are anathema to some environmentalists, but mine is really small. And my lawn services company says we don’t have great solutions for the Seattle climate yet, for ground cover greenery as an alternative).

The tulips are out here in the city.
The bell shaped flower of tulips have three petals and three sepals.
Yes, you read that right.
The outside ones are called sepals— not an April Fools’ joke!

The vernal equinox is this minute, as I am writing this (Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 8:06:20 PM Pacific Time).
Happy first day of spring!

The first daffodils are out here on Capitol Hill.