dahlia explosion

Compare, if you will, the difference between these two photos of our yard. The first photo was taken at the beginning of June (used in this earlier post), and the second was taken today.

June 2011

August 2011

Notice any major difference? (Okay, I know that our lawn isn't as green as it used to be. And you may notice that currently our bushes are nicely sculpted. Yesterday I woke up from a nap, only to find that J had turned into Edward Scissorhands. He went around our yard for a few hours, trimming everything in sight. The hedges and bushes look great. But those differences between these photos aren't what I have in mind.)

If you look in the back of the photos, in the garden bed by our trellis and rosebush, you'll notice a teeny-tiny green bush on the right side (next to the stepping stones). That bush has exploded over the past few months, recently revealing that it is a dahlia bush:

This plant is huge and it has caught us completely by surprise. It has overpowered some of my little zinnias, and now is starting to infringe upon our stepping-stone rocks. I'm curious to see how big this bush gets by the end of the summer. If dahlias weren't such a gorgeous flower, I would have thought that the owners planted the dahlia starter bush as a practical joke on their unsuspecting tenants.

Don't be surprised if our front door is completely covered in the next few weeks!

On a side note, it's been fun to compare our current flower beds to the picture that I took at the beginning of June. We have some really happy flowers in our yard right now:

"Smithsonian" magazine giveaway

Some of you may have noticed that I am having a little giveaway on my art history blog. If any of you are interested in getting a free 12-month subscription to Smithsonian magazine, feel free to enter the giveaway drawing! I will select two winners next Tuesday, August 9th.

By the way, this giveaway is to celebrate passing the "the 300th post mark" on my art history blog. And I just noticed that I this is my 307th post here at Scattered Apples. That means I have written over 600 blog posts since I started to blog in 2007. Oh my! Maybe I need to get out more...

mercer slough and pretzel tree trail

Sunshine is here! Okay, well, there still are some rainy days, but I feel less like complaining. We've taken advantage of the sun and gone on a few hiking trails recently.

I have to admit, this year is a little bit difficult for us in terms of hikes. Sam is too big to ride in a backpack, but he is too small to walk very far distances. This summer we're only able to go on extremely short, easy hikes. (That being said, do any locals have some good recommendations for such hikes? We know our options are extremely limited this summer.)

Admittedly, going on short, easy hikes isn't my favorite type of hiking. I hardly feel like I'm getting any exercise. And, obviously, easy hikes do not include great vistas or waterfalls, because the trails have hardly any elevation gain. Boo. But at the very least, I hope we're instilling a love of nature (and setting a hiking tradition for future summers) with Sam this year.

That being said, here are two new hikes (walks?) that we have done this summer.

A few weeks ago my friend and I went for a walk around Mercer Slough. We started our walk near the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center, thinking that there would be some fun activities for kids in the Visitor's Center. There wasn't too much to see in the center right now, although there is a promise for some new interactive displays in the distant future.

The trails right next to the center aren't very long, so we walked down to the Bellefields Nature Park trails, since the trailhead is just down the street from the center. The trail is nice and fairly shaded, but there are lots of mosquitoes because of the nearby water (see picture above, on left). I don't think I would do this trail again without bug repellant.

Today we went on the perfect hike for Sam. I'd recommend the Pretzel Tree Trail (Squak Mountain State Park) for anyone with a 3-5 year old. This trail is an interactive trail with little signs that tell a story about a field mouse. Sam loved the story. He would excitedly look for the next sign down the trail so that we could "turn the page of the story" (his words). The trail has no elevation gain, but is in a really beautiful setting with gorgeous trees. You can see the "pretzel tree" behind Sam's head in the image on the right. I know we'll come back to hike this trail again.

There are some other trailheads at the same location as the Pretzel Tree Trail. Since the interactive trail only took about 20-30 minutes to complete with Sam, we decided to hike up the Center Peak trail (toward the summit) for a little while. It seemed like a really nice hike (although too long and steep for Sam). Hopefully we'll come back another time. Here is the trail map to Squak Mountain, for anyone who is interested.

I hope we go back and in this area again soon. The trails were well maintained and yet relatively isolated. We only met a few people on the trail this morning, which is surprising for a sunny Saturday. We passed the Poo Poo point trailhead on our drive out to Squak Mountain (down Issaquah-Hobart Road), and it was overflowing with cars. I'm glad we didn't go there today.

78 minutes of summer

I have to admit, I'm a wee bit jealous when I see Facebook friends commenting about their outdoor activities this summer. The summer here has been really cold so far, so much that a meteorologist decided to calculate how long Seattle has sustained a temperature of 80 degrees (or warmer) this whole year: a total of 78 minutes.

That's it, my friends. 78 minutes. And if you calculate how long Seattle has been at 75 degrees, it's not much of an improvement: 18 hours and 45 minutes (in other words, less than a day).

As you go to the beach and eat popsicles on your front lawn, I'm bundling up in sweatshirts. It's raining right now, as I type this post. I can't even count how many times I've been tempted to turn up the heat in our house, but have refrained out of sheer principle. One shouldn't have to turn on the heat in the middle of July!

Someone should have told me to lower my expectations for Seattle summers. When we moved up here, our first summer was hot enough to melt paint off of a canvas. But I have not been impressed with the summers we have experienced since then. Meh.

Here are pictures from two of the warm-ish days we experienced this summer, which both took place over the 4th of July weekend. We took advantage of the clear skies to hike the trails at Franklin Falls and Little Si. I'm posting these pictures for my own sake. I need to remind myself that the sun actually has the potential to appear around here.

Okay, so Sam and I did wear sweatshirts when we hiked to Franklin Falls. But we also wore shorts, which gives an indication of the "hot weather" we experienced that day.

Little Si on the 4th of July.
We look like we belong in a Gap ad with our solid color tees.

expectations: to have or not to have?

Over the past few weeks I have been developing a theory about expectations (expectations that are met, failed expectations, etc.). It seems like I am a much happier person when I go into situations (or approach life in general) without certain expectations for what will take place. Obviously, when those expectations are met, I feel a sense of fulfillment and pride. And I like that. But when my expectations aren't met for whatever reason, I end up feeling frustrated. I even get frustrated if small expectations are not met - silly expectations that have no real consequence, like finishing a book by the end of the day. I've noticed that sometimes I even get frustrated when something exceeds my expectations - not because I'm upset with results or outcome per se, but I'm irked at the fact that I had mentally prepared for something else.

Case in point: I had anticipated that J, Sam and I would have a fun and adventurous weekend together. But because of various things, it didn't end up being the weekend that I hoped. And even though we had a nice weekend and did get to do a few very fun things that I didn't anticipate at all (like the American Idol concert!), I still feel a little irked and unfulfilled - merely because my original expectations were not met.

So, what to do? In theory, I think that I would be a happier person if I went about without any expectations of how events/projects/work/life would occur. But is that even possible? It seems like part of human nature to expect and anticipate things. And in a way, I know that my own personality also thrives on expectations; I love feeling the sense of accomplishment that comes after expectations are fulfilled.

What do you think about expectations? Do you think that expectations give you a greater sense of happiness or frustration?

Happy Sam Day!

Our little guy turned three years old! He's been looking forward to his birthday for, oh, about a year. So his birthday was an especially exciting day.

We let Sam dictate the decorations and events of his special day. He picked the balloons, decorations, games, and dinner menu (macaroni and cheese). He even specified the type of birthday cake (Rainbow Chip, with star sprinkles and vanilla frosting). He also told me that he wanted the cake to be "round," like the toy cake from his dinosaur birthday parties. We happily obliged every request.

The day was a big success, even though I came down with a nasty, nasty cold the day before. I didn't feel well enough to join in on all of the festivities (much to my sincere disappointment), but J made sure that Sam had a fantastic time. And I participated whenever I could. Here are some pictures from the day:

As could be expected, Sam woke up especially early on his birthday morning. Here he is at 5:45 am, wide awake and ready to open his first present.

Excited about his knight costume, which included a shield (foreground), helmet, sword, sheath, and breastplate.

We've started a mini-tradition of buying a large mylar (somewhat cheesy) balloon for the birthday person in our family. We let Sam pick out his own balloon: a large T-Rex.

Here Sam is wearing part of his new knight costume while reading a book on castles (another present) with Gram. Note the "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game in the background. Sam also insisted that we play that game (although he had never played it before - I think he had heard of the game in a book). It was cute to see Sam try to pin his donkey tail, especially since he didn't really understand the concept of "no peeking" from under the blindfold.

The cake! Sam helped me put on the sprinkles and candles.

Happy birthday, Sam!

flowery yard

We have been happily surprised to discover how many flowering bushes are located in the yard of our new house. So far we've enjoyed brilliant red, pink, purple, and yellow flowers - several of them being rhododendrons. It's fun because each bush has flowered at different times, so we constantly have different colors in our yard.

We also have a lilac bush on the side of the house; the flowers smell really nice. The bush reminds me of my mom, since she liked lilacs so much. The rose bush that climbs the trellis near our front door has just started to sport yellow blooms, and we've just seen some purple irises open in our back yard. Our purple rhododendron bush is just about to open its flowery buds as well.

Although there are plenty of flowers already in our yard, I still wanted to grow some of my own. A few weeks ago I planted some foxglove, columbine and daisies (among other smaller flowers) in a little circular area underneath our lamppost. This is the first year that I've been able to grow a happy foxglove plant - hooray for mild Northwest weather!

This is the bush that is outside the window of our dining area.