New Walk to Work

Back in October, I started parking at a nearby shopping center and walking the 9/10s of a mile to campus. This gave me a little exercise and also saved me a bit of money on parking.

I've really enjoyed my walk to work, but lately I've gotten pretty bored with the usual routes. I decided on my short days (M & W) I would park at Bethany Village and take a different path to work. Actually I've looked at a couple ways to get from point A to point B. Here's another option.

This new path is longer, a little over 2 miles. I tried it for the first time this week. I wasn't sure how long it would take and I overcompensated. I arrived at work 15 minutes early, before the library even opened. The walk to campus was great. The moonlight was sparkling on the snowy path. I didn't try to take any pictures because it was dark and I thought I needed to hurry. The walk back to the car was ok. I saw a couple hawks in the distance, but the snow had melted and the sky was grey.

A Walk to the Park & Glorious Dahlias

Holly - Ilex sp.

Since I haven't been working in the library anymore, I haven't been doing my usual "walk to work".

Now I've started walking around "our neighborhood".

I decided to head to the small forested park about a mile south of our house. You can see my route on Google Pedometer.

Cosmos - Cosmos bipinnatus

It was a nice day for a walk, but at first I didn't see too many things that inspired me to take pictures.

... Then when I got near the park, I found a beautiful garden (right by the road) It was full of Dahlias.

Same flower from another angle

An old man came out of the house to check his mail and I said hi and told him I'd bring some photos by when I get them developed.

He told me his wife would love that, but that I should make sure that I have a whole hour or more because his wife would talk my ear off about Dahlias :)

There were so many different styles and colors that I couldn't decide which ones to post. So I put them all up.

I've discovered that taking pictures of flowers from the back side or under side can be very interesting.

... of course the view from the front is very nice too.

This kind reminds me of fireworks.

Another picture of the same flower from a different angle

Nice natural bench in the forest.

I looped around the trail in the park. (the route on my map is approximate because the trails are not mapped) and sat for a minute on the bench to enjoy the freshness.

A cute squirrel was watching me as much as I was watching him.

On my walk back home I saw another dahlia (in a different garden).

This one is nice too, but I preferred the first garden that had tons of flowers in different styles and colors.

I've definitely decided that I should plant some dahlias in our garden next spring.

Fall is Here

I'm working at the Rock Creek Library this fall. I'm also taking a Spanish class at Rock Creek on Monday and Wednesday evenings. I decided that instead of buying a parking permit for the fall term, I would park at the nearby shopping center and walk to campus. That way I would have to walk (and get some exercise) every day, even if the weather was bad and I'd rather stay indoors. The distance is just under a mile. I've taken a few different routes though the neighborhood. (map) So far, I've been lucky. Although it's rained a lot this week, it hasn't really been raining during my walks any day this week.

Yesterday, it had rained a lot just before I started my walk to work. The sheep (for the vet tech program) were all sitting under the trees and the light was shining though the mist just so, and everything was sparkly... of course I didn't have my camera with me. Today I took the camera and got some nice pictures of the fall leaves in the shopping center parking lot, but unfortunately the sheep weren't posing today.

In Oregon, we don't have a lot of native trees that turn bright colors in the fall. All of the ones in these pictures are introduced species that are planted for their ornamental value.

Below left: Ash - Fraxinus sp. Right: Japanese Maple - Acer palmatum.

Sweetgum - Liquidambar styraciflua

Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum

These birds are relatives of the bright red cardinal most people are familiar with. We don't have cardinals in Oregon.

This tree on campus was just full of the waxwings, but a bus drove by and scared them away before I could get any more photos.

Hummingbird

I saw this little bird on my walk back to the car after work. I couldn't tell the species since I only saw him in profile.

We have a couple of common species of hummingbirds in Oregon. Usually they go south for the winter.

(?) - sp.

Back in the parking lot and ready to head home.

Maples doing Laundry

Last night the temperature got down below freezing and this morning was very foggy. My walk to work was something like a dream.

This particular street is lined with maple trees every 30 feet or so. On tuesday, when I last walked down the street, most all of the trees still had their orange leaves. Today, the leaves were all laying on the ground in tidy little piles.

The first thought that came into my mind was the the trees had suddenly taken off their clothes and put them in piles to do the laundry.

Of course I know this is actually the work of groundskeepers, but the fog is just so enchanting.

My other photos from today's walk to work are: foggy morning, maple leaves on moss, sunlight breaking though the forest, curious sheep, and abacus birds.

From Ball Parks to Powerline Parks

My walk from the shopping center to work this morning was grey and very wet. Actually I've been lucky. This was the first day that it had been actively raining on me since I started the walk a couple weeks ago. Anyway, it was raining and although there were lots of birds out eating crabapples, it was too dark and foggy to identify any of them. Fortunately the walk back was beautiful and sunny.


First I walked from the library to the new Rec Center built next door to the campus.

Even though it's very new and some of the ball fields are not even completed yet, there's already a geocache there, so I stopped by to find it.

Near the ball fields there were trees with beautiful red apples, but all the ones close to the ground were already picked.

There were also lots of new trees planted including one of my favorites, the Tulip Poplar - Liriodendron tulipifera. (Not native to Oregon)

After leaving the rec center I started south though a different neighborhood than I usually walk though.

I saw a whole orchard of unpicked apple trees, an old house, with a wrap-around porch (first one I've seen in Oregon), a bunch of ducks flying in formation, and this amazing pink Dahlia. Oh, and I saw some kind of hawk, but couldn't get a decent picture of it.

As I was walking though the neighborhood I happened to see the entrance to this powerline park.

These parks are pretty cool, they're usually full of birds and native plants and some of them are miles long and have nice paths for walking or biking.

Everywhere around me there were birds chirping, but I couldn't even begin to locate them with all the grasses surrounding me. The birds were almost completely camouflaged .

I thought this dry head of Queen Anne's Lace - Daucus carota was really pretty.

Red Winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus

I knew there were a bunch of these birds around because I could hear them whistling. Their song is one of the few bird calls I recognize. Finally I spotted one, up on the powerlines.

This dried plant had a very interesting form too, but I haven't been able to identify it easily.

After I left the park, I saw some kids having a "plant sale". I went up to see what they had, but the kids only seemed to have pine seedlings, mint and one lonely pea seedling, so I didn't end up buying anything from them.

Searching for Sunshine

The first day of classes is always a rough day for me at work. More than 100 phone calls and tons of questions about logging on in the computer lab and printing... I put 6 reams of paper in the printers in the first 4 hours.

I got off work at 1 and it wasn't raining so I decided to stop by Bethany pond for a walk and to see if there were any new birds. I only saw the regulars so I headed towards home and stopped at Commonwealth park on my way there.

Double Crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus

These birds are reasonably common and easy to spot sitting up in telephone poles or old trees. Sometimes you see them splashing around in the water.

Commonwealth Lake

Not much sun here either, but at least it wasn't raining.

I saw the usual widgeons, male and female mallards, and canadian geese. Lots of birds just walking around in the soggy grass pecking and finding stuff to eat in the mud.

There was a large flock of gulls too. According to whatbird.com there are several terms for a group of gulls, including flotilla, gullery, screech, and squabble.

Western Gull - Larus occidentalis

Click here to see the whole bird.

Although the Western Gulls are quite common, I was a little surprised to large flocks of them at Commonwealth. On previous visits, I had seen only Ring-billed Gulls.

When you look closely, the Western gull has a red spot on the lower part of his bill, a yellow eyelid and dark eyes.

The Ring-billed gull has a black band on his bill, red eyelids, and yellow eyes.

American Coot - Fulica americana

This is another common bird I've pictured in previous posts.

Here you can clearly see his red eyes, dark red frontal shield on his forehead and the black band on his beak.

Apparently the collectives for coots are codgery, commotion, fleet, shoal, and swarm.

If you liked those, check the Repository of Collective Nouns for more.

Pied-Billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps

These are also common birds, but trying to take a picture of one is like trying to take a picture of the loch ness monster.

They're small, dark and fast and they hide in the vegetation or dive down into the water almost as soon as you've spotted them.

I've never seen more than two or thee grebes at a time, but the collective for these birds is "a water dance of grebes". That sounds like it would be very cool to see.

Happy Nameday to Me!

Hey, it's my nameday!

(at least in Finland)

I'd totally forgotten since none of our calendars have the namedays listed. Thank you Karoliina for remembering and wishing me a "Happy Nameday!"

My name happens to fall in the "women's week" in the calendar. That's July 18th - July 24th. If you're curious to know more about namedays, here's the wikipedia article, and here's a calendar listing the dates for all the Finnish names.

Scotch Thistle - Onopordum acanthium

I saw these thistles growing by the road on my walk to work this morning, but I didn't think they quite went with the Calla Lilies post.

Rose Hips

Beach Rose - Rosa rugosa

I decided I should try and make it a habit to take my camera with me on my walk to work. I was surprised to see this rosebush blooming at this time of the year, but apparently it's normal with this type of rose.

Rose hips - Rosa rugosa

I seem to remember having rose hip tea but I don't remember if I liked it or not. However, the ones around here are giant and somewhat tasty looking.

I did a quick search for recipes and came up with rose hip jelly, jam, syrup, crepes, soup, and dip. Interesting. Maybe I should pick some?

More Poppies (and a Rose)

Lovely Poppies

On my walk to work this morning, I saw more beautiful poppies. I decided that I really want to plant some in the garden for next summer.

Click here to see last Friday's Poppy Photos.

Another Pink One

A Beautiful Red One

And a Dewy Red Rose.

Gladiolas and Yet Another Poppy

Gladiolas - Gladiolus sp.

The gladiolas have started to bloom. These looked so cool and fresh on my walk to work this morning. I wonder how they will hold up as the day gets hotter.

Corn Poppy - Papaver rhoeas

Actually this could also be an Oriental Poppy - Papaver orientale. I'm not completely sure.

I think Poppies are my new favorite flower. I've made so many posts on them lately, and they just photograph so well.

Here's another view of the same flower.

More Mysterious Mushrooms

I found couple more mysterious mushrooms on my walk to work today. These were in the ditch on the side of Springville Rd.

Coprinus comatus - Shaggy Mane

Mushrooms of Northwest North America says:

"Grows on heavily manured soil in meadows, parks and along roadways. It can be recognized by its shaggy cylindrical shape, like an unopened standing umbrella. It is grown commercially in a very limited way because it is hard to keep as the enzyme which causes autodigestion keeps working even in cold storage. Edible and good."

This one is either:

Lycoperdon perlatum - Gem studded puffball

OR

Vascellum pratense - Western lawn puffball

In either case, the mushrooms are edible when they are young.

After Weeks of Rain

My walking route for today - 3.2 mi.

We've had so much rain during the past two weeks and on the few sunny afternoons I've managed to be at work or busy with home improvement projects. I hadn't been on my neighborhood walk for two whole weeks! I was really missing it.

Strawberries in our front yard.

It's hard to believe that we still have strawberries growing in November. When they say "day neutral variety" they really mean it!

I thought they were killed off by the frosts we had a few weeks back, but I guess it didn't stay cold enough for long enough.

Acidanthera - Acidanthera bicolor AKA Gladiolus callianthus

I planted these bulbs in our front yard last spring. The foliage came up in the summer like it was supposed to, but they didn't bloom. I was really surprised to see them blooming now. I guess they liked all the rain.

I really should know what this round leaved tree is... but I don't.

Anyway, it's a few doors down the street from us on Wilson Ave, so I'm sure I can figure it out later.

Pink rosebud on Wilson Ave.

Unidentified Mushroom on Wilson Ave

There is a small forested area just across from Hyland Park Middle School I found lots of mushrooms growing in the grass between the forest and the road.

More unidentified mushrooms on Wilson Ave.

We've had so much rain that all the mushrooms are quite mushy. I still find them fascinating though.

Cute little mushrooms on Wilson Ave.

Interesting and colorful shrub on SW 27th St.

Pink capped mushroom on on SW 27th St.

Another view of the pink capped mushroom.

Still more unidentified mushrooms on SW 27th St.

Pretty leaf "glowing" in Hyland Forest Park

Wild Hazelnut - Corylus cornuta in Hyland Forest Park.

More Hazelnut leaves.

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) Leaf in Hazelnut tree - Hyland Forest Park.

Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus in Hyland Forest Park

Interesting Seahorse birdbath on SW 133rd Ave.

Stolen apple from SW Davies Rd.

I got really hungry during my walk, so when I saw a house with dozens of beautiful apples lying on the ground under a tree, I had to steal one and eat it. It was really tasty.

Yellow daisy on on SW Stirrup St.

Unidentified pink flowers on on SW Stirrup St.

I bet the hummingbirds like these.

Pink Dahlia on SW Stirrup St.

I know I've taken loads of Dahlia pictures already - but this one has raindrops!

Pink Dahlia on SW Stirrup St.

Many of the Dahlias were losing their petals, but I thought that made for an interesting view of the center of the flower.

Bluebird house on SW Tennessee Ln.

Big Mushroom on SW Secretariat Terrace

Moose sculpture on SW Secretariat Terrace

Unidentified Mushroom in Hyland Forest Park

Unidentified Mushrooms in Hyland Forest Park

Yellow Rose on SW Wilson Ave.