Clueless

One of the reasons I like hiking a little higher up is that the alpine wild flowers are so pretty. However, in the spring, the lower woodland blooms are just lovely... I can never walk by without enjoying them and it's so cool to be able to take the big camera and get a decent picture! With my other camera, I didn't get such vibrant color and had a hard time shooting in low light... so views were fine, but shooting in the woods wasn't very successful.

The Oregon Grape is very mundane during the summer (I think), but the spring bloom adds a ton of color to the low brush!

One of my personal favorites... Trillium! Three petals, three leaves... how can you go wrong? The sad thing was, I saw a number of these crumpled on the trail... people had picked them and discarded them. Very sad.

I have no idea what this last flower is.

Of course it might help if I took a shot that was in focus!

Does anyone know? Although there were a few close to the trail, they were sprinkled up the hill sides, sometimes clumped around moss, so clearly they like moisture...

In other news, I've got a new recipe on the cooking site and the family thinks it's a winner! I've got another one planned in the next few days as well!

The weather in this area is supposed to hit the mid eighties by Friday and I'm not ready! [will my shorts still fit?] Because our weather is so moderate for much of the year, when we get into actual heat, I start fumbling for what to do about dinner... mostly because we have no AC so any cooking heats up the kitchen. I can only grill so much! I'd certainly be open to ideas or suggestions!

Asthmagirl out! 

Comments

[evil chef mom]

I wish it was going to be in the 80's this week... we are suppose to get our first 100 degree day Thursday. The last couple days of pictures are absoultly beautiful. My hubby hates to camp or hike... I miss it.

[Mental P Mama]

I think those yellow flowers are in the pansy family...but I know nothing of your vegetation. I do know I love the flowers in Seattle. I think they are the prettiest anywhere. And food that doesn't generate heat? That is tough. We love to grill out, so that's what we do, but boiling some pasta might not be so bad. Or, TOG could just take you down to the pub for some of that beautiful fare!

[dlyn]

The yellow flowers are violas or violets - there are so many differnet colors of wild ones!

[Tracy]

Maybe a cold pasta salad? ALl you would need to do is boil water for the pasta. And, you can do that on the grill if you have a burner there. I used to do all of my cooking on the grill during the summer when we had no ac. You can cook tons of things on the grill if you make good use of tin foil.

[Amy]

Dunno about the flowers, but I've got the mother lode of hot-weather recipes. If I couldn't cook in hot weather, this family wouldn't eat, lol. How about taco salad? That's one of our favorites. The meat cooks in 10 minutes on the stovetop, and salads are always good in hot weather.

[Amy]

Ditto for fajitas.

[Linnea]

I love those wild violets, I have them in my front yard (in purple). When I first moved here I pulled them as weeds then I saw one bloom, now I let them spring up where ever they want. That is very sad about the trilliums, they can't change from white to pink if you pick them.

You can come to my house for lunch on Sunday if you don't want to cook. We are have a birthday party for the kids at 12:30. We're going to have a pinata and I'm baking a chocolate mousse cake and a lemon curd cake. Oh, and home made ice cream, plus food of coarse.

[noble pig]

So nice. I'm still jealous about your beautiful hikes!

[Baroness von Bloggenschtern]

Beautiful pictures, and the fact you can multitask by hiking and taking photos is very impressive to me! Last time I went hiking it was in the Yukon, and I ended up with a 2" gash in my head. Just from hiking. I'm such a outdoor klutz.

[Snooty Primadona]

We are very seasonal eaters here. When it gets really hot (like triple digits) I'm usually too cranky to make much more than salads & sandwiches. However, I do throw in the occasional taco or fajita dinner, where all you have to cook is the ground sirloin. During the Winter months, I tend to make stews, soups, chili... heavier foods. Living with the Thermostat Gestapo, it's my best revenge. "Oh dear, if you wanted a home cooked meal tonight then you're going to have to turn that thermostat down. I can't cook in the heat. No? Okay then... sandwiches it is." ;-)