Kaleberg Archive for December 2023

Kaleberg Symbionts

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Archive

2004 - 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2005 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2006 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2007 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2008 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2009 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2010 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2011 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2012 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2013 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2014 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2015 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2016 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2017 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2018 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2019 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2020 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2021 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2022 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2023 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

2024 - 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09

Month by Month History

Keywords

flowers
winter
spring
seattle
food
port angeles
kale
high country
hurricane hill
elwha
autumn
farmers' market
christmas
lake angeles
australia
trillium
trails
spruce railroad
hurricane ridge
lake crescent

All Keywords

Upcoming Hiking Tides

These are low tides of under three feet at least two hours after sunrise or before sunset.

Next tides for La Push
9/22/24 9:46 AM 2.29 ft
11/11/24 2:43 PM 2.45 ft
12/9/24 1:16 PM 2.87 ft
12/10/24 2:23 PM 1.71 ft
12/24/24 2:12 PM 2.69 ft

Next tides for Dungeness
10/1/24 9:13 AM 1.85 ft
10/2/24 9:45 AM 2.48 ft

Next tides for Cape Alava
9/22/24 9:56 AM 2.87 ft
12/9/24 1:59 PM 2.93 ft

December 2023

12/17 - Christmas Trip to Seattle We took a quick trip into Seattle for a bit of urban life. The ferries were their usual mess. We found out that one of the Bainbridge ferries was out only at the toll booth. We made it into town a bit late but with plenty of time to explore. We scooted up to Volunteer Park to see the Christmas display and back to our hotel in time for check in. There had been a convention going on last time, but this time the lobby was much quieter. We did some shopping down at Pikes Place Market loading up on holiday cheeses at Delaurenti and admiring the fish and vegetables at Sosio's and Pure Food Fish respectively. There was a beautiful sunset over the sound. We had dinner at Nishino for the first time in a few years and were pleased to see that the food was as good as ever. We even had our usual corner table and really enjoyed our omakase dinner.	Mount Rainier as seen from the ferry
At the Volunteer Park Conservatory	Winter flowers
Is someone hungry?	A bit of Christmas color
Orchids	The Christmas village
The Christmas tree	More Christmas color
And some more	And yet more, with nutcrackers
The view from our room	A Christmas tree downtown
Seattle sunset	Sosio's
The Market	The market again
Downtown Seattle, under the monorail	A bit of city life
Across from Nishino	Nishino
A night view	And more night

Keywords: christmas, seattle

12/16 - Christmas 2023 We went tree shopping right after we returned from our Thanksgiving trip. B&B on route 101 east of town came through as usual. We found a great tree for the living room with its high ceiling and a smaller tree for the patio. We're a bit behind on our posting, but here's a pictorial recap of our progress.	Tsimtsum - According to the Kabbalah, that's how God made room for creating the Universe. We celebrate Christmas with our own, much smaller, version, making room for our Christmas tree.
The tree in place	Behind the scenes - setting up the tree lights
Our shaman, decorated	The whole house decorated
Outside and in	Lights test
Setting the table	Those little string lights and a ceramic strawberry service make a great centerpiece.
Smoked salmon	Further progress
The topper - Now we can put away the ladder and reassure our insurance company.	Another lights test

Keywords: christmas, shopping, thanksgiving

12/14 - Sunrise

We've had a few dramatic sunrises.

A dramatic sunrise

Keywords: atmosphere

12/14 - Bird Watching at Dungeness DIke We did some bird watching at Dungeness Dike. We saw a few eagles, hawks, a heron and, of course, lots of ducks.	The Dungeness River
The river awash	Gray sky
Two eagles	Two eagles up close
The scene	The marshland
Autumn color	A heron
Ducks	An eagle in flight
A hawk in a tree	An eagle in a tree
Probably a hawk	That hawk again
An eagle in a tree	That eagle again
More ducks	Gray skies bring out the fading color.

Keywords: ducks, dungeness, eagle

12/12 - Elwha to Altair With all the recent rain, we wanted to check out the Elwha River. Now that it's a naturally flowing river and has severed Olympic Hot Springs Road, it's worth keeping an eye on. We chose a lovely sunny day and set out. There was still morning mist here and there, and the river was running nicely. Even at the stretch across from the Madison Falls parking lot, It was out of its summer channel. The mules at the mule camp were long gone. We headed on through the forest detour. We could see the river below, and we could see that the logs and snags of summer had been caught up in the increased flow. We didn't see a sign of the collapsing pavilion at the old Elwha campground. We did see signs of snow on the hills around us, and we had a wonderful view of the river from the Altair Bridge. On our way back, there was another surprise. Something was thrashing about in one of the side creeks. We took a better look, and there was a salmon struggling upstream, well late to the party.	Morning mist
The Elwha	Forest
Along the trail	More winter forest
The Elwha below	Another bit of the river
From a lower vantage	Down by the water
A changed flow	Even the big logs had been moved
Seen along the way	Reflection
Snow covered mountain	More snow on another mountain
Morning mist	View from the Altair Bridge
More along the trail	More snowy mountain
A late season salmon	Still thrashing about in the shallows
The road in winter	Some flowing water

Keywords:

12/11 - Morse Creek West We often follow the Olympic Discovery Trail from the parking lot near Morse Creek. We head west towards Port Angeles. The trail, an old railroad right of way, passes through the Four Seasons subdivision and down to the strait. It is open all year and not very far from where live. It's also a great trail for tracking the seasons.	The Strait of San Juan de Fuca
One of the sea ducks	The trail by the strait
A seal at sea	Another photo showing the mottled pattern and, if you look carefully, whiskers
The trail again, wet and wintry	The dike
Winter patterns	The dike again
Winter foliage	More winter patterns
A last few coin flowers	A coin flower and the ground
Rose hips	A look west at the dike
A loon	Winter color
More winter color	The last of autumn
Some fallen leaves	More fallen leaves
The railroad bridge	Morse Creek

Keywords: morse creek, port angeles, winter

12/10 - Railroad Bridge Christmas They've been decorating Railroad Bridge in Sequim for Christmas for years now. For years, we have been wanting to see the lights there, but every year we've missed our chance. Christmas season is a busy time of year, so there was always something else to do. This year, we finally made it down to the bridge towards dusk and got to see the illumination. The sky was cloudy and getting darker. It was raining. The Dungeness River was full from the recent and ongoing rain. The lights were beautiful.

	A Christmas eagle


The Dungeness River	The Dungeness River

Keywords: christmas, dungeness, sequim

12/07 - Little St. Simon's - Departure Here are some more photos of our departure. There are a few sunrise pictures, and they are much less saturated with color than the ones taken using an iPhone in the previous post. A few birds came to say goodbye including a woodpecker and an egret. The armadillos were sleeping in presumably after a wild night at the Armadillo Factory.	Early morning with the moon
More early light	Light caught by a tree
Brilliant red	More morning glow
Saying goodbye	More morning light
Goodbye to the wild trees	More early light
The main building at the lodge	An egret by the water

Keywords: georgia

12/06 - Little St. Simons - Our Last Day Even before we finished our packing, we went down to the river to watch the sunrise. It was a band of pink reflected on the water, a very stark, pure light. It was cold, but we savored the moment. A few hours later we were on a fast motor boat heading for the marina. There were only four of us, so we didn't bother with the larger flat boat. We made good time to the marina, transferred our bags to our rental car and headed north on I-95 for Savannah's airport. We expected horrible traffic, but the road was relatively quiet. We arrived with time to spare. Rather than sit for hours inhaling stale air, we settled on a patio and took advantage of the airport's free wifi and did a last bit of bird watching.	Dawn
Early light	That band of pink
A bit later	An amazing sky
It was cold, but we were in no hurry to get indoors.	Again
The band of pink seen through the trees	Another view
Yet another	Our last bit of bird watching at the Savannah airport

Keywords: georgia

12/05 - Little St. Simons - A Bit of the Backbone Trail That afternoon we took a short walk along the Backbone Trail. Actually, we took the Alternate Old House Trail to the Backbone Trail, but that's a long story. It was our last hike on the island, so we made the most of it. At some point, exhaustion set in.	A butterfly
Indian pipes	The trees
The marshes	The trail
A sandy stretch	The ground below

Keywords: georgia

12/04 - Little St. Simons - Three Pines and South Pond - Part 1 On our second day on Little St. Simons Island, we headed from the lodge south to the Three Pines Trail, and having completed the trail we took a loop around South Pond. This was different country, more forested but as flat as everywhere on the island. Our big surprise was, having reached the end of the Three Pines Trail, we found a tree full of wood storks. They're prehistoric looking birds. Everyone uses that adjective. We first thought they were ibises.	Marshland
The trail	A row of pelicans, almost like garden ornaments
Flowers	A mushroom of some sort
Palmettos and foreat	More of the trail
A woodpecker	More along the trail
Another bird	More of the forest
More Spanish moss	More forest
A view into the marsh	More palmetto forest
Berries	Another mushroom
One stork	Two storks
Storks in a tree	The tree in context
A better photo of one of the storks	Egrets in the distance

Keywords: georgia

12/03 - Little St. Simons - Three Pines and South Pond - Part 2 On the South Pond section of our walk, there was an eagle viewing area that promised us a view of an eagle's nest. We didn't see the nest, but we did get a brief look at the eagle.	Tall trees
Wild forest	Marsh lands with a possible eagle's nest
A few dead needles	A poor photo of the eagle in flight
Another marsh view - There was lots of marsh.	Across a boardwalk
The ground below	Another bit of the trail
Reflective water	Another view

Keywords: georgia

12/02 - Little St. Simons - Sunrise

One of the positive things about getting to the east coast is jet lag that lets one see the sunrise.

Keywords: georgia

12/01 - Little St. Simons - Atlantic Beach - Part 1 In the afternoon, one of the guides drove us down to Atlantic Beach. We stopped en route to see Norm, possibly the largest alligator on the island. He is noted for eating smaller alligators among other nutritious snacks. There was some good bird watching on the path to Norm's Pond. Then we explored the beach. We didn't go very far. We were still tired from our morning walk. The beach was broad and bright with breakers offshore. There were plovers and oystercatchers about. Most of them were pretty far away, so we relied on binoculars and a spotter scope, so we didn't get too many photos.	A hawk in a tree en route to Atlantic Beach
A fork in the road	Prickly pear cactus, almost ripe
One of many armadillos	The walkway to Norm's Pond
Seen from the walkway	Norm
A nearby duck	Another small bird
Yet another	And another
Still more	Even more - or is this the same one
Marshland	A heron
The countryside	Autumn grasses
The road goes on	By the road
The walkway to the beach	A first glimpse of the beach
In the sand	More

Keywords: georgia

December 2023