The weather in Seattle is finally getting better with more sun and warmth, and less rain.  Its been a long winter.  I have lived here for about 8 years and it seems like with each winter it gets harder and longer to bear.  One of my favorite festivals in the spring is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival held in Mount Vernon,Wa which is located about 30 miles north of Seattle.  It is soooo beautiful there, with acres of tulips in rainbows of color with blue, snow capped majestic mountains in the background.  When the weather was predicted to be sunny and around 70 degrees a few weekends ago, Amber and I made the trek up there for a few photos.

The festival only lasts for the month of April, so I definitely did not want to delay and miss this opportunity to take photos on such an amazing day.  With the tulips in full bloom, spring in Washington has sprung, and after a long, dreary, wet winter, once again it is time to get out and enjoy the beauty of what mother nature has to offer.

This is probably my favorite series of images with Amber to this point, and for a 2 year old dog she did amazing well, and I might add, did not trample one tulip.

Brock is an 8 year old Australian Shepherd with a zest for life.  Adopted by his mom Margaret when he was around 1 year old from Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline, NW.  Soon after his adoption Brock came down with a somewhat rare disorder call EPI or Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, and later on he developed Atopic Dermatitis (environmental allergies), both of which is being treated for.   Both are rather expensive to manage, there are no cures.  Lucky for Brock there is a veterinarian in the family.

According to Margaret he enjoys  “swimming, walks, playing “find it”- scavenging for hidden treats in the house, chewing, digging, dissecting stuffies and cardboard boxes, hiking, herding dogs at the park, chasing crows, squirrely hunting, catching flies, rolling in the grass and of course smelly and/or dead things, playing tug, humping golden retrievers, camping, snowshoeing, going to the beach, meeting new people, and basically being where the action is.”

We had a great time.  The first photo session was at the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden in Shoreline, then the next weekend we headed to The University of Washington Arboretum.  The fall color is a little behind this year compared to previous years, but we were able to find some color.

From what I understand Murphy was pretty conked out after our photo sessions.  i hope you had fun Murphy, I had a blast.

Another obstacle is the glass separating people from the animals.  I mean, I know the glass is there to keep people from being mauled, but geeze its difficult to get good shots with dirty glass in front of your lens.

Anyway, I braved the crowd and the dirty glass to get a few decent images that I wanted to share with you.

My favorite animals at the zoo are the wolves (dah, of course) and the gorillas.  Also, love the birds of prey.

I took advantage of what is probably going to be the last warm beautiful weekend in Seattle for awhile.  Amber and I had a great time at the beach.  She is learning to swim and retrieve the ball.  She is not great at it, but getting better with lots of practice and treats. I hope you enjoy the photos.  These are some of my personal favorites.

I hope you enjoyed these.  Thanks for looking.

Squeakers is an 11 month old DSH I adopted from Homeward Pet Adoption Center in mid November at around 3.5 months old.  When I adopted her I had just lost my cat Mattie, who lived to be 17.5 years old, about 3 weeks prior.  So I was looking for a kitten to help heal my heart and at the same time I wanted to find a playmate for Amber, who was about 6 months old back then.

I have never had a kitten before Squeakers.  Mattie was 2 years old when I adopted her.  Boy, was I in for a big surprise.  She was a huge pain in the butt, climbing up my curtains, jumping on kitchen counters, and meowing non stop, but at the same time she made me laugh everyday with her playful antics.

She has grown into the funniest cat I have ever known.  She is small in stature, but huge in personality.  She lives a carefree life, and seems to live every day like it’s her last.  I am so lucky to have her in my life, she enriches it every day, and for that I am so thankful.

Squeakers enjoys meowing for no reason, eating, chasing bugs and eating them, wrestling with the dog Amber, running thru a room at the speed of light, playing with anything especially if it has feathers on it, sneak attacking the dog, did I mention eating, sneak attacking me, chasing her tail, eating grass, eating cardboard, chirping at birds.

Squeakers does not enjoy the vacuum cleaner, an empty food bowl, and other cats.

Recently on a dreary and misty day in Seattle, I ventured into my backyard garden with my camera and dabbled in a little macro photography.  The images below are taken of various flowers found in my garden this year.  I love macro photography because it forces you to observe the fine intricate details of nature that is typically overlooked.  So next time you are on a walk take a close look at the macroscopic details of nature, you never know what you might find and the beauty you will see.

Last but definitely not least is a photo of my cat Squeakers who actually decided to sit still for a few seconds.  She is 11 months old, and the most fun, goofiest, silliest cat I have ever known.  Her antics brighten my day.  More images to come of her soon.

I took a few snapshots of the days events, and some of the participants.  It turned out to be a fairly nice day, not much sun but no rain!!

These first few pics were taken from adoption alley.  Such beautiful, loving  animals needing  homes.  I wish I could take them all home.

These next few are of the fly ball relay and the disc demos.  Some incredible stuff, these dogs are great athletes and love what they do.  It’s so amazing seeing dog and handler work together.

A few more of some of the attendees.

I thought I would post a few photos of Amber I took this past week in celebration of great weather, and more great weather to come.  Summers in Seattle are the best.  The first series are taken at the beach during sunset.  Unfortunately, the sun dropped down behind some clouds just as we got to the beach.  The second series of images were taken in my yard.  Amber is only 1 year old, so its not easy to get her to be still and look at the camera.  But she is learning more every day and doing great.  Enjoy!!