Last Century Tulips With Jason & Joey Plus Mount Rainier

Incoming Tulip email, this morning, from my Favorite Nephew Jason, with a Tulip photo from way back in 1988. The explanatory text follows. And following that a new photo of Mount Rainier...

More Skagit flower photos to share…

This one was dated 1988.

Picture must have been taken on a Friday, as Umbarger students were asked to wear Red and White on Fridays. (I usually complied. FNJ2 was usually out of compliance).

This was taken before school in April of ‘88.  

I remember that morning well. We all ate breakfast out that morning.  This was for sure a real treat for me, at a newly opened Burlington restaurant.  I think I enjoyed my Egg McMuffin more that morning than the tulips.  It was better than the usual bowl of Cheerios or Oatmeal. McDonald’s at that time was new to Burlington.  And breakfast was very new to McDonald’s. 

Ironic, that FNJ2 and I and FBJ now live in the same spot 35 years later.

______________________

The Umbarger to which Jason refers is Lucille Umbarger Elementary School. The school colors of which are red and white. FNJ2 is Favorite Nephew Joey. FBJ is Favorite Brother Jake, who is the paternal parental unit of Jason and Joey.

And now the promised Mount Rainier photo.

 A week or so ago, two of my favorite Washingtonians, Chris and Sheila, moved to the new home they had built in the town known as Lacey, a few miles east of Washington's state capitol of Olympia.

Chris and Sheila picked a building lot with a backyard view of Mount Rainier, which is the view you see above.

I was recently asked by a Texan if it makes Washingtonians nervous to be living near so many volcanoes. The answer to that is no. I suppose due to the fact that we grow up in Washington with volcanoes always being a reality. And only one has blown up, Mount St. Helens, in our lifetimes.

Mount Rainier pulling a Mount St. Helens type big boom would be a real real real bad thing...

Linda Lou Takes Me To Skagit Flats Beaver Marsh Looking At Olympics

The above is the latest example of something sent by someone in the Pacific Northwest in an ongoing campaign by many, apparently, to try and make me homesick for Washington.

The campaign is working.

The above photo arrived on my phone late in yesterday's afternoon, from Linda Lou.

The text message with the photo said, "The Olympics in all their glory as seen from Beaver Marsh Road".

That made it twice yesterday Beaver Marsh Road was mentioned to me. Yesterday, when talking to sister Jackie, mention was made of Jackie having had herself a mighty fine visit with nephew Joey, Monique and Hank Frank at their farmhouse on Beaver Marsh Road.

Linda Lou called soon after sending me the above photo and when I told her Joey's house is on Beaver Marsh Road, she said she'd driven by it and recognized it from the photo of Joey's house I'd put on the blog.

However, talking to Jackie yesterday, I learned that the house I thought to be Joey's, was not Joey's, but was the house on the 8 acres next to Joey's, which big brother Jason bought. 

As for those Olympics Linda Lou mentions being in all their glory, that is a mountain range to the west of Puget Sound, located on the appropriately named Olympic Peninsula, where you will find the also appropriately named Olympic National Park. 

First time visitors to the Puget Sound zone are often surprised, on a clear day, to see mountains no matter which direction they look.

From the Skagit Flats, which is where Joey and Jason's homes on Beaver Marsh Road are located, one can look west and see the Olympics, to the east and see the Cascades and Mount Baker, to the south and see Mount Rainier, which is also part of the Cascade mountain range, and to the north and see the Cascade mountains as the range reaches the Pacific north of Vancouver.

That makes for two of Washington's active volcanoes that one can see from the Skagit Flats.

No matter what direction I look whilst standing on the Wichita Flats I can see no volcanoes. Or mountains...

Geez, I finished writing this blog post, switched to Facebook, and what's the first thing I see?

Another Skagit Flats photo via Linda Lou. The one above looks west at the Olympics, the one below looks east, at the aforementioned Cascades.

The view here is south of the vantage point of Linda Lou's first photo. Joey and Jason's Skagit Flat location on Beaver Marsh Road would be to the left. If we panned to the left we would also see Mount Baker. The buildings you see on the lower hills are in south Mount Vernon. The main part of the town would also be seen if we panned to the left.

Way back in the previous century, I could look out my windows and see a view somewhat like that above. Well, not the tulip/daffodil Skagit Flats view, but the mountain view to the east...

Geez, it happened again. Added the photo from Linda Lou, went back to Facebook, and saw a new post, with this one asking "Where in Washington are Chris & Sheila? Such a beautiful day, snowy mountain tops can be seen all around us".

Didn't I just mention the fact that from the Skagit Flats one sees mountains no matter what direction you look? And now we have Chris and Sheila saying the same thing. 

That tallest mountain you see here is the aforementioned Mount Baker. Which would make Joey and Jason's location on Beaver Marsh Road to the right in this view. 

I am guessing Chris and Sheila are at the RV park at the Swinomish Casino Resort on Padilla Bay, which would mean we are looking east across Padilla Bay in the above photo. Bay View State Park would be to the left, across the bay. And my old hometown of Burlington would be due east on the other side of that row of trees. I forget what that particular rise above the Skagit Flats is called. Bay View Hill? Is that it?

Okay, I am not looking at Facebook any more tonight...

Tulip Bloom Boom In Washington's Skagit Valley

 

Apparently NBC Nightly News had a news story last night about the tulips blooming in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley. I learned this this morning, via Facebook, as you can see, screen capped, above.

The Skagit Tulips seems to be in the news a lot of late. Awhile back I saw a news story about the 20 things you need to add to your bucket list. The Skagit Tulips were #20 on the list.

I had been to several of the other things on this bucket list. Places like Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Las Vegas.

Maybe due to having had the Skagit Tulips part of my reality for just about as long as I can remember, I can't quite see them in the same league as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or Las Vegas. 

Then again, I suppose someone who grew up in Flagstaff or Sedona might not think the Grand Canyon was all that grand, but if they saw the Skagit Tulips they might think, now this is something I would never see in Arizona.

This may be the type thing where the cliché "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" comes from.

Well, I'm out of here now, taking a senior citizen to a doctor appointment.

No, the senior citizen is not myself...

Dawn Walmart Shopping Fun With MSU Sun Watching Wildflowers

Winter has once again retreated at my location on the planet.

Closing in on 90 degrees mid afternoon on this 7th day of the 2020 version of April.

And, I saw today, whilst rolling my bike's wheels around town, that we do not have to wait for April showers to bring May flowers.

I saw big tulips blooming today, along with my favorite Texas wildflower, the Evening Primrose, pink version.

I do not see many tulips coloring the Texas landscape, nothing like what colors up the Skagit Flats of my old home zone in Washington. But, these tulips today where doing quite well in this inhospitable climate. Huge blooms.

I did no photo documenting of the huge tulips because they were blooming on private property. People can get all worried if they see you taking photos of something on their property, even if you are doing the picture taking from the public street. Best not to risk antagonizing anyone during these troubling times.

Speaking of which. This morning I joined the throngs descending on Walmart soon upon opening.

There are now crowd control barriers like what one experiences waiting to get on what used to be known as an E Ticket ride at Disneyland.

I arrived a half hour after the actual early morning opening, so I did not get the full experience. It was described to me by the guy whose job, it now is, to hold a touch tablet people counting device to track the number entering and leaving the store. He told me the line waiting for the store to open went past the barrier, which extended for at least a couple hundred feet.

I assume the long control line was taking into account the 6 feet distancing rule.

So, I managed to get most of what I was looking for, including two sanitizing products.

And then around noon, with the outer world beginning to get HOT, I went on that aforementioned bike ride where I saw the wildflowers, and that statue you see at the top, which hovers over the MSU ghost university.

The big statue is called Sun Watcher.

Today, unlike yesterday, the Sun Watcher has some actual sun to watch...

Pondering Pleasant Air Pollution From Big Blooming Magnolia Tulips

Today, with it being Wednesday, this is my regularly scheduled day to walk up the hill to Albertsons to not find this week's Fort Worth Weekly, I did so in the noon time frame and found that once again FW Weekly had not yet arrived.

Like I said, I walk up a hill to get to Albertsons. Not a Tandy Hills level of hill, but an incline, nonetheless.

From the vantage point of the Albertsons hill I looked back to my abode, to the canopy of trees surrounding the swimming pool to see that the top of the pool's two magnolia trees blooming with multiple tulip-like white flowers.

When I am in the pool I can not see the tops of the magnolia trees, but those multiple tulip-like white flowers make their presence known by polluting the air with a pleasant fragrance.

When I returned to my abode zone I checked out the magnolia trees, up close, to see if I could see the blooms at the top of the trees. That effort was futile, but I did manage to get a  picture of one of the low-hanging magnolia blooms.

When I was a youngster there was a magnolia tree in our backyard. My mom always called it a tulip tree. Today that had me wondering if that was just my mom's nomenclature, or is tulip tree a common nickname for a magnolia tree?

One thing I know for sure is that a tulip tree tulip puts off a pleasant perfume, while tulips don't, not that I have ever smelled, and I have tiptoed through plenty of tulip fields, never noticing anything remotely fragrant.

I don't know if tulips grow in Texas. I don't think I've seen one here. So, it is unlikely locals would call a magnolia tree a tulip tree.

Enough with the serious magnolia issues. I am burned out from too much typing, which has made me hungry, which is good timing because the lunch gong just went off....

You Really Can't Go Home Again

I think I mentioned that on Saturday I went north from Tacoma to my old hometown zone of the Skagit Valley to meet my little nephew, Spencer Jack, for the first time. I may get around to blogging about that later.

In the meantime I came face to face with a visual metaphor for the cliche "You Can't Go Home Again." That cliche had multi-meanings for me on Saturday. Another cliche also came to mind that day, that being "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I found that cliche to be totally not true, as experienced by me, well, more accurately, there should be a qualifier, as in, "in some cases absence makes the heart grow fonder." I think there has to be some fondness to begin with. In the fondness-challenged cases the cliche should be "absence makes the annoying personality traits even more annoying upon fresh exposure."

That photo above is of my old house in Mount Vernon. It was sold in 2002. I had been marveling at how beautiful Mount Vernon was looking, all lush and green with tall trees everywhere, as if the entire town, from freeway exits to vacant lots had been landscaped by a skilled designer. Such a contrast to Fort Worth where they let weeds and litter decorate the freeway exits to their #1 tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, among many other locations.

And then I got to my old house. It was the only eyesore I saw in all of Mount Vernon. Weeds covered the driveway. The landscaping had grown totally out of control. The roof top deck no longer had plants growing on it. I wish I'd not lain eyes on this. I was party to the entire construction of that house and did the landscaping myself. Now it's a ruins. I really can't go home again.

That photo of a long street is Fir Street in Mount Vernon, looking east towards the Cascade Mountain Foothills and my old house. My old weed-covered house is located in the trees you see at the end of Fir Street.

Mount Vernon is sort of the center of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The Skagit River cuts through Mount Vernon with bridges connecting the two sides, not unlike the Trinity River cutting through Fort Worth. No one in Mount Vernon, however, would ever dream of doing something so goofy as damming up the Skagit River to make a little lake and some canals for Mount Vernon, like what is currently underway in Fort Worth.

In the photo we are crossing the Skagit River, heading towards downtown Mount Vernon and my old house, which at the point this photo was taken I still thought I wanted to see. That thing sticking up in the photo to the left of the bridge is the Tulip Tower. Tulips are a big deal in the Skagit Valley.

The Tulips are Blooming & I'm Homesick

I'm homesick. I've not seen the Skagit Valley of Washington in Spring Tulip mode since I moved to Texas in 1999. The color carpetting is sort of like Texas wildflowers on steroids. That is Cultus Mountain in the background, one of the Cascade Mountains foothills, looking east towards my old hometown of Mount Vernon. If it weren't so cloudy you would see the Mount Baker volcano towering over the valley. You will see no Bluebonnets if you visit Washington state during the spring. I think they may have been eradicated for being a pesky invasive weed.