No I'm not tall

Al took this picture of me last week on the Welcome Pass hike. I like it because I think I look really tall, but you know, I'll never know what it feels like to be tall (I'm barely 5'3"). One of the things my partner likes to say to me when I land my parachute a little shy of the intended landing area is that I'll always land a little short.  Do you think some day I might land tall? (smile)

I realize how deeply ingrained my usual routine has become: ride the bus to the Y for my 9:00 class every weekday except Thursday (when I go hiking with the Senior Trailblazers). During the summer months if the weather is fine, I go down to Snohomish to jump out of airplanes one of the two weekend days, whichever one has my friend Linny to organize the jumps.  I prefer Sundays because on Saturday I can go out with the Fairhaven walking group and then have a nice long swim at the pool. Additionally, I can visit the Farmers' Market as it is only open that day. On Sunday, the Y doesn't even open until noon and the lanes are crowded.

Adding an additional hike on Mondays, as we are doing during the summer months, has disrupted my usual routine. When I showed up this morning for class, several people asked where I was on Monday. (One class is M-W-F and the other is T-Th, although I am usually elsewhere on Thursdays.) I carried my iPad to class today so I could brag about recent hikes and show pictures.

As I sit here at my iMac, I can see the nuthatches and chickadees stocking up on black oil sunflower seeds and the goldfinches at the finch feeders. Just now a Northern Flicker hopped up onto the porch and had a quick snack at the suet feeder. I love my birdies, but I am not overly fond of the house sparrows, who tend to arrive in rather dense flocks onto my porch. The flurry of wings when they leave has become an unmistakable summer background noise. They pick up and eat the finch food that falls onto the porch, since they cannot perch upside down. I've watched them try.

Nuthatch, siskins, goldfinch, chestnut-backed & black-capped chickadee
(click to enlarge)

Although the birds take a bit of time, effort and money to make sure they are never without food and clean water, they bring me an amazing amount of pleasure. All of these pictures were taken through my front porch window. It's what I see from my desk. Pretty cool, huh?
:-)