A Whale of a Tale

Our cruise ship for the afternoon. If you were a Gilligan’s Island character, who would you be?

On Saturday we took a three-hour cruise (cue music from “Gilligan’s Island”) to Protection Island, a small island that gained government protection under *gasp* President Reagan. Protection Island gets little rainfall, so it has a desert-y look to it, but birds flock to it. We are not allowed on the island itself, but the boat parked about 200 yards offshore so we could enjoy looking at eagles, brants, and other delightful creatures. Seals lolled around in the sun at one end of the island.

We were having a merry time, meeting other people who were excited about seeing the birds. Hubby and I had our favorite bird book, Birds of the Puget Sound Region, to help us, and we also had a naturalist on board to give us history of the island and its furry inhabitants.

However, as in the rest of life, sometimes detours happen. This detour happened to be of the more pleasant variety. Our captain had learned of an orca sighting, and before we knew it, we left the birds behind and cruised over to find them! There we saw several, males, females, and young, frolicking in the water. Later that day, when we returned home, we actually had a view of some orcas from our window as well! These magnificent creatures never fail to inspire and delight.

Check out those feet!

In our move here, we have had a number of surprises such as these, and we are being kept in a perpetual state of astonishment. When we decided to move here, we saw it was a cute town with a lot going for it, but we had no idea.

Protection Island is a desolate-looking place, but the birds love it!

Of course, all this nature made me think about life in general. Not all surprises work out well. Sometimes we have disappointments. But there is something magical in taking a leap of faith. At the very least, we get to see some pretty birds, and maybe some seals. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get orcas!

Thanks to hubby, by the way, for providing the animal shots shown here today.

Time to get some sun!

Up close and personal.

 

The main event!

Blog Recommendation: Presence of Magic

Good morning! Greetings from Washington State, where we are spending the next several days figuring out where we would like to live. We arrived on the Olympic Peninsula later than we expected, in large part because I left my computer on the plane! Ugh. We were about 20 minutes away from the SEA-TAC airport when I realized what had happened. Hubby was kind enough not to yell, and an honest soul turned the computer in, so no harm no foul — just some brief frayed nerves.

My NaNoWriMo novel is on said computer. I wouldn’t have lost it, because I store my writing on Sugar Sync, so I can access it on multiple computers. Still, I wouldn’t have gotten much writing or blogging done on the trip!

Keeping up with other blogs is a challenge during NaNoWriMo. I’m over 31,000 words, and I’ve done it largely by avoiding other people’s blogs. Since I enjoy reading what my fellow bloggers are up to, it’s a sacrifice I don’t always enjoy. I still have to sneak around from time to time and read a few, just to feel like I’m staying connected. Maybe it’s because I’m here in Washington State, getting ready to house hunt, but I am feeling the presence of magic in my life, so it makes sense that I would find a blog of that name. I found Brynne Betz via the magic of Twitter, and I am thrilled! These are sweet blog entries that will make you smile. Check it out!

In the meantime, we’re eager to check out Port Townsend. We arrived late and saw nothing, so I have no idea what the town looks like. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say next week! Tomorrow I’ll add the next installment of The Foreign Language of Friends.