While I was in the folder of Lake Cushman photos for the shadow shot below, I saw this photo, taken on the same day, and knew it needed to be posted for Scenic Sunday. Enjoy!

Here’s a shot from our camping trip to Lake Cushman a couple of weeks ago, before the really hot weather took hold around here. This was a perfect day, temps in the low 80s, and the smell of the woods and the oxygen and the lake nearby was heaven, as far as I am concerned. Thank you to Tracy at Hey Harriet for opening my eyes to shadows in a powerful way. I love shadows! Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more oh-so-interesting shadows seen everywhere.

It’s brutally hot here, record-breaking for Seattle, today in the upper 90s. That may not impress some of you, but I believe that 100 degrees F. is the Seattle record. And only 13% of us have air conditioning. And one forecast says 102 degrees tomorrow!

So! Here is a picture of coolth for all you overheated locals. This is Lake Cushman, WA, taken last week on our camping trip. Enjoy! And for more water visions everywhere, get cyberwet and visit Watery Wednesday.

The first couple of days were warm and sunny; perfect shadow capture weather. Here is our cooler and a path in the campground.

For more scintillating shadows, visit Shadow Shot Sunday.

This adorably pink ground cover was growing at Whitney Nursery and Garden over in Brinnon, WA. A delightful wander over 7 acres, on the Hood Canal. For more pink visions, visit Beverly’s Pink Saturday.

On Wednesday the weather was heaven and we were camping at Lake Cushman, WA. Here is what it looked like in the evening, wading at the shore.

For more skies seen around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Oh, the joys of a sunny day are so much magnified when spotting shadows is your game. Here’s a bouquet of shadow shapes for you today, aka a tree. If you crave yet more of the ephemeral penumbra, visit Hey Harriet’s blog at Shadow Shot Sunday. It’s one of the best places in the blogosphere.

This small park in Renton WA on the Cedar River is so small or unimportant it doesn’t show on our AAA map. But it’s lovely and perfect on a warm day. We went to be someplace cool and quiet, and rested on the grass and looked at the leaves. It was wonderful.

In terms of Think Green Thursday, even though parks are not wilderness, they remind us of how powerful and meaningful the simple outdoors experience can be.

This is from a neighborhood yard. Such a lovely specimen of a Japanese Maple. I love this photo and hope you don’t mind me counting raindrops as water for Watery Wednesday.

My sister drove me past this field on Friday. It is her favorite. She loves the faint magenta color of some of the plants, and the way there are soft drifts of color. When I asked her to stop the car so I could take a picture, she said, “I KNEW you’d want to do that.” She does know me, I guess.

For more scenic photos here and there and everywhere, visit Scenic Sunday.