This shot from the archives, taken on a sunny April day, just feels so good after the pretty relentless gray and wet we are having here, with more of the same predicted. We didn’t even get the promised sunbreaks this afternoon.

Des Moines is pronounced Duh Moynz by the locals, yes with the final Z sound, and I understand that it actually means The Monks, although why I do not know.

Hope you enjoy the view of blue sky and puffy clouds as much as I do. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world. Check out Scenic Sunday for more lovely scenery, too. Fans of blue, visit Blue Monday.

There was a break in the clouds late in the afternoon on Sunday so I rushed out to the overlook near my house to see what the water looked like. Scenic!

Visit Scenic Sunday and Watery Wednesday for more intriguing photos. Try Weekend Reflections, too.

This one holds up, after returning a few days later, so I’ve chosen it as Best Post of the Week.

Here’s another archive shot taken at the Des Moines (Washington) Marina in August a couple of years ago. I love the way the water shows the tender pink sky.

For more interesting water photos, visit Watery Wednesday. And if you like reflections, check out Weekend Reflections. And you might enjoy Scenic Sunday also.

This post really holds up for me, so I’ve tagged it best post of the week. Hope you agree.

It’s been pretty darn cloudy and wet, and dark, but there is still scenic delight if you hunt for it. OK, it’s subtle, but still lovely. Here’s a recent view of Puget Sound from the Normandy Park cove beach.

For more watery wonders, visit Watery Wednesday. I like the reflections in this one, and if you’d like more of those, visit Weekend Reflections. And find more scenic interest over at Scenic Sunday.

Here’s a view of Puget Sound from Seahurst Park the other day showing a fairly typical sky of our region. The many cloud layers with the dark rainclouds on the way are more appealing to me than straight gray, which is what we have today.

This is another SOOC shot, or straight out of the camera.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world.

Puget Sound (near Seattle) is huge but quite protected, so even on windy days we don’t get much wave action. I like the sound the little swishing waves make on the pebbly shore. This water shot reflecting the blue sky of a sunny day was captured about two weeks ago.

Visit Watery Wednesday for more cyberwetness, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera photos.

I took this with the new camera on Christmas Day at Seahurst Park. That sunshine was so welcome.

I’m entering a new meme today, Blue Monday. Check it out.

I guess I wasn’t the only one entranced by the scenery a week or two ago near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The sunset over Puget Sound was pretty darn nice, don’t you think?

For more skies and sunsets, visit Skywatch Friday. And you might like to visit the folks at Scenic Sunday, too, even though we are early for that one.

We were at Normandy Park Cove this weekend. This gull repeatedly swam around, launched itself a foot or two into the air, and dove for dinner. After watching six or eight tries, we had to leave and I do not know if it ever was successful. It was beautiful and inspiring to watch. The crow seemed to be quite interested also.

For more cyberwetness, visit Watery Wednesday.

Yes, this is with the new camera, but unfortunately I did not have the right settings in place, and the quality of this image, which is straight out of the camera, is pretty poor. But isn’t it a lovely scene? There I was down near the water, with such a sunset and the ferry right there, as scenic as it gets, and fumbling around in the almost dark I just failed to get it right. Darn. Well, try to imagine it with sharp, brilliant edges, and all the water ripples showing.

Visit Thursday Challenge for other special images. This week is free choice as to theme.