Sky Over the Sweets

On Tuesday evening I went to my first ever Walla Walla Sweets baseball game. The team came to town two years ago I believe, but I haven't gotten to a game until this week. It was fun - a small stadium means great seats just about anywhere you sit, and short lines at the concession stands. Strangely, the weather turned chilly on Tuesday and that afternoon we had a downpour that made us all wonder if we would even get to GO to the game. It didn't rain on us during the game, thankfully, but the clouds sure put on a show.

WW Frontier Days #6

The YoYo is one of the few rides I might consider going on at the fair. All of the rides are collapsible - as in they are constructed IN a semi-truck and when the fair is over, they are collapsed and become the truck itself. On some rides you can see the back of the truck at the side of the ride - it's part of the ride's construction! A work of engineering genius, I guess! I'm not much of a ride-rider, but this one looks kind of fun. It doesn't go too fast - at least, not from the ground! I'm sure it feels faster when you're on it. I just liked the colours of the ride, brightened in the setting sun, set against the dark sky.

Keeping an Eye on the Sky

Our neighbourhood has several cats. I'm still not sure which ones belong to which home, but they frequent our front yard in an effort, I think, to torment our dog, who is in the backyard behind a fence. On this grey and dreary day, this particular cat had taken up watch on the roof of our neighbour's shed. Either he was enjoying the stormy weather, or was making sure he could keep track of what the sky was doing.

Thunderheads

These beautiful stormclouds were looming over the mountains yesterday afternoon. I had high hopes for a lovely thunderstorm (I love warm-weather storms!), but alas, the clear skies over the valley held strong, and nothing exciting happened. It was a beautiful evening, with a lovely spring breeze all night long, but my wishful thinking was only that...no storms for us last night! Perhaps soon...

Storm's A-Brewin'

Today's weather has been interesting. Spring in Walla Walla is never boring - it's best to dress in layers because you never know what the rest of the day will bring - regardless of what the sky looks like when you get up in the morning. Today was no exception; sunny skies in the morning, then grey and overcast, then partly cloudy, then completely dark, then sunny again. And all of this with a constant breeze and bursts of strong winds. There's been a wind advisory in effect all day and it's scheduled to last until 8 p.m. We're used to that here, though...this is a windy valley. Hence the windmills that dot the hilly landscape to the west. Here's a shot of a Main Street corner earlier this afternoon. The wind was blowing, the temperature had dropped to something you'd want to wear a jacket in, and the threat of rain - actually, a downpour! - was intense. Surprisingly, hardly a raindrop fell. At least, so far. The sky was a beautiful grey, though. I just love stormy skies! The building, I believe, houses offices of some sort. I'm not really sure. It almost looks empty from the street. This photo is credited to my sister, who is a better photographer than I, and is my life-long photography buddy. We take driving trips just to take pictures. People probably think we're weird, but we get it from our mom. Mom likes to take trips to shoot photos of water features, churches, and old barns and houses. Thanks for the shutterbug, Mom!

Hill With a View

Another geocaching photo. My husband is way more into geocaching than I am, though I find the concept interesting. I just don't like spending half an hour searching for something. The fun part is following the GPS to an unknown destination. It's like a Christmas morning surprise journey. But once you get there, if you can't find the cache within about 2 minutes, I'm bored. Poor husband, I know! Anyway, this photo was taken on the hills south of Milton-Freewater last January (that's M-F down the hill in the distance). The stormy skies are typical for this time of year, and is, in fact, what we had some of last week. This week it was sunny and beautiful for two days and the rest has been foggy/cloudy/grey/drizzly. Nice if you like that sort of thing. I don't mind it. But I actually did like the sunny days. So we are back to wearing coats outside, etc....I'm actually wearing a scarf today. Ah, the weather. One never knows what to expect!

Stormy January

I suppose some would consider this a better picture for Halloween than early January, but oh well. This was taken in January 2008, and it shows what the winter weather is usually like in the Walla Walla Valley. This is an old graveyard my husband and I stumbled upon while geocaching in a wheat field on a hill not too far from our house. It's called Pioneer Cemetery, probably because the graves are all for some of the first people to settle in the WWV. Most of them are illegible by now, and weather (and probably some "helpful" teenagers with nothing else to do) has taken its toll on the stones. You can see the WWV in the background, down at the base of the hill. Tomorrow I'll post a photo of the entrance to this somewhat spooky old cemetery.