On our recent trip across the state to see our handicapped son, we went for an evening drive and near the town of Medical Lake, Washington, found a field full of Grass Widows, Olsynium douglasii, mixed with some Yellow Bells, Fritillaria pudica, and some Sagebrush Buttercups, Ranunculus glaberrimus. We stopped to take pictures especially of the Grass Widows. We found them in every shade of lavender but also found a few white flowered forms as well as one plant with bi-colored flowers.
Grass Widows
Sagebrush Buttercup
Yellow Bell
The next morning, after a meeting, we left for home and on our way from Medical Lake to Interstate 90 saw a turtle crossing a rather busy road. We stopped to rescue him and to take pictures and found later that he was a Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta, certainly a fitting name for such a beautiful creature. It's too bad, however, that most of his beautiful coloring is on the underside of his shell. After we had gotten the pictures we wanted we left him at the edge of a nearby pond.
