Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2016

Above: Red Tulip with Dew Star, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

You’ll never look at tulips the same way again after you go to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. In fact, I’m sure I’ll be dreaming of tulips for nights to come. 

The self-paced driving tour goes on all month long, but as the brochure says, bloom dates are according to Mother Nature! 

So many happy faces and families in one place made this field trip one to remember...until next year!

Inside tip for everyone, especially photographers: arrive early in the fields to catch the morning dew and you’ll also avoid traffic and crowds. 

Go to www.TulipFestival.org for all the information you need. 

Above: Which is your favorite color? You'll have hundreds of acres to choose from!

Arts Walk and Arab Festival Offer Culture

By Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

The weather cooperated all weekend, and Arts Walk continued on Saturday in downtown Olympia, with some exhibits scheduled to be on display throughout the month. The pace on Saturday was quieter, and allowed more time to see art and speak with artists about their work.

 

Above: Pianist Luke Davis, 16, played outside Browser’s Bookstore on Capitol Way for Arts Walk. Davis said he’s been playing for eight years and has participated at Arts Walk for six years. He attends Black Hills High School. He says donations are going toward his college fund, and parts for his car. “My window isn’t staying up,” he said.

Above: Members of Shahrazad dance Ensemble of Seattle perform at the Olympia Arab Festival yesterday at The Olympia Center.

The Olympia Arab Festival

Coinciding with Arts Walk was the Olympia Arab Festival, sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice.

The theme of its second annual event was “Shuruq II,” which means sunrise. In a celebration of Arab culture, the event featured food, performances, speakers, and children’s activities.

Rachel Corrie, Olympia, was killed in the Gaza Strip in 2003 as she tried to prevent the demolition of the home of two Palestinian families.

The Rachel Corrie Foundation was established by Rachel’s family to continue the work that she hoped to accomplish. The Foundation conducts and supports programs that foster connections between people that build understanding, respect and appreciation for differences.

Above: Laith Amireh, 20, of Amman, Jordan, attends Bellevue College and is taking courses in computer science and programming. He says he enjoys being part of the Arabic Culture Student Association, which has 138 members. For more information about the club, go to www.learnarabicculture.org. This is the club’s first visit to Olympia.

Above: The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Mural Project on Capitol Way and State Street in downtown Olympia. For taped recorded information about the wall and the artists, call (360) 252-9779.

Above: Omar demonstrates the fine art of Arabic coffee making at the Olympia-Rafah Mural today. The smell was irresistible. The result of just one cup made for a very productive afternoon and evening! The site at the mural featured a hookah lounge at last night’s Arts Walk.

For more information about the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice, go to www.rachelcorriefoundation.org.

Arts Walk is sponsored by the City of Olympia Arts Commission and the Department of Parks, Arts & Recreation with plenty of support by local businesses and artists. For more information about Arts Walk, go to www.olympiawa.gov/parks.

25th Nisqually Watershed Festival

Above: Cate Bellanca staffed a community information table for the Olympia Coalition for Ecosystem Preservation at the Nisqually Watershed Festival today.

 

Bellanca said she joined the three month old organization to help save the Great Blue Heron rookery endangered by a proposed development in her northwest Olympia neighborhood, and said she recently spent five hours gathering signatures on a petition to help save the rookery. For more information, go to www.olyecosystems.org.

 

By Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Starting as a glacier on Mt. Rainier, the Nisqually River flows 78 miles down the Nisqually River valley to meet Puget Sound. The freshwater of the Nisqually River mixes with the saltwater of Puget Sound and creates one of Washington’s largest undisturbed estuaries. The word “Nisqually” means “river of grasses,” or “flowing grasses.”

 

Located eight miles east of Olympia, this area, a former dairy farm and traditional land of the Nisqually Indian tribe, is now a spectacular national wildlife refuge. Every visit is different and provides rich learning opportunities and experiences.

 

A place of tranquility, September and October is an exciting time at Nisqually. Migrating waterfowl and wintering songbirds arrive. The entire food chain can be witnessed as peregrine falcons and American kestrels will also arrive, and feed on wintering birds. Bald eagles will hunt waterfowl flocks. Identifying species, watching behaviors and camouflaged activities, hearing songs and calls, and witnessing territorial movements is truly a treat.

 

Now in its 25th year, the Nisqually Watershed Festival today featured plenty of educational, hands-on activities, music, and of course, the opportunity to appreciate the history and environmental beauty of the Nisqually watershed. Today is also National Estuaries Day, established in 1988 as part of Coast Weeks.

 

Several hundred people parked at nearby River Ridge High School to take school bus shuttles to the festival.

 

Above: At the festival, Finn the Fish never disappoints, welcoming children small enough to explore the wonders featured inside. 

 

Above: A mother and son created a beaded salmon life cycle keychain. Each bead represents a part of the cycle: the first bead, a red bead, represents a redd, a salmon nest where salmon lay their eggs.

 

Above: The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. One always comes home refreshed, flowing in mind and spirit. 

 

 For more information, go to www.fws.gov/nisqually