Hot Day

Today is cloudy, it's about 65 degrees, and we just had a refreshing rain shower. Yesterday we had a wonderfully hot, dry, sunny day.  It really felt like summer!!

This credit union sign we passed by said it was 100 degrees, though the weather websites say it only got up to 86. I took a picture, though, to record the event. ;)

Flag Flying on the Fourth of July

The house we live in used to belong to my mother-in-law. We moved here to help care for her while she was on hospice almost four years ago. It's our home now, and there are so many things here which remind me of her and which we are blessed to be able to use in our family and pass down traditions that my mother-in-law loved. One thing that was special to her, and is special to us, is putting up the flag on the porch on patriotic holidays. We continue to use the same flag, and here is a picture of it flying yesterday on the Fourth of July, Independence Day.

Black Locust Tree Shadows

We went for a walk yesterday at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, WA, and there were still blossoms in the black locust trees.  It's one of my favorite times of the year at the park, because they smell *so* good to me!  They are very interesting trees because their leaves are so delicate and their blossoms are so lovely, and yet their branches carry amazingly sharp thorns (I accidentally poked myself recently, ouch!). 

beautiful black locust tree

sharp thorns on a black locust tree

I'm linking this post to Shadow Shot Sunday.

Yellow Fire Hydrant Hiding in the Grass

The other day while walking near Fort Steilacoom Park I decided to take another picture of the yellow fire hydrant that I posted a picture of back on October 23, 2010. I was surprised to see how long the grass had gotten!  The coloring is quite different in this picture than in the one I took back in October.  That one was taken on a cloudy, gray day.  I took this one while the beautiful sun was shining.  I love seeing the sun!

Litter at Hill Ward Memorial

21 June 2011

A Rock Monument Commemorating the Death of Chief Leschi

I feel so badly that until this week I didn't know who Chief Leschi (pronounced LESH-eye) was.  I had heard his name before because there is school district in Puyallup, WA, that carries his name, and I saw recently that there is a park in Dupont, WA, with his name, plus there are other places in Washington as well that are named for him.  But as to who he was?  I had no idea.

This week that changed when I found a history book on the Puget Sound that used to be my mother-in-law's.  I began reading it and saw the name of Chief Leschi in it.  His name was early in the book for he was alive in the 1800's and played an important part in the history of our state.  I eagerly read to find out his story, and to see what would happen.  He was a chief of the Nisqually Tribe, and reading about him I grew to have respect for him and to feel that he was a noble, good man.  I hoped so much that it would have a happy ending, and I cried when I read that after he was wrongfully accused and convicted of murder -- of a uniformed man during wartime -- and even though there was compelling evidence that Leschi wasn't even at the scene of that occurrence, he was unjustly and wrongfully hanged on February 19, 1858.

Then I found out that it was in Lakewood that it happened. . . he was hung in our city!  There is a rock at the Oakbrook Shopping Center, 8107 Steilacoom Boulevard, commemorating his death.  I go to that shopping center pretty often, and I had no idea it was there.  I had seen the rock, but didn't notice that it had an inscription on it and didn't realize that it stood for something important.  How could I have not realized that this happened in our city?!

I went there today to visit the rock monument sitting on a small grassy place under a garry oak tree. It's such an unassuming place for a monument to be, in front of a parking lot, surrounded by cement sidewalks, near businesses such as The Dollar Tree, Key Bank, a bookstore, a daycare center.   Yet I felt moved to see it, to touch it, to read the inscription.  The inscription reads as follows:

Leschi

Chief of the Nisquallies

Martyr to the vengeance 

of the unforgiving white man

was hanged 

300 yards S.E. from here

February 19, 1858

Erected 1963 by Pierce County 

Pioneer & Historical Assn.

While reading more of his story online, I was pleased when I found out that justice was finally served when, 146 years later, Chief Leschi was exonerated on December 10, 2004, by a historical court: 

The historical court, led by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, ruled that if Leschi did in fact kill Moses, they were lawful combatants in a time of war, so a murder charge was not justified. source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6697065/

Here are some links I found with more information about Chief Leschi:

http://www.leschischools.org/about/thechief.php
http://stories.washingtonhistory.org/leschi/
http://forejustice.org/wc/chief_leschi/chief_leschi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Leschi
 
I'm linking this post to Shadow Shot Sunday.

Black Locust Tree Reflections in Waughop Lake

The black locust trees at Fort Steilacoom Park have blossoms right now, and they smell wonderful! This is a picture of some black locust trees and their reflection in the lake.

Visit Watery Wednesday to see more pictures with water in them!