Big and small circles, a Monkey Puzzle hunt

Being away from home for long blocks of time requires a slightly different way of travel. And I think about my days as 'big circle' or 'small circle'. 

Big is where we boldly venture out, explore and take in the place we find ourself. Small is needed to regroup, gather myself together, do some laundry, some admin, blog, sort photos, cook, read, knit, research, spend time with the family... The small circle days we find ourselves walking around the neighbourhood, looking at the different styles of homes here in suburban Seattle, having a coffee, provisioning for a meal and these last fews days I have been on a hunt for the Monkey Puzzle.

Taha Ebrahimi's illustrated walking guide to street trees in Seattle got me going on my small circle day today. The rather amusing part is that the Monkey Puzzle tree mentioned in the book is a rather poor specimen and I then noticed them much closer to home, in fact over the road!

Now to fetch the little ones, take Kirstie to swimming and James to his soccer social, dinner, reading and then bedtime. 
 

Araucaria Araucana, an evergreen conifer from Chile with an interesting story and a rather bizarre look.
The sharp triangular leaves that shape the upturned spiny branches are fascinating as are the upright cones. The tree also has a perfectly rounded crown.

Extract from Street Trees of Seattle by Taha Ebrahimi. 

And Bryant is our neighbourhood, hence the search for a monkey puzzle.