Wild thang

Maya

Maya and Nica

Nova and swim teammates 

A peaceful evening view of the Methow Valley,

from Amanda and Tom's new property outside Twisp.

Give a fig?

Whoa. Nine bucks for a tiny basket of figs at the local Thriftway (aka Expensive-way) store.  I'm used to our jaw-dropping grocery prices, but did a double take.  Guess nothing is too good for us coastal elites. Ha.

Better price at Trader Joe, but those figs looked like they had been around since the Garden of Eden. Marji, when your Las Vegas fig tree ripens, I'll be down.

Did you watch the debates? John soldiered his way through, good for him.  I made it until the last half hour, then went outside last night to dead-head roses in the brilliant sunshine.

As you know, Feathers and Flowers avoids political subjects, but I will say, there wasn't anything in the platform to excite the moderate Democrats and independents.  "We will raise your taxes to help other people."  OK, then. I don't hear much that will win states back from Donald Trump.

June flew by as usual.  It looks like the rest of the country is hot, and indeed, the rest of the world. 100 degrees in Paris this week. I can't imagine cranking out baguettes in all those little bakeries.

We're enjoying room temperature weather in the low 70's, with some morning clouds. Northwest summers are lovely.

Have a good weekend.

National Onion Day

Of all things, today is National Onion Day.  Why not? The most widely consumed vegetable in the world deserves to be celebrated for its versatility and many healthful qualities.

There's nothing like the luscious smell of cooked onions wafting through the house to bring a certain person up from the basement.  I don't think a day goes by when I don't use some onion in something.

Our wonderful Washington Walla Walla Sweet onions are just showing up in local stores now.

Marji and Dad, wonder if you can get them at your Sprouts produce store in Las Vegas?

Sweet onions are juicier than storage onions because they contain more water. Enjoy while you can. The shelf is a few weeks at most, one of the few truly seasonal vegetables left.  Hint: they make fabulous homemade onion rings.

 "Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet."

Sarah L. (Sadie) Delany

Goats and goats

Blue Lake

North Cascades

Last summer, several hundred mountain goats were captured at Olympic National Park, then trucked and flown into the North Cascades for relocation.  Non-native to the park, problem goats had been eating and trampling vegetation, disturbing soil and "bothering" people on trails. 

Whee!

Quite an operation and apparently successful. Amanda and the girls took a hike up to Blue Lake this week, and were lucky to see a mamma and her babies. From a safe distance.  Like any wild animal, I guess they can be dangerous.

Here's Nova with the sweetie kind of goat.  School is out, and they spent a day at Carl and Tonya's goat farm this week. Wow. Much more fun than having bored teenage babysitter.

Check out the website for Sunnypine Farm in the Methow Valley.  The best chevre you've ever tasted.

Carl and friends

Crow gifts

I'm too hasty sometimes with my morning weather proclamations. That drizzly, cold morning yesterday turned into a bright afternoon, so we had our picnic potluck outside as planned. Afterwards The Ukes serenaded Carol's neighborhood.  Hopefully most people were at work. Ha. We couldn't hear each other playing across the yard, so at times it sounded like rounds.

The sun is up this morning, a one day break from the June gloom. I have chores galore this afternoon, with crows to keep me company out in the jungle.

A batch of crows left the nest last week, causing an enormous fuss until they left the neighborhood. They look full grown, but act like pitiful, begging babies. They are still dumb like all baby birds, and the parents are loudly protective.

Love em or hate em, crows are always up to something interesting.  One brought a package of those orange peanut butter crackers, stolen somewhere. He opened it on the bird bath and proceeded to make a messy crow soup. They also leave things on the deck railing, like miniature toys, to the delight of Nova and Maya.

And yesterday I found this plastic cup in the bird bath. A crow kitchen utensil?

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen

Ludovic Morlot conducted his last concert yesterday afternoon as Seattle Symphony Director. He is stepping down to move on to new opportunities around the world, although will return occasionally to Seattle as emeritus guest conductor.  Morlot is French, so naturally, we heard plenty of French music the last 8 years.  His final concert was no exception, including a big choral work by Debussy.

The stage extension was up accommodate all the orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Choral and the Northwest Boy's Choir. We got moved back from our usual 4th row cheap seats to more expensive turf. We had a great view of the stage, not to mention, the standing ovations that lasted almost as long as the music. Just kidding, but Morlot was popular with the audience and players, and I think he will be missed.
 
The new director, Thomas Dausgaard, is Danish, and a big fan of Beethoven, Mahler and heavier Scandinavian music. But that's a story for next year-- we're finished with the Symphony until fall.

And it feels like it already!  Where is summer?  The house was a brisk 65 degrees this morning, and I turned on the furnace to take the chill off.  Hopefully the clouds burn off, but we won't even hit 70 today.  I'm making deviled eggs now for The Ukes picnic potluck this afternoon. Better pack some sweaters for the ukuleles.

Midsummer eve

Life is just a bowl of Rainier cherries with vanilla ice cream.  The first of the season from Lake Chelan, and only $2.99 a pound at Safeway this week.

Today is the summer solstice, and for us in the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year and the shortest night.  It doesn't feel like it this morning; we're buried under a dark grey blanket of marine overcast.  It might burn off to a scorching 69 degrees by late afternoon. Ah, Seattle.  And don't even think about the fact that the amount of light goes downhill from here.

The Fremont Solstice Parade is tomorrow, famous for naked bicyclists. Google if you don't believe me. And Sunday is the 45th annual Gay Pride Parade on 4th Avenue. We might catch part of it when we go downtown to the Symphony-- our last of the season. 

Have a good summer weekend!

Retail tales

My teenage coworker didn't show up at the Stop N Shop yesterday, so I was the lone cashier again.  Fortunately, the store manager Aylene was there, because it was an eventful afternoon in retail-land. 

Two customers came back like bad pennies a few minutes after they bought stuff, insisting on returning a watch that "didn't work" and a picture she decided she "didn't like."

We're a charity store for heaven's sake, not Nordstrom.  And the sign on the counter says, no refunds, no returns! (Yes, I'm already one of those hardened cashiers.) But the nice manager, for the sake of public relations, did it anyway. Good thing she was there, because I don't know how to do complicated credit card returns.

I never realized how many folks walk around without any money whatsoever. We have a five dollar minimum for credit card purchases, which miffs people, because they don't carry so much as a  dollar in their wallet to buy some silly thing at a junk store.

Then one of the serial shoplifters, featured on several pages in the Book of Thieves, came in the store. I noticed a rather furtive-looking, disheveled man, but hey, nothing too unusual about that in West Seattle.  The manager, however, thought she recognized him, and came rushing out for the photo binder.  He took one guilty look at us and was out the door and down the street.

Aylene was mad, because she wanted to confront him and "tell him off good" so he wouldn't come back. Really? All I can say is, some people are braver than me.

Well, I'm looking forward to a much less exciting day.

Darn, we're into that June gloom thing again. It isn't bad, although if it's going to be cool and cloudy, I sure wish it would rain so I didn't have to water. 

Bye, bye viaduct

The old Alaska Way Viaduct in Seattle, for so long an icon of ugliness, is being torn down.

Messy demolition underway...

And should be complete by fall, making way for the ambitious Waterfront Seattle Program.

 Something like this?

Comtemplative Man's Recreation

"I envy nobody but him, and him only, 
that catches more fish than I do."

June 18th is Go Fishing Day. Doesn't that sound enjoyable on a long June afternoon?  I like the lazy kind of fishing.  You know, worm on a hook, sit back and watch the birds and clouds go by. 

But when it comes to fishing, there's something for everyone.  In England, recreational fishing began to gain popularity in the 17th century. In 1653, Izaak Walton published a book titled The Compleat Angler or Contemplative Man's Recreation.  

It was the first definitive work championing the angler who loves fishing just for the sake of it. In 1931, it was wonderfully illustrated by Arthur Rackham.  

Only the fish are wet in Washington. Fire danger is high already. It looks like a bit of welcome drizzle this morning, but not enough to water diddly squat in the garden. We've had only 1/10th inch of rain so far in June. When John mowed the yard last weekend, it threw up such a cloud of dust I had to close the house windows.

 

An artsy Sunday

I've loved Pre-Raphelite paintings since the day I saw my first one in a Berkeley poster shop.  That was 45 years ago. I bought two "John Waterhouse" posters I couldn't afford at the time. The colors are all faded now, but I can't seem to part with them for sentimental reasons.

In London last September we made a special trip to the Tate British Museum to see the Victorian paintings. The room was jammed with students and tourists. The Pre-Raphelites have gone in and out of fashion over the years-- apparently they are "in" again.

We could have just waited for the new exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, called "Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement."  Quite a mouthful.

The detail and vibrant colors of the originals are beautiful.  Many of these well known works have never left the United Kingdom until now.

The collection is on loan from the Birmingham Museum of Art, and featured famous artists such as Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris.

One of my old favorites, called "Pretty Baa Lambs," by Ford Madox Brown.

The artist captured such a charming, skeptical look on the baby's face.  Other familiar works included:

"The Long Engagement"

Arthur Hughes 

"Persephone"

Dante Gabriel Rosetti

William Morris textiles

After the exhibit and a trip to the gift store, we joined the sea of tourists jamming the Pike Place Market.  Smart locals avoid the market like the a plague on summer weekends, but hey, when in Rome?  We shared a passable fish and chip for lunch, then headed home before the crowds got even worse. 

I made John a small steak for dinner and his favorite dessert. I hope your Father's Day was just as nice.

Happy Father's Day

"Coming and Going"

Norman Rockwell

Father's Day greetings, to all the great dads in our lucky family, and especially our wonderful dad Sam.  Have a wonderful day!

Summertime, and the livin' is easy

Nothing beats an ice cream on the last day of school. Can you believe it? Starting first and fifth grade in the fall.  

Weeding the garden...

And swim team for Nova this summer. Where does the time go?

Nice crop of critters

The plum tree is covered again with nasty aphids. In fact, each year it gets worse. So much for that environmentally friendly dormant oil spray.  But there's no way I can use real pesticides in this yard, not with a hive of nice bees across the street.

The tree was pruned heavily in February, and the new growth doesn't produce fruit the first year. I counted a total of 8 plums, all covered with sticky aphids.  There may be a few more hiding up there, but it certainly won't be a bumper crop.  

Speaking of bees, we just saw an interesting 2012 movie called "More Than Honey," a documentary about the disappearance of honeybees around the world. Did you know there are no bees at all in China? We like nature documentaries and this is one of the best, with incredible bee images and photography.

Minding the store

I was the lone cashier at the Stop n' Shop yesterday. Yikes. The teenager who usually volunteers with me was a no show. It hit 95 degrees in Seattle-- maybe she went to the beach?

The store manager is also on vacation, so I was responsible for closing out the till, doing the daily accounting report, and then locking up the shop. One of the things the manager told me was, "you will never work alone." So much for that. Anyway, everything went fine. Guess I'm getting the hang of it. 

I enjoy chatting with the customers, and the time goes fairly fast when you're busy. Most folks are nice; many are odd. It's surprising how many people try to bargain at a charity shop. I tell them I'm just a volunteer and not empowered to change prices. Or sell things without price tags, for that matter.

They keep a binder called "The Book of Thieves" behind the counter.  It has security camera photos and unflattering (definitely not PC) descriptions of repeat shoplifters. I guess we're supposed to confront these scary people if we recognize them. One volunteer cashier actually chased a woman down the street with an armful of old clothes she was stealing.  (Not in my job description.)

Well, I'll get that thrift store smell out of my nose today.  It's 15 degrees cooler, and we're going trail riding on Vashon Island.

Way to go, Maya!

And here's a little song for you...

Jupiter

The sun doesn't set until after 9 pm, and it was brighter than a December noon when I curled up with my book last night at 8:30. June is a tough month for the sleep challenged.

If you're still awake, there's a good view of Jupiter this week after sunset. The planet is at its closest point to earth for the year, and looks like a big yellow star in the southeast sky.

Speaking of celestial bodies, we heard Gustav Holst's "The Planets" at the symphony this Sunday.  It's an old chestnut, but audiences love it and it's fun to hear all seven movements in one performance.  Each planet has a theme, loosely based on astrology. 

Jupiter is one of the most popular movements, full of loud brass and swelling strings.  He is the king of gods, the big cheery uncle of all the planets.

Weather whiplash

A bamboo skeleton

Is the bamboo finally whupped?
It's been so long, I searched the blog to remember when we had it removed.

 A sad sight, August 2015

Of course "removed" doesn't tell the story, because the underground roots sprouted for another 4 long years. They spread like a thick network over the back yard and even under the garage, poking through the floor.  No way to get them out, without knocking the structure down.

The bamboo expert said if I persistently cut off new growth, the roots would eventually run out of steam and the plant finally die.  Woman with clippers vs prehistoric bamboo, but I finally won the battle.

What a plant!  You have to admire the sheer persistence. No doubt, when the world is nothing but a baking hot cinder, bamboo will still thrive.

After unseasonably cold weather last week we are warming up.  It should reach the high 80's on Wednesday. The weathermen this morning look grim and serious, warning everyone about heat exposure. People are freaked out by hot weather in Seattle. No one has air conditioning. You'll hear the cries of complaining all across the country.

The family flies back to Seattle today.  Sadly, we won't see the girls at all, as they are heading straight back to Twisp from the airport.  A long travel day, but school and work tomorrow.  From the photos, looks like everyone had a great time.

At the Las Vegas Natural History Museum yesterday...