The eclipse

 

 

Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga, and your horse naturally won. And you flew your Lear jet to Nova Scotia, to see the total eclipse of the sun… 

 

Carly Simon lyrics, "You're So Vain"

I heard that Carly Simon is flying to Nova Scotia, in honor of her big hit 54 years ago. Good for her.

It's quite the frenzy in some parts of the country. Here in Seattle, basically a non-event, due to clouds and our distance from the narrow umbra. 

 

We're lucky to have experienced the August 2017 eclipse. It was unforgettable, even though not complete.  I was in the North Cascades town of Concrete on the way to Twisp, and some nice folks shared their extra pair of glasses, which were impossible to find. John saw it from the parking lot at Boeing Field with his coworkers. 

 

My, that seems like a long time ago-- like everything that happened before the pandemic. I'll have to make it to 94 with my vision intact to see the next.

The garden is a wonderful mess of tulips, the lush leaves and flowers flopping all over the invasive bluebells. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perfection is an illusion. You'll be a happier gardener when you accept those facts.

We have cut spring flowers in every room and they smell lovely.  Three cheers for the tall red and yellow Darwin hybrids, the workhorses of the tulip world and the only dependable repeaters. 

Costco sells the sturdy Darwin bulbs for a song, compared to those Dutch catalogs with all the fancy, frilly ones. The pictures are tempting, but the bulbs are feeble and only last a year or so. 

Until fall rolls around again, yard work is mostly the routine of weeding and cutting back spent flowers and foliage. And very familiar work, after over four decades of grubbing around on this little plot of land.

Every season is the same and different. The holly, the laurel hedge and the fig tree are the only original plants still here from 1980.  So many others, beautiful and not-so, have lived out their lifespans under my watch. 

Wishing you good luck and clear skies if you're in the path of the eclipse today.