If I had a boat

 

 

I'm taking the Seattle water taxi this morning to meet my friend Betsy for a fish and chips lunch at Ivar's. A beautiful day for a boat ride, and we want to check out the new Waterfront Park. It opened a few weeks ago with much hoopla and was dubbed Seattle's "new front porch."

 

 From the July 11 Seattle Times:

"No one will believe it was once all but impossible to stroll from Pike Place Market to the waterfront. Elliott Bay — the actual water of the waterfront — was largely invisible even as you walked beside it? The center of downtown was separated from the waterfront by a double decker highway carrying 90,000 cars a day?"

Well, yes we believe it, having spent countless hours stuck in traffic up on the old Viaduct and walking underneath. There was actually a walkway down to the waterfront from the Market used by tourists and brave locals-- an unpleasant warren of connecting concrete staircases (stinky and graffiti covered) called the Pike Place Market Hill Climb. 

Amanda, Tom and the girls are wrapping up their wilderness backpack today, coming out (I think) on the Pacific Crest Trail near Ross Lake, where they left their cars a week ago. We haven't heard from them since last Saturday and looking forward to some pictures.

This is what happens

When you prune hydrangeas too hard in the fall: few flowers. But a dandy bush now, primed and ready for next summer. 

In the not-so-nice-looking category, this overgrown and dying Photinia. These shrubs (trees when unpruned) are prone to fungal disease and all sorts of other pests, so no great loss here, except it somewhat blocked a view of the gosh awful metal garage? the neighbor built smack up against the property line. 

The garden is still beautiful for August but slowly moving into the clean up phase. The mornings are darker and starlings gathering in the fig tree, which means fall is around the corner. 

We've only had a couple days of measurable rain all summer. As the climate changed our plants have evolved naturally with more shrubs and fewer thirsty flowers. 

There was never a master plan for this yard anyway-- more like plant archaeology, one layer on top of the other, survival of the fittest. Everything must adapt, along with our expectations of what is beautiful. 

"Men argue. Nature acts."  Voltaire 

The last dahlia standing

 

Dahlia season quotes: 

"The dahlia's first duty in life is to flaunt and to swagger and to carry gorgeous blooms well above its leaves, and on no account to hang its head."  Gertrude Jekyll, Wood and Garden, 1899.

"Looking at my dahlias one summer day, a friend whose taste runs to the small and impeccable said sadly, "You do like big conspicuous flowers, don't you?" She meant vulgar, and I am used to that." Eleanor Perenyi, Green Thoughts, 1981.

Well, that white dahlia above is the only survivor out of dozens grown in this yard over the decades. It's a beauty. Those perfectly symmetrical ball varieties look almost artificial. 

It is the very same plant towering over Nova in a long ago forest of flowers. 

The others, immortalized on the blog.

 

Cheap treasure

 

This house doesn't need another fancy plate or basket, but my favorite thrift shop, The Discover Store, had a 50% off everything sale this weekend and these items were too unique to pass up. 

The plate has an "Abigail" stamp, which according to Google, is an old southern family business selling high quality pottery. I don't know anything about ceramics, but reduced down to ten bucks, hard to resist. 

I've always wanted to learn pine needle basket making, but the class I signed up for was cancelled. That coil basket has thousands of individual needles-- imagine the work! I wonder who made it, and then who gave it away to the charity shop. If only things could talk. 

Speaking of treasures, how nice to step outside and pick all-you-can eat tomatoes for a few weeks. 

At the West Seattle Sunday Market, the person in front of me paid a shocking $7 for a single heirloom tomato. He didn't even blink. (Same price as the pine needle basket.) 

And the ultimate bargain: free. The house across the street put this perfectly good chair out on the sidewalk and I grabbed it.

 Seattle can be a strange place. 

 

Silver Maple

 

 

Beautiful in every season, the Silver Maple across the street has been a part of our landscape ecology since 1980. In the summer, that huge biomass of leaves filters the hot afternoon sun, keeping our house cooler. I've raked tons of leaves over the years to mulch the garden beds. 

The tree has been struggling for years through a combination of neglect and climate change. Each year, more dead branches in the canopy and more wood falling on the ground. I've been dreading the day they decide it's a hazard and cut it down. 

 

 

But early this morning, a truck showed up, and they appear to be cutting out the dead wood high above. Dangerous work! And hopefully, it means they haven't given up on the old treasure yet. 

 

A pie sort of morning

 

 

The dark clouds are gathering in advance of the atmospheric river moving in tonight. Hopefully the rain extinguishes the stubborn fires burning out on the Olympic Peninsula. 

John is outside now checking the gutters-- the crows use them for a private picnic trough. If they clog up and it rains hard, the basement stairwell is prone to flood. 

I made an apple pie this morning to get us through this "preview of fall" weekend. The temperature has dropped almost 30 degrees in 3 days. Hoodies and jeans today for ukulele group. 

 

 

 

Good grain

 

I've written about Bluebird Grains before on the blog. The company is another Methow Valley business success story, like epqd gear and Blue Star Coffee Roasters, built up from scratch with hard work and good marketing. And it always helps that the locals are supportive and loyal to their home-grown businesses. 

When we first started going to the Valley almost 20 years ago, Bluebird was just a little boutique farm, selling bags of Emmer Farro (a hybrid species of wheat) at Hanks and the Saturday market. They've recently built a large processing facility with a retail store just outside of Winthrop, and greatly expanded their "ancient grain" product line. 

Amanda gave me a bag of Einkorn to try, and now it's my favorite. Einkorn is the oldest wheat known to scientists with a unique high protein low starch nutritional profile. 

 

It cooks up fairly soft so makes a good rice substitute.  But salad is the way to go with the leftovers. 

I added a can of white beans, onion and cherry tomatoes from the garden, with a lemon vinaigrette. Could have stopped right there for healthy vegetarian dinner, but the salad was sure yummy alongside grilled chicken and Hatch peppers. 

By gosh, it's been hot here for the last two days! The house was 85 degrees inside when we went to bed last night. Now a big cool down on the way, with heavy rain by the end of the week. 

  

Cloud nine

 

Looking at photos this morning, and still basking in the afterglow of that perfect Victoria trip.

Here's a photo of the family together last night in Pt. Townsend, dining on Thai food. They are on the long road back to Twisp now, but soon take off on the next big adventure-- a four day wilderness backpack in the North Cascades. 

 

No, Nana won't be trailing along, unless I can get one of those dashing ex-bush pilots to fly me in! Haha. Joe (above) flew the Otter to Victoria and was featured in the flight magazine. 

John got home yesterday and it's nice having him back, puttering around in his (now sparkling clean) basement lair. I love his family and was sorry to miss them this trip, but it was a special time for the sisters and brothers-- so happy they took advantage of that rare opportunity. 

 

Happy birthdays

 

A pretty smile on Nova's 16th birthday, and perfect weather yesterday for Buchart Gardens. 

And happy birthday today to our lovely Amanda. The family is in Pt. Townsend tonight before heading back to the Methow Valley. 

Sisters, sisters. Where did the time go?

Well, John is on the plane from Cincinnati and I'll pick him up in a few hours. 

The next two days are quite hot, getting up to 90, so naturally there are extreme heat warnings all over the local news. 

When I water, the thirsty birds start chattering at the first sound, especially the chickadees. A  pretty good place to be a birdie, in this hot crowded city. 
 

It starts here

 

I've lived a lucky life and been around the block a few times, but never had much chance to experience firsthand the wonderful world of general aviation. More on that in a minute...

As my readers know, I always share our family news and plans on the blog. But this week, secrets to keep. 

On Wednesday, John flew to Cincinnati to see his sisters, Janice and Rachel. The three of them had planned a surprise visit with their brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Rebecca, living in Zanesville Ohio. Since Dan reads the blog, I couldn't spill the beans here. 

I'm so happy for them. The four siblings are spread out across the country, and this was a rare and special family reunion. 

By lucky chance, Amanda, Tom and the girls had a birthday celebration planned this weekend in Victoria, BC and I made an impulse decision to join them for one night.   

Now, the easiest travel options from Seattle to Vancouver Island are the Victoria Clipper (about 3 hours on the water) or Kenmore Air seaplane flight (under an hour from Lake Union to Victoria's inner harbor) Yes, I took the jet setter option! 

After a rainy, cloudy stretch of days, Friday dawned a spectacular morning for flying. No ceiling, unlimited visibility, in pilot speak. Our rugged aircraft a De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Turbine Otter, a seaplane first introduced when I was 3 years old.  

I sat right behind the pilots and what a trip, observing their skills with all those wonderfully mechanical controls. 

Off we went from Lake Union and within just minutes, Seattle and Puget Sound spread out far below us with breathtaking views all the way to Victoria.

By texting with Amanda, I knew as we flew over the Hood Canal Bridge they were driving beneath at about the same time. 

 And the flight over too soon, with a smooth as silk landing in Victoria's inner harbor. 

 We had a beautiful time together, roaming around the flower and tourist filled city.

 

 

Yes, gallons of Miracle Gro. 

And speaking of growing...Maya soon to be 13 and Nova just turned sweet sixteen. 

We had a fun dinner for Amanda and Nova, whose birthdays are a day apart.

Dinner followed by a little party back at the room. After breakfast together the next morning and a stroll around town, all too soon time to part ways with the family. 

After the kids took off sightseeing I had the best sandwich of my life at Red Fish Blue Fish (grilled wild salmon) then headed to the adjacent Seaplane dock. 

The flight I expected back on the same Otter filled up and left, leaving just three of us behind. This was a bit disconcerting, although the agent said that our flight would be "called" in a few minutes.

 

Sure enough, as if things couldn't get any more exciting, a pilot came in and escorted us to a six-passenger piston de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver. 

After we got settled and briefed in our little seats, the pilot turned to the the dock crew and said, "Now don't cast us off until I know it will start." Good idea, thought I. 

Well, the single engine sputtered to life, and off we flew across the Strait of Juan de Fuca glittering below.

 

 

The water landing in Victoria felt serene, but the pattern over Elliot Bay flies into the heart of downtown Seattle, then quickly descends onto tiny Lake Union. It was pure adrenaline (for me, hopefully not the pilots.) 

Hello Space Needle!

And so ended a perfect and unforgettable 24 hours in Victoria. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As they say

 

Age is just a number. Fun times with my ukulele friends yesterday at WSUP, strumming and singing on the covered patio at The Bridge restaurant in West Seattle. 

That gentleman playing the mean harmonica is our beloved member Cecil, who celebrated his 101st birthday in February. That's right, going on 102, and yes, he still drives himself way across town to play. 

Cecil caught Covid a few weeks ago, spent a couple days in the hospital and then shook it right off. (I want what he's having.) 

Anyway, we're delighted having Cecil back playing. 

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.

In other news, August 8th is "Happiness Happens Day." 

Hey. Exciting things happening today but I'll fill you in later-- I'm traveling light sans laptop for a nice change of pace, so photos later. 

Have a good weekend.