Another golden morning

 

Click the below for a short art history lesson. Not a bad way to start the day.

"Woman Before the Rising Sun," Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1818

 

Mini heat wave

 

I sat outside after dinner last night watching a flock of excited Bushtits take showers in the sprinkler. The dearest little birds, they appear from nowhere at the sound of water, then disappear just as fast.

This will be the third day of near 90 degree temperatures in Seattle. Our neighborhood hasn't been quite that hot, but the house is still well over 80 degrees by evening. 

I'm a light sleeper and usually head to the downstairs bedroom which is cooler, not to mention quieter without a fan and kitchen refrigerator running a few steps from the bed. And a lone mosquito buzzing around the room. Is there anything more irritating at night? Lucky John can sleep anywhere through anything. 

This is perfect weather for ripening tomatoes, and we have an astonishing amount from just two potted plants. 

Thank you, better-living-through-chemistry tomato formula Miracle Gro.

 

 

I'm using them up in every possible way. We'll look back on those luscious sandwiches in January, when store tomatoes are a sad thing. 

 
 

High adventure pictures

 

As promised...and happy to report the families safely returned on Thursday after an incredible backpacking trip in the remote Pasayten Wilderness.

 

After 50+ miles on rugged trails, an icy dip in Ross Lake to wash off the dust, followed by copious pizza in Mazama on the drive home to Twisp. 

Amazing views of the North Cascade peaks from above tree line.

The group included four adults, two teenagers, two tweens and two dogs with piles of gear packed in, not to mention, an impressive amount of food for hungry days on the trail.  Seeing how those kids eat at home, I honestly don't know how they do it-- obviously lots of planning required.  

And everyone now carries a fair share of weight, including the canines packing their dinners. 

Nova taking a reading rest break, while Nica keeps watch along the trail. 

Amanda said that Maya, super fit from soccer and swimming, led the group up the steepest trails carrying her own 35-pound pack. 

I can just hear her: "What TOOK you guys so long?" 

Oh yes. No wildlife sightings other than some harmless deer. The fierce and smart ones gave the party a wide berth. Ha!

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.