Ocean Adventure, Day 2

We had our first whole day on the Long Beach peninsula, and we filled it to the brim with wandering, shopping, dining, chatting and lots and lots of laughing.  The first big laugh of the day was when I spotted the Frantic Fred's sign.  I misread it to read "Fabulous Fred's," (which it may well be, but I haven't been inside so I can't really say....).  I have a very dear friend named Fred who is fabulous but not frantic so the sign brought him to mind. He always makes me laugh, so it was a nice way to start out the day.

The whole little town, all the little towns, seem to be full of lush, colorful flower baskets.  This one with the very hot colors appealed especially.

We had our breakfast nosh at the local bakery....which has way too many goodies from which to choose.  It was very hard to be good.

Nonie posing for her photo

Lunch was chowder, salad and garlic bread.  You have to eat chowder at the ocean, don't you think? I kind of wished I hadn't as the chowder wasn't that good.  The clams were local and fresh and delish, but the chowder no so much.

Dinner was at The Dunes Restaurant.  I had oysters and they were perfectly cooked and quite tasty.  So tasty in fact that I forgot to take a photo!

Me and my friend Sharron Huffman

I went to the opening of Sharron Huffman's show at the Bay Avenue Gallery in Ocean Park last night.  I will be taking a class from Sharron next week and will have much more to say about her and her wonderful art (nature printing and encaustic) later.  Many of Sharron's friends call her Little Bit.  You can certainly see why as I am not a tall woman myself....

This lovely lady is a local resident.  I keep spotting her out the front window in the sea grass just before the dunes.  She is not afraid of me, or anyone else.  She does like to pose for a photo, too.

Sunset last night was at 9 PM exactly and it was beautiful.

A Week at the Ocean

Nonie and I have arrived at our rental in Long Beach, Washington.  We'll be here for one week.  We found a lovely two bedroom condo on Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) that is just a short walk through the dunes and sea grass to the beach.  The photos were taken from our little deck this evening after we go settled in.

If you have never tried VRBO I can highly recommend it.  This is the fourth time I've found vacation rental property on the site and I have never been anything but pleased with the rentals.  The descriptions are always correct and the photos truly representative.  It's an easy way to find a place for a holiday.  And, no, I don't get a kick back from them!

Tomorrow we will begin to explore the Long Beach peninsula.  There are several towns along this stretch of (mostly) sand that runs north-south along the coastline of southern Washington State, just north of the mouth of the mighty Columbia River.  We are staying in Long Beach proper, but there is also Ilwaco, Seaview, Ocean Park and  Oysterville.  State parks abound, also, and then there is the lure of the miles of sandy beach and the mesmerizing surf rolling in from the Pacific.

I haven't been here for, oh, almost thirty years!  The last time, I was here with my family, camping.  I remember it well because my husband and I were sleeping in the double bed at the front of the travel trailer we owned at the time.  Our son, maybe 3 or 4 years old, was sleeping in a twin bunk right above us.  At about O dark thirty my son rolled off the bunk above, fell straight down and landed on the small of my back while I was sound asleep.  He didn't even wake up!  I did.  And it hurt!  I've (almost) forgiven him.

I'll post more about my adventures here as the week goes by.  Stay tuned.

Recent Sightings

This Western Kingbird is nesting in my husband's ham radio tower at the cabin in Eastern Washington. Neither of us knew what sort of birdie it was until I looked it up.  Reading the sentence, "Both species are aggressive toward intruders near their nests, often attacking much larger birds,"* I knew I'd found the right one in the bird book.  The parents kept squawking and flying about, throwing hissy fits, whenever I approached my car.  Apparently I had parked well within their territory.  It was, I promise  you, inadvertent.  I really take no pleasure in torturing birds!

This little fellow is often to be found on the front porch of my cabin in Western Washington, in the foothills of the Cascade mountains.  I do know know if it is a salamander, a newt or (maybe) a skink.  I don't really think it's a skink as they have blue tails, if I remember correctly.  The book I need to look up this fellow is, of course, at the cabin....

If you, dear Reader, might know the identity of this little fellow, please let me know!

And then we come to this fellow.....anyone who knows me will know that this fellow, curled up under my doormat, is not my favorite of all of God's creatures.  In fact, it is right at the top of the list of my least favorite creatures.

Let me say, in my defense, that having such a healthy and plump garter snake living in my garden is a good thing.  I know that.  I know it eats all sorts of things I would rather not have in my garden (or in my house, for that matter!).  But on the porch?  Two days in a row?  Sunning itself in the late afternoon, just where I am bound to throw open the door and start to bound outside only to come to a painfully immediate stop when the snake is spotted?  Really?

He is quite a pretty snake, if you like that sort of thing  Again, the book I need to identify the actual species of garter snake is, alas, on the other side to the porch...I think it's a common garter snake, but I could very easily be wrong.

And back to the east side of the state, we have this lovely quail, who was standing on the railing at my husband's cabin the other morning, shrieking at me.  I am still not clear what I was supposed to be doing for it, or not doing for it.  I was inside, it was outside.....go figure.  Very elegant profile, however.  I love their topknots!

*Birds of the Puget Sound Region by Bob Morse, Tom Aversa, and Hal Opperman, published by the R. W. Morse Company, Olympia, Washington, 2003.

And, yes, the hydrangeas are coming along

Alas, the peonies are truly only a lovely memory now, as even the large planting of pale pink ones at the cabin are finished for this year.  But as I mentioned in a recent post, they hydrangeas are coming along nicely!

Since it is only early July, we haven't had any real summer weather yet.  Oh, a day here and an afternoon there, but in the Pacific Northwest, it's been Junuary as usual.

We traditionally never really have summer begin until after the 4th of July.  We might just get lucky this year....maybe summer will start on the FIFTH?  Wouldn't that be a treat?

In the meantime,  while I'm waiting for the start of summer, I'm just going to enjoy how the hydrangeas brighten up even the darkest corner of the garden.

Mary Oliver Always Says It Perfectly for Me

CROWS

From a single grain they have multiplied

When you look in the eyes of one

you have seen them all. 

At the edges of highways

they pick at limp things.  

They are anything but refined.

Or they fly out over the corn

like pellets of black fire, 

like overlords.

Crow is crow, you say?

What else is there to say?

Drive down any road,

take a train or an airplane

across the world, leave

your old life behind,

die and be reborn again---

wherever you arrive

they'll be there first,

glossy and rowdy,

and indistinguishable.

The deep muscle of the world.

---Mary Oliver

To Portland by Train....and Back Again

To celebrate the successful conclusion of the 55th Edmonds Arts Festival, and my last Festival as a director, Nonie and I took the train from Edmonds to Portland, Oregon for a long, lazy weekend away.

part of the Heathman Hotel sign, taken from the bar window

We stayed at The Heathman Hotel, in downtown Portland.  We usually stay there as it has a lovely restaurant and is centrally located with Powell's just a few blocks away.

I love Portland.  The downtown has its share of tall buildings, but they are not overly tall, blocking out the sky, but are tall enough to be interesting subjects for photos.

There are lots of great little places to eat, some very plain and others quite fancy.  We had a bit of both on this trip.

art by Beth Kerschen from an Urban Landscapes postcard

And then there was Powell's, the reason we opted for a weekend in Portland.  Nonie and I both love Powell's and can spend a lot of time browsing the aisles, looking at this book and that one.  We both bought so many books we shipped them home as we didn't want to even try to haul them home with us on the train.

I spotted this tag promoting my friend Bee's wonderful collage book.  That was fun!

I love the water fountains.  I've only ever spotted this sort, with the four heads, in Portland.

We had all kinds of weather....rain, wind, sun, drizzle, gray, cold, warm, and yet more rain.
A typical "Junuary" in the Pacific Northwest.

The train ride was great fun, in both directions.  Lots of scenery, both urban and country.  And lots of rather interesting graffiti.  Some of it was very artistic, if one is allowed to admire graffiti.

We had such a good time we are planning a repeat visit in the autumn.

Peony Time

Everywhere I go, everywhere I look, peonies are blooming.  They are everywhere at our Saturday Market.  In my yard they are blooming like mad.

I have three different peonies blooming in my yard right now.  Two pinks and a dark red.  Next year I should have blooms from the yellow peony I added this spring.

I love how they look like cups made of velvet when they first open.

They resemble fluffy pompoms, full of edges and softness and fluff.

I have peonies in vases all over the house.  I'm going to be really sad when their season for this year is over.  I'll miss their exuberance and lushness, and their bright yellow stamens.

Of course, the hydrangeas are coming on nicely....

Three Delightful Days

My dear friend was here for a three day visit.  She lives 3000 miles away and I haven't seen her since last summer but even just three days together is a joy.  We laughed so much!  Every time we are together again we pick up our conversation where we left off, seamlessly.  

Bee & Heidi, the owner of The Artful Ewe

We spent one night in Port Townsend, a favorite place of ours.  On our way to Port Townsend we stopped at The Artful Ewe, a beautiful yarn shop in Port Gamble.  The shop owner gave my friend Bee a lesson in using a drop spindle to create yarn.

Bee uses textiles in her work.  This shop surely did have a lot of great yarns and roving from which to choose.  Heidi, the owner, has lovely things in amazing colors, many of which she hand dyes herself.

We spent a very rainy, cold morning walking and beach combing at Fort Worden State Park.  We didn't find many treasures to take away with us, but we both took a lot of photos.

This sun star was gorgeous and we took turns taking shots of it.  This often happens when we are on a beach together....taking turns taking a photo.  We see things in much the same way.

Lucky me to have had my friend come to visit, even though it was much too short and it went by in a flash.  I'll take what I can get---and be grateful.