08.15.08
Whale-watching on San Juan island
This was without a doubt the most rewarding event of our week-long camping trip. We took our kayak along, intending to paddle out among the orcas, but in the end found that we had a better view from Lime Kiln State Park (which was the first dedicated whale-watching park!).
The first day we trekked out to the point it was sunny and beautiful, but alas, no whales.
The second day, we went back with a picnic lunch and intended to stay awhile. Before we even got to the park, we saw cars and cyclists pulled over to the west side of the road, binoculars out, arms waving, shouts of excitement audible. Whales!
We sat on the hillside and were treated to a half-hour show of breaching, spy-hopping, and spouting. It wasn’t easy to capture with a camera (which I’m sort of perversely glad for: you had to be there in person:) ).
ETA: the whales were from the Southern Resident L pod.
07.01.08
Around the July garden
I just discovered that a poky stand of purple flowers I’d admired earlier this spring in the backyard has turned into salmonberries! I ate one–kinda tart, but good. I understand that salmonberries were an important part of coastal Native Americans’ diets, and they played a big part in pemmican.
Another of my white plants has just started to blossom: the crimson rock rose. My white garden’s off to a beautiful start!
06.17.08
First Day of Summer Break
It was a half-day, so the girls came home early, bearing end-of-year report cards and huge grins. After lunch, we walked to a copse of cottonwood trees and picked all the cotton our four bags could hold.
Our gleanings will be the raw materials for making paper later on (this week, or later on this summer, who knows–it doesn’t really matter! I’m giddy and high on sympathetic freedom 
).
It’s nearing the end of cottonwood season (allergies, I will not miss you) so I was relieved to find these pods still draped over some of the further bushes.
This was S’s best find.
Tea-time today was a picnic of sorts at Battle Point Park. We went to the grocery store beforehand, and I told the kids they could each choose whatever they wanted. After nixing a whole sheetcake and an entire apple pie, I okayed this stuff:
Guess which treat is mine!
06.13.08
The June garden’s a-buzzin’ and a-buddin’
First, the most delightful thing of all: we just got a porch bench, and sitting there quietly, one can hear the almost constant soft buzzing of hummingbirds swooping from branch to branch. I didn’t realize how many there are, or how often they feed (hmm, is there a hummingbird Heisenberg principle?)–just today they took the full feeder down to the last drops.
Now for the abundance of buds: (abudnance?)
These will be Concords later on; all three grape plants are still in buckets, waiting for me to decide where to lodge them for good. They don’t seem to mind so far.
Did you know that’s what asparagus does if you don’t cut it? Rather pretty, I think.
And pea flowers, just because I’m so delighted that they finally decided to get on with it and bloom.
These second-year rhubarb crowns are doing quite well, considering the deer ate them down to nubbins last year, poor things.
And finally, the beautiful strawberries that rise triumphantly from the soil–these are not the strawberries I’ve grown in other gardens. Bred specifically for the Northwest (I’ll have to look up their name), they furl their oversized leaves early and bear their berries high. They’re my starberries, if you will.
05.22.08
Heliotropic
Nasturtium seedlings on the windowsill, a blaze of evening light in the living room. It’s in our nature: we turn toward the sun.
05.10.08
St. Barnabas
When they’re not in my garden or snacking on my buds, I’m quite fond of the island deer. We came upon two fawns while we were walking on the back pathway of St. Barnabas church yesterday, as they were thoughtfully trimming the weeds around a stop sign.
Speaking of St. Barnabas, we attended a remarkable organ and trumpet concert there last night. The church itself is like a little Gothic gem, with its polished gleaming wood and red brick interior contrasting with the blue coolness of the stained glass windows.
One of the side windows was open during the first half of the concert, and one of my favorite moments was hearing the birds chirping in the gardens during Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor — an unorchestrated and utopian touch.
Mel Butler was the organist and Robert Gale was the trumpeter, (such an appropriate last name, don’t you think?) and together they performed beautifully.
04.01.08
A Bluebird Day
It’s Spring Break, it’s April Fool’s Day, it’s bright and sunny! The kids and I walked to Winslow, visited the KiDiMu, got a strawberry milkshake from the newly-opened Richie’s 305 Diner.
The ubiquitous english daisies are so pretty! They’re naturalized all over our lawn, and they nestle so close to the ground that even though I’ve mowed twice this spring already, the little daisies escape largely unharmed. This is a little pocket park near Eagle Harbor:
03.28.08
Weather of all kinds
The rain turned to snow about an hour ago. Spring is fickle in the Sound! I’d had thoughts of taking the kayak out, but the weather’s not exactly encouraging.
The daffodils don’t seem to mind a little wet snow:
03.05.08
For the birds
The kids are off from school today, so we went to a bird presentation at the KiDiMu. The two bird ambassadors from the West Sound Wildlife Shelter were really excellent and kept the kids and adults alike captivated with their crows and Great Horned owl.
This comes right on the heels of watching the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, so we’re all thinking about human/wildlife interaction. We filled up the bird feeders:
(I have to climb a ladder to reach this one)
(This is just 4 parts of water to one part sugar, brought to a boil to make a syrup)
(These bagel bird snacks were the art project at the KiDiMu today)
And watched a couple of robins on the back lawn:
03.02.08
Lunch in the Grand Forest
Happy, chilly day!
The smile is because I had just eaten the best sandwich in the whole world–a baked Italian sandwich. You start with some crusty French or Italian bread, spread a layer of pesto, some provolone, a little Black Forest ham or some mushrooms, a few slices of tomato. Wrap it in foil and bake it for 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Take it with you on a chilly hike–it’ll taste twice as good there.
Strange bud, no? Looks like a tiny ear of corn bursting out of its red, red crown.
