10.31.09
Halloween in pictures
S. and her friend went as a star and moon this year.
One of the houses we walked by on our jaunt to town.
Cuts quite a dapper figure, does Richard.
My favorite costumes this year were all the jellyfish streaming and swirling in the crowd.
And as always, my no-fuss witch costume.
10.24.09
Pumpkin Patch
Suyematsu Farms, B.I.
The guiding rule for the kiddos is they must be able to pick up and carry their pumpkin. S. managed to lug this one to the wagon–it weighed in at 25 lbs! I hope at least a pound of that is pumpkin seeds to roast and eat later.
The air at the farm was full of autumn smells that took me right back to childhood: steaming hot horses, damp straw bales, sweet clean smell of squash.
10.18.09
Sunday hike: Grand Forest
After a few days of rain, the mushrooms are ponderous and prolific in the Grand Forest.
Mushroom, Anthropologie style: nice mix of ruffles and gorgeous delicate hue.
I saw a number of these inside-out fellows. They remind me of umbrellas in too stiff a wind, ribs to the sky.
This one is the most intriguing shade of metallic purple. You know, I’m coming around on purple lately.
And this meaty guy thinks he’s a ruffled oyster stranded far from the sea.
07.30.09
Miscellaneous summer
Cruel heat wave in the NW = keeping doused with water, either by hose or by wave.
The kids’ sand castle at Old Man House Beach.
Point No Point was a great outing a couple of days ago with lots of Bainbridge friends.
Last night’s concert at the park was Louisiana zydeco with Whozyamama, perfect music for a hot summer evening.
The kids found a water source right away, and yep, the one manning the watergun sprinkler would be mine.
07.04.09
Fireworks over Eagle Harbor
Just after 9 tonight, we put our two kayaks in the water and paddled out to the middle of Eagle Harbor. The sunset was gorgeous tonight:
By the time twilight had settled around us, the boats in the harbor began honking, an echoing jubilation, a call and response, a chorus rising from an anchored society of beautiful seacrafts.
We watched the firework displays being set off by people all around the harbor’s edge, and then as we were paddling back for the night, the city’s display began. We drifted to a stop and watched the expanding rings of Saturn and the weeping willows burst and die.
Once we’d convinced the kids that it *really* was the grand finale, we turned again and headed for the putting-in place. I breathed in the cool, briny air stirred up by my paddles mixed with the deeper, sharper smell of fireworks and barbecue smoke. I felt deeply alive.
3rd of July street dance in Winslow
Part shop-local-celebration, part old-fashioned summer street fair, downtown Winslow turned into a pedestrian zone of chaotic fun last evening.
K’s got the whole world on her cheek.
I love impromptu public art–it doesn’t happen enough. All along Winslow Way, the kids kept picking up pieces of sidewalk chalk and adding to the melange.
06.27.09
Acquiring more stuff, nearly (guilt)-free
Our morning’s loot from the Rotary rummage sale and auction:
1 old silk quilt (it’s beautiful, naturlich, and reminded me of my other one. Two makes me a collector of old silk quilts, I guess). I came in with the top bid of $65. I’ll post a picture once I have it hanging.
1 one-person kayak, bright yellow. The live auction ended with our bid at $185 and some jubliance among the kids.
1 Razor scooter, $10, to be shared amongst the kids. How well this will work: to be seen.
1 $12 bag o’books, containing some gems like O Pioneers, 4 Madeleine L’Engles, Wind in the Willows.
Some electronic equipment that is completely B’s department, and a whole passel of lacrosse sticks.
Good haul, huh? My garage-sailing cousin A. should visit me for next year’s auction–this is a gargantuan garage sale complete with speed boats, beds, and bombastic announcers. It’s great.
04.19.09
NIMBY
This evening, a neighbor came around and told me about Puget Sound Energy’s plans to build a substation very near our neighborhood. I’m scrambling to find information online about electrical substations, feeling a little sick about the implications of this proposal/plan.
I’m going to the community meeting tomorrow night, and hopefully I’ll see lots of my neighbors there and learn more about how or if we can derail the plan. Yes, my household is a Puget Sound Energy consumer. No, I do not want a substation built anywhere near my house.
04.11.09
Introduction to IslandWood
A pathside trillium.
This afternoon we went to Enviropalooza at IslandWood, where the kids made trash critters and I went to a presentation on the JunkRaft project by Marcus Erickson and Anna Cummins (and I have to say I felt a bit of a traitor at first, having read the New Yorker’s brief aside on the project). But they’re quite a winning pair, with their tan outdoorsy confidence and their firsthand scientific grounding. I’m glad they made Bainbridge one of their stops on their ride from Vancouver to Tijuana, showing their bottle of plastic gunk and slides of the Eastern Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre. You know, between hearing their presentation and listening to David Suzuki, I think I’m about done eating fish.
In any event, we loved IslandWood and felt lucky to enjoy such a remarkable place right on B.I.
03.28.09
Leaving flowers in the rain
One of K’s classmates (both last year and this year) passed away unexpectedly. I don’t have any words, except to say that K.M. was loved so much by so many.
