June Is Beautiful

 It got hot here over the weekend. The roses I picked for the table on Monday are a little bloomed out now on Wednesday. They last longer outside on the bushes but I needed flowers for lunch on Monday when granddaughter Irene came to lunch. We took a tour around the garden and were going to eat on the patio but it was too hot. We appreciated the inside air conditioning. We had a very nice visit, catching up with her comings and goings. She has completed her Junior year at Western Washington University in Bellingham and has a few days off until she starts a summer school class. Jill is finished with her school year today and they are going to Whidbey Island for a few days. 

We welcomed cooler temps Tuesday and today. I finally got over to the park for a walk. I wasn't sure how that would go, as I get tired easily, but it was great. I walked 1.10 miles and enjoyed the park.

Day lilies are starting to bloom.

Dogs and their people are having fun in the dog park. 

Wild pea blooms enhance the ubiquitous park plantings. 

I walked in the mild sun and in the cool shade. 

I felt so much better when I got back home. Then it was time to catch up with World Cup action. Croatia gave England a run for their money. Congo shocked the soccer world by holding Portugal to a 1-1 tie. More action continues. 

I just spent some time figuring out how to renew my drivers license. Since I am "over 70" (way over!) I now have to appear in person. Making an appointment and figuring out what I might need to renew my enhanced drivers license took some doing. The earliest appointment available is after my birthday, but I guess I have 60 days after expiration. Hope so. Also hope they accept my expired passport. We plan to stay in country the rest of our days. 

Now it's time to start dinner. Time flies when you don't want it too.

Another Week Already?

 

Our only Peony, Bowl of Beauty, but a favorite.

It popped open while we were gone this week, spending Monday through Thursday at the Whidbey Island cabin. We had rain on Monday and Tuesday which allowed us to be lazy and not work in the cabin garden.  

The rain was off and on and we did go to Langley for coffee, to visit the "Boy and Dog" and to check out the family memorial bench. It needs some work and the city has no funds, so Jill will get it to the cabin and clean it up.

We did some yard work on Wednesday morning and then in the afternoon I took a walk on the lagoon dike. There were still wild roses blooming and adding their fragrance to my walk. 

Since I don't walk as far anymore, this favorite tree on the dike is my destination and turn around point. 

I do love this beautiful Madrona tree, and the view through it to the wetland and farmland. 

Off in that same direction is a stand of cotton wood trees that is home to a Great Blue Heron rookery. 

You might be able to see one of the adult herons just above the center of this photo. The nests are pretty well hidden, but the young in them set off quite a noisy ruckus when food arrives or when a local eagle tries to menace them. 

There's good fishing in the lagoon and in the bay when the tides are right. 

Clouds provide sky drama.

And finally on Thursday it was clear. 

We came home Thursday evening so we could take our 98 year old friend Dede to breakfast, get our grocery shopping done, and be ready to watch the first USA World Cup game Friday evening. I geared up.

Now it's late Saturday afternoon. We worked outside this morning and ate lunch on the patio. It's heating up, 81 degrees now. I got too tired. I needed to call Dede to tell her how to watch the World Cup but I lost my phone. Then we found it. Then I called her and she told me she borrowed a chair and set it right up in front of the TV and watched the WHOLE USA game! She doesn't see well or hear well so that's dedication. She's not a soccer fan but she loves sports and wants to know what's going on. 

I'm going to post this and then see who's playing soccer, or baseball. It's time to rest. 

 

Dogwoods, and The Deck

 We have two big, beautiful Korean Dogwoods, Cornus Kousa, that are in full bloom now.

One is in the front yard, which we can enjoy most from our upstairs windows. 

The other is in the back yard, where it joins maples.

Both trees were planted to replace native Pacific Dogwoods, which succumbed to a fungus, Dogwood, Anthracnose. We had several of the native dogwoods, but we have only one left. It is over the garden deck and the other day I was out there sweeping up the falling wisteria petals and the diseased leaves of the dogwood. The fungus causes the trees to defoliate right after they bloom. The big tree is looking pretty sick and probably doesn't have many years left. The Korean dogwoods are not susceptible to this disease so we see a lot of them planted in our area now. 

We also have a dry stream bed running next to the deck. The rocks are all from rocks we picked from our tilled ground before we planted the lawn many years ago.  Two days ago Tom finally got to another project, taking the leaf blower to the dry stream bed and cleaning out the tree debris from the past year. When he was finished we both took the opportunity to just sit and enjoy the deck.

 

The stream bed all cleaned up.

 A little shrine to Peacefulness.

 

Peacefulness which we sat and enjoyed when the work was done.  We need to do more of that. 

Slowing Down

 With most of the big jobs done in the yard, at least for me, I am slowing down a bit. Monday was house work and laundry day, and while Tom continues to find more jobs outside, I let that be enough for me.

Tuesday was very warm in the afternoon, officially 86 F, our warmest day so far. After our Zoom meeting, I puttered in the garden, snipping and clipping. We shut down in the afternoon. I got a haircut. I finished my book " The Correspondent" in the shade of the umbrella on the patio. We enjoyed a grilled dinner in the evening, and watched TV. I have been watching baseball, the Mariners, now that our regular TV programs are done for the summer. We are trying to find some good series on Netflix. 

Wednesday we had a very slow start, not getting up until after 8:00, because we didn't have to and it felt so good just to snooze a little longer. 

About 11:00 I drove over to the park for a walk. It was hard, but I got my mile. Tom worked in the garden, pulling binder weed. Such nasty stuff, commonly called Morning Gory, but not the pretty kind. 

When I got back Charlie Mewdini found me. We hadn't seen much of our borrowed cat for a while, but today he seemed needy for attention and kept returning. He ends up where his bowl is, waiting for a handout. 

Later he joined me at the patio table. He likes to survey the territory. 

He followed me around while I did some puttering in the garden and then I took some time to enjoy some blooms.

The first Oriental Poppy popped. 

Delphiniums, foxgloves, and columbine. 

Add Rose Campion 

Roses are beginning to bloom,

This afternoon we had our first pick up from Ridwell. That's a recycling company we recently signed on with that finds outfits that can recycle items that would otherwise have to go in the garbage, especially plastics that regular recyclers won't take.   

They supply a bin, cloth reusable bags, and at the door pick up. 

I keep a basket on the kitchen counter for the stuff, and then the bags and a bin in the garage to accumulate the stuff until pick up, which is every two weeks. There is a $20 a month charge but some of that will be off set because we have ordered the smallest garbage bin from our Recology Company. 

Our garbage had been mostly plastic food wrappings so now we have very little garbage and that plastic isn't going in the landfill.

And that's what's new, or old, in the neighborhood.