Bloedel Reserve - Chapter I: The Meadow, The Bird Refuge Pond and The Woods

We traveled across the sound today, on the ferry from downtown Seattle, to Bainbridge Island. Our purpose was to visit a specialty nursery, but also to take the opportunity to return to The Bloedel Reserve. Bloedel Reserve is the the former estate garden of a local timber baron family which is now a treasured preserve open to the public. We have been there before, but not for a long time. We found it more spectacular than ever; so much so that I have way too many photos to share. So I will be posting in chapters through the week. We began at the Gatehouse. And then through the meadow, where bird song filled the air. At the edge of the meadow we entered a wooded area,

where native plants edged the path, like this native rhododendron,

until we came to the pond, or bird refuge.

There were only a few water fowl taking "refuge",

but this Mallard mother and her ducklings were having a great time.

Beyond the pond The Woods beckoned.

A boardwalk took us over the bog

which was home to skunk cabbage

and cobra lilies.

Old nurse logs and stumps told of the old growth that once ruled here.

But, ah, something much more civilized lurks ahead.

"Man's first recorded home was a garden, no sooner known than lost. We've been trying to return ever since." -from the Bloedel Reserve guide.

So true. And I felt like I was in Eden today.

The Tifo Team

Jake and Joe came over yesterday afternoon for another session of tifo creating. We were swathed in Rave Green sheets.

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I turned the serger over to Joe, and Jake helped manage the yards and yards of fabric.

It was easy to get lost in the work.

Ah, Joe emerges from the green tower of power.

I'm not supposed to reveal when or how this is to be used. I'm sworn to secrecy until it makes its appearance at an upcoming Sounders match. But I can tell you it's BIG! It's eight twin sheets and four king sheets sewn together for a dimension of approximately 18feet X 50feet!

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I don't think it's a flag.

Too Many Photos

I encountered a problem when I was publishing my garden photos to Blogger. I received a message saying that I had exceeded photo upload quota. The result was that I could no longer post photos. At first I thought I could just delete some and post others on my first garden post, being more selective. But no, I deleted but still exceeded. I thought it meant I just had too many photos on one post. That made sense. So I just posted what I had uploaded. But then the next day I couldn't post any at all, so I went to Help to investigate. Sure enough, Picasa has a limit for blog photo storage and I had reached it. Now what to do? I researched further and found others with the same problem. The answer was to delete albums from Picasa storage to make room. Or there was something about buying more storage. I contemplated the options, and thought, well if I've already published the photos, they should stay on my blog even if I delete the storage. So I deleted 500 photos. Surprise! I then checked back in my archive and found, sure enough, the old posts no longer had photos. Just an empty frame and a box with an X. So then I had to do some deep thinking. Was I planning on having my blog be a sort of permanent record? Or was I OK with just posting year by year and letting the old postings go? Was I more interested in the present or the past? I still haven't quite reconciled it. I do have all the the photos stored on my hard drive or on cds. I could go back and restore the photos, but it would be a lot of work. I could buy more storage, maybe. There was something about different kinds of accounts, and if I only had an application account, which I think is the case, I couldn't buy more storage. I could just stop posting photos. Naw, that's not an option. What do you think? I just checked into buying storage and can get all I need for $5.00 per year. So next time I exceed, I guess I'll do that?????

In Praise of Green

My favorite color in the spring? Green! I all of it's shades and hues, from almost yellow to red and purple.

And of course, Rave Green! It's almost game time. Go Sounders, Go!