Whidbey Island Mini-Vacation, Part 2

  It is no longer hot. Tuesday Pacific Ocean air conditioning rolled in and dropped the temperature dramatically. The high on Tuesday was  62. Of course some people are happy and some are complaining that it's too cold. That's how it is here in the PNW.

I worked outside for two hours on Tuesday morning and then I had a hair cut appointment in the afternoon. 

Now it's Wednesday morning, and it's 56 degrees at 10:00. A happy medium would be nice. 

I have an appointment with a sports medicine doc early this afternoon to get an injection in my hip to hopefully relieve the tendonitis pain. I hope it works. Every little bit would help.

We have a Sounders match at the stadium this evening. I will go if I am feeling OK. I made it to the last one on Saturday well enough. 

As promised, here are the rest of the photos from our short vacation on Whidbey Island last week.

Garden editing done, on Friday morning we took the four bags to the yard waste dump.

Researching places to explore on line, I found that the Whidbey Coffee Roasters had re-opened, with a new bakery in the café. Oooo! Let's go there! And so we had coffee in the woods. 

Tom's

Mine. That ginger and cinnamon coffee cake was really good. 

The inside is beautiful, but we opted to sit outside on this lovely morning. 

Next in our morning exploring was a nursery that had recently come under new ownership and had been completely redone. We decided it was time to check it out. 

I really liked these orange pots but I didn't need more pots so I resisted.

The old pond had been neglected so I was really happy to see it refreshed. 

Then we had selected one area of the island that we had not yet "discovered", Possession Point, where we saw online that there was a small State Park. This is the southernmost tip of the island. Let's go! So that was our "walk on the wild side" for the morning.

When I saw that the road was restricted for cars and the parking area was up above the park, I wasn't sure I could make it, but I called up my old hiking spirit for a little forest bathing. 

Ah! I made it down. Now enjoy the beautiful view over the sound and the snow capped mountains in the distance. 

Mt. Baker to the left, and Mt Shuksan to the right.

Mt Rainier

Tom looking for interesting rocks. 

Proof that I made it to the beach!

And then I made it all the way back up too.

When we got back to the cabin, we enjoyed a late lunch, did a little cleaning and packing, a little sitting and reading, and eventually left for home about 5:30. We stopped on the way for a light supper at a Subway shop, and got home in time to cool the house down before bed time. 

It was a good little mini-vacation, a little work, a little play, a little down time. 

Hot!

 It's another day for wilting roses. And punishing peonies.

This was two days ago. They just fully opened, but now they are fading fast. 

It's 85 at noon, and climbing.

Yesterday when we got our new freezer delivered it was close to 90 at 3:30. We had to make a few calls to get a response but did get the delivery guy to give us a ten minute warning to get the old freezer emptied of the frozen food and stored in such a way that it could hold for an hour or so. The old freezer was still doing its job. I said farewell to it as it disappeared down the driveway. They don't make them like they used to. Those plastic door shelves are narrow and those plastic bins don't begin to hold what my old metal cage held. New is certainly not  always improved, but at least it should be reliable for as long as we need it. 

Last week, when it was cool, we spent three days, two nights at the cabin on Whidbey Island. We did the usual gardening chores, spent time reading and relaxing, and did some island exploring on South Whidbey Island. I have photos, of course. I'll split them into two batches. Here is Part 1.

The California poppies have gone wild. We did some editing. 

The bread seed/opium poppies are nearly done. We'll let them shed their seed for next year. All of these poppies, columbine, and Rose Campion are self sown. 

Some of the beach neighbors have flowers too. We took time to smell the roses down at the end of the road on our evening stroll. 

It took all afternoon for the sky to clear on Wednesday.

Back at our garden. We got about half of the editing done on Wednesday. 

The sky cleared for the sunset. 

Thursday morning we finished the job. Yes sir, yes sir, four bags full. All for the yard waste dump to be turned into compost. 

After some cleanup up and cool down, we were off to Langley for coffee.

And paying a visit to the village.

I had a few coins to make the whale sing. It did!

Long ago now Tom's parent retired to Langley and were well known in the village. Some people there still remember them. Jill struck up a re-acquaintance with the village glass blower, Rona, and we decided it was time to stop in and say "Hi" to. We reminisced and appreciated her work and I decided it was time to purchase a small piece. 

We filled it with lavender from the cabin garden. Now it sits on my kitchen table with a single pink rose. Another treasure with a story, it will be passed on. 

Tom's photos of the glass finials on the sculpture garden gate posts. 

There was time for sitting and reading and beach walking later in the day.

That's Mt Rainier playing peekaboo in the distance. 

I finally got this ready to post. It's 3:30 and now 91 degrees outside, a good day for indoor activities. It got hot enough for our air conditioner, which is set at 75, to kick in downstairs. Up here where I am it's 78.9. Time to hit publish and go downstairs. I'll be back. Tomorrow will cool off.