Summer Continues

 Yes, it's the last day of August, but the calendar says summer ends Sept. 22nd, so I'm going with that. 

Blue skies continue and it's warm, some say hot, still. 

We don't have a lot of crops this year, but the tomatoes are now plentiful and the basil crop is wonderful.

Yesterday I roasted the plum tomatoes that were ripe and made several pints of tomato sauce, flavored with homegrown basil and oregano. We are eating tomatoes with cottage cheese for lunch and sliced tomatoes or caprese salad for dinner. We have lots of tomatoes!

Today we made basil pesto.

There were several basketfuls of basil leaves and several hours of work to produce a bountiful supply of pesto.

I make it with basil, parmesan cheese, walnuts and olive oil, no garlic.  We are not garlic fans. We use it on pasta dishes. 

My yard is looking tired, typical late summer look. Here are a few more garden pics from our Saturday tour. 

Taking Notes

 Friday's experiment with numbing my hip didn't last long enough. The relief it provided enabled me to walk a mile three minutes faster than I had before, while standing upright. That's something. I noticed other improvements during the day and took notes which I emailed to my Sports Med Doc. He replied this morning, thanking me for my detailed response, which he is sending on to my Ortho doc. It's an ongoing process. 

On Saturday we spent most of the day garden touring in the Olympia area with our garden group. We saw four large gardens, had lunch out together, and I did a  lot of walking, which is a good thing.

I'll share some photos of some of the gardens we visited. Here's the first batch.

The garden of Kerry and Judy Hart on Summit Lake:

The garden of Judy Montour and Dorian Sanchez:

This plant won't wilt in the heat. :-)

More on another day. I appreciate any garden right now that is green and fresh. It's heating up again this week and our garden is looking tired. The water bill is too high already.

Hip Hip Hooray?

 I had a very long needle inserted into my left hip joint this morning, guided by my Sports Medicine Doctor and ultrasound. It hurt some but it didn't last long.

My Sports Med doc, Dr. Becker, is working in conjunction with my Ortho surgeon, Dr. Chen,  and my Neuro surgeon, Dr. Gala,  to determine what to do next in my list of multi factors. Today we are trying numbing my unfixed, arthritic hip for eight hours or so to see what effect that has on my back and my  mobility. 

Since then I have walked briefly at the grocery store, to get a reward latte, in my back yard to pick some flowers and arrange them, I did my daily short version PT,  and a mile walk at the park. 

The verdict so far is that  I am walking more freely, my back is resisting less, and I could actually tie both shoes. I have been taking notes and I will report to Dr. Becker on Monday.

Both sides of the kitchen bouquet.

In the powder room.

On the patio

Since I needed to keep moving, I took some yard pics. 

Green tapestries. 

Abutilon

The sunflowers aren't great this year, but I do have a few cheery sun faces.

It's much cooler today. I'll take it!

Glacier Peak Wilderness Hiking With Jill

 Last week Jill and her hiking partner Steve set out to climb Glacier Peak. They allowed four days. It wasn't enough. 

Glacier Peak, at 10,541 ft, isn't the highest volcanic peak in Washington, but it is the most remote.  This is a pack in and camp hike. They went slower than Jill would have liked, but they gained 5000 ft elevation and 30 miles round trip. 

I'm sure Jill will want to attempt the actual climb to the summit sometime in the future, but for now they had an amazing hike, saw cool wildlife, and wonderful scenery. These are her photos.

Glacier Peak peeking tantalizingly from behind layers of mountains. 

Lots of Marmot sightings.

Mama marmot looking up at her baby. 

A mass of blue butterflies! And a couple of orange ones too. From what little research I did, I think they are Lupine butterflies, common name, not botanical, and they lay eggs on blue lupine flowers, which the caterpillars then eat. 

From mountain meadows up above to majestic trees down below, nature in the wilderness is a wonderful thing. 

And yes, like me, Jill is a tree hugger.