Work and Play on Whidbey Island.

 It's Thursday afternoon and we are winding down our short stay on Whidbey Island. We arrived late on Monday evening and after a slow start Tuesday, we spent a long morning cleaning out the cabin garden again. We were tired then so we mostly sat, but we did take a walk on the lagoon dike to check out the Nootka roses just starting to bloom.

In the evening we spent some time on the beach watching the sunset.

With the work done, we spent much of Wednesday playing. We visited the Meekkerk Rhododendron Gardens up island from us.

I'll post some of those photos in a separate post.

Then we went out to lunch in Langley and walked around the village before coming home to rest and relax. Thanks to Jake's help previously, we were able  to use my laptop to connect to the big TV downstairs to watch the Sounders game in the evening. We lost. Then we used the laptop still connected to the TV to watch a series on Netflix that we are in to. 

Today we are taking care of a few lose ends. We spent time at nearby Bayview Gardens Nursery especially for the purpose of seeing the Laburnum Walk.

This Laburnum Walk is designed in the style of a similar arbor in the garden of Rosemary Verey at Barnsley House in England. When we visited there it was past bloom time. Here on Whidbey we can time our visit to see it in it's full splendor. 

Tom's cousin Dean, who has the cabin next door, is over visiting and I am listening while finishing this post. Then I think I'll have some ice cream - in the afternoon - and read, until it is time to pack up. We have different rules when we are at the cabin. :-)

It's Mother's Day And I Get To Rest

 

When the days are long and the weather is warm, it's time to start living outside. But that means there is lots of work to do first. The winter grime and pollen scum needs to be washed off of everything. Plants that were being protected under cover and in the greenhouse need to be moved out. New plants we have been accumulating need to be planted. That's what we have been doing this week. 

Sometimes Tom and I work together, sometimes he does jobs I can't do and I do what I can.

I took everything off the house wall, brushed off the dirt and spider webs, and put it all back.

Tom helped with the nozzel collection when I ran out of gas. 

We moved all of the tender and spikey plants out onto the patio.

We cleaned furniture and swapped out winter chairs for summer chairs.

Tom got his bonsai collection set up. Everything has to be hooked up to the drip system, a big job for Tom all over the yard. 

Tom got the deck cleaned up and hung the old windows. The wisteria is blooming now, but only lightly this year. 

A place for contemplation: "Truth", "Patience", "Breath easy", "Just because". We both sat here for a while this morning after Tom brought the last pots down and hooked them up. It's a beautiful morning. 

The only mosquito I like. I put out all of the yard art this week too. 

Tom kept the lawn mowed and I edged it, scissoring it and then crawling around to pick up and weed the edges of the beds. My knees held up, just barely. I may have overdone it a bit. 

Yesterday with a little help from Tom. who had other jobs, I put out all the glass flowers. Here are many of them.

Then I was spent. Saturday afternoon we took off to go spend time with Tom's sister Jan sitting on her deck. 

Today I am slowing down. I need to. We'll watch the Sounders on TV this afternoon and then our adult "kids" Jill and Jake will come over and together we'll prepare a grilled dinner to share on the patio. Jill is making a rhubarb dessert. 

It's noon and 69 degrees, heading for 75. Perfect.

Happy Mother's Day, even though you will probably find this too late. Hugs to all. 

The Aurora Borealis

When you live in a large city, the light polution makes it hard to see the spectacular light show you know is going on in the night sky right over your head. Our granddaughter Irene sent us this photo from Bellingham, where she said she was freaking out as she lay on the roof of her dorm.

We couldn't see much from our yard, so we drove down into the vally to a darkened golf course, and using our iPhones we were able to get an idea of the amazing show.

Now it's well past midnight, and we'll get to bed, but even with the limitations of the city lights, it was a great show and worth the effort.