Harvesting Hydrangeas and Taking a Garden Walk

 Saturday we picked hydrangeas that I will use for dried bouquets once the fresh flowers are gone. Right now they are chilling in the garage with a little water on their stems. I'll get to them when I get to them.

On Sunday, since the sun was shining and there was no Seahawks football, we went to the nearby Highline Seatac Botanical Garden for our walk.

Have you seen one of these on the road? It's a Tesla "truck". Not sure how much use it is for haulng, but it is a head truner. 

Now Monday is ticking away. The house is clean, the laundry is done, the bills are paid. It is the last day of September, pay day for us state employee retirees. 

The Seahawks start in an hour on Monday night football. It's time to go sit in my chair and work my Wordle and check out Facebook. 

See you later. 

More From Whidbey, and Back Home

 We did some exploring Tuesday afternoon before coming home on Wednesday. 

The Goose grocery store display was fun. 

There was lots of blue reflecting from the sky.

We found a new trail to check out. There were wild rose hips and snowberries. 

The trail, an old mill road, was short be steep. I got a workout. 

The sound was nearby, and the road was for hauling wood chips from a mill to the sound for shipping. Local history. 

We had afternoon coffee in Langley, where there are always flowers. Autumn crocus are so pretty. 

Then we drove to the other side of the island and found a beach at Mutiny Bay. Surprisingly, neither of us had ever been there. I loved the sky drama. 

Since the family had voted to discontinue our TV cable account, we had to learn how to stream using my laptop. There were a few glitches, but we figured it out. Convenient? No. But free. Old dogs can learn new tricks. 

Tom got yard work done while I did PT.

We cleaned up after ourselves and came home Wednesday mid day. 

Thursday was more long PT, getting lab work done,  getting Covid and flu shots, and taking care of stuff at home. I found a recipe for chile relleno casserole to use some of our pablano peppers. The result was yummy, and we have left overs for today.

( I turned this photo three times and it still won't behave. :-/ )

Now it's Friday afternoon. We have been out to breakfast and got out grocery shopping done. I have talked to my sister on the phone, ate lunch and read the paper, did some more PT, and now am finishing up blogging. Tom is fixing a collapsing book shelf. 

Next I'll go outside and pick flowers. There's always something to do around here. We'll relax in the evening. 

Island Getaway.

 

While Autumn officially began on Sunday, September 22, we knew we had two more good summer days left, so on Monday we packed up and went to Whidbey Island.

There were clouds in the morning, but clearing to blue sky in the afternoons. 

We went for a walk on the on the beach road before lunch.

Rose hips and asters. 

We enjoyed a lazy afternoon with just a bit of yard grooming.

After dinner I was out on the beach to watch the slow sunset. I called Tom to come join me when it got too beautiful to miss. 

The neighbor's flowers just added to the glow.

Mt Rainier peaking out in alpenglow.

So calm.

It was a great start to our little retreat from the ordinary and a farewell to summer.