Gardens of Vashion Island

Here are two more gardens we saw on Sunday's tour. This first garden is just two years old. A retired couple bought the house with just an empty hillside in front of it. This house definitely calls for some decorative surroundings, but they've got their work cut out for them with hillside gardening. A deer fence surrounds the planted area.

This house has a masterpiece garden, and it sits on a hillside overlooking a great view of a boat harbor. It also has a deer fence.

Next door is a lavender field. They were celebrating Lavender Days and the field was full of people picking bunches of lavender. The fragrance wafted over to perfume the air as we strolled through the garden.

We've been dealing with moles in our garden this week, but I think that's a lot easier than building a deer fence! And so far that bunny has not been munching in my vegetable patch.

Nerves

I had an interesting little test today at the Virginia Mason Hospital Neuroscience Clinic, a Nerve Conduction test. I have had carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms for years now, and wear a brace on my right hand at night. Now that I'm officially old and on Medicare, I decided it was time to push harder with my Doc, and saw her last week. The result was more back xrays, and referrals for my hands. So today I had electrodes stuck to my hands and wrists and was told to relax my hands and arms while electric jolts "stimulated" my nerves. I can report that I do have nerves, and that when jolted, they make things jerk around. And that's all I know so far. When I got home, I had a message to call my doctor. The new xrays show the spondylolisthesis in my back is "mobile", which means "not stabilized". So now I have a new referral to Neuroscience. This will be a long saga. Don't hold your breath for me. I'm just glad to be getting more information so I know what's going on.

Vashion Island Gardens

On Sunday the weather was cloudy and cool, with showers in the area, the first for a long time. But it was perfect weather for going garden touring. We toured five private gardens and DIG Nursery. I took so many photos I have to pare them down, and show them in batches.

We took the ferry from Fauntleroy (West Seattle) over to Vashion Island.

The first house was actually on Maury Island, which is attached to Vashion by a narrow isthmus. The house overlooks Quartermaster Harbor.

(Click on photos to see the details. They're too good to miss.)

A gorgeous garden in a very special old village out in the Puget Sound.

Sounders Fans

Soccer is HOT in Seattle, and today it was even hotter. Sounders FC played the conference leading Huston Dynamo a XBOX Pitch / Qwest Field. Tickets are hard to come by. I bought ours over a month ago, when they opened up a new section. Over 32,000 fans pack the lower levels of the stadium for every home match. The game was at 1:00 this afternoon. We left early, leaving the driving to Metro. We joined Jake and Tad at Swannies for brunch. This is the "headquarters" (read watering hole) for the North End Supporters, of which Jake is a charter member. We were enlisted to post the colors. Ninety minutes before the start of the match, the Sound Wave, the team band, meets supporters in Occidental Park, Pioneer Square, for a rally and the march to the pitch.

It's a sea of rave green in the stadium, even in the newly opened section in the south end. We blended in.

32,000 fans can make a lot of noise, especially when our team scores. Then the Mylar confetti floats down, glittering in the sunlight.

Jake and Tad urged the team on from the north end, opposite the field from us.

The result was what the crowd cheered for, a victory, and a firm hold on second place in the conference.

Much of the crowd stayed on to acknowledge the team. The Emerald City Supporters in the south end continued their cheers and chants.

Jake and Tad stayed to pay tribute to the team in the north end. We kept an eye on them through our zoom lens.

It was about 85 by mid afternoon, and we had been sitting in sun. Then we made our way to the bus stop for the bus ride home. By the time we made it back to Southcenter Mall, we were ready for refreshment.

An iced chocolate coffee crunch at Seattle's Best Coffee did the trick.

We don't go to many live sporting events, usually watching on TV at home. But once in a while, it's good to experience the real thing. What an amazing atmosphere at these soccer matches. What a great day!

Salt Or Medication, That Is the Question

Today, on my doctors orders, I attended a blood pressure clinic/class. My blood pressure has been in the threshold range for a while now and my doctor thinks I should go on medication. I have been reluctant to start down that path. So what am I supposed to do instead? Exercise - good. I do, usually. Lose weight - OK, I would like to, and can try harder. Give up salt - no, not OK. I can not imagine not salting my food when I cook it, and having the salt shaker on the table as well. Food without salt is not worth eating. Oh, that might help with the weight loss, though. Hmmmm. I'm thinking if it comes to a choice, the pill might just win over the loss of my salt shaker.

Swiss Chard For Dinner

I harvested more crops today. I picked Swiss chard, a lovely little head of butter crunch lettuce, and our first zucchini. I also made my first summer bouquet with zinnias, marigolds and dahlias. They are just starting to bloom in the cutting garden. I love making abundant summer flower bouquets.

There were more sweet peas to pick this time. They smell so good sitting on the kitchen table.

This afternoon we had a new visitor to the yard. I looked up from my chair to see this cotton tail rabbit on the patio. It returned later while we were eating dinner and came right up to the patio door. So far I haven't noticed any chomping in my garden. It may be a matter of time.

Successful Tech Support For Suzie

You may remember my cute little Acer Aspire One mini-laptop. When I got her for Christmas my little granddaughter and I decided she was cute enough to be a girl and we named her Suzie.

Well, I thought I broke Suzie because the battery pack was not working. I remembered removing it hurriedly when Susie went berserk on me about a month ago when I was using her in the car and picking up a wireless signal outside a restaurant in Langley on Whidbey Island.

I finally got around to dealing with the problem. I collected all of the necessary serial numbers, etc, found the one service number for the USA and called. I got to an actual person within about 30 seconds! The tech guy, probably in India, was fairly easy to understand as he led me through a series of screens and attempted fixes. I did have to ask him to repeat several times and I could tell he was getting just a bit impatient with me ( heard him sigh) but he stuck with me in my clumsiness and lack of knowledge.

We were at the point where he was going to order a new battery pack when I tried checking the battery function again. Low and behold, the fix seemed to have taken after all!

Now Susie is here on the counter getting her battery power restored, getting charged up. I'm charged up myself, because it worked! I did it! And I have the information for further support if I need it. Hurray!

Enjoying A Cool Morning On The 4th of July

We were up early this morning to get the raspberries picked before the sun got hot. The warm, dry weather has brought them on fast after a slow start.

We had about a quart of berries before we went to Whidbey. Today the harvest was eight quarts. Three went into a big bowl for the picnic and fireworks viewing we'll be heading to this afternoon. The other five went into the freezer.

I picked my first bouquet of sweet peas. They were late too, after our cold spring, but I had to pick the few in bloom for my 4th of July bouquet. Some lavender from the garden filled them out.

Tom tied up the cucumber vines, and I picked some lettuce. The hot weather will make it bolt, so we'll have to eat it up as fast as we can. There will be salads every day now.

I grew up a country girl, and while I'm happy to be a city girl now, I still like to dabble in the dirt a bit. Harvesting for a 4th of July picnic just seems right.

And the brownies I baked will be great with the raspberries and ice cream!

Hope you have some fun planned, too.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Short Whidbey Retreat

We're back home in Seattle after a brief stay at the Whidbey cabin. It's hot here in town, 88 today, but the Island is heating up, too. When we crossed over to the mainland by ferry this morning, there was a three hour wait on the other side, with cars lined up all the way up the hill. Some of those were probably cousins headed to the cabin for the holiday weekend. They were expecting a cabin full to overflowing. We had a little less company for our two days, and we prefer it that way. Of course, we tended the garden, profuse now with orange and purple and chartreuse and blue.

We saw an air craft carrier go by out in the shipping channel.

On an evening walk we caught this eagle on it's perch, watching the people and dogs go by.

The days were bright and beautiful, with flags flapping in the breeze.

A low morning tide allowed us to get in a beach walk. Even the beach was quiet, with very few herons. The osprey were a constant though, fishing in the bay.

Double bluff with the Olympics in the background.

Low tide at Useless Bay exposes lots of sand for walking.

With no clouds, the sunsets were just a gradual change of color. Here Mt Rainier is rosy in the glow of the setting sun.

It's very quiet and peaceful at this time of the evening, after the breeze calms down.

The skyscrapers far off in downtown Seattle catch the sun, too, and it turns them into pillars if fire. (click to enlarge)

Sunset over Deer Lagoon.

We've turned the cabin over to other family members, and each family in turn will be taking a week's vacation there through the months of July and August. It is a well used and much loved family treasure.