Not The Last Rose of Summer

We are enjoying the lazy days of late August, and feeling very blessed to be able to do so. Many of our non-retired friends are heading back to the classroom, and meetings, in preparation for the opening of another school year. Our only school responsibility was attending Tom's 50th high school reunion last Sunday. He is pictured here with his twin sister, Jan, who was on the organizing committee and acted as Master of Ceremonies. They and their classmates, who graduated from Puyallup High, Class of '59, had a great time visiting and catching up. I was the roaming photographer. We have been enjoying lovely weather: sunny, mild days with occasional cloudy periods with light showers. The shower this morning left raindrops on roses, roses that have sprung forth with a new late summer blush.

From the cutting garden I now have the asters of August on my kitchen table.

The sweet peas decided to recover from the earlier heat and bloom again, reaching for the sky.

The cucumbers are still producing as they climb their wire trellis.

And the tomatoes are slowly ripening. Last night we had our first calabrese salad, with fresh tomaotes and basil from the garden combined with fresh motzarella chese and olive oil. Yum.

Because I'm still healing from hand surgery I am "forced" to just enjoy our garden, without working in it, pick and arrange the abundant flowers, and lend A hand in helping Tom prepare meals that include fresh produce from the garden and fruits from farmer's markets.

What a great time of the year it is!

Anniversary

My daughter Jill reminded me on FaceBook this morning that it was ten years ago today, in the morning, that she and her brother Jake stood on top of Mt Rainier!

This was one of a series of hikes and climbs that they did together as members of The Mountaineers, an out door adventure club based here in Seattle. Climbing Mt Rainier had been a goal if Jill's since high school, but allergy induced asthma in college had dimmed her chances of achieving her goal. But she trained hard and determinedly, and she made it. She is now a wife, mother of two, and a teacher living in Colorado.

Jake has gone on to summit more mountains, and has recently rejoined The Mountaineers. Last weekend he completed two alpine hikes in the Cascades.

That same day ten years ago Tom and I were at Emerald Downs, the newly opened race track here, celebrating his 40th high school reunion. I remember looking up at the mountain, of which we had a clear view, and saying '"Our kids are up there". We were very proud of their achievements, and continue to be.

Tomorrow we will be in Puyallup attending Tom's 50th high school reunion! How can that be????

Update on my hand surgery: I stopped taking pain pills after 24 hours. When I took the surgical dressing off after 48 hours, as instructed, I was surprised that the incision was longer than expected, hardly the one "band aid" job that I was led to believe when the doc said "Just cover it with a band aid". I am trying to be very careful not to use my right hand, but now I have overworked my left hand, and they both hurt! I'll spend time today with a book in my lap.

Surgery Complete

The procedure was quick and went well, except when the doc hit the nerve and the electrical shock almost knocked me off the table.

I was back home by 10:30. The local hasn't worn off yet, but I've already taken my first pain pill.

BTW, left hand typing can result in some interesting spelling. Thank you, spell check!

A Blogging Handicap

Tomorrow morning I will have carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand. Since I am very right hand dominate, I may not be doing much blogging for a few days. Hopefully I'll still be mouse clicking with my left had, so I can read your blogs. Comments may be on hold.

Making Pesto

With warm weather in May and most of the summer, we have had a good crop if basil in our garden this year. Today we harvested much of it to make pesto. Here the Mammoth Leaf Basil has already been harvested, and Tom is about to cut the standard variety.

The Mammoth variety lives up to it's name!

Here comes the next picking.

We inspect the leaves as we pick them off.

I stuff the food processor full of the basil leaves and chop.

Then I add walnuts ( a substitute for expensive pine nuts), Parmesan cheese and olive oil. You might notice the garlic is missing. We are pretty much a no-garlic household. I have never really liked it and both of us have trouble digesting it. That's why we like to make our own pesto.

When it's all blended and emulsified, I pour it into recycled plastic containers.

Now it will go into the freezer to enjoy this winter. Son Jake and his friend Tad have requested some too.

It's easy to just cut out a chunk, warn it in the microwave, and add it to pasta. We especially like it with angel hair pasta, stir fried chicken breast and sliced zucchini for an easy one-dish meal.

And we made sure to leave some basil in the garden to eat with the tomatoes that are beginning to ripen.

Fun With Flowers

While the kids were here for two weeks, my garden had to fend for itself. Thank goodness for the watering system, which kept it alive during our heat wave!

Now the kids are gone and I am having fun with the flowers growing in the garden. I have spent much of the last two days dead heading, trimming and sometimes slashing away at spent blooms and tired foliage to refresh the garden. I have also gathered mounds of flowers for the house.

This bouquet is made up of zinnias and marigolds.

Dahlias are so colorful and easy to arrange.

This little bouquet is on my refrigerator in a magnet vase. With so many flowers, I can be extravagant. This is on the kitchen counter.

I also have several lily blooms in the house. They came on fast in the hot weather, and will be gone all too soon.

The summer border. Roses are setting buds for another flush of blooms.

The patio pots hold interesting plants to appreciate up close.

The back border is in shade, and glows with shades of green.

This clematis blooms forever.

Butterfly bush is so fragrant. I love to have a few blooms in the house, but they fade much too quickly.

No butterflies today, but the bumble bees were enjoying the nectar.

The vegetable garden is still producing zucchini, cucumbers, beans, carrots, beets and chard. The sweet peas suffered from the heat and neglect, but other annuals decorate the garden boxes and supply cut flowers.

The dahlia bed.

We have been having cool weather and showers this week, which has been a pleasant change for us Seattlites. The blooms glisten with captured rain drops.

The zinnias are reaching for the sky!

At the front of the house Tom has his collection of fancy leafed geraniums, which are lush in high summer.

At the side of the house, the tomatoes are coming along. We have had only one ripe one so far, surprising with all of the heat.

With the work done now for a while, I intend to sit back and enjoy my little flowery corner of the world.

Skywatch - Sunset Over Rockaway Beach Oregon

For more sky pics go here.

The Powerful Force of Nature

May 18, 1980 was a momentous day here in the northwest. The eruption of Mt St Helens destroyed lives and livelihood. It awakened us to the powerful force of nature that is our living planet. It renewed interest in science, and specifically geology and it's related fields. Twenty-nine years later it is a major tourist attraction. It had been years since we visited, and that was at Windy Ridge, before a National Monument was established. Sunday, on our way home from the Oregon coast, we drove the hour long "new" road into the Toutle Valley, to see the volcano up close. The river still shows the remains of the lahar that rushed out of the mountain and down the river. The hillsides are reforested, but this was in the blast zone, stripped bare of vegetation. The volcano looms in the clouds ahead.

Our destination was The Johnston Ridge Observatory, named after Dave Johnston, the geologist on duty at the monitoring station that day, who's famous last words were "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" an instant before his death.

The rain and clouds parted for us and we enjoyed a great view of the mountain.

The light played across the still barren blast zone surrounding Spirit Lake.

Paint Brush and Fire weed bloomed abundantly in the "soil" left by the landslide and pyroclastic flow.

Clouds simulated an eruption.

But all was calm and peaceful this day.

Six year old Isaac told me as we were leaving, "I always wanted to visit a volcano". It made the long drive and the late arrival home all worthwhile.