Yesterday was chilly and cloudy all day long, so I was especially pleased to awake this morning, too early because my back was being bothersome, to see clear blue sky in the early morning light.
It was a gorgeous day, a high of 78 here in SeaTac, perfect in every way, just what I had ordered for our Open Garden. After getting set up, and before any guests arrived, I went out with my camera for a lens-eye look.
I used my vintage flower pots and old berry carrier as serving pieces for snacks for the guests. Fill a paper cup with your choices: Jelly Bellies, dark chocolate M&M's, dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, Spanish peanuts, dried cranberries, shelled pistachios. Ice water and coffee were also available.
The first to arrive were Corey, who is here for the weekend, and the kids, Isaac and Irene. Let the action begin.
The kids checked out the flower shop, and Irene approved. Isaac was ready for business right now! When customers failed to arrive very quickly, Corey and Isaac left to go golfing, as planned. Irene worried that no one would come. I assured her they they would. Irene was nervous because Isaac was supposed to be the cashier, so we did a practice sale, and she was good to go. Their little cash register does all the math for her. Math is not her strength.
The first guest to arrive was my long ago roommate, Kay. We have not seen each other for thirty-some years, but we hooked up on Facebook, and I put out the invitation to my Facebook Friends, and she came! We had lots of time to catch up before others began to arrive.
Jill checked in and spent time with Irene as she waited for visitors to come to her shop.
She is officially ready!
Garden club members began to arrive and came in a steady trickle all day.
Customers for Irene!
My friend DeeDee and her daughter helped the cause.
Tom and I both enjoyed meeting and visiting with our garden guests. We had a lot of questions about specific plants, how do you do it questions, watering system inquiries, and lots of questions about our glass flowers. We shared all of our gardening secrets.
Aunt Jan and Cousin April shopped for plants.
We sat on the patio and visited and waited for club members to work their way through the garden.
These two NPA members were also photographers and bloggers. We shared blog information, and they have already looked me up on line and commented on my last post. When I get time I'll link them up, and add them to my blog roll. I think they plan to post pics of our garden. It will be fun to see it through their lenses.
We have had Northwest Perennial Alliance Open Gardens before, but this time we were part of a little area tour of four gardens, and with the weather and some contacts we have made visiting other gardens, we had the best turn out ever - 23 members and various other guests. We had so many lovely compliments it made us feel very good and very pleased to have this place to share. It makes all the work even more worthwhile.
With everyone gone by about 5:00, I took my camera around to capture a bit more and just soak up the pleasure of this day.
I collected all the signs as I visited the front of the house.
Irene's Shop is closed. She sold out of almost everything! She and Isaac counted the money and collected their profits.
Before they left, I interviewed Miss Irene:
Tell me about your shop: "My manager is my brother. This was our Grand Opening. Everything went well and we sold a whole bunch of stuff.
What was the best thing?: I had fun! A lot of people were interested in my great idea!
I want to have another sale. I can't believe that's it for this year."
I think Irene had a day to remember. I know I did.
We've spent a lot of time in the garden this week. My back is not happy. But we are ready!
Our Open Garden is tomorrow, Saturday, July 13th.
Irene's Flower Shop will be open for business. Prices are reasonable.
We have had this raspberry patch for almost as long as we have lived in this house, 35 years. It has supplied us with luscious fruit which we have enjoyed eating fresh and freezing for winter eating.
But the last two years, our berries have come under attack, and the result is a tiny white worm that ruins the fruit, turning it to mush. Last year I was able to harvest some berries before the worms took over. We tried to research what the pest might be, but never really found the answer.
Now, this year, even after spraying, the infestation is worse than ever, and we were only able to get a few pickings before the worms showed up. We have discovered that the culprit is Dropophila suzukii, and Asian vinegar fly. A kind of fruit fly, this little critter attacks fresh, ripe fruit, pierces the skin of the fruit with it's ovipositor and lays eggs, which quickly hatch into tiny larva. It is a serious economic threat to the soft fruit industry, having shown up here on the west coast in 2008.
Well, some of the berries are still good, but it's hard to tell which are wormy and which are not, so I have picked what I could, and last week I juiced the berries, strained the juice carefully through cheese cloth, and made raspberry syrup.
Yesterday, I picked about three quarts, smashed them and extracted the juice, again carefully straining it through cheese cloth, and made jelly.
I had to scrounge to find jelly jars. I used to be more of a Domestic Goddess than I am now, and I had jars, and made jelly and jam, but I gave most of my supplies to my sister, who carries on with the canning. I don't. I did have the lids, surprisingly.
We don't eat much jelly, but I'll give it to the kids, and save some for the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that they sometimes require when they are here.
In other domestic goddess news, Tom and I finished the hedge pruning this morning. Hallelujah!
Tom bought some organic spray for the raspberries, and we'll see if we can control the pests.
We're eating zucchini, basil and lettuce from our garden.
The dahlias are blooming and I'm making bouquets for the house.
And we're spending a lot of time in the yard. We have an Open Garden this coming Saturday, so everything has to be ship shape. That means re-cutting the edges, weeding, cutting back perennials that have finished, and generally primping and grooming. The mornings will be busy, as the temps heat up again and the afternoons will be too warm to work in the sun.
And we do need some time to sit on the patio and read and enjoy what we have created. Isn't that what Domestic Goddesses are supposed to do?
