Meerkerk Gardens on Whidbey Island.

 We arrived at our family cabin late morning Monday morning, got settled in, and spent most of the afternoon cleaning up the cabin garden. 

Tuesday we designated as a play day. After a late start, my usual mode of operation, what with difficult mobility, new pains, and PT exercises to do, we drove up island to our first stop, Meerkerk Gardens.

Originally this was a large private garden in the woods belonging to the Meerkerk family. She was a weaver and textile artisan and a friend of Tom's mother back when they were alive and living on the island, so we have a little history here. The property was donated for a public garden and more recently is was updated with new plantings of rhododendrons and azaleas in a viewing garden. Those  shrubs are now mature and glorious during their bloom season in May.

Two bumbles were stuffed into this rhodie bloom. Were they mating, sleeping, or dying? It was not  mine to know. 

There is a huge, mostly wild garden here too, scattered with very old rhododendrons that were in the original garden, and we have explored some of it in the past, but it was just right for me to stay on the smooth pathways this time and enjoy the new portion. 

May will soon give way to June, and there will be new blooms, but it's always hard to say goodbye to the joys of May. 

Fast

 

The wisteria bloomed this week. By the end of the week it was in full bloom and already starting to drop petals. Too fast.

The tulips are all gone, too fast, but the first rose in in bloom!

Columbine and allium are adding color to this bed, where perennials are beginning to take on their "abundant" look.

Life seems to be going fast too. I had PT and dental appointments this week. On Friday evening we decided to go to Irene's last track meet. The 4x400m relays were the last events of the District Meet, so we had dinner a little early and were there for all of the relay heats. It was a lovely evening.

Irene's relay team qualified for this level but were rated very low. Their goal was to not be last.

They weren't. Irene is fast, but not quite fast enough to run at the state level. She is fine with that and ready to move on. Graduation is coming up in a few weeks. Her mother and I were sad to have high school track come to and end, and shed a few quiet tears. We'll probably shed a few more over graduation. 

On Saturday we attended a potluck lunch with our garden club. I bowed out on the garden visit they did in the morning since it just hurts too much for prolonged walking and standing. It was good to see our gardening friends.

Today, Sunday, we are doing laundry and a few house and garden chores. We'll be packing up to head to the Whidbey Island cabin in the morning to spend some time there slowing down.

We do have a slow down spot here too, sitting on the bench on the garden deck, under the wisteria. 

Wisteria overhead, a message in stone: "Truth and Patience matter", so "Breath easy, just because."

Warm and Pleasant

 We got through the hot days at the beginning of the week and are now enjoying the warm and pleasant days, with lovely cooling at night.

I had two appointments this week, physical therapy and dentist, and then with two sessions of PT exercises a day at home and  resumption of my stationary bike workout, my days get filled up fast.

I have been able to work in the yard a couple of days this week. I always feel better emotionally when I can do that. 

On Wednesday evening I did something I haven't done for 6 months. I went to a Sounders soccer match at the stadium.

I don't have a season ticket this year. Jill and Tom have tickets and usually go, or Irene has gone with Tom, but neither could go this time so I decided to give it a try. 

I have developed a new strain or pull in my right hip, not the surgical one, that is very painful, plus the bad knee, so walking isn't very comfortable, but I made it onto the light rail and to the stadium and to my seat, where sitting I was quite comfortable . It was a warm summerlike evening. and the only thing not so good was that we lost. :-(

I have a basketball game on TV right now as I type because my grandson Isaac is very into the NBA and his Denver Nuggets. He was a Coloradan for the first seven years of his life and still has grandparents there. Seattle doesn't have a basketball team. And, oh yes, our hockey team, the Kraken, are out of the playoffs. It was a good ride while it lasted.

I'm looking forward to Friday morning breakfast and maybe a little more time in the garden. 

Happy weekend, everyone. 

Mothers Day 2023

Those pretty tulips in the header are all fried now. It got hot! 

I stewed a bit about where we would dine in the heat, with 90 degrees expected by our scheduled dinner time of 5:15, so I scoped things out the day before. That giant house next door served a purpose as the shadow fell on the upper lawn at just about the  right time, and with a light breeze blowing it was very comfortable. Tables were moved on to the lawn.

Earlier in the day, I had some time to relax when it was still sort of cool. I spent some time walking around the yard, doing a bit more yard decorating. 

I got the welcome flag up. 

I sat in my patio rocker and enjoyed this view. 

I appreciated the results of all the work we did last week, cleaning and planting and redoing pots and arranging pots.

I finished putting out the yard art. 

When the shade arrived down on the garden deck I sat there for a while under the just beginning to bloom wisteria. Jake gave me a little Buddha a few years ago and he sits in the bench table on the deck. I stroked his head and then did some deep relaxing to chase away an encroaching headache. It actually helped.  

In the afternoon we slow cooked the pork ribs in the oven and then when they came out I made the corn bread and baked it. It was about then that our family arrived. Jake had come earlier and sat on the patio in a rocker to read and then talk to his dad. Now SIL Jan, Jill, Isaac, and Irene were here too. They got a few jobs as we counted down to dinner time,  getting the ribs sauced and finished on the grill, then grilling the asparagus at the last minute. Jill brought a fruit salad and that completed the menu. 

We ate, in the shade.

We lingered and visited. The "staff" cleared and did the kitchen work. We moved back to the patio, now in the shade and had dessert: rhubarb cake with whipped cream and/or vanilla ice cream. 

Charlie/Mewdini came to the party. Irene put out cat food for him but he was more interested in what we were doing and eating. We are all cat people so he got lots of strokes as he rubbed legs all round the table when we were still in the lawn. He stuck around for dessert and got more strokes. He was still stretched out on the cool glass of "his" table when the guests all departed about 7:30.

It was a good Mothers Day. Today is another hot one. The laundry is getting done, my job, and Tom is swishing the bathrooms and doing some vacuuming. This afternoon will be down time. 

And we have left over ribs and cornbread for dinner!