21 August: kite festival and Long Beach

Thursday, 21 August 2014

I had hoped to get enough work done to see the handcrafted kite competition at the Kite Festival. So why did I schedule so many tasks before we got there? It just seemed proper to do the jobs in order, and besides, there was very little wind in the morning.

Ilwaco

First, we added some free begonias from The Basket Case to the vandalized and replanted Ilwaco planter.

and a lotus vine, thus adding some extra colour before the three remaining big tourism weekends.

One of the begonia colours coincidentally echoes the building colour across the street.

When we did our compost bucket switch at Olde Towne Café, we were so pleased to see the Depot’s Nancy Gorshe and her mom, Marilyn of Marilyn’s garden.

Nancy and Marilyn out and about

Luanne’s container garden

The Depot Restaurant

The Depot garden

I realized today that half of the cosmos are lush and yet not blooming.

Solidago ‘Fireworks’ (goldenrod) just about to flower

Persicaria ‘Firetail’, a favourite perennial of mine

Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ after a good deadheading

windowboxes and barrels on the north side are by Nancy Aust of the Basket Case Greenhouse.

The rosemary on the south side of the deck are finally thriving, having responded well to a dose of Dr Earth all purpose fertilizer.

Chef Michael’s herb garden

Kite Festival

Even though it would have been next in consecutive order, we skipped the Long Beach welcome sign in order to get to the kite festival in time to see the Water Creatures in the Sky mass ascension. Although it was not to be, as there was so little wind, we did see some sights that made the walk well worthwhile.

Pink Poppy Bakery, set up outside with liquid refreshments by Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm

We saw passersby wondering over the rose hips in the beach approach garden.

a very few roses still hanging on. Many people ask us what the rose hips are.

the source of Vitamin C rich rose hip tea

The rugosa roses can stand up to kite festival foot traffic as the prettier and more delicate garden of yore could not.

path worn through because of booths on both sides of the street

at the end of the garden, nice amenities for dogs

out on the sand, a photo being taken…

of this

Some frogs were flying; you can see on the sand that there was not enough wind to get the kitty kite in the air.

the cat kites in 2009. Later in this week, there was enough wind to launch them.

banners in the sand

One of my favourite events at the kite festival is on Saturday afternoon when festival participants parade down the boardwalk holding their banners in the Parade of Colours. I would miss that this year as I was so much longing for a weekend at home.

Parade of Colours over the sand in 2010

and in 2009

Our work schedule did not allow us to wait around to see the handcrafted kites in the air (as it seemed from the announcements that the event might have been delayed due to no wind earlier).

quilt kites on the ground

I mostly hobbled around with my cane just off the hardpacked road, while Allan made it all the way down to the water’s edge.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

looking south toward North Head (Allan’s photo)

Fishing is HOT this summer. Nine boats on the horizon. (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan saw a handsome display with the likeness of extraordinary multiple kite flyer Ray Bethell. I had seen on Facebook that he is using a cane this year; he is 86 years old.

Ray Bethell banners (Allan’s photo)

Here he is in 2009 flying a kite with each hand and one off his hip.

I felt poignant all day about Ray, and later I heard that he did fly two kites later in the week.

You can see some videos of him here.

Near the event field, I saw this banner created by a fan of his.

Ray and a fan; he is beloved.

We had to get back to work…

Kite Festival booths on the beach approach, as we head back to town (Allan’s photo)

Our next work stop was Erin’s garden. We could see the kites off in the distance.

Erin’s garden

looking south

Cosmos and Kites

The new garden bed at Erin’s has come out fairly well except for a bare area at the west end. My solution will be a drift of silver santolina made from cuttings (stuck right into the ground) this fall. A river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ would be awesome, too, although I would have to buy those somewhere and they would need a lot of water and deer might nibble them.

mysterious empty spot

looks better closer in

In some areas, California poppies grew well (just not in that bare spot).

‘Thai Pink Champagne’

‘Buttercream’

probably ‘Red Chief’

probably ‘Rose Chiffon’

and a great, tall feathery poppy

Erin has a friend helping in the garden and they have done a good job in the back courtyard.

back courtyard with three new Knautia ‘Thunder and Lightning’

Anchorage Cottages

At the Anchorage, we were greeted by my good friend Mitzu.

lots of deadheading to do in the containers: Salvia ‘Victoria Blue’ and Salvia viridis (painted sage)

the windowboxes are pretty much self-cleaning

I’m going to get me some of this Persicaria ‘Dimity’ in the fall for my garden and for an edger at Larry and Robert’s garden.

Long Beach

We circled back to the Long Beach welcome sign, just where Seaview turns into Long Beach, for the dreaded deadheading of hundreds of yellow daisies on Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’.

before

after

What the heck?! One of the bidens along the edge is missing, leaving a hole.

the whole view, with a gap of a missing plant; did they think I would not notice??

Cosmos ‘Happy Ring’ doing very well in the welcome sign garden.

Back to downtown Long Beach to water the planters. We parked near Veterans Field where we heard drumming and found a troupe of Korean drummers and dancers on the stage.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

 

The Veterans Field garden mostly white now with Gaura.

just a little blue and red(dish)

After nitpicking little lawn grass sprouts out of the Vet Field garden, we left there to water the street planters just in time, as I looked back and saw the dancers down in the audience hauling citizens up to the stage! No photos of the planter watering as I was just tired.

After the planters, we weeded and deadheaded in Fifth Street Park.

Much as I love Baptisia australis, the one in this garden has gotten so large, and has such a short period of bloom, that I think it has to be removed.

too big and just too plain green

During this and the previous water session this week, we got many compliments about how exceptionally pretty the town looks with all its flowers, not only the parks and planters but also the many hanging baskets created by Nancy Aust at Basket Case Greenhouse.

Nancy’s baskets on the restroom building, Fifth Street Park

On the other side of the street, while Allan pulled some bindweed from behind the fence, I sat on a bench and had a pleasant view of the waterfall pond.

a sit down view that I have never seen before! Backed with Darmera peltata (with Gunnera on the right, small as it was beaten down by a hard winter)

beautifully reflective

Cove Restaurant

I had been looking forward all day to our weekly reward at the Cove Restaurant.

Allan’s photo, art by our friend Don Nisbett

the entry garden, Allan’s photo

Parking Lot Cat (who despite his name, has a cushy life)

He wanted to come in but was shooed out per health rules.

We dined on Chef Jason’s strawberry salad

Ahi tuna, a fish taco and a Vortex beer went down a treat.

An outside diner got the company of Parking Lot Cat who sat in the chair through the whole meal.

Next, we are planning on a three day weekend (except for Allan watering Ilwaco) and perhaps, if it is not too hot and dry so that we can put off watering Long Beach till Tuesday, a four day weekend. My goal is to not leave the property.

 

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20 August: irritation and a reward

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

The day started well enough: The sunflowers (all two of them, ‘Italian White’) had opened at the post office.

our volunteer garden at the post office

We made a very quick stop at the Andersen’s RV Park road box to pull some couch grass out of the nasturtium vines.

Andersen’s road box

Golden Sands Assisted Living

At Golden Sands Assisted Living, the four quadrants are showing a little more colour from Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ along the front.

southeast quadrant bed in courtyard

northeast quadrant bed

Klipsan Beach Cottages

When we arrived at Klipsan Beach Cottages, the irritation happened. Which is rare there at my favourite job. As we parked, I saw a disturbingly large pile of elephant garlic on the burn pile.

WHAAAAAAT???

Now, Denny does not like the elephant garlic (nor does he like blue globe thistle) so last week I had kindly said that he could pull the ones that were leaning over the path. What he “heard” was that he and staffer Luis could pull them all, every last one. Luis was happy to have the big, mild garlic bulbs. Denny was happy to have it gone, or temporarily happy till the depth of my unhappiness became known. Gone were the pale purple globes sailing over the garden giving it a sense of height. I love elephant garlic in bloom in a garden. Well, phooey. If it had happened at a job I did not like, it would have been the perfect excuse to quit. Denny was scarce to be seen for the rest of our time there, and Mary was sad, and then of course, I felt bad at making her sad, even though I had been very sad myself about the denuded garden. I am sure the garden still looks wonderful to everyone else; only I am obsessed with what is missing.

looking in the east gate of the fenced garden

Bella’s presence cheered me up.

dwarf escallonia on the steps up to the office

dahlia in a big pot by the garage

Oman Builders Supply

After KBC, we had planned to check on the garden at Oman Builders Supply Ocean Park store, There, the window washing crew was standing in the garden on the plants washing the windows. The crew that works at many businesses around the Peninsula consists of developmentally disabled adults working under a supervisor. I waited in the van while Allan had a word with the receptive and apologetic supervisor, pointing out that there are spaces to stand other than right on the plants, and then we just moved on.

standing right on the crown of a Gaura…argh. (Allan’s photo)

Marilyn’s Garden

We went on to Marilyn’s garden. Its loveliness soothed my nerves, as did meeting the resident cat.

He’s the neighbours’ cat but loves to hang out with Marilyn.

the path in Marilyn’s garden

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ beginning to bloom (and right in front, a giant Miscanthus that we tried to dig out last year. Wrong place, will dig out again this fall.)

Next, we deadheaded the cosmos and pulled a few weeds at the Wiegardt Gallery. We were well on track to get done in time to get the reward that I had been hoping for today.

I did note how EXCELLENT the elephant garlic looks floating above the north garden bed.

For a change, I took some photos of how the landscape looks from the sidewalk.

looking west on the bay to ocean paved trail

I’m glad Eric’s sign is high enough to show over the tall grasses.

Cosmos east of the gallery entrance

For another welcome change, let’s look inside the gallery today at some of Eric’s flower inspired paintings.

 

the view of the garden from gallery manager Christl’s window

Basket Case Greenhouse

We got done in time to go to Peninsula Landscape Supply and get a yard of Soil Energy mulch! On the way south from that stop, we had a kitchen table visit with Fred and Nancy at the Basket Case Greenhouse and then loaded up some old potting soil on top of the yard of soil energy…more garden ingredients.

a layer of old soil and plants to add to our compost

Fred and Nancy have been working hard on a new garden area in front of their house where the septic system had to be redone last year.

river rock, big pots for privacy, and stepping stones

a dry creek

which will run across here to the pond and have a bridge over it.

One of the two cats almost hitched a ride with us.

home

Ilwaco still had to be watered, and I thought that we would unload the soil and then while Allan watered the planters, I’d water the boatyard garden. I was thrilled when he offered the deal that he would water at the boatyard, as well, if I unloaded all the soil. I did not feel like going back out again after gardening at home.

I had hoped to put some nice mulch in the front garden, but my new area by the bogsy wood took every bit of mulch. I had an audience as I began:

Outside the south east gate, a deer was eating bindweed. How useful!

My target area for the evening, before

and after

It took a long time. Part of the sod (behind the stump planter) needed to be layered with newspaper first. About 200 feet there and back for each wheelbarrow load.

done! and Smokey follows me back to the house

while white lilies filled the air with sweetness.

One more work day and then I am dreaming of not just a three day but possibly a four day weekend. All irritation was smoothed away by the satisfaction of making a new garden bed for some of my ladies in waiting.

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18-19 August: mostly Long Beach

Monday, 18 August 2014

Larry and Robert’s garden

We had a trailer over half full of debris to take to the dump. Larry and Robert’s garden needed watering, so I figured while Allan did that, I would chop some more of their blackberry canes to fill the trailer. I got carried away and chopped them all, making a huge amount of debris. Due to Allan’s masterful loading job, we got it all into the trailer, much to my surprise; I had thought for sure we would have to leave some stashed for later in the back corner of the yard.

When I had pruned just a bit of the mess on August 4, I thought I had better leave the canes in case Larry or a neighbour wanted to pick some of the berries. I even thought I might pick some myself…did not happen.

Here’s what it looked like on August 4!

and today…a huge area cleaned up!

I was somewhat worried that the ivy-festooned and quite ancient fence might fall over, as the neighbours have been chopping on the other side. Allan looked around for something to prop it with…no luck. I was afraid to cut more of the horrid ivy till we had done some sort of propping.

In the garden by west wall of the house: Cosmos ‘Antiquity’

north side: Colchicum (autumn crocus) just emerging

Meanwhile, Larry and Robert’s garden on the east side is looking good.

east side garden

corner nook

Echinacea ‘Green Envy’

Helenium, painted sage, Alliums, santolina, cosmos

on the way out of town, two “white” sunflowers at the post office.

So, on to the dump with a very full load, that was quite intermeshed and difficult to get out of the trailer. All prickly stuff, blackberries and yesterday’s salmonberries.

Allan did it.

Long Beach

The real mission of the day, and the reason we could not take the day off, was the watering of the Long Beach planters and street trees. Maybe they would have lasted one more day before getting wilty. However, we need to keep them going in lushness for three more weeks of tourist season!

Some of the painted sage is still at its peak of perfection (by Paws by the Sea Pet Supplies).

Some is browning off and takes lots of deadheading down to new side buds.

sweet peas in planter by Paws by the Sea

Glads, planted back in volunteer planter days, pop up in the southermost planter each year.

In that same planter, my experiment where I cut back half of the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

same planter from across the street

I like the two tiered effect of the sedum. And a brainstorm: I should move a couple of those glads to the other side for some symmetry. The big gladiolas are a pain to deadhead as every day some lower buds shrivel up, so I don’t choose to plant them in the city planters. However they do amuse me when they reappear from olden days.

lots and lots of nasturtiums in the Home at the Beach planter…

Salvia patens has managed to pop up through them.

Gaura ‘So White’ in the Lewis and Clark Square planter. Much better than ‘Whirling Butterflies’ which got simply too enormous here.

carousel planter

From the intersection of Bolstadt and Pacific, I gazed far with telephoto eyes onto the closed Bolstadt Avenue. The kite festival is out there; we hope to have time to see some of it later this week.

Past the arch, lines of vendor booths lead to the kite festival.

While I watered the planters, Allan was watering the street trees and the eight planters north of the stoplight. One tree gets no water other than occasionally hauling buckets as its plumbing is broken.

Even with minimal water, Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ does well there.

This tree got driven over…or something. Smashed sedum, broken lavender that Allan pulled out at my request.

He found a used diaper in a planter on the northernmost block (which has two trash cans available).

At the end of the workday, after weeding and deadheading in Fifth Street Park, we rewarded ourselves:

delicious cool and refreshing crab rolls at Captain Bob’s Chowder.

Larry and Robert’s again

After we got home, Allan went down to Larry and Robert’s, five doors down, and did a clever and quick fix on the rotten, falling fence. The fence was so very rotten that just propping slanted posts against it would not work, so he made a horizontal to distribute the weight. No nailing was involved so I do hope it lasts.

As Allan says, something has to be done about this fence; this is a 20 minute fix.

At home, Allan finished placing the posts for our new sprinkler set up. Photos soon.

Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Jos’ garden

With Jo and Bob expecting a lot of company for Kite Festival week, we groomed the entire garden, including a thorough brick path detailing by Allan.

a late blooming lily of great beauty

white phlox and a big spinner to honor the kite festival

nasturtiums climbing all the way to the highest windowbox

a couple of flower pot planters

looking east past the guest cottage

The perfect little cottage was made out of an old garage.

I love the inside of Jo and Bob’s historic home (1898, I think) with her collection of quilts (most made by Jo herself) and samplers.

kitchen corner

From the north kitchen window, we can see the Boreas Inn, our next job of the day.

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Boreas Inn

It seemed like it must be time to do a check on the Boreas garden; we weeded and deadheaded all the way around from the east to the west side.

This little junco was pecking around when we drove up to park on the rough grass next door.

The east side of the Boreas; Susie does all the pots on the porch.

hydrangea by entry way

a new purple hose. I like it although it is rather narrow.

As I walked to the west side to join Allan in weeding, two little dogs staying at the Yett Cottage next door (sort of a subsidiary of the Boreas) had much to say.

 

newly rebuilt porch on northwest corner of inn (Allan’s photo)

sweet pea success by the Garden Suite (north side fence)

looking west to gardens and beach trail

and east from the end of the gardens

By the time we had finished here, I was tuckered out. I had to dig deep to find the energy to go on up to Andersen’s RV Park. In the interest of getting a three day weekend, we kept on working.

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Andersen’s RV Park

Allan had a particular task to do: cutting down a wax myrtle and a willow that were blocking the staff’s view from the back door of the office. Both the myrtle and the willow had seeded themselves into the garden without any help from me. I suppose the big Miscanthus and lots of other plants are also in the way of the view; I do hope the pruning made a satisfactory change.

before: looking west from the office door

after (I suppose that grass does have to go!)

before

after

before

after

Meanwhile, I deadheaded the six barrels on the lawn leading to the RV Parking. From just those six barrels, I got over half a bucket of deadheads (including some pre-emptive deadheading of flowers that have gone pale yellow in colour, meaning they will be done by the weekend).

a nice ingredient to add to a compost bin

I tend to seize up with pain (nowhere specific..legs, back, mostly) when deadheading those barrels so today I dragged a lawn chair around. Being able to sit for just one side of a planter made all the difference. I dragged it along the front of Payson Hall, as well.

an especially cushy lawn chair…whatever works.

Also managed the usual deadheading of the picket fence garden and garden shed garden.

Allan gets the last few deadheads off of the garden shed cosmos.

a fine display this year

Someone tried to hitch a ride home on one of the trailer wheels, and was deposited into the dune grass instead.

I find snails awfully cute, so I relocate rather than destroy them.

 

 

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16-17 August: weekend off

Spam of the day:

“I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the page layout of
your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.

But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could
connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot
of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?”

Hahaha!

Saturday, 16 August 2014

I immediately defeated my goal of two days off without leaving the property by deciding to go to Olde Towne Café for breakfast at ten AM. I did not feel like bugging Allan to do the Saturday Market photos instead of me, so I would have to leave the house anyway. And I had another small mission: to get a photo of John and Cheri’s lovely garden over by Spruce Street.

I told Smokey and Mary that I wasn’t going to work and would soon be spending the rest of the weekend with them.

I set out, with my cane although I did not feel especially gimpy today.

mission one accomplished: John and Cheri’s back garden

Strolling along Spruce, I admired Jenna’s plantings at Queen La De Da’s new location.

At Olde Towne, I had a latte and oatmeal and was lucky to arrive at a quiet time so that Luanne was able to sit and visit for awhile.

a good table for two

(I forgot to take her a bouquet of flowers for the weekend; later in the day, Allan took one over for me.)

Next, a walk down First Avenue to the Market. A stop at Robert’s Antique Gallery gleaned some more photos for the Facebook page with which I help Larry and Robert by providing photos.

I especially liked these duck dishes.

On I walked, past the boatyard garden where I averted my eyes from the occasional horsetail and dandelion.

south end of boatyard garden, with Clamshell Railroad historic sign

On my walk to the market, Kathleen Shaw had pulled her car to the side for a confab; she was on her way home to her cottage after going to the market herself. She told me about a husky puppy named Aragon at Nate’s ice cream shop so I made sure to walk by there.

Aragon: so cute

and cuter (and sweet and friendly, too)

The market was bustling and my knee had started to hurt a bit so I only covered about two blocks.

Of course, I got a treat at Pink Poppy Bakery: two chocolate chip cookies and two scones to share with Allan.

Bonnie, an Olde Towne regular, had just bought a potted lily.

plants from The English Nursery

To get home, I cut through the gear shed property (shhhh) to the east back gate and was met with a terrible shock. I knew some bindweed lurked back there and my weekend project was to pull it out of the southeast corner of the bogsy woods. I did not expect to see this horror from the outside of the fence!

a wall of bindweed from the gearshed side

I went inside and sat for awhile to gather strength. Then:

later….

I also tackled the back corner of the bogsy wood and made some progress. Hauling the debris out will be the most tiresome part.

before

after: a space for a hydrangea aspera

I think I’ll load it all into the trailer to go to the dump on Monday, since we can’t have a three day weekend because Long Beach planters will need watering.

A strong wind had made it a little anxious to work under the trees in the bogsy woods. The gusts were at least 20 mph. As the sun began to descend, I was glad to go inside.

Smokey flopped down in front of me, creating a moving obstacle course all the way to the front door.

Meanwhile, Allan had begun installing our new Pink Poppy Farm inspired sprinkler set up.

more details on this later

He then went sailing on Black Lake to reward himself:

“Almost a 30 degree tilt and good speed but rowed back after not making much headway north past the dock. Was getting stuck as the vegetation made the lake only about half the width it appears. Fog came in, last two pics from Sandridge Road”

Earlier in the day, Allan had photographed a spider outside the back door. I didn’t post it at the beginning as did not want to scare off any arachnophobes.

a big one! size of a quarter, Allan said.

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Sunday, 17 August 2014

For some reason, I woke up with the notion that today would be a good day to cut down salmonberry at the front side of the bogsy wood. What came over me, I do not know; I was filled with happy energy.

Here’s the first area, before.

and after

I thought above removing the clump to the right, then realized it would just reveal too much of the green metal wall of the next door gear shed. Now there is a sense of mystery…you can glimpse the blue hydrangea and might want to walk back for a closer look.

The second part of the project was to move the pile of campfire wood to make a new planting area along the front.

Firewood (fallen alder) had been piled all along the front.

I had an absolute stroke of genius and used two old chairs (not safe for sitting, given to use by our client Jo) to stack the firewood on.

two chairs plus an oyster basket of bark and kindling

Allan seemed unimpressed with this, but I still hold that it is genius, as it will keep the wood up off of the always damp ground back here.

The stubby stumps of salmonberry are still in the area I cleared. Later, Allan will go in with his little chainsaw and cut them flush with the ground; then we will just clip or even use the weedeater to keep any sprouts down.

That’s what we did with another area that was pure salmonberry:

the salmonberry tunnel

The entire bogsy wood was a rough mess when we began the garden.

in October 2010

If we don’t keep up with clipping any sprouts, the salmonberry will creep back in, like it did in the area below:

My third project of the day, before

It took only about one hour to bring that area back to this.

I’ll never get all the salmonberry out of the bogsy wood, so I just like to make paths and tunnels in it. It is the first flower for the hummingbirds (so I have read) and, later, berries for all the berry eating birds. That’s my excuse, and it’s a good one.

Between today’s and yesterday’s clearing, I have a view now of the blue hydrangea back in the woods.

Don’t you just want to walk back there?

I can even see the blue of the hydrangea all the way from my bedroom window.

and maybe the hydrangea looks back; this is what it would see,

Looking south over the river of Geranium ‘Rozanne’, the edge of the bogsy woods looks more clearly defined.

My eye is drawn to how much better the fuchsia shows up.

Now i need a yard of Soil Energy to build up the former wood pile area so that I can plant some of my other new fuchsias there.

Speaking of unplanted plants, here’s the sad story of one of my ladies in waiting. I had two ‘Orange Pillar’ barberries when garden touring on Whidbey Island in June. I have decided they will go in the front garden after I have moved two big thirsty sanguisorbas to the back garden. That can’t be done till fall, so the barberries wait in pots. One was hidden at the back of the ladies in waiting benches and got missed:

Here’s the happy one that was toward the front…

and the terribly sad one; it got well soaked yesterday and I hope it puts out new leaves.

At the end of the day, I especially admired a few things (and judged one thing):

admired white lilies in the back garden

and…Lily ‘Anastasia’ still blooming, towering over Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’

and another pink lily has joined Anastasia; they must be eight or more feet tall.

and the gorgeous berries of Billardia longifloria on the front garden arbour

at northeast corner of house

The judgement: I think I may have way too much Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, and this daylily has got to go:

I think it will find a new home at Andersen’s RV Park.

Allan took a photo of how the “dead” camellia trunks in the back garden, painted purple two years ago, are sprouting new leaves!

While I don’t really want the camellia to come back, I am impressed.

Life would be just perfect if we had a three day weekend; unfortunately, the Long Beach planters simply must be watered tomorrow. Allan had to water the Ilwaco planters today, so he did not even get a two day weekend.

 

 

 

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15 August: a lot of Long Beach, a little blues

Friday, 15 August 2014

Long Beach town was the recipient of all our gardening energy today, with the exception of planting four plants in that Ilwaco planter that had its plants stolen last week. The city had picked the planter up on a forklift and moved it to a more populated block near the Pharmacy!

It is not what it was, even with new plants.

I wish that the vacant lot next to the sidewalk here could be planted with wildflowers in the sandy area between sidewalk and street.

such potential

2008 by Ilwaco Pharmacy, used to have wild beach pea till weedkiller was sprayed

Long Beach

our wee garden at the kite museum got tidied

The area we covered today

I deadheaded the planters along the adjacent beach approach drive (Sid Snyder Drive) and then began to work my way through town checking the main street planters. Allan headed out to the Bolstadt approach with a stop in the Third Street park to pull out a big blackberry I had seen lurking behind a rhododendron.

a whole trailer load of blackberries!

Meanwhile, in main street planterland:

by Paws by the Sea pet supply store

The other day, when I compared two planters, Allan pointed out that the lush one had one of the hanging baskets overhead so gets more water!

I still lay some of the blame on the yarrow choking this planter.

Fifth Street Park, SW side

Fifth Street Park, NE side (with some badaster trying to come back)

Echinacea ‘Green Envy’

loads of people dining by the Hungry Harbor

I popped into NIVA green to give Heather, whose darling little dog recently died, a copy of the poem The House Dog’s Grave, which may be comforting if she decides she is up to reading it. I am grateful to friend J9 for sharing that poem with me years ago.

While there, I admired some lovely and unusual tea cups and some socks…

unusual to have flowers and geometrical pattern

I especially like the ones on the right.

After pulling some bindweed at Coulter Park, I walked out to the beach approach to join Allan, doing some weeding and deadheading at the city hall garden on the way. A stop at Pink Poppy Bakery was irresistable as it is just before the Long Beach arch.

I got a Swedish Traveling Cake for me and Allan; neither traveled far.

Allan had already weeded down the whole approach.

looking east…a good enough job

This is when we benefited from having weeded it so late this year; it had held up pretty well.

Some of the rugosa roses are still blooming; I’m pleased about that.

single pink

double white

dark pink

pale pink

double pink

semi double white

and rose hips

Passersby really do love the roses. That makes up for them being such a bugger to weed around.

The planters out there are dry. We have quite simply stopped bucket watering them this year because it is back breaking. We did announce the bucket watering cessation, and the city has been doing some water pump watering on occasion.

kind of sad

the ones re planted with drought tolerant plants are doing better (Allan’s photo, not Allan’s shoes)

Allan’s photo, California poppies

On the way to dump our debris, we deadheaded some shasta daisies by Culbertson Field so we did indeed work all the way from north to south and from west to east in Long Beach town.

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Port of Ilwaco

We got done earlier than I had planned and had some time to relax (me) and mow the lawn (Allan) at home. Then we ambled down to the port in time to hear the last song of the first act of Blues and Seafood. I like R&B a lot but I do not like plain old blues. However, I have taken on the task of taking photos of the event for Discover Ilwaco. It’s an informal volunteer thing; for the last couple of years the port office has given us free tickets.  We are always told no strings attached, and yet I feel the compulsion to take photos and record the event for posterity (or for as long as Facebook lasts).

The marina from the east side

Even though it is not my favourite kind of music, I have enjoyed parts of the event before, as you can see from last year’s blog about it. This year, the venue had moved to a dirt lot at the east end of the marina and I found the adjustment difficult to make. I’m blogging about it because, well, I usually do two days worth of photo taking at this event so it’s a big change to not attend.

The event used to be here, right next to the nice restrooms and drinking fountains. The food court was at the far end of the building.

The big tent used to be set up here. One could have one’s seafood out on the nice lawn by the marina or under shelter in the pavilion.

Now the event is in a great big tent (thus more tickets can be sold) out in a dirt lot.

photo, pre-event, from unknown source

While I tried to adjust to the new venue, Allan took a walk out on the docks:

looking east to the event tent

I took some photos of the last song of the first band.

Billy D and the Hoodoos by name..

the drummer

Billy D himself

I then walked around the tent area and tried to appreciate the view (one we see when we dump our garden debris from the Port).

Yellow Bluff, mentioned by Lewis and Clark in their journal

more birds

However, I did not like the sanican situation one little bit. (Food tents are white and to the left)

kind of dusty, not very comfy…too Woodstockian for me?

I so did not want to use those sanicans, and I realized I would have to keep buying expensive bottled water because there was, of course, no drinking fountain. (I don’t drink booze when I am on a self-appointed photo task.)

not very nice handwashing place

Because of my sore knee, I found it unpleasant to walk with all the little rocks on the ground.  I felt pretty wimpy about that until the next day when I talked to two people who had attended and who said their legs were sore from the rough ground.

The last straw for me:  There were loud, agonizingly loud generators right behind the food tents and that did me in; I decided to turn my two day pass back in for resale and head on home. I could barely stand the noise while ordering a nice shrimp and pasta dish to carry home with me; how could the vendors stand it for hours and hours?

full disclosure: that’s me saying “Go listen to how loud the generators are by the food booths!”

After all this complaining, I had better just lay low now for a couple of weeks.

I really really hope the event moves back to the comfy and civilized area by the restrooms next year, perhaps with the big tent in the pleasantly paved port parking lot.  If they MUST stay out on the field, I hope that the little trippy rocks are smoothed away and that the sanicans get set up so that the doors do not face the dining area, and that there is electricity brought out there to avoid the sound of the generators.  I can’t imagine what could be done to avoid the cold strong wind that came up on Saturday and would surely have made dining at a picnic table a chilly and dusty experience.

Allan gave up his pass, too, saying he would rather go sailing on a little lake somewhere than “take all the photos and have to process them all by himself”.  He comments that the desire to have a bigger venue and sell more tickets might not work out in the long run if people are uncomfortable in the new venue.  “Let’s move it away from this nice building and into a dirt parking lot,” says Allan, adding that he thinks some people might not go back to the less intimate and somewhat uncomfortable (for us old folks at least) new location.

Now all of a sudden I have the joyous prospect of two whole days to relax instead of trying to take photos of bands all afternoon and evening tomorrow. I know some people like to see those photos, and yet…how many? Maybe fifty people on Facebook? Not enough to make dealing with generator noise and sanicans worthwhile for me, even though later in the evening I heard that many blues fans who went were very happy.

And at long last, I have caught up on writing this blog as well (even though it will publish two weeks later).

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14 August: reversing the polarity

Thursday, 14 August 2014

We began the day according to my plan that we’d tidy the planters on the Sid Snyder approach, and the kite museum garden, and weed (quickly) the long long Bolstadt beach approach garden in Long Beach, all to get things spiffing for kite festival (which starts Monday).

We started at the Depot Restaurant in Seaview.

by the east window

That was the first of many, many…MANY!!! Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ that I deadheaded today. People do love that plant; it’s one that we are often asked about. When I have planted up what is to me a more interesting perennials and grass based combo, clients want the Butterfly (or “that yellow thing”) back. I’m just saying that to let readers know that I CAN be more modern and cutting edge, given good plant availability and an amenable client.

Depot: the cosmos and the Eryngiums

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Long Beach Welcome Sign

the sunset colours of the back of the sign

and the bright, physically “stopping the eye” colours of the front

Lucy Hardiman in a lecture on colour said that yellow physically stops the eye for a split second so is excellent for roadside planters. We use yellow bidens along the front. The first year, we did a trailing yellow bidens only to discover that the seeds are like painful little needles that stick in one’s clothes when one brushes against them while deadheading the further back plants. Now we use a mounding bidens. They don’t need deadheading, thank goodness. But the Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ does… eight of them. I counted plucked flowers; lost count at over 200 and that was only on a few plants.

Cosmos ‘Happy Ring’ is a lovely, airy addition to the welcome sign planting. And it’s foliage helps camouflage the horsetail!

medium height ‘Happy Ring’ (grown by The Planter Box) floating above the other plants.

While deadheading this big planter, I had a lot of time to think and I realized that I simply was not in the mood to do the Long Beach approaches today. We still had all the north end jobs to do, AND we had to go the The Planter Box (almost as far north as Cranberry Road) to get some plants to fix the vandalized Ilwaco planter. I’d been thinking we could do Long Beach>Planter Box>Andersen’s RV Park…but we really needed a whole day for Long Beach.

Suddenly I decided to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, slingshot around the sun, and do the north end today. There is only one person who’s ever worked with me who took these sudden changes of plan completely in stride. Or I think she did…. Allan puts up with it. So we left Long Beach for tomorrow.

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The Anchorage Cottages

We began our trip north just to the north of Long Beach at The Anchorage Cottages.

Anchorage center courtyard

planted some dahlias for manager Beth; LOVE these dark spidery ones.

As we prepared to leave, I saw the viburnum in the south courtyard needs pruning down from the gutters. It has good growth at the base; I would be inclined to cut it to the new growth were it not for exposing the windows of the vacation unit behind it; I would rather have a view of green than a view of the parking lot.

future pruning…no time today!

The Planter Box garden center

Rudbeckias by the front door

We bought, for the Ilwaco planter that had its center plant swiped, a lavender and some alyssum to fill in. I want an Erysimum. It’s too hard to find good ones at this time of year. In the fall the lavender can go under a street tree to make room for a ‘Bowles Mauve’ later.

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Wiegardt Gallery

We passed right by Golden Sands and went all the way to Wiegardt’s next, because we did not know how the time would play out. This week, we won’t get all the way north to Marilyn’s garden.

north side of Wiegardt Gallery: Japanese anemone in bloom.

a good patch of Cosmos by the front bay window (with Knautia macedonica)

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Klipsan Beach Cottages

I was beginning to feel hopeful that we would have time for Golden Sands, and indeed, the KBC gardens were in good shape so we did not have to spend more than an hour there.

Tetrapanax payrifer ‘Steroidal Giant’ is finally a little taller than me….here mixed with Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’

Artemisia ‘Ghizhou’…not a wonderful photo; I just want to tell you that I love its sprays of off white flowers and its bronzy foliage.

The view in the east gate has subtle changes every week.

looking over the garden from the stairs to the office

In the mid to upper left of the above photos, you can see the white haze of the stunning tall Eucryphia in bloom behind the garden.

the driveway garden….I am going to snag me some more of that Tiger Eyes sumac this fall!

Oh, joy! We had time to spend a little while at Golden Sands after all!

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Golden Sands Assisted Living

Every week lately at Golden Sands, Allan digs out a couple of the horridly dry and miserable low ornamental grass that someone planted there years ago.

Carex, I suppose, and very unsightly…better to have just beach strawberry behind the garden beds

a charming dahlia

I thought of sparing you the four quadrants this week, and then decided, oh what the heck!

NW

SW

SE

NE

The crux of the problem is, I believe, that I did not fertilize in spring. I fell for the idea that I keep reading here and there: If you add good organic matter, you don’t need to fertilize. And we had mulched all the garden beds with delightful washed dairy manure. BUT I believe that the beds would have thrived with an addition of a good fertilizing with Dr. Earth. So…a revelation that is too late for this year; next year will be better.

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Andersen’s RV Park

We had a good two hours left in our day to devote to Andersen’s…and 21 more Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ to deadhead (along with cosmos, perennials, etc).

showing five out of six barrels with very large ‘Butterfly’

One of the staff had beautifully raked the sand path

Those were the only two photos I took because standing and deadheading those Agyranthemums plumb wore me out.

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The Cove Restaurant

Then: time for our new(ish) Thursday tradition: dinner at The Cove Restaurant.

pretty wildflower garden by the golf course

front garden west of entrance

front garden east of entrance

Parking Lot Cat by the front door

my lovely ahi tuna dinner

As they left, an older (than us) couple who had been dining next to us asked me “Do you give lessons?” “In gardening?” I asked, figuring that my face blindness was preventing me from recognizing someone I knew. “No, in eating with chopsticks; we were watching you and were just amazed at how well you use them.”

and our desserts (lemon mascarpone cake and a chocolate lava cake)

I did not think I could eat that whole cake. I did. It went down a treat after a long hard day.

Next: a day of all Long Beach.

 

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12-13 August: 2 Ilwaco days

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

Ilwaco Blues and Seafood festival will take place at the Port of Ilwaco this coming weekend (the 15th and 16th) so we spent Tuesday tidying up all the port gardens.  Blues and Seafood is moving to a new venue in a big tent at the east end of the marina, instead of its former cozy location by the civilized Ilwaco Pavilion with its nice restrooms.  So people will not be strolling right by the gardens as they used to….Still, there will be more traffic, so we cleaned the gardens from one end of Howerton to the other.

leaving Calvin behind as we go to work

looking south over the front fence

We began at the east end of Howerton.  Allan hooked up a hose to the Beacon RV Park (owned by the mayor, who happened to be there).  We did not have enough hose to stretch all the way; at least it made bucket watering easier.

easternmost Howerton Way garden

bucket watering

I pruned down the shrubs at the bank by the port.  The bank is moving all its business to Portland this fall and putting the very large building up for sale.

pruning before

after a gentle, naturalistic pruning

It is a darned shame that someone planted tall shrubs there (wax myrtle and arbutus) as the constant pruning pretty much keeps the arbutus from flowering or having its attractive strawberry-like fruits.  If I keep them gently shaped, it may keep someone from pruning them with a chainsaw as happened just before Blues and Seafood last year.

before

after

this time last year:  call Plant Amnesty!  This is what we are trying to prevent from happening.

In one of our newly planted areas we cut two huge wax myrtles right to the ground in the spring; better to go all the way than half-arsed butchery.  The myrtles are just sprouting back and can be kept small enough to not be a traffic sightline hazard.

new this year garden area

Something so sweet happened while we were weeding.  A fellow who lives on a boat at the port walked by, someone of slender means, and shared with me some radishes and mushrooms he had gotten at the daily lunch program for the poor and elderly.  He had some radishes, which he does not like, and some mushrooms.  He just wanted six of the mushrooms to make himself a pasta sauce on the boat.  I was touched and thought if we were more hoity toity than working class, we would not have sharing moments like those.  (The radishes were yummy too, the next evening.)

We slogged through (weeding and watering) all the garden beds.  Not all of them have easy access to water.  We did no more bucket watering, though, as we had read that it might rain.   At the east end, we paused to deadhead the container at the Peninsula Sanitation building.

very attractive for folks paying their garbage bill

Then on to finish weeding the boatyard garden.

boatyard looking north

offloading our pile of debris

I’m careful to not dump anything invasive out here by the marsh.  There is already a bad weed in there:

pretty sure that’s Lythrum salicaria (Purple loosestrife) out there…bad.

When we had worked alongside Pelicano Restaurant earlier in the day, I developed a strong desire to have our monthly meal there.  It is a luxury that we indulge in when we can, especially since I have read that one’s taste buds become less sensitive as one ages, so if we are going to enjoy fine food we had better do so now.  Later, when we can’t work and don’t have the income, we’ll be happy with home made pasta sauce.

The good fortune of the day continued as we spontaneously ended up sitting, at their invitation, with Heather of NIVA green and two delightful friends of hers.  We had excellent conversation about topics such as the nature of friendship (the three women) and motorcycles (the two men).

Along with the topic of friendship, Heather and  I also talked briefly about my idea of working four day weeks.  When I said that we could not count on three day weekends regularly because of plants needing to be watered, she said we could take a bonus day during the week instead.  Not quite as good as three days off in a row, but still more time in my own garden (or, for Allan, messing about in boats).

Pelicano bouquet

Flamenco for me and a cosmospolitan for Allan

the salmon

meringue cookies and ice cream dessert

After dinner, Allan, David and Heather watch a heron come in its evening roost at the marina.

I hope in later years when we almost always dine at home, we can have such fine company sometimes.

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Rain had begun the evening before and continued all day long.

joyous view from the front (north) window

and the front (east) window

rain in the wheelbarrow behind the house

We had such a relaxing day off.  We have much to do in Long Beach to get parks and planters ready for next week’s Kite Festival.  We’ve been saved a whole day of watering the Ilwaco planters, Long Beach planters and Ilwaco boatyard garden so the day off was not a problem (I hope).  Usually rain is not enough for the planters, but this particular event was an excellent soaking lasting almost 24 hours.

I worked on this blog, getting almost caught up, and Allan did office work as well.  Partway through the day, he picked up the mail and we got an excellent package of plants from the generous blog reader Todd Wiegardt.  The plant list was addressed to the “Baker Bay CPN Rehab Department” which made me chortle then and still does now.  (Baker Bay is the Ilwaco marina bay; CPN=Certified Plant Nut.)

Read it and weep with envy, fellow CPNs:

I am going to have to do some Googling on some of these.  I love the name Kniphofia ‘Nose Job’.

The box contained a selection of ferns for Allan to try:

Allan starts to sort out which plants are ferns.

We set up a potting area in the garage and got all the plants potted up; when I planted the Colchicum and Crocus sativus bulbs out in the garden, the soil was still shockingly dry underneath and I think that makes it essential to wait awhile before putting the plants in.

Allan’s new ferns all potted up

my new plants all potted up

Of course, while putting the plants on a bench by the greenhouse, I admired the damp garden.

Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’ from Joy Creek Nursery, with Lily ‘Anastasia’ (I think)

looking southwest, white lilies and a foggy Cape Disappointment

an elephant garlic wearing a yarrow hat

Hypericum berries by the front stairs

This area might absorb a small new plant or two.

I have an awful lot of Geranium macrorrhizum in the garden.  Even though I love its piny foliage smell,  I think some of it might have to go to make room for other plants.

fragrant lilies in the front garden (with Jared and Jessika’s house as backdrop)

Ack! A big area of dwarf fireweed in the front garden…Too wet to wade in there to weed it, said I to myself.

Now we have two days to get the north end jobs done and get Long Beach ready for kite festival, after having had a deliciously restful rain-inspired bonus day off.

 

 

 

 

 

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11 August: Jo, Long Beach, Ilwaco

Monday, 11 August 2014

Watering the Long Beach planters and a short weeding session at Jo’s were our priorities for Monday.

Jo’s Garden

Jo’s garden, northeast corner of house

We gave Jo’s garden a quick tidy. She desired a clean up before company next week (for kite festival) but I asked to break it down into two sessions, as a big clean up right before an event tends to leave a garden looking battered.

looking west across the center patio; Persicaria ‘Firetail’ to the right

looking east to the guest cottage and the way out

Jo had bought four new plants to fill in where Allan had removed a big fern last week.

Next Tuesday we will return and make the garden look spiffing in every detail, as much as is possible in mid August.

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Long Beach

I felt that we had left the planters one day too long. The last time we had watered was Wednesday and there had been so much wind. Nothing had died…fortunately. And I certainly had not wanted to water over the weekend.

A member of the crew was watering the hanging baskets. This is a part of their job that we had not seen before; usually it gets done earlier in the day. On this particular day, the crew had spent the morning cleaning up some sort of bear rampage in one of the parks and on the beach approach, with garbage strewn all over.

how the hanging baskets get watered

Speaking of watering, if you ever drive by and see me looking really grumpy by one of the planters, it is either from finger blight or hose problems like this:

The hose end gets all flat from being twisted around plants…

leading to just a sad trickle of water and much hose adjusting to get an adequate flow.

I did the north end of town this time which meant I could stop briefly into my favourite shop, NIVA green, while the water ran in the planter outside.

license plate birdhouses in NIVA green

and clever use of a rake

The town was bustling with tourists.

Streetside Taco (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo; I would have loved tacos, but it was too busy of a day to take that kind of break.

Allan’s photo with silver santolina and blue painted sage

Allan’s photo, happy tourists

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Ilwaco

While Allan watered the planters, I weeded along part of the boatyard garden for two hours.

in the boatyard

He left the trailer, but my knee hurt and it became a long walk so I just made a mess on the sidewalk after awhile.

I love the ‘Hopley’s Purple’ oregano.

still some California poppies

Meanwhile, as Allan watered the planters:

He found that one of the two that were vandalized last week had its Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ completely stolen.

In better news: spectacular flowering at city hall, albeit lopsided (due to a broken off nasturtium)

Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’, painted sage, nasturtium

white painted sage (Salvia viridis) after deadheading browning off stems

I had asked Allan to photograph the city hall planters, and he certainly obliged.

Ilwaco City Hall

Allan arrived back at the boatyard to find me making that big mess.

me weeding and tossing

I did not quite get done with this section. It did not matter as we had a big Ilwaco weeding day planned for Tuesday.

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When we got home, Rudder and Yarrow were lying by the curb next door. Yarrow barked a bit; no amount of sweet talking would get Rudder to get up and come over for petting.

Rudder playing hard to get.

All Saturday afternoon and Sunday I had run sprinklers in the garden while I weeded; still, the ground is so dry.

The garden looks prematurely dry and autumnal.

While there had been little wind today (which would have made it a better evening for a campfire), in late evening a fog rolled in and it looked just delicious.

looking north from the living room

Our neighbours Jeff, a great fisherman, and Mary gave us some fresh caught tuna…Oh my….Allan made a beautiful meal out of it.

If it were not for Allan cooking dinner, there might not be any blog!

 

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9-10 August: the rest of the weekend

Saturday, 9 August 2014

After we toured the vintage trailer rally at the Sou’wester Lodge, we went to the Saturday Market briefly. I had given up on the idea of two days off without leaving my property (having been lured out by the trailers) so I went along and stopped by the Ilwaco Hospitality Center to see an art exhibit by the daughter of our friend Don Nisbett.

Brandie Nisbett’s art exhibit

The sunflower tile appealed to me and I am not sure why I did not just buy it. Perhaps it is for sale in Don’s art gallery.

at the market, some garden decor

and a lily purchase

Allan’s photo

fresh veg from De Asis farm (Allan’s photo)

and from Blue Coast Farm (Allan’s photo)

Pink Poppy Bakery was not there today; fortunately, we knew that in advance so no disappointment ensued.

On the way home, Allan photographed one of the classic old boats in the boat storage yard.

The excursions had taken a big chunk out of the day. I forced myself to weed in the front garden, a difficult task because the wind was extremely annoying…quite cold and from the north at about 25 mph. Passersby on Lake Street marveled at how windy it was.

Allan decided to empty out two of the compost bins, mostly created with kitchen scraps from Olde Towne Café (when I regularly mention that we are switching compost buckets).

inside one of the compost bins (Allan’s photo)

delicious stuff

He got it into buckets and I spread it around, hoping the smell would go away by the following evening when we intended to have a campfire.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

While I continued to weed, Allan did a bit of work (watered Larry and Robert’s garden, five doors down) and did some painting on an old boat (I call it the picnic cooler because it is made out of styrofoam) and then drove up the Peninsula to get a look at possible launch places for boating. He checked out Island Lake, which is to the east of Loomis Lake.

His conclusion: “It’s a paddling lake, not a sailing lake, so I would take the styrofoam boat; it looked like I could see from one end to the other, and it is surrounded by woods. It looked bigger on the map.”

Meanwhile, I got a big pot out of this space:

I have turned this area over to Allan for additional space for his garden.

and had put the pot here, with Melianthus major ‘Antenow’s Blue’ in it, after removing a volunteer forsythia shrub.

I saw a Melianthus grown pretty successfully in a pot at Floramagoria in Portland, so here’s hoping. I had carried it around hopelessly a couple of weeks ago and could not find a good spot for it at ground level. I pulled enough weeds in the back garden to fill the garbage can and covered some odiferous compost with some soil energy mulch, because we were expecting company.

Luanne from Olde Towne arrived at 6 PM and we had a lovely campfire and hot dogs and some coal-baked corn.

evening light on the garden from my campfire seat

me and Luanne (Allan’s photo, of course)

The wind had been tiresome during the day and continued to be so in the evening; at least it was not as bad as Saturday and did not make our evening impossible. Luanne and I had both heard the same thing from our dads: “Smoke follows beauty.”

the garden in evening

towering lilies

I told Luanne that I had thought of maybe putting the fire area closer to the house; she said it was nice having it in the far back garden because it really felt more like camping.

We should and could have fires more often.

Luanne went home at dark because she is an early riser, and then the super moon arose.

over Jared and Jessika’s house to our east…

over the greenhouse…

over the lilies in the back garden…

Back in the house, I said to Allan that I had been thinking…since he is 61 and a half and I am 59 and a half…that maybe we should start taking four day weekends. We probably can’t do it during annuals planting he…. time, and we probably can’t do it during bulb planting time, but surely now through bulb time we might manage it. We may regret it financially in the future, said I, but the very prospect of more time off made him light up like the sun.

The watering schedule makes it so we can’t really count on three days off, as we have to water Long Beach and Ilwaco planters about every third day and must work on resort and town gardens toward the end of the week so they look good for the weekend. Still, even if the three days are not always in a row, it would sure be a wonderful change.

 

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9 August 2014: Vintage Trailer Rally

Saturday, 9 August 2014

However much I had planned to take two days at home, I was lured out when I saw friend Wendy Murry’s post (she of the Jake the Alligator Man party) that she and Del would be showing their little trailer, Wilma, at the Sou’wester Lodge vintage trailer rally.  That was irresistible even though I had so wanted two days without leaving my property.

Vintage Trailer Rally at the Sou’wester Lodge

In the UK, these would be called caravans.

Allan’s photo

What follows is pretty much the exterior of a trailer, followed by the interior, with some exteriors only of ones that were not open for touring.  With, of course, dogs.

kitchenette

The owner warned me “Don’t be scared, there’s a bear on the bed!”  Poor bear.

The rustic theme continues in the bathroom.  (Allan’s photo)

second trailer

blue against blue (Allan’s photo)

Argosy

dog living up to its reputation

campsite relaxation

inside the argosy

three: The woman who owned this one had acquired it at a garage sale!  She was still working on the interior walls and ceiling.

kitchenette must also be the sleeping area

an adorable light

sink with vintage kitchenware

guestbook by the front door

a King Charles spaniel

Here’s Wilma, Wendy and Del’s vintage trailier; they looked long and hard to find this treasure.

(Allan’s photo)

entry rug

Wilma’s comfy bed

How well I remember, from trailer camping with my parents, the little crank windows.

Wilma’s kitchen sink and window

Wendy, a woman after my own heart, decided the stove should come out as cooking inside while camping was not likely to happen, and the space could be better used.

Wilma’s kitchenette

(Allan’s photo)

Del and Wendy recently acquired this cute little kitchen…thing; hadn’t tried it out yet.

(Allan’s photo)

Wilma decor

I remember that Wendy had this plate long before she finally acquired Wilma.

Before leaving the Wilma campsite, I had a good conversation with Del, who told me about a second posthumous Joey Ramone album that I had not even known existed.

Del and Wendy’s old rescued dog, Jerry

(Allan’s photo)

 

Boles Aero

turquoise stove

and fridge!

shiny silver

Silver Streak

so shiny

front window over couch

 

 

 

In the bathroom, the turquoise theme continues.

 

reflective

vintage campsite sale

sleeping dog continues to lie

 

It’s a little land yacht.

protected by a gargoyle

(Allan’s photo)

This is a low rider made to go into low garages of the 60s, I was told.  It’s so light a person can move it.

 

green and silver

Trailer beds make me want to take a nap.

(Allan’s photo)

good reading light

(Allan’s photo) Allan liked this, too; we both appreciate a good reading light!

kitchenette

map tablecloth

 

cocktail time

 

 

(Allan’s photo)

Many of the trailers had vintage music playing inside.

kitchen

camping cookspot

This was one of my favourites.

 

more nap inspiration

love the tin ceiling

lots of blue appliances in these old trailers

still more desire for a nap

(Allan’s photo)

 

The Sou’wester rents vintage trailers large and small for the night, in the RV park and further up by the lodge and cabins.

The TCH! TCH! on the sign stands for “trailer classics hodgepodge”.

inside the long green and white trailer

(Allan’s photo)

 

(Allan’s photo)

 

looking back to the kitchen and living area

It’s a two door trailer with an exterior door in the bedroom.

I have a sentimentality about the Sou’wester because I lived there for a year when I first moved to the beach, so I took a stroll around the RV park grounds.

a big plain fifth wheel with the fancy name “Champagne Edition”

tent area

new enclosure about the campground shower building

campsite

the vintage trailer rally

When I returned from my brief stroll, another trailer had just pulled in and parked and opened up for touring.

Its name was Ruby Joy.

inside