6-8 September: long weekend

Saturday, 6 September 2014

Although the weather was shockingly hot (almost 90), I did walk down to the Saturday Market at ten, mainly because I wanted to deliver a book I had just finished to the owners of Purly Shell yarn shop. My friend Montana Mary must have given me this book about a seaside knitters group in Maine. It turned out to be well written, more than a lot of cozy mystery series are, and I figured the knitting women might enjoy it.

The characters in the book would have felt right at home at Purly Shell at the Port of Ilwaco.

I strolled only two blocks worth of market due to the heat. I was pleased to be walking with no cane and very little pain.

the condor statue

plants for sale

I got a lemon lime bundt cake from Pink Poppy Bakery…

and bought some peaches from De Asis produce.

Smokey had been waiting for me to come home.

Just over the recent blast of heat. the lawn had gone brown in part of the back garden.

east garden bed; I must remember to keep watering the geranium I recently tranplanted along the edge.

The heat remained while a grey sky promised some coolness to come.

some of my ladies in waiting

I thought about gardening, but it was just too dang hot so after doing enough watering of containers to keep plants alive (especially the ladies in waiting), and picking some tomatoes from the very hot greenhouse, I went indoors and worked on the blog about the previous night’s Slow Drag at the Port.

tomatoes from the greenhouse. (Only cherry tomatoes do well for me.)

After the blog entry was done, I set to reading the recent memoir by my favourite New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast. (George Booth is my second favourite.) Even though the heat did indeed disappear, I did not find myself outside gardening at all.

 

My favourite pages:

I’m always pleased to find out that someone else avoids driving.

my favourite page

a childhood memory much like mine

At age 15, I actually counted the days till I was 18 and could move out.

The book is mesmerizing, funny and painful. (Allan read it cover to cover a day later.)

Just about the time I finished the book, Garden Tour Nancy came over with cookies and we sat in the garden, first in the shade, and then in the sun for over an hour.

Nancy’s zucchini cookies

Because the Rod Run classic car event is well known for not drawing patrons to fine dining restaurants, we decided to have our monthly dinner at Pelicano Restaurant at the Port and show them some support. Little did we know that the big sports bar in Long Beach had closed for the evening because allegedly the owner got sick of rowdy patrons, so Pelicano became very crowded indeed. That did not stop the skilled chef, hostess, and servers from making our experience a good one.

the view from Pelicano

Flamenco cocktail: Tequila, campari, lime simple syrup and lime juice

Pequillo pepper stuffed with avocado, shrimp, black beans, and Aioli

Caesar salad

baked Pacific cod with Kalamata olives, tomatoes, onions and salsa verde

a busy restaurant

Sunday, 7 September 2014

Again, I could not motivate myself to garden. I began a book that completely absorbed me for the whole day. It is usually only in winter that I have the pleasure of reading an entire book in a day (although before I became an obsessed gardener, I often did so).

Allan made me a nice cup of Cream Earl Grey (a gift from Kathleen) and I had my share of Pink Poppy lemon lime bundt cake and settled into my chair.

I have been completely unaware that the word “twee” has come to refer to a certain kind of indie pop, gentle, artisanal bread eating, Portlandia style of culture. I could not quite understand how the author managed to drag so many musicians and writers and film makers under the twee umbrella. However, the book was full of just the sort of Nick Hornby type music and book and film analysis that I love and reading it made for a perfect day.

How have I not known about some bands that sound so wonderful to me? My phone enabled me to listen to a song each by The Neutral Milk Hotel and Belle and Sebastian and I want to hear more this winter when I have more time.

screen shot from a video of a song by Neutral Milk Hotel; I was smitten.

Teasers of few of my favourite bits from the book:

I loved this movie when I saw it back in the late 70s.

Waterloo Sunset is one of my favourite songs in all the world.

Nick Drake earned many pages, including a fascinating story about how his song Pink Moon was used in an ad that posthumously revived interest in his music.

several pages listed songs; I intend to listen to the ones I don’t know.

I must be twee because I adore The Smiths.

“You don’t outgrow the Smiths any more than you outgrow your vital organs,” Spitz writes. “They are unrenouncable.”

I must read Perks of Being a Wallflower!

The day drifted lazily by, the book was read (and I hope those of you who like that sort of thing will be inspired to read it), we watched some Doctor Who (season seven) and no gardening was done by me at all. I think I might have seen Allan out planting some of his new ferns. He also watered the Ilwaco planters, finding some evidence of the busy weekend. (We could hear the distant roar of traffic all weekend even though we were out of the range of the main event which is centered in Ocean Park and cruises around and around in Long Beach.)

Ilwaco planter, Allan’s photo with little liquor bottles (not that unusual, really)

Monday, 8 September 2014

We had declared Monday off as we knew the town would still be full of Rod Runners. The event used to take place on Labor Day weekend, until it got so rowdy that it got moved to the following weekend, and many of its attendees still treat it like a three day weekend.

My desire to read was still strong, so I finished Landscaping for Privacy. I had an excuse to stay in today as a drizzle fell all morning (and I actually hoped it would stop as we were planning a campfire in the evening).

good book, good photos, good ideas

There is a subtle wit in author Marty Wingate’s garden writing. I learned that she has written a series of garden mysteries and tried to get one through inter-library loan only to find that it is only available as an e-book. Oh how I dislike reading ebooks! I may read it eventually anyway but I do wish it were available on paper.

Allan puttered with his motorcycle. It turned out to still have problems so a ride did not ensue.

He says: It puddled gas out a carb that I had taken apart. Then it started OK, but wouldn’t idle without quitting.

He discovered a mouse test in the toolbox, made of a pink blanket (very twee).

Then I simply had to garden or I would have felt too guilty. The damp weather made it a good time at last to get more of the ladies in waiting into the ground. These were all plants sent me by Todd Wiegardt. I took my iPhone outside and looked up the description of each one as I planted it.

a winter blooming Eupatorium! went into the front garden where I have winter blooming witchhazel and other midwinter delights to view from the east window.

My favourite in appearance of all the plants had a bulbous root.

It went into the scree garden.

They all got put into the ground in what I hope is the perfect spot for each.

At four-ish, I began to worry that I should call our friend Kathleen and tell her we had to cancel our planned fire and perhaps order a pizza for an indoor dinner. Then the weather seemed to clear; I could see the faint orb of pale sun under the clouds and the drizzle seemed to stop. I went ahead and started to burn.

By the time Kathleen arrived at five, all bundled up in a coat and laughing at how Northwestern the evening had become, the tables and chairs were wet and all we could do was roast our sausages and take them inside to dine at the table.

Just too, too wet.

Although I regretted that we missed the experience of getting to watch the logs turn to coals, we talked around the dining room table until we realized that the clock said eleven PM. I had thought that surely it was only about nine.

Perhaps my most unproductive weekend in the summer had turned out to be one of the most pleasant.