This post is a surprise. I had planned to read and watch Gardeners’ World for two weeks before posting again. However, I went OUT on January 19th. For the sake of narrative flow, I must catch up on the first half of the month before writing about the outing.
1 January 2019
I had frozen the leftover beefy bits from our Christmas Eve dinner and began to give delicious bites to my neighbours each day.
2 January 2019
in the garden:
January 2nd was Allan’s birthday. We shared a repast at the Shelburne Pub.
Allan has now reached “full retirement age” per Social Security, but we will not collect because it is still not enough to live on, so on with work we will (do our best to) go for at least two more years.
On the next day, I visited the clinic again about the ear problem that continues to plague me. Just as I had dreaded, an appointment was set for me to visit an ear specialist in Longview, three weeks later. I was most unhappy. The problem is trivial compared to my friends’ medical woes but———I just want a staycation where I can stay home and NOT be sick and NOT go on a four hour round trip drive. (Last year, it was shingles.)
J9 wanted to visit before her own partial staycation ended and so we had a good long chat on the 4th, over tea and pastries at my house. And then, from January 5th through 11th, I had the sheer and amazing bliss of seven non-peopling days. A cooperative series of storms blew in, enabling me to not even leave the house most days, much less the property. Much reading ensued. There will be a January reading post later on.
Friday, 11 January 2019
Good weather came so I had to emerge from the house….
…and spent the day dividing and potting up a big variegated iris for my plant sale.
Saturday, 12 January 2019
I had to emerge so that we could help Our Jenna (Queen La De Da) at her new Mermaid Sandcastle shop and event venue in Long Beach. We joined her painting party weekend on Saturday afternoon, only because we dote on her.
On the way, we checked on the boatyard and port gardens and the fire station garden. All look fine and won’t need any work for awhile.
In Long Beach, I checked on Fifth Street Park. It will hold up till early February.
Jenna’s Mermaid Sandcastle is just to the east of Fifth Street Park.
Longtime readers with extra sharp memories might recall that years ago when this was a vacation cottage called Summer House, we made a little garden here.
On a rainy day in mid December, Jenna photographed Fifth Street Park from her upstairs window.
Today Allan fixed Jenna’s gate and did some work on the garage.
I put primer on these drawers, inside and out.
Before her sneak peek….
…we will be helping Jenna move at least a couple of loads from her Ilwaco shop to Long Beach.
After painting, because we were already away from home, we checked on the Shelburne Hotel garden.
And because we were there, we had an early dinner. Susie of the Boreas Inn and Our Kathleen joined us in the pub. We talked for something like four hours.
Sunday, 13 January 2019
With more good weather, I did more plant sale potting. At dusk, I found an episode of 2017 Gardener’s World to watch.
I learned that skunk cabbage is now considered a noxious weed in the UK and was taken on a tour of an interesting garden on the site of an old garage.
This van had been turned into a greenhouse.
I had been so looking forward to hiding out in my lair for another week or more. However, the Depot Restaurant had their twice yearly paella special and that was well worth emerging for one more evening.
14-18 January 2019
Good weather Monday and Tuesday meant more dividing and potting up. I had kind friends bringing me empty pots as I was almost out. I had gotten down to just this many left when rescue deliveries came.
My friends next door have learned to expect a treat. After finishing the Christmas eve leftovers, we bought them some good and healthy dog treats.
Allan finished the refurbishing of the work trailer.
When the rain came on Wednesday, I finished a book and then found a couple of episodes of Gardeners’ World online, and then….then! I saw on Facebook an ad for a streaming channel called Inside Outside TV. It had the complete 2011 and 2012 seasons of GW!
Oh my. For $47, I subscribed for one year and, on Thursday and Friday, while a wet gale blew past the house, I watched all of season one. I learned much which I think will deserve a late January post or two of “What I Learned from Gardeners’ World.” These are the first two seasons when Monty returned after having a stroke and began to broadcast from his own garden instead of a staged garden. The experience of watching is paradise for me. When I finish those, I will subscribe to BritBox to watch the 2018 season. I am tired of spending fifteen minutes or more between episodes trying to find more of them randomly posted online. (Someone suggested another source, but I cannot find the comment and my memory fails me, so if you are reading, kind person, please tell me again.)
Because the rain was supposed to continue, and because my ear is still bothersome, I had a darned good excuse to not attend the Women’s March on Saturday. I fervently looked forward to another all day binge of 2012 GW episodes. And then…we woke to fine weather and had to go do our political duty after all. I felt miserable about it, but it turned out well. The march will be the next post.
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Walking to the march gathering place, we saw the gentleman who works on the steep garden by the Senior Center.
The personal part of the march that made it turn out so well for me was that I walked the whole way with Jane, the Mulch Maid, who has a weekend home in Astoria. We talked about gardening. Afterward, we visited her house on the south slope, met her spouse, Ben, dined on sandwiches from the Sasquatch food truck and admired the view.
The Sasquatch truck is run by Chef Jason Lancaster, formerly of the Cove in Long Beach.
It is kitty corner across the street from….
The view from Jane’s house includes a street sign for Pleasant Street (lower right)
Jane had a couple of Gardeners’ World magazines for me, and before dark we were off home again where I intend to return to the world of the show as much as possible for the rest of the month.
Another great post. Thank you!
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Thank you for reading and commenting!
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I may not be the ‘kind person’ Skylar, buy I was able to watch most of Gardeners World 2018 on Daily Motion .
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I have watched some episodes on Daily Motion and will resort to that again when it comes to ones I can find nowhere else but I can’t figure out how to skip past the commercials so I keep having to go to the beginning, let the first ad play again and then fast forward to my place, and then another commercial appears five min later. Maybe I just haven’t figured out the work around yet.
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Love that van turned into a greenhouse!! And it’s so nice to see flowers in January, although I imagine they are a bit chilly.
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It is extra mild here this year so far.
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I have a spiral notebook I keep on hand whilst watching GW. Only challenge is, because I cannot bring myself to look away, and I don’t want to pause the show, it makes later deciphering interesting.
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I’ve been making screen shots to go along with my notes. Design ideas and plant names. Good thing my iPad photo storage was pretty empty when I started
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You are an endlessly busy person.
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You should have seen me the last two days. I watched more than thirty half hour episodes of Gardeners World. 😉
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What is that cool small pine next to the Summer House? Is it just a common Japanese black pine, or something more interesting?
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I think it’s just the one we call beach pine. I’m not great with conifer ID. It’s all over the dunes here, was introduced, so some people think it’s a weed and fire hazard.
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On, a naturalized exotic species! That is not so appealing.
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I love that greenhouse van!
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So much happening in January, even with some days at home to relax. A belated happy birthday to 66 years young Allan! Kota and Bentley are so cute–they are lucky to have YOU for a neighbor. Hope your ear will be better soon. Once I thought I had an ear problem and saw an ear specialist. It turned out the pain was actually nerve pain coming from my jaw. A quick trip to the dentist to smooth out a recent new crown did the trick.
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Interesting re your ear! Thanks.
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