Sunday, 27 September 2015
While I puttered in the garden at home, Allan did about three hours of weeding at the Ilwaco Community Building garden.
entry garden, before and after (minus a haze of tiny weeds)
cyclamen in the entry garden
Afterward, he picked up some alpine strawberries for Our Kathleen, from a garden where we used to weed on School Hill. We had given it up when it became difficult for me to work on the steep slope. Now it is in the care of Flowering Hedge Design with occasional help from Sea Star Gardening (our dear friends Melissa and Dave). Allan knew I would be pleased to see Ann’s garden (in photographs) so well mulched and weeded.
The neighbour cats were at play.
a well cared for garden
three bags of alpine strawberries, one for Kathleen.
Meanwhile, I’d been weeding and transplanting astilbes from dry areas to damper areas, and removing a large bronze fennel.
The spiders are enjoying the new arbour.
Here’s the view WITH the fennel on Sept. 7th.
and today with it gone.
Maybe I have opened up the view in a way that will make walking down the west side path more enticing.
I spent most of the afternoon fretting about the weather, checking various wind forecasts. We had plans for an evening campfire with Dave and Melissa and yet the wind was gusting at 20 mph. When Allan got home, he agreed it was too windy and we canceled the campfire dinner.
Imagine the trees whipping back and forth.
I went indoors to read, continuing my plan to not boot up the computer till the end of the long weekend…except for the irresistable peeks onto Facebook from my phone. I already felt disgruntled when the wind died completely at dusk, and to make matters worse when I did go online from my phone, I found that there had been a “supermoon eclipse”. My newsfeed was full of photos of a big red moon. What a maddening result of (mostly) staying off the internet for a couple of days. I had been quite in the dark about the big event (and Allan had an inkling, but forgot). Now wouldn’t it have been nice to have had that campfire and been surprised by a big red moon (even though we would not have seen the eclipse from our tree-surrounded fire circle)? I finished my book and ended the day in a grumpy mood with a viewing of an episode of the never-cheering Fear the Walking Dead.
Monday, 28 September 2015
I simply had to shake off the “I missed the eclipse!” malaise. Allan had plans for a boating excursion. Beforehand, we went to NIVA green to acquire a couple of birthday presents for two friends. (This meant I have to leave my property not once but twice on the long weekend!)
Heather’s shop, our favourite, had a collection of old postcards, some with writing on the back, and I got one for myself that I found especially touching.
the postcard
and the back of the postcard, with the story of a dream
She writes to her mother and sisters: “I dreamed about all of you last night. Thought I was there and you and I had arranged about a table you found in the attic. I didn’t want you to put it there (ha ha).” I wish I could decipher the part where she writes “…I don’t have anything from you..” Something about the postcard made me feel all verklempt, not in a bad way, just in the way of savoring human contact in the same way that I feel when I read room journals at the Sylvia Beach Hotel.
I bought myself another little present, too…I won’t wear these spider earrings around Melissa!
After driving me back home, Allan went off boating (next post) and I gardened. I was outraged to find that the deer had been inside the new arbour eating my new Joseph’s Coat rose.
much nibbled foliage!
I knew they COULD easily jump the front fence…and yet had hoped they would be creatures of habit (the habit of walking through the area where the new arbour now blocks them) and not go to that extreme. Now more deer proofing would be necessary. I have enough deer in my gardens at work; I want to keep them out at home.
We can run wires between this post and the new arbour to the west..
We can put a post in the east corner and run more wires.
But what can we do about the short gate??
While pondering that, I took some photos of a shrub that I cannot identify. Nor could Todd.
an angular evergreen shrub
It has white and grey berries. (That’s a melianthus leaf intruding.)
I am going to post this on the Plant Idents group.
A mere ten minutes later, Ian Barclay writes: “Hymenanthera angustifolia, aka Melicytus angustifolius”. Thank you!
In the afternoon, Debbie and her dog Ralph came over to get some divisions of plants for the Master Gardener fall plant sale. I gave her some large Fuchsia magellanica pieces from one that keeps coming back in the wrong place in my garden (a bed that went from shade to sun when we cut down a big old rhododendron to get a view of Cape Disappointment’s hills).
Debbie and Ralph wheeling the fuchsia.
I did not have my camera at hand till the end of the visit, so you will have to take my word that Ralph greatly enjoyed the garden.
my good friend Ralph
After loading up the fuchsia, some sanguisorbas, some pink turtlehead, some astilbes, and plenty of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, Debbie and I had a good visit leaning up against the front fence.
Later, I even sat down for awhile on the patio.
Ironically, after the cancellation of yesterday’s campfire due to the wind that maddeningly died down at dusk, today gave us perfect weather. When Allan returned from boating we decided to go ahead and have a fire on our own and have another one next weekend with Dave, Melissa and Our Kathleen (weather permitting).
sunset sky to the west
and to the southwest over the port and Cape Disappointment
a nice fire
gathering kindling (Allan’s photo)
Smokey got his own chair.
We got our full moonrise over the east side of the garden.
Allan’s photo: The moon at the end of Lake Street had a pink hue. “Pink, pink, pink, pink moon.”
Allan’s photo, one block east.
Allan’s photo, Lake Street moon
Allan’s photo: moon over the work trailer!
We roasted our ears of corn in foil with butter, salt and pepper.
Allan’s photo
Just for fun, I had posted some fire photos on Facebook and tagged Ilwaco artist Don Nisbett who had commented a few weeks ago that he’d like to smoke a cigar by our camp fire. To our delight, he arrived as the fire was dying down, and proceeded to puff a fragrant cigar (and I do mean that it smelled good). We had plenty of wood and built the fire up again.
Don by the fire
Don and Allan
Allan’s photo
moon over the gearshed
campfire and moon
We sat around talking for almost three hours and it more than made up for having missed the moon and fire the previous evening.
Before leaving, Don showed Allan the details in the Nisbett tiles that we have in our kitchen, depicting the Port of Ilwaco.
Next: Allan’s Monday paddle of the Surfside canals
Tangly Cottage Gardening 