29 April: garden, book, concert

Saturday, 29 April 2017

It was hard to get started working on my garden because of cold windy weather.

I started with horsetail control in my pitiful scree garden

I got distracted before getting very far.

I remembered I had some plants to put in pots, which resulted in some emptying of old pots and some various backing and forthing.

Skooter was the only cat who came outdoors.  The others were sleeping in the house.

Tulip ‘Honeymoon’

stunning Vaya Con Dios

Allan was messing about with a boat.

a potting up accompishment (with Allan’s help)

trying to be elegant with pots like the Oysterville garden (not quite)

Just when I was going to start planting my Nicotiana langsdorfii, a miserable cold and windy torrential rain arrived.

Allan had gone to park his boat over at the Black Lake Yacht Club in preparation for a little event planned for tomorrow.

just fits on trailer with a hoop removed

at Black Lake, kayak with dog on back

Black Lake Yacht Club, largest membership ever.

I was pretty happy to sit and catch up on the Tootlepedal blog and then read more of a rather hilarious book. (More on this one when I finish it.)

I kept looking out the window and thinking about how I had decided to nobly pick a few of my MOST special tulips to take to Salt Hotel.  And yet…the horrible weather daunted me.  Finally, I just went and did it and felt better that it was done.

‘

Fringed tulip ‘Cummins’ and a parrot tulip

Salt Pub

really miserable weather to go out in

previous bouquet still looking fine (Allan’s photos)

We delivered the tulips and attended a concert at Salt.

Felix is a brand new addition to the Salt family! (Allan’s photo)

dinner

view

David J was the bassist for Bauhaus, creators of a song I loved decades ago, Bela Lugosi’s Dead. 

 

I found it remarkable to hear David J from Bauhaus do an acoustic performance here in our little town.  Allan got some photos:

Darwin Meiners, opening for David J, tours with David regularly and grew up in Astoria.

I got all teared up when David sang the classic “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding”, and I found myself giving out a loud whoop, like olden days, when the audience cheered his statement that he would NOT say “President Trump”,  and I also found a couple of other songs to be moving, especially No New Tale to Tell and a rousing political anthem called Gentrification Blues.  From the singing along of many audience members who knew the lyrics, it was clear that we all shared his sentiments.

Our little lives get complicated
It’s a simple thing
Simple as a flower
And that’s a complicated thing

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12 April: another storm and paradise

Wednesday, 12 April 2017

A storm was due, with two gale flags flying at the port.  After breakfast, I thought I just might have time to turn a compost bin.

I got this far before the rain came in earnest.

We’d had this much rain overnight.

a wistful look in the west gate before giving up

No one had gone outside with me.

I did not much mind staying in because I could get back to an excellent book, one I had set aside in order to read two interlibrary loans.  I was very much taken by today’s book and intend to read more by this author.

The premise of Solnit’s book is that most humans behave well and for the collective good after disasters, rather than descending into violence and greed.

I adored the story of the kitchens and camps set up after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Solnit said it is “elite panic” that causes death after disasters, like the martial law that was declared after the 1906 earthquake and that resulted in a shocking number of deaths of citizens who were shot while trying to rescue others.  The same sort of horrific law and order and elite property protection violence happened in New Orleans after Katrina.  The powers that be seem to fear the way that the citizens gathered to make soup kitchens and shelters and to care for themselves.  Heaven forfend that anarchy might ensue.

More about elite panic:

There is also a lack of faith that the citizens will resist panic.  In fact, Solnitz presents evidence that in an emergency, people do not generally panic.  The British proved that to be true during the Blitz even though, beforehand, the government had little faith in them:

Charles Fritz wrote this after visiting Britain during WWII:

While Solnit writes about several different international disasters, she focuses most in depth on the ones she could get the most information about: California earthquakes, the Halifax explosion of 1917 (which I had never heard of!), 9-11, and Katrina.  The way people took care of each other and found community makes me less afraid of the always dreaded tsunami (of which we might be survivors, since we live close to a big hill).

You probably know that I have an emotional response to the story of the little ships of Dunkirk, so this 9-11 story had enough tears falling that I had to move the book out of the way.

In another disaster story, I learned about a real life superhero, Super Barrio, who emerged after the Mexico City earthquake.

And about the Musician’s Village, a post Katrina housing project that reminds me of the Rural Studio.

so beautiful, makes me weepy

And finally, a political concept that deeply spoke to me.

If you like to read non-escapist literature, a day spent with A Paradise Built in Hell will give you a renewed faith in the power and good nature of the most ordinary of citizens.  It was just exactly what I needed to hear.

I finished the book just in time to go to a Salty Talk at Salt Pub…but not in time to get there early enough to get a seat. 

 I had intended to pick some flowers.  Instead, I only had time to look at the garden briefly before leaving.

I’m not selfless enough to pick tulips out of my boat…

or in the center bed…

I have some hidden tulips I’d have shared with Salt if I’d left enough time.

“Ever wonder how fast crabs move? Or how fast your crab pot can fill up? Join Curtis Roegner, a NOAA Research Fishery Biologist, as he discusses his group’s work with acoustic telemetry and benthic video to track Dungeness crab migrations and movements in the Columbia River estuary.”

As it was, we could not get a table with Dave and Melissa, who had arrived just before us to find seating only at the bar. Kind owner Julez found me and Allan a little table in the back corner.

Tasty Mac and Cheese

a full house (Allan’s photo)

view from our table (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

park rangers listening to the talk

crabby slide reflection

swooping down on a deadhead on our way home

tulips in the garden boat at Time Enough Books

in the curbside garden (Allan’s photo)

We must try to get back to weeding the beach approach tomorrow.  I am inspired to brave the weather because the new season of Deadliest Catch has begun.  It helps me to work harder.

 

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20 March: waffling about work and weather

Monday, 20 March 2017

In honor of the turning of the season, here is my favourite quotation about springtime:

“Every year, back comes spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.”  Dorothy Parker

Skooter was not enthusiastic about the drizzly, cold weather.

head under the covers (Allan’s photo)

I picked some flowers for an event, and then Allan and I went for our tax appointment with our accountant, Jennifer, whose office is just four blocks west.

Jennifer’s flowers

office assistant Helen

We then delivered two bouquets of flowers to Salt Pub for our dear friend Jenna’s evening event.

There was a new tiny little baby to see!

flowers for Jenna (and, later, for Salt to have)

We went back home because the cold drizzle was supposed to end in half an hour.  Allan became absorbed in “do not pick” signage for the boatyard and I delved into the excellent book I’m reading.

I am loving Mr. Theroux’s trip around the English and Welsh coast.

This reminded me of Mr. Tootlepedal:

Along a branch railway line:

Two most interesting sounding places:

Chesil Bank

Undercliff Walk at Lyme Regis

I googled up some photos of both these areas and even found videos of the Undercliff walk.

This description of tourism in seaside towns certainly reminded me of where I live (even though we love tourists here, and I well remember being one):

Meanwhile, Allan worked on strengthening the pallets that will make the new compost bins.

Allan’s photo

I had to leave my book and Allan his projects when the weather seemed to clear.  We drove to

The Anchorage Cottages.

Our good friend Mitzu

The weather was actually quite miserable, damp, drizzly, with a bitter wind.  We did not last more than an hour.

 

Center courtyard: not much happening except too many bluebells coming up

narcissi

narcissi and primroses

hellebores, pulmonaria, and ranunculus

trilliums

trillium (Allan’s photo)

I cut back some hardy fuchsias, planted three lily bulbs, we did some weeding and could bear no more of the cold and headed back home.

I did not get to take photos of the Long Beach narcissi display….

too cold and miserable to stop

After an interlude at home, we went back out to that event for which I had picked bouquets.

Ilwaco Merchants Association Spring Mixer

Oh, how I had tried to weasel out of going.  Because our dear friends Don and Jenna (Queen La De Da) are heading the group this year, Jenna did not let me escape.

By the time everyone arrived, we had a full house at Salt Pub.

Our Jenna (Allan’s photo)

the view (Allan’s photo)

We discovered that Jenna had a special purpose in wanting us to attend: The merchants presented us with a community recognition of our work, both in the gardens and in taking photos for the Discover Ilwaco Facebook page.

Thank you plaque by Artist Don Nisbett

Raffle prizes were drawn, hors d’oeuvres were served, drinks were downed, and the crowd was happy.

Ponytail: Andi from the Visitors Bureau (ponytail), with Jenna and our Mayor Mike, Don Nisbett in black, and Jane from The English Nursery.

We were so touched by that nice award.  And impressed with the fun and liveliness of the event.  If only the usual Ilwaco Merchants Association meetings weren’t at 8 AM!

Tomorrow: more rain, thunderstorms….I do hope the Long Beach narcissi hold strong till I get some of them photographed and closely appreciated.

P.S. After 9 PM, I suddenly had the sniffles and wheezes. This bodes extra ill for work tomorrow. Almost everyone I know has had The Three Week Cold this winter. I thought I had escaped. Am embarking upon all my home remedies. 

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5 March: meal and meeting

Guest photo from last midweek, from THE Oysterville Garden:

photo by Melissa Van Domelen

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Now it feels like we have returned from spring to winter:

early morning hail and thunder

Having missed our garden club dinner last week, the North Beach Garden Gang met for brunch at Salt Pub.  (All but two photos today are by Allan.)

This is the next garden awaiting our attention, west of Salt Hotel.

It did not get awfully weedy over the winter.

Melissa and Dave arrive

our view

two egg breakfast

eggs benedict

heuvos rancheros

coming soon-ish.  Allan and I have tickets already.

The five of us lingered over our table for two hours, catching up on all the gardening news. It was especially pleasing to me to be greeted by another diner there, Lorna, who used to own Andersen’s RV Park and was one of our top favourite clients for the many years we gardened there.

I had just been thinking how now that we have six fewer big spring clean ups than we used to have, bad weather is not a crisis in the early spring.

clearing but still cold and windy

Todd, me, Melissa, Dave

In the afternoon, I simply finished a book I started last night.

Yesterday evening, I read a short post apocalyptic novel (Thirst, by Benjamin Warner) that I only mildly enjoyed. Today’s choice was excellent; I especially appreciated that the protagonist was autistic and I could well identify with her ways of coping in the world after a comet hits our planet.  Turning from political non fiction to post apocalypse fiction hasn’t been that much of a change.  Coming up soon is Swallows and Amazons which should be much cheerier.  I haven’t even started it and I’ve already dreamt about reading it.

 

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26 Feb: lunch and political postcards

Saturday, 25 February 2017

We had the pleasure of lunching at Salt Pub with two regular blog readers and Facebook friends, Lizanne and Gina.

Allan’s photo

Over lunch, one topic of conversation was real estate, as I had been haunted by the idea of looking at the dreamy four-lot property up north.  Just before we ate, I arranged to do so.

view from Salt Pub

nachos

pub burger

After lunch, I returned the excellent advance copy of Radium Girls to Karla at Time Enough Books…

and after a quick stop at home to grab our postcard making kit, we joined Lizanne and Gina to prowl around the exterior of a darling house for sale in Seaview.

Lizanne, me, Gina

dreamy Seaview

Gina is of Snooter-Doots fame and is a favourite afar of our cats because she made their catnip Kitty Karrots.

tiny Seaview cottage called Shoebox Inn

We cared for the garden once a year, several years ago.

Since Allan and I were heading north to look at the enticing property for sale, we decided to join the last half hour of a post card party in progress at Naquaiya Studio in Ocean Park.

narcissi at the art studio (Allan’s photo)

  This blog is a faithful retelling of the quotidian lives of two working class gardeners, including the non gardening bits.  Some days are focused on non gardening activities, moreso lately. 

The postcard event is an offshoot of Indivisible.  Its main focus is a mass mailing of protest postcards to Preznit DT in mid March.  It may have no effect but to strengthen our resistance, and that is enough to make it worthwhile.  And the conversation among a group of fierce old woman is satisfying.  Like Lawrence O’ Donnell, we hope for impeachment, or perhaps resignation, and that he’ll take white nationalist Steve Bannon with him when he goes home to his luxurious life as a citizen.

The creative party had been going strong for 2 1/2 hours before we got there with impressive results.  I may have blurred out a word or two for those with the most delicate of sensibilities:

 

Good job, postcard artists.

I concentrated in my brief half hour on my own little idea: To send a postcard of thanks to the Associated Press, Time Magazine, and USA today for refusing to attend a press conference in which the NY Times, CNN, and other news outfits were denied entrance. Allan made three postcards, as well.

I do hope that someone at a office desk will get some pleasure and amusement from them.

Allan’s and mine

Our friend and artist Joe Patina had been leaving as we arrived.  He’d left behind a pile of vintage postcards which are much to lovely to go to DT.  I am in the process of photographing them to share on my Grandma’s Scrapbooks blog.

Now it was time to drive north and get a look inside the tall gates we had peered over on Friday.  That will be tomorrow’s post.

Afterwards, on the way home in the late afternoon, we saw swans on Black Lake.

Allan’s photo

I noticed Lake Street looking colorful.

While I blogged, Allan string trimmed the garden bed edges and gathered up and cut to firewood size the fallen branches of the winter.

hellebore, dogwood, alder fall

an animal path going into the south end of Nora’s garden next door.

Tomorrow: an artist’s haven for sale

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16 Feb: glue sticks and clippers

Thursday, 16 February 2017

I took a walk toward the back of the garden to clip some branches for a friend.

Now that I have a neighbour next door, I should plan ahead to make this a nicer looking  area instead of a debris pile.

center bed: much to do

west bed area where I cleared out some fuchsias shows room for new plants

My goal was to clip a few winter blooming honeysuckle branches to take with me today.

Lonicera fragrantissima

We drove all the way up to Surfside to a former job, Marilyn’s garden.

Arriving ten minutes early, we took a brief drive through Surfside.

Surfside Canal

Then we had a hard time finding a turn around road and were slightly late.  We became verklempt driving by the old location of Steve’s Great Day Café.

Chris and Wally’s Garden

Arriving at Marilyn’s former garden, we met with the new owners and with Dave and Melissa, who are going to do the spring clean up.

the garden today

We’re all ever so pleased that the new owners have a great interest in the garden.

Allan’s photo

surveying the bunny tail grass

neighbour cat, Alice

Marilyn’s daughter had given Chris and Wally some photos of the house before the garden was ever installed.

and right after we had first created the garden, about 11 years ago.

Dave admires the tiny chocolate scented blooms of the Azara microphylla

The new folks might do a fence as a privacy backdrop, an idea that I love.

When Dave and Mel get the grasses clipped back, the garden will be almost flat again.  Here you can see a slideshow of how it transforms through the year.

Postcard Party

Here’s where our new glue sticks came into play, along with some old seed catalogs.  Local artist Michelle Naquaiya had organized one of several postcard making parties.  The idea is to send a bazillion postcards from all over the nation to D. Trump on March 15th.  Of course, my large contingent of local resisters are not sending them to express pleasure or admiration.  I suggested that arty postcards sent to any politician might be passed around more and thus get read more.  (We hear that it takes longer for a letter in an envelope to even get opened because of anthrax scares.)  I also wanted to make some thank you post cards for two of our good Washington State politicians, Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

Allan’s photo

Naquaiya studio

card stock for postcards

You can use old cereal and other food boxes for card stock.  I used to enjoy making postcards back before email!  It took me back to the days of looking at the collages in my grandma’s scrapbooks.

Postcard Party at play

tea, snacks, and art.  (Allan brought chocolate chip cookies.)

ingredients

I was thrilled to meet again a woman whose garden I had photographed for the edible garden tour two years ago.  Little did I know that we shared a passion for leftist politics as well as quirky garden art.  She has the same name and similar mannerisms as someone I knew long ago so I remembered her…after a little while.  It took longer than it should have because of my face blindness.

Allan’s photo

Some of our results in two hours:

My thank yous to Patty and Maria

I was using material from seed catalogs.  I don’t imagine Mother Nature as a young blonde gal, but she’s all  had (and I am sure is a lovely person). I realized later that using seed catalogs inspired environmentalism as my main topic. 

Allan’s messages had a theme:

Our overseas readers might not know how important this is to working class self employed people.  Before the ACA (“Obamacare”), we were literally paying 1/3 of our annual income on mediocre health insurance.

I need to work on my handwriting.

Here are some of the other creations.

Enter a caption

 

Preznit!

and the classic one

It was, of course, satisfying and comforting to sit in a group of like minded and oh so funny folk.  A few of the post cards are just too outspoken, although hilarious, to share here.  (I think they might get well passed around a government office!)  Living here at the edge of the coast, there are no government offices to usefully picket within a two hour drive, and perhaps just once a year a bigshot politician might show up for a town hall meeting.  Phone calls and postcards and community are what we have on offer. I doubt it would make any difference to Preznit DT if the entire White House filled up with postcards.  However, it gave us much enjoyment to have an art project to do while we talked politics.  As Michelle wrote the next day, we made about 50 postcards, “All with personal messages, clever and creative remarks and original art..  We were 10 people who had a good time. It feels good to write down what you feel in this resistance. It’s a small something we can do to have impact.”

After two hours, the party wound up and Allan and I departed to do a little over an hour of clean up at…

Klipsan Beach Cottages.

I think for the next while, a KBC day and art studio day are going to be coordinated events.

Bella was tail thumpingly happy to see us.

the fenced gardem

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be clipped back

Allan’s before and after

Allan’s photo, new sedum growth

 

hydrangeas and ferns to clip

Iris reticulata

pruning Hydrangea ‘Izu No Hana’

The tree peony must not be cut back!

Denny supervises

Bella!

after

The debris pile consists of clean up after yesterday’s wind storm, and today’s clippings.

Allan’s photo

After our industrious day, and after having forgotten to bring the lunch box of emergency snacks, we were suddenly ravenous.  We treated ourselves to dinner at

Salt Pub

The view:

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

There goes our canine friend Ernie! (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s lobster bisque

delicious pho

We hope for a good enough weather day tomorrow to finish cleaning up Fifth Street Park in Long Beach.  Today, I couldn’t cross a thing off the work board.  We must return soon to KBC to finish trimming sword ferns all around the landscape.  We’re planning to do so on a postcard party day. Perhaps you might like to join us.

 

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3-10 February: Winterval’s end

My mission for the last 9 days of staycation was to read and to non-people as much as possible.  A long and deep book called Evicted took three days to finish (partly because of being distracted by reading the maddening daily news).   After Evicted (poverty, misery and heartbreak eloquently described), I had thought I might try a bit of light reading, so I had picked out a Blind Date book from the library.

When I unwrapped it, it turned out to be an Agatha Raisin mystery, which of course I had already read!  So I contented myself with a re-read from my own library, Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden, about WWII refugee children, and then back to more serious reading.

Carrie’s War, as wonderful as I’d remembered from years ago

Several days worth of reading….

Saturday, 4 February 2017

A brief quest for a birthday present took us to Time Enough Books at the Port.

Time Enough Books

Scout being exceptionally cute

Monday, 6 February 2017

Allan used pallets to fix an outdoor plant table that had collapsed….

Allan’s photo, after

….I read, and we did have to go out and “people” at a local political meeting in the evening.

Wednesday, 8 February 2017

I started a monstrously huge book.  After all my winter reading about civilian life in WWII Britain, I felt the need to see how the war all fit together.

The pages were a delight to look upon even though the contents were grim.

Well done, Smithsonian.

Well done, indeed.

and inspiring

Meanwhile, Allan …and on this rainy afternoon, even I…had been helping a good friend of ours move in next door.

Thursday, 9 February 2017

Two photos that Allan took on one of the moving trips (from Ilwaco to Long Beach and back again):

Iris reticulata and crocuses in a Long Beach planter

We have been having a great deal of rain.

Ann and her friend Alex arrived from Portland for a quick stop…I was lending Ann my mother’s three tiered Floralight for seed growing.

Ann and Alex, both of whom work at the great Cistus Nursery

With floods threatening local roads, they hightailed it back to Portland before dark.

The Floralight in olden days when me mum grew African violets:

In the evening, Allan and I met Melissa and Dave for our garden club meeting at [pickled fish] restuarant, joined by a former client, K.L., whose garden Dave and Mel have taken on.  Allan and I had  worked weekly on her “Sea Garden” during the summer and autumn of 2008. Now Dave and Mel are bringing it back to its former beauty.

At the [pickled fish]:

wood for the pizza ovens

We had delicious pizzas.

perfect creme brulee

lemon pudding

As we departed, the entryway planters got admired by five gardeners all at once.

Friday, 10 February 2017

Even though I had not been managing to effectively non-people, I got another fifty or so pages read in the WWII book, a book so large that Smokey had to push in for lap space.

more strong women

Skooter hangs around with Allan as much as possible.

Skooter (Allan’s photo)

On a trip to the library, Allan saw more signs of winter’s end.

Iris reticulata at Ilwaco Community Building

cyclamen, provided by Our Kathleen

In the rain, someone was photographing the heather.

K.L. (whose primary home is in island country rather than here) had stayed for another day and we all had dinner again, this time at Salt Pub.

Allan’s photo

from the south side (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

the view

spinach salad (Allan’s photo)

delicious Pad Thai

Allan’s photo

I would have but one more true Winterval reading day on Saturday, followed by a social Sunday, and then….work.  I did not feel I had succeeded very well in non peopling for the last week.  It is a highly elusive retreat when the good company of good friends beckons.

 

 

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