27 Nov: crabbing and feasting

Thursday, 27 November 2014

We decided to not to go the always delicious Ilwaco community Thanksgiving dinner because 1) I am sort of hibernating and 2) we like to eat later than noon to 4 PM (even though early dining is a Thanksgiving tradition for many) and 3) our friend Kathleen had proposed the delightful idea of going to a potluck at the Sou’wester Lodge, where we would mingle with a different crowd.  Therefore, I got to sit and read for the afternoon.

 I asked Allan if he would mind driving down to the Port to get some photos of the Aleutian Ballad, a crabbing boat that was once a part of the Deadliest Catch telly show and was rumoured to be in town dropping off crab pots for the local fleet.  Always interested in a photo assignment, he came back with all these photos.  Our fleet is, we hear, going to drop their pots tomorrow, and when crab season opens on December 1, they will motor out to retrieve all the crabs who’ve wandered into the pots.

Port of Ilwaco

Allan apologizes that the photos are grey.  Twas a grey and rainy and windy day.

Evening Star ready to go crabbing.

all poised to set their pots

Three boats lined up, loaded up with pots.

looks like the whole fleet is loaded and ready

on the docks

The Aleutian Ballad; It now gives Bering Sea tours.

he Aleutian Ballad; It now gives Bering Sea tours.

Storm flags (gale warning) flying over the port.

Aleutian Ballad from the lighthouse loop road

Allan would like you to see that the rain began in earnest!

looking east over the harbour

crab pots stacked at Ilwaco Landing

Our local fleet uses round pots, much smaller than the big square or rectangular ones used by the Bering Sea crabbing fleet.

Sou’wester Thanksgiving

At six o clock, we met Kathleen at the Sou’wester Lodge for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner.  Allan had made two pumpkin pies; Kathleen brought a modern sweet potato dish (olive oil instead of a brown sugar glaze).

As we approached the lodge, I took a photo that turned out blurry, so here’s one from our last evening visit.

Sou’wester Lodge by night

a warm glow from one of the four cabins

In the living room, a fire was burning.

A selection of appetizers were on offer.

On the drinks table, I found a bottle of organic cranberry juice from Starvation Alley. Just a splash is perfect in tonic water.

corner of the room that, when I lived at the Sou’wester in ’93, was the bedroom of the previous owners.

on the sun porch

an honour system shop on the sun porch

sun porch shop

We repaired down below the lodge to the pavilion, where tables were set up for dinner.

Allan’s photo; the potluck table was lavish with food.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo; that’s Sou’wester owner Thandi, right, and her mom, who Thandi said cooked for three days!

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo, Kathleen and I at the end of the line

Allan’s photo of the board groaning with food.

Allan’s photo; we all raise a glass to the Sou’wester, for a photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo; After dinner, all the leftovers got carried back to the lodge immediately, because of bears.

Allan’s photo

Back in the lodge living room after dinner. I took a few more photos and was glad to be back at the Sou’wester as a guest.

Vintage trailers figure large here as decor and as lodging.

 

trailer decor on living room shelves

 

In the kitchen, a large crew washed dishes, so many helpers we could not squeeze in.  There were so many dishes, some had to be left to dry before the second round of washing.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo; I took a photo into the living room as we left.

looking from the sun porch into the living room

As we departed, Kathleen (right, with white hair) stayed to visit some more.

As we walked back to the van, I looked up at the carriage house.  In ’93, Robert and I lived on the top floor after he had added a bathroom, a kitchen sink and stove and the dormer with the oval window.

carriage house after dark

Back then, the wind whistled through the eaves, the roof leaked, and the second dormer had not been built.  The conditions were one of the reasons we left.  I’m happy to show that new owner Thandi takes good care of her staff.  The glowing room in the lower right corner is the old laundry room where I laboured with one washer and dryer.  Now they have several.

Before the carriage house, we lived in the Spartan trailer with the rounded front, second from the far end, for almost five months.

another look at a cozy cabin

It did my heart good to visit with the new(ish) owner, Thandi.  I would recommend this place to any friend who likes to stay somewhere with an alternative “vibe”.  It is second in my heart only to the Sylvia Beach Hotel.  I wonder if it has room journals?

This was the perfect place to be on Thanksgiving and I am grateful that Kathleen had the idea to go.

Do watch this wonderful music video filmed at the Sou’wester; the music is good, the video is skillful, and I recognize so many of the interiors.  The male protagonist of the story is cleaning the trailers and the lodge…just as I used to do.

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1 November: not being haunted

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Although boxes and boxes of bulbs await sorting, beautiful weather meant we had to go out to work instead.  Rain is predicted for the next three or four days and that should give me plenty of time not just to sort, but to process photos and to blog about Halloween.

Ilwaco

Soon we are going to remove all the catmint from the Ilwaco city planters; next year annuals or perennials that don’t need shearing halfway through the season will take its place.  We’ll give some of the catmint to Debbie for the spring seminar plant sale.    I’ll have some to spare, even after planting some at the Ilwaco boatyard and under the Ilwaco street trees, so perhaps Picture Attic Jean would like some, as well?  It’s Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’ to be exact.  The planters were already planted up with it when we took them over some years ago.  Today, we just did a little clipping of the ‘Butterfly’ agyranthemum at city hall.

Ilwaco City Hall

On the way out of town, Allan noticed Black Lake being reflectively photogenic, worthy of a pause.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Depot Restaurant

Fortunately, Allan remembered that Chef Michael had texted me yesterday with a request that we cut back a shrub on the east wall, so that some building repairs could be done.  I intended to chop the shrubby honeysuckle right to the ground as it would come back just fine.  Fortunately, Chef Michael was there and told me he liked it as is and just wished it would be pruned to allow access to a wooden hatch.

Lonicera ‘Baggeson’s Gold’ before

during

full access to the hatch thingie

Long Beach

We paused to assess the new Sid Snyder memorial garden at Veterans Field to see how much room remained for new plants.

NE corner of Vet Field

On the way to the Planter Box to scope out plant availability, we stopped at The Picture Attic to give Jean Nitzel some of the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ we’d dug out at Jo’s.

The Picture Attic

inside: cards, stickers, stamps, and fine picture framing

Jean acquiring some Sedum

She needs some help in her garden.  Allan has helped before but I know he would rather have free time than an extra job.  I recommended the new gardening business, Flowering Hedges (our friends Shelly and Terran); if they can’t help with her project, Allan will.

Jean’s beautiful lace cap hydrangea

The Anchorage Cottages

On the way back from The Planter Box, we did a bit of post storm clean up at The Anchorage.

The north garden bed; the Ceanothus needed some dead branches cut out.

I’m still deadheading the two Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ by the office.

just south of the office

Deer are now coming regularly into the garden and nipping the Viburnums.

Melianthus major is the autumn star of the center courtyard garden (in which we found deer tracks).

The deer probably come only at night, as The Anchorage is a dog friendly resort and there are usually dogs around during the day.

Long Beach

Back to Long Beach with a treat from Pink Poppy Bakery…

Pink Poppy seating

Last night on Halloween, Maddy was next door at the Starvation Alley house.  If a person knew to say “I love Pink Poppy Bakery”, a special treat would be proffered.  Kathleen and I split the last pumpkin spice cookie, so I was glad to find them for sale at the bakery today.

delicious cookies

Pink Poppy will only be open as a retail shop till Thanksgiving, and will then have a booth at the Ilwaco Saturday Christmas market.

We hadn’t been able to acquire any small ‘Crimson Pygmy’ barberries or much else on the red white and blue theme for the Sid Snyder garden bed.  Allan planted one Barberry ‘Helmond Pillar’ and three little reddish pansies.  I cleaned up the semi circle garden by the flag poles and found some little blue and white viola seedlings and two seedling of Eryngium ‘Sapphire Blue’ to move to the new garden.

The barberry will make for some height behind the little monument.

I hope no one mistakes the tiny Eryngium for a weed.

(Note:  About three days later, we were back planting bulbs and Allan said “Is that a weed?”)

Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ still blooms profusely in the flag garden.

While Allan planted some Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ starts under one of the street trees and then worked on cutting back lady’s mantle in Fifth Street Park, I walked five blocks of the trees and planters.

This tree was infested with chickweed.

not anymore

I was glad to pull this cosmos as I’d been seeing it every time we drove through town!

Calibrachoa ‘Lemon Slice’ still blooming

some painted sage, faded but still passable

This may not get done in the fall, but I do so want to rip out all the vinca from this particular planter.

I would save only this one charming hardy fuchsia.

good iris foliage by Dennis Company

On the subject of chrysanthemums, and in rebuttal to various articles that say they last only a few days, here is a continuation of photos showing that ours have been blooming for weeks now.  (I weary of articles with a superior tone, like the anti-chrysanth rant or the one I read recently that was OH so very ABOVE the container idea of “thrillers, spillers and thrillers”..and idea that someone came up with, so why make fun of it?)

By Campiche Gallery

with hardy fuchsia

simply beautiful

by the Dennis Company outdoor yard

pink chrysanths with barberry

By the Elks Lodge with Calibrachoa ‘Lemon Slice’

same planter with clipped Sedumn ‘Autumn Joy’, daphne, and heuchera and a little hydrangea that was planted years ago by a volunteer

pink chrysanths by NIVA green

Speaking of NIVA green, I popped in to buy a few of the most delicious smelling cucumber mint soap.

NIVA green

Artist Heather Ramsay emerges from her workshop to greet me.

what her shop is….

Further down the street, I found one spoon petaled chrysanth that has come through several years, not as vigorously as the plain ones.

When I joined Allan at Fifth Street Park, I realized that the Darmera peltata needed chopping down so that the city crew can clean the fountain pond.  Allan did so while I checked one more block of planters, and then I helped him clean up the mess.

before

after

Allan’s befores and afters of the rest of the day’s park project:

lady’s mantle before

after, sheared back hard

under the trees, the annoyingly rampant lady’s mantle

sheared back hard. While I don’t love lady’s mantle, not much will grow in this rooty bed so it’s welcome.

I guess I have to admit that, like those who hate chrysanthemums, there are certain plants that do not earn my favour.

the clouds over the sewer plant as we dumped debris at city works

Jo’s garden

I wanted to complete the clean up of Jo’s garden and yet, even though she likes all the annuals removed as she prefers a cleaned up look for winter, I could not bear to take the ones that still look so good in the windowboxes.  I’ll await a frost.

We did pull the geraniums at ground level and from the pots.

windowboxes, still pretty

I remember when a former client, Glennie Woodcock (who moved away) would have me and Robert over for dinner just before Halloween and give us $100 to caretake her home for the winter.  The weather would always be sharply frosty by then, in the mid to late 90s.  Now it seems we rarely get a frost till the end of November, if then, and so the fall clean up stretches on and on with the annuals refusing to die.

after work

I had every intention of going to the haunted house at the Sou’wester Lodge.  Having a crab roll at Captain Bob’s Chowder would nicely fill in the time till the haunted house opened for the evening.

Captain Bob’s

In conversation there, I had a revelation: neither Allan nor I like haunted houses.  I especially don’t like sudden noises or being grabbed it!  So despite wanting to support a favourite local business, we decided to just have a look from outside the pavilion.

Sou’wester Lodge by night

A reader asked me recently how I had happened to move to the peninsula.  The story begins here with my visits to the Sou’wester Lodge in 1991.  Every visit there, now that it has new owners, fills me with nostalgia.

the vintage trailers, mostly Spartans in this row, for rent by the night.

When I lived there, vehicles would park next to each rental trailer.  Now they park to the west of the lodge and the center area is open for picnic gatherings.

I lived for six months in the Spartan with rounded windows, second from the end of this row.

The “haunted house” in the pavilion resounded with screaming.  We went on home, with the very good excuse that we had hundreds of Halloween photos to process and upload to the Our Ilwaco Facebook page, followed by a late night viewing of two of our telly shows, Grimm and Elementary.  Tomorrow’s predicted rain had better arrive so that I can begin the sorting of bulbs.

 

 

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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

I felt that nap coming on again.

a “glampsite” not just a campsite

As we left, Del was just walking his little dog, Jerry.

me going scritch scritch scritch on Jerry’s behind

 

 

 

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stormy weekend

Saturday, September 28, 2013

gale warning

In the late morning, I wanted to get a telephoto of how the two flags at the port office (signifying a gale warning, 39-54 mph winds) had slipped halfway down the flagpole.  It came out rather blurry, but there it is.  The wind, while strong (I later learned it had been 61 mph at Cape Disappointment, the backside of which I can see from my window) was not a cold wind.  So during a lull in the rain, I went out to take a video of the windy bogsy wood with my phone.  You may be able to view it here.

I became thoroughly occupied with a new Facebook page that will be a repository for my non-Ilwaco photos of the Long Beach Peninsula.  I had no intention of going to Olde Towne in the bad weather…until I get a message from Luanne who sounded kind of lonely!  So we went, and I was glad we did as our friend Kelly was there and, with no other customers except for her niece, Luanne was able to sit and visit with us.

almost empty on a stormy day

I was also glad that I had not walked there as the rain was absolutely sheeting down beyond any amount I have seen so far this year.  (I later learned that Astoria had something like three inches of rain.)

In case of a power outage, Olde Towne has a good stock of oil lamps for sale.

Amazingly the rain stopped for awhile after we returned home.  The Danger Tree was still standing and had not lost a limb.

stubborn old thing

In a lull with no wind, I took a walk through the bogsy wood.  It had been completely devoid of any standing water the evening before.

The bogsy wood is bogsy now.

Path next to the Danger Tree: The water came almost over my shoes.

It’s rare to see the water standing this deep on the lawn to the north of the bogsy wood.

between danger tree and bogsy wood

The swale under the bridge was overflowing.

I’ve never seen the bridge swale this deep this early in the year.

I would love it if this were full of water all year.

from the bridge:  more standing water beyond the deer fence

next to the bridge

the big swale in the middle of the bogsy wood

looking north to the house

Sad though it is, I think I must admit that the cosmos in the garden boat are goners.  Some years they bloom into bulb planting time.

maybe if I cut them halfway back….

I’m not much for going out in the evening (except for dinner) anymore.  Something certainly changed in me along the way because in my twenties and thirties I was out clubbing two or more nights a week.  (Some of those evenings turned out so boring that I would have been better off staying  in and reading a book, although many excellent bands were seen back in the day.)  However, after our recent daytime visit to The Sou’wester, where I lived for a year in 1993, I resolved to go out to more of their musical events…for old times’ sake.  It was an effort to leave home comforts to go out the door at almost 8 PM to hear a concert opening their Artist Residency program!

Once we were there, the living room felt so familiar.

At the Sou’wester

We talked with a teacher and mechanic couple who were visiting from Portland.  She had fallen in love with the Sou’wester much as I had in 1991.  I warned her how I had come on vacation in fall of ’92, a vacation that got longer and longer until I suddenly upped stakes and moved here.  She loves her job in Portland, but don’t underestimate the lure of Seaview.  While we talked, I absorbed the familiar details of the room.

the glow of light on the beamed ceiling

The sound of guests in the four upstairs suites going up and down the stairs took me back twenty years.

before the performance…looking to the south windows of the lodge living room

Many an hour I had spent in the office just to the left in the above photo.

New owner Thandi has a staff of friends to help her run the place.  Back in our time, Robert and I were the only staff to do all the cleaning, repairs, office work, lawn mowing to help the previous owners who were in their mid 60s at the time.  With the staff who were there that evening, and a few guests who attended the performance, listening to songwriter Nick Jaina was a quiet and personal experience.

Allan took this photo just as the show started.

Nick Jaina at the Sou’wester

I wanted to get a photo that captured how I felt being surrounded by Sou’westerness again and listening to the songs at the same time.

I think I got it.

He told us the story of having stayed in one of the vintage trailers to write twenty songs in one day.  In his article about that experience is a photo of the exact trailer (I think) that Robert and I lived in for several months in ’93 (unless the resort has acquired another Spartan RV with curved front windows like that).

I remembered so many things while sitting in the living room listening to Nick’s excellent songs.  How I knew that the previous owners had bought the Sou’wester (in a state of great disrepair) when they were fifty.  I moved there when I was thirty seven, and ever since I have thought that age 50 was the benchmark for starting a big new thing and after age 50 it would be too late.  Now I am 58 and that is a disturbing thought.

Then I thought about age for quite a few minutes.  A lot of the people at the Sou’wester now look to be in their 20s and 30s.  I thought, Do they realize we are pretty much the same?  I know I did not realize that about “older people” until I became an older person.

Nick closed with the most amazing song…something like “I’m in the middle of a story that is breaking my heart; I won’t be with you when our plans finally come apart.”  It certainly brought back memories of assorted heartbreaks.  As I said, I have not been to a concert of this sort for a very very long time.  I bought Nick’s CD.  The song is called  “I’ll Become Everything.”   Give it a listen for some angsty memories.

Upon departing, the sight of the lodge with its windows aglow reminded me of evenings walking back from the beach at dusk and seeing these lights, and then the light in the window of the old Spartan Manor trailer that I stayed in.

Sou’wester by night from K Place

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Rain.  Wind.  Blogging.  Did not set one toe outside.  Deleted over 2000 extra photos from iPhoto and got the “Our Long Beach Peninsula’ page well stocked with photos.  I want to leave some history behind, but it is all based on the hope that WordPress and Facebook will linger on long after me.

Allan pointed out that our dinner was 75% food from the garden:  three different kinds of peppers and garlic sauteed with baby red potatoes, and tomatoes, and Cox’s Orange Pippin apples all next to some fish.

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hot day!

September 19, 2012

Oh, I am so hard to please about the weather.  Today was too darn hot.  Tomorrow a big rain storm is supposed to come, and then a rain and wind storm on Sunday.  I resolved not to complain that I was sweltering today because a cold and windy summer day is far worse.  But…it was hot.  All of  74.8 degrees F.

As we got ready to go to work, I noticed a good example of Cosmos ‘Seashells’ in the garden.  I couldn’t get much of it (my favourite cosmos cultivar) this year so wanted some good photos.  A friend of mine decided he just had to be in the photo shoot.

Cosmos ‘Seashells’

Smokey has on his BirdsBeSafe collar.  He usually does not look this sinister.

Cosmos ‘Seashells’

We did our usual compost buckert switch stop at Olde Towne…where more out of town bicycle tourists were enjoying the great ambience.

Olde Towne Café

And then went to Seaview to have a look at a couple of landscaping needs at the Sou’wester Lodge.  Oh what memories it brought back to be there because for my first year on the Peninsula, that is where I lived.

Sou’wester in snow, Dec. ’92

Now under new ownership, The Sou’wester has a plants for sale area by the front door.

To the north of the front door, the garden I planted years ago has turned to an area of large shrubs and trees.

part of my old garden

In the almost twenty years since I left there, many of the garden beds around the cabins have turned back to plain lawn, as one would expect, but some plants remain including the rose Felicité et Perpetué.   I did not take as many pictures as I should have because of having an interesting time talking with new owner Thandi Rosenbaum.

I had not been back into the big historic lodge since President’s Day weekend of 1994. It was wonderful to be there again and brought back memories good and bad, but all worth having.

I had forgotten much, like what the fireplace looked like, even though I must have cleaned the hearth many times.

We looked at the four nightly rental apartments on the second floor of the lodge.  The “honeymoon suite” has a different lace curtain hanging over the sleeping nook but has the same magical feeling.

Lacy sleeping area…On the second floor.

The Sou’wester is known for its vintage trailer accommodations and Thandi has  commissioned some trailer art.

trailer paintings in apartment three

I have always loved the way the light falls through the windows of the lodge.

probably in apartment two

I think two is the one with the lacy bed…one the one with a red rug…and three and four the two west facing ones.  It has been a long time!

This window of number four faces the second story porch.

I took this photo from the same window in December 1992.

I love the postcards over the bed in one of the apartments.

postcard art

The view from apartment four made me think about how now I would know better than to plant that beech under the power lines.  I NOW remember that I thought it was going to be a short, weeping tree.  I got it from Hall Gardens, a wonderful home nursery that existed near Nahcotta way back then (and later became the private home called Gypsy Pond).

view with a potentially too large tree (planted by me in 1993)

Amy, the housekeeper who has worked there for many more years than I did and who also sells plants there, asked me if I could identify two shrubs out by J Place.  One we thought must be an Osmanthus.  The other…I can almost remember.  I got it from Heronswood mail order, probably.  Thandi stands next to it for size:

She’s 5’2″.

Here’s a close up of the leaves…not very good because it was such a hot sunny day.

mystery shrub

leaves…what is???

We looked inside the amazing two story trailer called The African Queen, of which I had fond memories just because I liked it.  When Amy spoke of not loving to clean it, I do remember it was a challenge with all its nooks.  I also learned that in later years the previous owners of the lodge, cabins and trailers, for whom I had worked, had the staff (staff? before, it was just me!) just put sheets and bedding in the trailers and not make up the beds.  I had to make every bed, and..with eighteen or so apartments, cabins and trailers, there were…oh I don’t even want to remember.  The trailers were, of course, the hardest, being built in tightly.

While we looked at the interesting vintage RV, Thandi and her friend Alex pulled Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, after we told them it could be pulled and not just cut back.

next to the African Queen

I used to have African Queen Oriental lilies and an African Queen Buddliea planted by The African Queen…I had forgotten the latter even existed till Amy reminded me.  (It is still there, planted long before Buddleias made the invasive list….)

I said the volunteer tree should be cut down so the trailer mural shows!

The mural on the Disoriented Express still shows up well.

The Disoriented Express

I told Thandi, looking at the remains of my old garden and at the shrubs which would look so much better deadwooded, that I could imagine, if I lived in walking distance, coming over just for the fun of bringing some of it back.  She offered to have me chauffeured from Ilwaco.  Hmm.

one of my Sou’wester garden beds in 1993

Through making this garden I met Maxine…and her daughter Jo…and my gardening career started so it was worthwhile.

We passed this year’s possible landscaping job at Sou’wester on to our friend Ed Strange who has a young(er) helper who might feel more inclined that we do to tear out an overgrown garden bed.  Then we can help plant it with something better than Siberian iris and the blah running yellow kind of Hypericum.

After all this goofing off, we went up to Long Beach to deadhead.  With rain predicted, we skipped watering the planters.  The soil was damp, yet the plants looked a little thirsty….but a good rain will be effective because of the already wet soil in the planters.

painted sage still looking grand

It better HAD rain or we will have to go back and water!

painted sage and cosmos

Oh, big news….I know the names now of the three cultivars of painted sage (Salvia viridis, sometimes called horminum):  Marble Arch White, Blue, and Pink…looked at the seed packets at The Planters Box for a friend who needed the information.

Every year, when I see the dahlias in a couple of the planters, I think I simply must plant more “patio” dahlias.

fabulous dahlias

Maybe in 2014 I will remember to do so.  They come back every year and bloom like crazy.

Speaking of crazy, check out the nasturtium…this one gets extra liquid fertilizer when the city crew waters the hanging basket overhead.

in front of Home at the Beach

trailing into the street!

by the door of the Wooden Horse gift shop, very beachy

We next went to the Anchorage Cottages.  I intended to do nothing but quickly deadhead the containers, as we had done a lot of pruning there on Monday.  Somehow, more pruning ensued today.  Manager Beth asked if we could limb up a tree so she could get to the outside of the office window.

done, and looks great although I forgot before pics!

The volunteer hebe that was under a low limb is getting sun for the first time!

We also pruned the Ceanothus so that the number one shows really well at last.

Ceanothus, pruned

During the course of getting tools in and out, I photographed our rake in the back of the van.

Yesterday, I told Allan this rake makes us look poor.

We like the style very much and cannot seem to find a new one like it.

After The Anchorage, we deadheaded cosmos and weeded at the Boreas Inn.

Boreas Inn, west garden, with the sun cooling off a bit at last.

The only Lobelia tupa that bloomed for me this year still looks magnificent even as it goes to seed.

The Boreas tupa….

a garden doodad backed with Phormium

If the Lobelia tupa is blooming here because it is happy next to the Phormium, we have a problem…because I like to get rid of Phormiums now whenever I can!

Boreas, looking east

Allan remembered that we had to deadhead the Long Beach welcome sign; I might have forgotten.

back side of welcome sign with Acidanthera

Six Agyranthemum Butterflies later, we departed to water again at Crank’s Roost.

Crank’s, view from the back porch

Finally, in the last hour of daylight, we filled water buckets at the boatyard and Allan watered the Ilwaco planters while I groomed them.

Ilwaco boatyard

I happened to see Thandi and Alex from the Sou’wester again as I deadheaded near the Ilwaco Antique Gallery.  After another pleasant conversation they went off to walk along the port and watch the moonrise.  While I did the last few planters, I suddenly had this vision of living in an old trailer at the Sou’wester again and bringing back my old gardens.  In an alternative universe, that would be fantastic.  In this one, I guess I can’t go back!

Allan and I dropped off the trailer at home as the sun set….

looking west on Lake Street

We had a choice between making a fire in the back yard fire pit before the rains come and get our alder wood all wet…or going to see the harvest moon rise at the port.  It would be too hard to set up a campfire at the last minute in the twilight, so the port moonrise won.

harvest moon

The sky seemed to get lighter as the big moon rose.

 

moonlight path

Allan’s photos:

Allan did the best job of getting the moon’s face. (We both have dinky cameras.)

higher

over the tidal flat

moonlight on the water between the port and Stringtown Road

And then, home….to pick some eggplants, as the edible harvest continues.

another little harvest

These are the first eggplants I have ever grown.  I hope they were picked at the right stage.  Allan has prepared them according to Joy of Cooking while I wrote this, and now it is time to eat them.!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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prequel: Long Beach Peninsula, autumn ’91

On our way back to Seattle from the Sylvia Beach Hotel, we stopped at the Long Beach Peninsula.

looking from the boardwalk to Long Beach town in ’91

I had read in Northwest Best Places book that the Sou’wester Lodge in Seaview, Washington was eclectic and eccentric and that their “Trailer Classics Hodgepodge” was affordable, so we stayed there in an old Spartan RV.   And I fell in love with the place and its owners, an older couple named Len and Miriam.

Sou’wester Lodge

by the Sou’wester Lodge front door

I took long walks through Seaview and Long Beach.

Long Beach from the boardwalk, 1991

in downtown Long Beach

downtown Long Beach carousel

K Place in Seaview, looking toward the Sou’wester

I marveled at this Seaview mansion which I think was built around the same time as the Sou’wester.  Years later I learned it was owned by the same family who owned the iconic beach house I had photographed when I was 18.

mansion on Willows Road

We started to think of looking for a house to buy and saw this little one near the mansion, sinking into the swamp…no windows…but for sale.

swamp house

Below, another old house for sale on Willows Road in Seaview. (Someone did buy it and it is a very well kept house nowadays.)

on Willows Road

I adored the names adorning many of the beach houses: Quit-Yo-Worry, Lo Tide, Clam Tide, Yeo Ho, No See Sea, Care-away House, WindandSea, Shadow Pines, Rambler’s Rest.

Quit Yo Worry in Long Beach

We discovered a spooky place at the south end of the beach called Beard’s Hollow…. We have seen old photos where people had a rope and pulley to ride between the cliff and the big rock, and the sea used to go around it.

Beards Hollow

(I still did not like it that cars were allowed on the beach.)

swamp path in Beards Hollow

The above trail would be underwater in winter.  Now The Discovery Trail provides boardwalk access.

a spooky wash of driftwood in Beards Hollow

Near Beard’s Hollow

tire tracks on the beach

birds

I loved every detail of the beach (except for the tire tracks).

grasses

bird tracks

Robert on the beach

We were so smitten with the Peninsula and so amazed that one could buy a house for $35,000 that we made an offer on a house in Ocean Park…thinking we could stay there on weekends.  I walked the beach feeling terribly excited and imagining living there, making stained glass boxes and rustic baskets for sale, maybe doing odd jobs and some gardening and cleaning jobs.   The offer almost made it but fell through due to the realtor’s error. The owner went fishing and while at sea reconsidered selling, and due to the error, he was able to back out…So back we went to Seattle.

Later the same year, we returned to the Sou’wester for another long autumn weekend.  At the Sou’wester rental trailer area (below) , you can see our van parked next to one of the larger Spartan trailers.  I had found out shortly before this trip that I was pregnant, and could hardly bear the smell of food, and when the owners found out, they upgraded us to a larger trailer with a rear bedroom so I could get away from the kitchen.

Beaky communes with Sou’wester vintage trailers

Expecting a child, we decided that we could not move to the beach after all.  I particularly wanted our child to experience the culturally diverse qualities of Seattle and to not be raised in what seemed to me to be a very white, homogeneous community.   I wanted him to be able to go to Bumbershoot, the Martin Luther King Day march, the Gay Pride march, concerts, museums, art films….all that the city had to offer.  So I let do of the beach dream.   The stay at the Sou’wester felt final and poignant because I knew we would be unable to afford trips for quite some time.

Sou’wester trailers: The African Queen, the Disoriented Express are the ones with murals.

I titled this photo (below) “Surreal Beach.”  Much as I had fallen in love with the Long Beach Peninsula, I was appalled then and still am that cars can drive on the beach as if it were a highway. Which it legally is.

Surreal Beach

(When I posted this on Facebook, a friend replied:  “Which is sadly, one of the big reasons I don’t vacation there. I took my kids down once to Long Beach and was paranoid of being run over on our bikes by cars I could not hear coming up behind me. We go down to the Sand Dune Recreational Area in Southern Oregon and the area we camp in is off limits to cars and ORVS.”

To which I replied:  When I read the entries at friends’ resorts (cottages and B&B’s), one of the running themes is how the guests do NOT like the cars on the beach, but just try to write a letter to the editor of the local (fairly liberal) weekly paper about it, and one gets inundated with angry pro-beach-driving responses. One big argument is that the elderly cannot get out there otherwise, so I say maybe open one section for disabled permits, and allow driving on beach clean up days, and that is IT. The state park has a long car-free beach, though, and a nice campground…(Ft Canby as was, now Cape Disappointment).

sunset

Sunset on the beach and back to Seattle for a whole new chapter in life, or so we thought.

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