Summer's Closing

Sterling Silver, old rose's last bloom.

I cannot believe it is the latter part of August and summer, such as it was for us, is closing down.

Oh yes, we will have some gorgeous warm days now, but the sun is setting earlier and earlier and the signs are all there.

A huge clue for me is when my Sterling Silver rose puts out one last burst of glorious lavender color and although the floribunda has several blooms, usually only one has its trademark scent in any density.

So, that day has arrived. I picked it so I can enjoy it inside for a few days, but there won't be many.

And unfortunately, I cannot provide you, my dear readers, with a sample sniff... it's a heady rose smell, really quite strong, with an energy that just heals you as you inhale. I cannot describe it much better than that.

Please enjoy the photos and intend with me that we all enjoy the fall and all the beauty it will bring us as we let the roses rest for another season. (Shot with my Canon EOS Rebel with a telephoto and a macro, just for fun.)

Blueberry delight

Blueberry heaven for me is being able to walk out my door and pick them. And blueberry season is my absolute favorite time of year. Having fresh blueberries is really all I ever want during the summer. 

Blueberries just waiting for the sprinkler to quit.

Oh yeah, I love strawberries and raspberries and I make jam out of them, but it's these little delicate morsels of sun-kissed blueness that tickles me best.

I have a friend who married into a family with a blueberry patch and I was invited over to help pick them.

They are (were) pretty good, but I think my almost-1/2 inch berries could give them a run for the judge's stand if I could get more than a handful at a time.

And for lots of folks now blueberry harvesting is all over.

This is an almost-life-sized photo of the blueberries I am growing. Yum!

I seem to be blessed to have a late blooming variety I guess, or else there is enough shade that they don't know what day it is.

But one of my plants (they were all installed last year) gave very few blooms and so little fruit that I am considering removing it from the area and putting it out and away to survive on its own. You have to pull your weight in my garden and six berries doesn't cut it.

The other three have done really well, and the ones shown here have had the biggest and sweetest fruit.

Right after I took the pictures I gathered up all the bluest ones which amounted to about 1/2 a cup. No point in saving them, so I ate them all with every shard of sunshine still in them. They were exquisite.

Oh, you wanted me to save one for you? You didn't speak up soon enough... sorry.

Anacortes and Ferry Fun

A placid August morning on the Puget Sound, heading for
Coupeville from Port Townsend, WA.

The tide is high and the sun is on it's way as I catch the ferry for Coupeville so I can drive up to Anacortes, WA. A dear friend and I have planned a couple of days of riding on ferries in the sunshine with some good food and other entertainments as they manifest. 

The approach to Coupeville is serene; great for anyone
making their first docking. I don't know if there was a new
captain on board, but that's what I was thinking when I
took this shot.

Mt. Baker rises up from the Cascade rim.

With such clear skies, the opportunity for taking some good photos is more than likely. And Lady Baker has lifted her cloud skirts so we can see her fulsome beauty. 

I opened up my sunroof and the side windows and cruised along with a fresh cup of latte to my destination. I was thinking, "Everything is going just great in my world!"

And so it continued.

Carol and I met in person almost exactly four years ago at the Chihuly glass museum in Seattle. This was a nice way to commemorate our friendship and to celebrate some of the least expensive fun things to do in Washington: ride the ferries around the San Juan Islands. It was only about $6 to be a walk on passenger and it lasted all day!

Friday Harbor... boats...

We caught the 11:45 ferry to Friday Harbor, walked around, saw art stores, museums, boats and folks.

Self-contained island near Orcas Island in the San Juan Island chair in
Washington. The dock is on the other side of the island.

Then the 5 p.m. ferry to Orcas was a quick stop, another at Shaw Island and finally we got off at Lopez. Not so much by choice as by requirement; the inter-island ferries do not go to Anacortes.

Shaw Island is the smallest of all.

Lopez Island ferry dock seen on approach.

Arriving at Lopez Island, WA in the San Juan islands.

Lopez Island ferry dock has a whimsical flower display.

Mount Baker as seen from Lopez Island ferry dock.

Our wait at Lopez was too long to be idyllic and too short to either walk or get a ride into downtown Lopez. So we chatted with the ferry folks, met a former coach and his wife who were there for a wedding, took some pictures and enjoyed the fact that it was warm, but cool in the shade where we found seats.

By the time the big ferry arrived to return us to Anacortes, the air was cooling down and we were lagging in our steps. (I logged over 10,800 steps on this day alone!)

View from the ferry as we were arriving in Anacortes, WA.

Sunday morning was another sunny day, but the wind chill was brisk with a small craft advisory. Nevertheless, Carol had it in her mind to drag me out of the hotel and take a drive up to Cap Sante to watch the sunrise. And I got some great shots; here are a couple of them.

Cap Sante, Anacortes, WA at sunrise, August 14, 2016.

Another Cap Sante shot at sunrise.

On our way to have lunch, we saw this interesting sight.
It appears to be the hull of a wooden ship that has been put
on the rocks to make a breakwater and harbor.

Here is a closer view of the prow of the old ship... wow.

 It was well worth it!! Even if I was still in my pjs! (True!)

We returned to the B&B (breakfast was not worth mentioning there) to shower and prep ourselves for our 'religious education' portion of the trip.

The delicious Crab and Bay Shrimp over Linguini with a
lobster cream sauce, bread with cheese could have been a little
more crisped under the broiler... but very good overall!

And the treat I liked a lot: a restaurant lunch overlooking the water so we could see boats of all kinds moving against the tide and wind while we enjoyed bay shrimp and fresh crab in linguini with a lobster cream sauce, followed by a key lime pie and now, a diet.

That was enough to hold us through the rest of the day and so it was a drive to the top of Mount Erie to view the entire area with some side visits and lots of photo opps.

Back up to Cap Sante for a closing sunset shot...

Anacortes at sunset, Sunday, August 14, 2016. This was
taken with my Samsung phone.

Now I have a very thorough view of Anacortes and its environs and can easily see why my friend Wes enjoys it so much. And could even think about relocating there with all the water and mountain views. But affordability for me requires a rather large influx of cash and Source hasn't delivered that yet.

Solving the Starbucks Mystery

My Grande cup from Starbucks in the process of doing my
scientific study of what I am actually getting when I order it.

I am quite sure I am not alone in wondering what a cup of Grande-anything at Starbucks means.

Awhile ago I purchased a Starbucks 'mug' with label on the bottom that specifies it as a "14" ounce container.

It actually holds 16 ounces when filled to just below the lid line.

But when I have ordered a 16-ounce beverage at Starbucks, it never gets filled up. I was becoming frustrated with what I felt was a 'rip-off.'

So I decided to buy a Grande Latte and take the cup home. This is what I found out.

Aside from the fact that Starbucks says they are offering their patrons a 16-ounce drink for about $3.75, what the guest asks for determines the final price, but they will NEVER get a full 16 ounces.

Here is why.

This has blue water in it so you can easily
see what is considered the 'fill line' for a cup
of Grande anything.

The 16-ounce cup means 16 ounces can be held in the cup, but they cannot fill it to the full mark, because of the risk of spillage, for one thing.

But it also means that no one is ever going to get a full 16 ounces of product. At best, it will be about 14 ounces.

Note where the blue water line is... 14 ounces.

And depending on the baristas, it could be slightly more or significantly less.

If you want a beverage containing 16 ounces of whatever you like, you will have to order the larger cup (or bring one of your own that holds more than 16 ounces).

And... if Starbucks was being honest, they would offer their patrons a Grande, designated as a 14-ounce beverage, NOT a 16-ounce beverage. That's why everyone is complaining.

And if I was doing public relations for Starbucks, I would launch a campaign of honesty with a cut in costs showing the cut in sizes and the calories involved and how it all would be better for everyone knowing just what they are getting.

But I'm retired for good...

I've had the blues...

But nothing like the blues I enjoyed August 6th at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival!!

I was fortunate enough to share them with a new friend and we walked from venue to venue after a lovely Thai dinner to hear some awesome performers.

The first on the list was Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes who plays an old battered acoustic guitar in the Bentonia school style of country blues. 

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes in the Key City
Theatre in Port Townsend, WA.

Think of Jack Owens and Skip James and Henry Stuckey. 

Think primitive, dirt-down grit, folks blues. 

The feeling is key, and there were plenty of feelings about no-good wimmin and good or bad likker with some humor worked in.

Nothing fancy about the way Holmes delivered the goods.

But his white hair and skin stretched tight over old bones told the audience he knew what he was singing about.

We got front row seats and it was pure delight to watch him provide us with all the range of emotions that the blues can render.

The next venue was Standing Room Only in the Cotton Building for Corey Ledet on the accordion and Chaz Leary on the washboard presenting some Creole/Zydeco tunes which just got your feet moving, I don't care how little dancing you might do.

Ledet was born in Texas but eventually moved to Louisiana as his love of Zydeco pulled him in. You can hear the roots of his work and his mentors: Clifton Chenier, John Delafose with Wilbert Thibodeaux and The Zydeco Rascals.

Leary makes the washboard seem so easy, but he has received international recognition in acoustic country blues playing with a huge variety of bands like the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, The Iguanas, Tuba Fats, Royal Fingerbowl, the Jazz Vipers, The Palmetto Bug Stompers and Washboard Rodeo. 

Corey Ledet & Washboard Chaz Leary in the Cotton Building.

I had a chance to play the washboard with a group of Cajun Zydeco women performers last year in Port Townsend and I loved the rhythm of it all. Watching Leary made me realize how much farther I need to go to be even a little bit more proficient.

The American VFW hall was on the way back toward the theatre so we stopped in to hear Wendy DeWitt playing boogie-woogie and blues as if her pants were on fire and she needed to get the next measure done before calling the fire department!

Wendy DeWitt with Kirk Harwood, Dean Mueller and
Orville Johnson or Mark Graham.

There were lots of folks dancing and it was pretty loud, no places to sit to watch easily, so we opted to return to the theatre to catch the last bit of music from Steve James, but really aiming for the closer, Guy Davis.

We later wished we hadn't missed all of James' performance because his slide guitar was totally pro and no surprise because he is a recording artist with instructional books, DVDs and on line lessons of the cornerstone blues in the style of Bo Diddley and Howard Armstrong.

But Guy Davis didn't disappoint, either. With his six and 12-string acoustic guitars and his harmonica, he told us tales we might not want to hear but we couldn't stop listening, like his newest song "Sweetbelly," (not yet recorded but sure to be a hit) about a little gal who grew up thinking women were paid for by cigarettes.

Guy Davis, blues musician, teacher, song
writer, author and actor, gracing the stage
at Key City Theatre in Port Townsend.

Davis has been on major television and radio shows and you can tell that the influence of Blind Willie McTell and Fats Waller were not wasted on him. The son of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, this musician, teacher, songwriter, author and actor gave us his all, right down to the work song about a man who "done gone."

Stories in song you didn't want to hear, but
couldn't stop listening to the end.

I was sitting next to an Australian engineer, name of Bandy, who works in Papua, New Guinea, but who had taken his vacation by coming to the NW to participate in this Centrum workshop and performance event.

Bandy said that Davis was an "exceptional teacher, pushing everyone to reach a little higher, dig a little deeper," and he was pretty thrilled to have come away with improved skills on his own guitar and harmonica.

I am so glad I was able to enjoy this evening of music and storytelling, because that is what the blues is about... telling stories; some good, some bad, some happy, some sad, to a collection of musical beats derived from different locales, the Delta of Mississippi, the Ozarks, the Piedmont and others.

Just last year I delighted in Maria Muldaur's visit to Port Angeles, sharing the roots of her creative life in folk and blues. It seems to be a theme in my own life with the Seeger family introduced at the Woodstock Country School in Vermont carrying me along its own river of discovery with this current group of artists. Great evening. Wonderful companionship. Remarkable performers. Does it get any better than this?

Miller State Park in Washington

Walking down the trail at Miller Peninsula State Park.

Miller Peninsula State Park is considered one of Sequim's attractions in Clallam County and today, July 30, the Olympic Peninsula Explorers (Volkswalkers) had their sanctioned walk.

Last week there was just a genial exchange between the Canadians and US walkers, and I walked almost eight miles. Today it felt longer, but it was really shorter; less than six miles overall.

Fungi amongi... not the latin name.

There is a wide diversity of plant life, including multiple types of fungi, tall evergreens and some pretty large deciduous trees as well. It was fun to stand quietly once in awhile and just listen to the needles, driven by the wind, raining down on the forest floor.

While there are several trails, the best (and shortest) one down to the water of Puget Sound takes about an hour down and back. Well, maybe for fast walkers it is less time, but we weren't rushing and for less nimble feet the trail shrinks for the last half-mile to a single file dirt path with roots, stumps, holes and rocks so it's sensible to pay attention and not get tangled up.

Still, the reward of seeing Protection Island from one of the closest locations from land was worth it.

We were lucky to have a 70-plus degree day with a light breeze instead of the one that preceded it yesterday (June 29) which was topping the 80 degree mark. The sun was shining hotly by noon, so this is good hike to make in the early part of the day. Even though the path has shady spots along it, the sun can be felt enough that sunscreen is also useful.

I like it when the trail bosses leave these trees where they fell.

The hike description said bug spray was needed, but we were fortunate to not have any issues. We did  meet one hiker who had gotten stung by a bee, so if anyone walking in  your group is allergic, be sure to have an epi-pen or a fresh copper penny* on hand. There is no way to easily remove someone from the park in an emergency like that.

This is the blue sea and sky at the end. It is
hard to differentiate which is which.

This is a better view of the Puget Sound as we arrived.

Except for the narrow trail down to the water for the last bit of the trip, there is plenty of space to walk side by side for easy conversation. This is a good walk for kids as there is plenty of running room before the trail.

Once down at the water it is easy to see eagles fishing and flying up into the wind vortices, and possibly puffins from Protection Island could be seen with some good binoculars. It was reported by a local TV station that humpback whales were seen near Discovery Bay this weekend, but I didn't see anything that dramatic in the water.

Protection Island sits almost at the mouth of Discovery Bay. This view is
one of the best to be had from land. A longer telescopic lens might help.

A rugged rocky shore looking sort of southeast, I think, toward Discovery Bay.

I had plenty to think about as I meandered down the trail and back again, lucky I had brought my two walking poles which I was able to share with another in our group.

This eagle flew right toward me from the water and then
landed on a branch only a few feet away... I was thrilled!

And so, after a really pleasant lunch/supper/tea with a new friend, I was ready to put my feet up and see how Foyle is getting on with his various detective challenges.
* I make no claims to the efficacy of a copper penny on a bee sting, but the hiker who was stung was using it for her relief.