a bunch of plants

We're officially done with construction now that we've replaced the plants we took out (nasty old bamboo) on the border between our property and our neighbors.  It took them a while to agree on a plant amongst the four townhomes and then we waited until the beginning of the rainy season to plant them.  They are lemon lime nandina and now that I'm familiar with them I'm noticing other nandina all over the neighborhood. 

For ourselves we planted sarcococca which will have amazing smelling white flowers in the winter.  I hope this area is shady enough for them.

We also planted a winter-blooming daphne, which should have fragrant pink flowers, and a Beijing Gold lilac tree.

We really have a lot to learn about plants, but I have done a fair bit of gardening and weeding for other people.  I must say that making our own decisions is kind of a thrill.   

Friday Harbor!

In the last week of August, our day care closes.  This year, freed from the grind of building our house, we were able to take advantage of the week, to go on a little trip to Friday Harbor, in the San Juans.  We drove to Anacortes and took our bikes on the ferry on a Sunday, which helped us avoid some of the rush. 

After we arrived, we rode six miles around Pear Point, which is just SE of Friday Harbor.

The next day we rode out to American Camp, at the SE part of San Juan Island.   We hiked down to the beach for a picnic, through a beautiful wide open field.

On our second full day we rode to Roche Harbor (on Roche Harbor Road), and then English Camp, and back to Friday Harbor on West Valley Road. 

Most of the road shoulders were good, the drivers were considerate and the weather was fantastic.  Riding to a destination and then going on walks of a mile or less worked well for all three of us.   Including the rides to and from the ferry terminal and Anacortes, we rode 52 miles (3.5 + 6 + 18 + 21 + 3.5).

new kittens!

We now have one cat per person in our household.  Our friend was fostering some kittens for Seattle Area Feline Rescue and we’d been thinking of getting a kitten this fall.  It is encouraged to get kittens in pairs so now we find ourselves with three cats.  Emo, who is now 14, is not thrilled but I think she’ll come around be glad that they have each other to play with so that she can continue her grueling 22 hour sleep routine.

Toru is black and white and about 33% larger than Luna, the calico.  He’s named after the main character of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami, which we both recently read.  Luna is a character in Harry Potter.  They were born June 19 and are still mostly confined to our extra bedroom.

Sometimes we pretend we have four cats!