Hot Air Balloons

The clear, warm weather the last month of this summer provided the perfect conditions for hot air balloons over the skies of Woodinville and Maltby. Here is a balloon that came so low over the house that you could see the people in the basket.

These balloons scare all of the dogs in the neighborhood, and a chorus of barks and whimpers is heard as these balloons take off in the large pasture a few hundred yards from our back yard. It must be a lovely, tranquil experience to soar in the air over the countryside (unless you are a dog!).

Giant Heirloom Swiss Chard

I'm very proud of my heirloom Swiss Chard this year! It's over 12 inches tall, and the stems are deep red, and the leaves are huge. This was my first year trying this vegetable, and I'll try some more exotic varieties next year, such as Flamingo Pink Swiss Chard and Five-Color Swiss Chard.

Apple Picking Time!

This is the weekend to pick apples and make applesauce, apple tarts, and apple crisp. These beautiful Liberty apples are flawless, and seem to be pest-resistant. I like to put them in a crystal bowl on the coffee table for a day or so for a still life of my own creation.

The orchard is being tended by our arborist Jason, and his care and fertilization of these trees last March paid off handsomely in the abundance and quality of the apple crop this year.

Scarlet Runner Beans in September

I'm not sure if these lovely beans are going to mature before the first frost, due sometime in October here in Zone 7b in the state of Washington. Even if no beans form, the lovely green vines and scarlet blooms are worth the investment, and provided much visual enjoyment.

Sweet Orange Cherry Tomatoes

I've had an incredible crop of these wonderful cherry tomatoes this year. This variety is much sweeter than the traditional red variety. This one particular tomato plant made its way up the front of the woodshed, and is approximately six feet tall!

Thoreau and His Cabin at Walden

Fed up with the distractions of his father's pencil making business, Henry David Thoreau set out to find some peace and quiet to work on his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Fortunately for Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson offered him free use of his woodlot along the northern shore of Walden Pond.

Thoreau began planning for his 10' by 15' house in March. The frame went up in May, and he was ready to move in on the 4th of July. The interior of the house was furnished with a bed, a table, a small desk and lamp, and three chairs -- "one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."

While at Walden, Thoreau strove to reduce his needs and to work efficiently. "The cost of a thing" says Thoreau, "is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." In his essay "Walden", J. Schneider notes that Thoreau's cabin is the antithesis of the fancy homes admired by many New Englanders.

Here is a picture of Thoreau's cabin. It's not much larger than my 8' by 10' shed. I hope I can make of my small shed the rich interior life that Henry David found in his small dwelling.

William Shakespeare Roses

My Shakespeare roses made a wildly exuberant comeback at summer's end! I was so surprised to find this abundance of blooms in their extravagent merlot color. Rather than cutting them and bringing them into the house, I'm leaving them as a color spot in my garden.

Heirloom White Ornamental Gourds

I love this gourd I found last evening as I was exploring the garden. I planted it in early summer, and didn't expect much from the seeds. I didn't think this plant would produce anything, but I found this lovely specimen nestled under the large leaves in the raised garden bed.

Giant Kale

I have never planted heirloom kale before, and take a look at this vegetable! It's huge, and I'll cut it this weekend and roast it in the oven drizzled with olive oil to make a "kale" version of potato chips. Mmmmmm....

Dahlias and Gladiolas

Here are my first-year orange dahlias and my white and pink gladiolas. They are interwoven with some wildly-spreading vegetables in the garden this year.

The Blue Bench

I love this old garden bench I painted blue a couple of years ago. This was such a lovely tableau in the backyard last evening, and I wanted to capture the low light and the roof of the new shed in the pasture beyond.

Succulents In Bloom

Here is one of several pink-flowering succulents in the back yard under the deck. Right before Fall arrives, I'm updating my blog with photos of everything that is currently thriving on the property to I can remember them all during the long Fall and Winter months.

A New 50's Metal Motel Chair

For several years, I've been looking for a white metal motel chair for the front yard. I finally found one this weekend at my favorite antique store in Monroe. The iconic 50's design brings back memories of my childhood, and the chair looks great framed by my new white arch over the front yard gate.

The Last Blooms of Summer

Here is a last picture of the lovely fuschia basket, the red geraniums in the planters on the fence, and the butterfly bush. The temperatures are falling, and soon the first frost will arrive.

John Prine Concert at Ste. Michelle Winery

We bought tickets to hear John Prine sing about four months ago, and last Friday was the night of the concert. I had never been to a concert at Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, and it was a lovely venue. The weather was perfect that evening, with cool weather after a hot 80-degree day. The sky was cloudless, and it was so relaxing to sit on the grass on a blanket and watch the sun go down over the winery. You could see the hilly wine country in the distance, and the sky was filled with hot air balloons wafting silently overhead.

John Prine got his start singing folk songs in the 60's, and was heavily influenced by Steve Goodman, who was a friend of his. They performed many of their songs together for many years.

It was relaxing lying on a blanket on a grassy field, watching the stars in the night sky, and hearing music that was so evocative of my youth in the 60's and 70's. It was a wonderful evening.

The Blogger in her Den

Here I am, blogging away in my home office. I'm surrounded here by all the things I love most--my books, pictures, and of course, my laptop.

Painting the Picket Fence

The picket fence has not been painted since my son's wedding in 2004. We've been working on finishing this project for the last several weeks, in between painting the shed and doing yard work. It's almost completed now, and it was fun yesterday hand-painting the 4x4's out in the beautiful, sunny day, talking to neighbors, listening to our dog bark in the house (she wanted to be with us outside!), and trying to keep the neighbor's cat Loor out of the paint.


Everything is looking nice and tidy for the advent of Fall.

Welcome to my Garden

My new arch into the front yard and its two new companion rosebushes welcome everyone to our yard and garden. The ongoing warm weather has made all of the trees, plants and flowers thrive, and we are enjoying the late summer abundance.

Painting The Shed

We finally got around to painting the shed this weekend. With only a primer on the wood since we got it, the builder advised that we paint it completely before fall arrives.

We picked out an exterior satin paint close to the primer color (but a little brighter), and we were able to compelte the whole job in less than three hours. After the main paint job, I spent an hour or so carefully painting the Country White trim with a brush. The 'barn door' design really looked nice once it had the creamy white paint on it.

It turned out so beautifully, and it's good to know that my 'garden hideaway' is now complete and ready for fall and winter.

Peach Cobbler and Plum Galettes

This weekend, I made a fresh peach cobbler and two plum galettes from scratch, using fruit from the local Yakima Fruit Market. The kitchen was filled with the cinnamony-sweet fragrance of the peaches, and the plums had a bubbly-purple syrup that cooked out of the dough.

What a perfect dessert for a lovely summer evening, and the ending of a day in Maltby, where the Slow Life is lived and savored each day.

Purple Splash Roses

Here's a close-up of the new roses I bought at the Antique Rose Farm this weekend, to be planted on either side of the new arch in the front yard. They are a new hybrid that just came on the market last eyar in 2010.

A Scarecrow in the Garden

I've never had a scarecrow before, so when I found one at the grocery store this weekend, I had to buy it!

He looks great as the guardian of the organic garden, but my Black Lab Juno did not like him invading our yard, amongst much woofing and barking. But she finally came to terms with him once she discovered he was made of corn husks and not human flesh!

He seems to invite us into the yard to sit and enjoy the sun and to view the bounty of the garden as the last days of summer blissfully face into autumn.

The September Garden

By now, the peas and beans have passed, and the corn and squash are still growing. I have my third crop of rhubarb at its peak, just enough for one more pie. The Swiss Chard is huge, and I have a few interesting tomato plants I grew from seed ready to put into the raised bed (I know it's terribly late, but I'm going to try it anyway!).

I had a couple of nice cucumbers, and the three varieties of tomatoes are thriving. They are sweet and orange-colored this year, and I wanted to try some smaller cherry tomato varieties. They have grown all the way up to the roof of the solar wood shed.

The whole garden is a riot of green growth, flowers mixed in among the vegetables, and a place that the bees still love for blooms.

A Stroll Through Duvall

This was a great weekend to drive out to Duvall and cruise the antique stores. The local restaurants were jammed with people enjoying the holiday, and I found some great antiques to take home for the house and the shed.

This was an especially beautiful bed of annuals next to the Grange Cafe, and I've watched their progress over the summer.

Weekend Breakfast at Preservation Kitchen

We dined early Sunday morning at Preservation Kitchen in Bothell to celebrate the lovely Labor Day weekend. It was a perfect morning when we arrived at 10 a.m., and the beautiful 1900's Craftsman Bungalow looked charming in its wooded environment.

We had a table by the window overlooking the front porch, which was complete with hanging baskets and two black rocking chairs.

The food, as always, was superb, and we enjoyed pancakes with blueberry compote and a side of home-cured bacon. My vegetable frittata was filled with onions, carrots, zucchini and spinach from the chef's farm, as well as marinated olives.

Summer Sunset

There was an incredibly beautiful sunset last Tuesday evening. I caught this shot right before the sun went down.

Two New Roses for the Front Yard Gate

With the new arch in place in the front yard, I had to go to the Antique Rose Farm in Snohomish this afternoon to get two roses for either side of the gate. I wanted something special for the entrance to the front yard.

I found a new hybrid rose calle CI. Purple Splash (cv.WEKspitrib), and they are truly unique.

They are purple and white split, and are supposed to be a great climber, reaching up to 14 feet in height. Next summer, they should be able to climb over the 10-foot arch.

The flowers are more phramid-shaped, and the rose bush has few thorns. The purple and white against Granny Smith-green makes quite a splash, and these particular hybrids are supposed to be disease-resistant.

Here they are on the cart at the Antique Rose Farm, ready to go home to their new location in Maltby.

A New Architectural Detail in the Front Yard

I bought a cedar arch for the front yard gate several weeks ago, and we put it together last weekend. It has lovely details, and today we attached it to the 4x4's that support the front yard gate with wood screws. It looks beautiful!

It was a sunny, warm day, perfect for painting, so I got out the white paint for the picket fence and started coating the cedar with white paint. Since the paint dried so quickly, I was able to apply two coats to most of the arch.

I was so pleased with the result! It makes the front yard look beautiful.