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.