The cedar bark that we stripped is out in the sun drying. The amber sap bubbles up to the surface to reflect the brightness of the sun.
Two coils of bark.
Tonight we went to Fine Balance Imaging studio for a show and tell. After the workshop we had there a couple of months ago, we sent images to him for printing. Tonight we got to see them, and talked about how and why we used these images. It was interesting and inspirational!

The Ocean Spray is blooming now, frothy against the dark of the fir trees.

Grasses have gone to seed, and are already brown and dry. Beautiful against the blue blue sky.

SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2009
One of my pots is stunning this year - the vivid blues of the lobelia and salvia contrast with the yellow-green of the ladies mantle.


And, of course we love the pansy faces.

The morning sun glints off dew droplets that cling to the tips of the strawberry leaves.

Barn swallow nest #1 - ready for anything! Especially food....where's Mom???
Open wide - here she comes!
No! Feed me!!
Wait a minute - where is everyone?
Here they are - today they fledged. At least some of them flew!
Now, it's time for bed - everyone is back where they belong.

Nest #2 is growing fast, and now we have brand new babies in nest #3, and a mom sitting in nest #4. All of these nests are under our front porch. I'll keep you posted.

Ginnie and Sue showed Miriam and me how to harvest cedar bark from a tree. Even though it looks like a large wound on the tree, it won't hurt the tree, and will heal over eventually. You wouldn't want to take any more than this from one tree.
Here is Sue and Miriam with the strip that she pulled.
After it's pulled, you must peel off the hard outer bark. Ginnie watches as Miriam cleans, and I split. The soft inner bark is used for basketry, and had many other uses for the native Americans. Cedar was their tree of life.
The cleaned inner bark, coiled and ready to dry. After it's dry, it can be split and plied into strips for baskets. We gave thanks to the tree for it's gifts, and gave back the leftover bits and pieces to feed the soil.

One of the lowest tides of the summer, and in the middle of the day! My friends Miriam, Ginnie and Sue came to visit for a couple of days, and we spent one of them on the beach at Useless Bay. Flat-out wide open tidelands!
A broken moon snail shell nestled in the sand.
Sue holds a live moon snail - that's it's foot - Huge!
The shadows of leaves against the sandy bluff.
The long walk back home as the tide begins to come in. Although it started out overcast, then rainy, eventually the sun came out. It was extremely windy, though.

Sorry for no pics - I had company coming, and had to get some work and housecleaning done.

First day of summer - this colorful cloud caught my eye while I was driving, and I wish I could have found a better place to pull over and frame the shot. But I didn't know how long the phenomenon would last, so I stopped where I could.
Later on, the sun gilded another cloud.

A second nest has hatched, as well. It is much smaller, and appears to have more babies, so even while they are brand new, the nest is crammed full! It will be interesting to watch them grow... and grow... as the parents strive to fill those open mouths.
When closed, their beaks are too big for their heads. And as if that's not funny-looking enough, they sport fuzzy feather tufts on top of their heads.

I finished working on a project from Retreat in March - the Dream Pouch, a Donna Crispin workshop. I gathered more feathers from the mallard pile to add around the rim, and I really like how it turned out.

New babies in the nest on our porch, keeping mom and dad very busy!
And those mouthes just keep getting bigger and bigger!

They're finally doing some much-needed repair work on our road. From the house all we can hear is huge dumping sounds, and the beep-beep-beep of the back-up warnings on the trucks.
They seem to have an awful lot of trucks for a little road, but hopefully it will be much better when they're done. The pavement has buckled in several places, creating large bumps that you just can't avoid. It will be good to have them gone!

The salmonberry bushes are really full this year, and the salmon color is beautiful. But you must wait until they are deep red to eat them, like this one, just before I popped it into my mouth!

The critters I've come across today - pollywogs in the ponds, and caterpillars on the brambles.
I ran into the Cooper's Hawk - she's nesting by the driveway again this year, and takes it personally when I walk down the drive. She'll yell at me, then swoop at me until I leave. I think I've spotted her nest, so now I'll know which way to dodge!

A field of daisies - how different they look when viewed from above and below.

I wandered into my neighbor's garden right after they'd watered, and found some stray droplets.

Yet another pretty summer day, and it appears that I'm not the only one who likes to sit in the grass. Now that we have no pets, the local wildlife is beginning to feel right at home. This young buck and his buddy have been hanging right around the house lately. Maybe they'll be our new pets . . .

Another pretty summer day, just right to sit in the grass as the sun gets lower in the sky.