Headed off to the mountains tomorrow, so it will be a few days before I'm able to post again. See you on Thursday!

And yet another sunset - tonight we went to the beach fishing - David had caught 2 this morning, and caught another tonight. Me, none. Enough for another canner load, though. I always enjoy just being at the beach, especially at sunset, and when the water is so calm and serene. A couple of fishing boats floated through the sun's fiery trail.

While the spiders continue to weave their trails - I torment this one with the hose, so it shows up better. She didn't seem to mind, and it didn't seem to hurt anything. She was a good model.

Suze spent the last week staining her basement floor - it's very shiny!

Since it is an old floor, it has many cracks and irregularities, which took the stain differently, making a wonderfully unique floor. The stain is aqua-blue, and with the shiny sealer, it looks like water.

Meanwhile, the cruise ships leave Seattle every Saturday, dwarfing the Sound.

Now that we have all that salmon, we need to do some canning! The pressure-canner emits steam while building up to the required pressure.

All done - time to haul them out!

Eight pint jars - it took 5 of the small humpies to fill them. If you think of salmon as a strong-flavored fish, when they're canned, they become mild. We use them in any way you'd use canned tuna, and love it! We're hoping to fill up the pantry shelves.

Here's a much more dramatic sunset! After a nice family dinner at China City, we saw the sun nearing the horizon, so I raced to the beach!

The fishermen were bringing their boats in - most said they had caught their limit of humpbacked salmon. There were several on shore, too, including this boy who had been out in his kayak and caught his 4. David's been catching them from shore, too - I'll be going out with him when the summer residents head back to town.

And you get a whole different view of the sunset looking to the north - lovely clouds reflecting in the still waters.

A mild pretty sunset - coming earlier and earlier. I'm not quite ready for the days to become shorter, knowing that it means fall and then winter will be coming. I do like the seasons, but warm weather never seems to last long enough.

The mint is blooming - almost done, in fact, but with the sun on it, the bees and butterflies were swarming. Smells good, too!

While down below, hiding in the bark mulch, was a perfectly camouflaged grasshopper.

The madrona trees continute to peel, and the green underbark gradually fades and changes color. Love the curls!

Cory tells his cousin Jon a story as they sit on Grandma's patio before lasagna dinner.

A quiet afternoon at the beach with Suze, after attending a Celebration of Life for Carol's husband Ren, who passed on last week. It was a good gathering...

Suze at Mutiny Bay. There was a bank of low clouds on the Olympic peninsula, but the rest of the sky was clear and sunny.

A pretty sky late in the afternoon. An altogether nice day - not too hot, but sunny. As I sat out on the lawn after the sun went behind the trees, I still felt the warmth of the earth.

And I was at ground level with the Queen Anne's Lace, blooming in the lawn, since the grass has all died and we haven't been mowing - here's a view from underneath the flower. These were a major part of my wedding bouquets, 32 years ago! Still a favorite of mine.

I warned you about the spiders - this little yellow one was hiding in the vivid purple of the butterfly bush.

And another spider wove this web suspended an inch above the grass, which held the morning dew.

An interesting cloud day - it has cooled off a bit, too.

And, as the summer starts to wind down, the spiders start to spin their webs - always so much fun to find their webs the hard way, while I'm out wandering!

The swallow babies are all out of the nests, but the parents are acting like they want to start another batch! It's getting a bit late in the season, tho . . . this one was reading me the riot act for standing near the nest.

I finished the earrings that I made on Basket Day. I know, I know, they don't exactly match, but, when I'm wearing them, you can't really tell. And, it was my first stab at it, now that I know a few tips, the next pair will be much better! The class was taught by Marilyn Moore, and is a technique that she created using very fine wires, twining around spokes and blending the colors.

Kind of a hodge-podge of photos today - I took a wander in the woods, catching a glimpse of a dense spiderweb sparkling in the late afternoon sun,

and grazing on the blackberries, which are just coming on.

Later, I heard the owl, and when I went out to listen, saw this sunset. Our trees are growing so tall! We used to be able to see the horizon. It's hard to believe how quickly they grow.

Went to the County Fair today - I won three blue ribbons, and one Best Basket! Who-hoo! The premium prize came to a grand total of $8.40. It just covered my entry fee of $7. But it is fun! The judges gave nice comments, too.

We also watched the Log Boxing Contest in the Loggers Show, where a pair of fellows tries to push each other off the log, and into a (heated) pool. It was fun. We viewed all the animals, ate BBQ and scones, and listened to the country Band playing on the grandstand. Didn't do the rides, though!

Today was the Northwest Basket Weaver's annual Basket Day, where the members get to take classes, and the Guild pays the teacher fees. So, I took a Marilyn Moore class, making earrings. Above is my project under way.

Mary A shows her earring, close to completion. We were twining with very fine wire - as you can see, tiny work!

But, the potluck food is always good! Basket weavers know how to eat, for sure!

This is the picnic shelter at Meridian Playground where we have the event. It's pretty dark in the shelter, so students brought their work out into the sun!

We got our EYES Journal from the Photo Art Journal group - very fun! The top left photo below is one of mine - it is of a baby swallow that came into the house. I had to capture it, and while I had it in my hand, I took a couple of pictures.

These are examples of other pages - a wide variety of interpretations of the the theme!

Thursday Art day was at Carol's today, and her garden is stunning. She has drifts of heaths and heathers, and each year they fill in more. Above is a gorgeous lily that she got from Gretchen.

The pinkish-purple blooms just glow against the chartreuse foliage of these two heathers.

Another corner of the garden has a pretty combination of colors.

This evening David and I went to Mutiny Bay to fish for salmon from the shore. The water was smooth and lovely. A shower came across the Sound, while the sun was bright over the low clouds around the Olympic Mountains.

As the evening wore on, more fishermen arrived, lining the shore. One of the young men caught one after another, but no one else did! He was able to cast out further than most of us - the fish were jumping just out of range! Then the sea lion came through, and the fish were gone!

We had to get a new refrigerator - the heat did our last one in! Or something - the motor ran but it wasn't getting any cold. So, it was time for a new one, and we decided that black would show less dirt, so . . . I really like the black - our stove is black, too, as is the countertop. Nice!

Wow, we finally got some rain! We had a nice gentle fall all night long, so hopefully it has soaked the ground pretty well.

This vine maple is on the sunny side of the house, and turns colors early in the season. You can practically see the leaves lapping up the water!

Everything is drippy....

It's round 2 for the swallows! The second batches of nestlings are ready to fly. This nest is built on the top of our sliding glass door, so every time I go in or out the parents explode out of the nest and fly in my face. Luckily they were successful in laying, hatching and raising a brood - here they are, their last day in the nest. Tomorrow they are gone!

Busy summer weekend!

The Anacortes Arts Festival! Jonathan, Suze and Barb and I spent the day there, looking at the beautiful art, craft and photography booths.

We saw this 1954 Buick, transformed into the Dragon Lady, complete with a machine gun mounted in the back seat! Someone had waaaay too much fun with this!

Anacortes is the gateway to the San Juan Islands, and on a Sunday afternoon, everyone is returning to the marina after a weekend afloat. The fog was slow in lifting, making it a chilly boat ride.

At the marina, a sea of masts contrasts with the jagged bluff and fluffy clouds as the sun continued to burn off the fog.