The madrona bark is really peeling now - the hot weather accelerated the natural process.

Large gobbits curl and coil and flake away from the trunk, eventually falling to the ground, crunching underfoot.

The fresh bark underneath is such a bright green color!

Carol is working on a new art quilt today at art group. It is all from her hand-dyed fabrics. Very fun!

She pieced the top, and now has the layers pinned together, getting ready to start the quilting.

Tonight is the full moon, and a lovely one at that! Above, although the moon is overexposed, you can see the silhouettes of the trees, and the tracings of clouds drifting over.

Here the moon reveals her markings - we can only wonder....

David finished the smoker part of the trailer, and is spraying the black high-heat paint. Where he's standing behind the smoker are two charcoal cookers

while in front there will be room for prep areas and serving areas. The owners are picking it up tonight, and will use it for a few days while they decide just how they want the rest of it to be.

"Sho 'Nuff Foods. Authentic Southern Goodness"

Today was the meeting of the local Whidbey group of the Surface Design Association. We met at Cheryl's house, or garden, rather, as her home is too small. She has a beautiful garden (and home). Above is a striped maple, I think. The leaves are variegated green and white, very lovely.

Her studio is tiny, too, but very efficient. She dyes and felts, mostly scarves and clothing.

In the garden, tigridia, or tiger-flower is shown above. It's a very showy summer bulb where each bud blooms for only one day, so we were lucky to see them in bloom!

She has a pink and a yellow variety.

She also has an heirloom pea which her grandmother brought to this country 60 years ago, and her mother and now she have kept it going. It has an unusual black pod, but the peas are green. They do have a different flavor, she said.

Here's the smoker on the back of the trailer, smoking! It works!

The moon is just a couple of days off full, and rises right before sunset. Tonight there was just a whispy bit of clouds in the sky, and when they floated in front of the moon, there was a ring of rainbow, colors muted.

Suze and I went to the Coupeville Arts Festival, where she tried on and then bought a garment made from Indian Sari silks. They are lovely, and versatile; with two layers of fabric. They can be worn many ways; as a skirt, or dress, or top. You can pull the outer layer up for a top, too. We had a fun day!

David's been building a large smoker for a client, and here he is mounting it on the trailer. He will add a BBQ cooker, and counter and work space, and the clients will use it to travel to festivals and events to cook their tasty southern fare: "Sno Nuff Foods, authentic Southern goodness!"

Earlier in the day, he and Blair took off from the dock to go check the crab pots in Holmes Harber.

Further down the beach, a sailboat had broken loose from it's moorings and drifted onto shore.

At low tide it was lying on it's side, but by the time I saw it, the tide was coming in and bouncing it around. Then the owner showed up and climbed aboard, getting it ready. As the tide continued to rise, the boat slowly righted itself. More help showed up, with much pushing and shoving, but they couldn't budge it. Then a guy in a tiny dinghy came to tie a rope, but that didn't make any headway. Finally, a larger boat hooked up with the sailboat, and between his pulling, the fellows pushing, and the tide rising - SUCCESS! Afloat again.