Wow - the sun actually came out this afternoon - it was very welcome! My blue cranesbill geraniums are blooming well, and attracting bees, it seems! Incoming!

This is a tiny annual that I filled a pot with, and, it's hard to make out, but the surface of the petals is very shimmery and irridescent. Other than that, I liked the contrast in this photo of the red and dark greens.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Northwest Basket Weavers guild meeting was a good one tonight. We had a panel discussion with basket artists who have been successful with marketing their work,

Leon Russell, Jan Hopkins and Sylvia White. They shared their stories, and answered questions about many aspects of the "business" of crafting.

Kay brought this huge basket to pass on to some lucky person! Her boss gave it to her, but I don't know who volunteered to take it home. It wouldn't fit in a car, so hopefully someone had a truck!

Tonight was our Book Club meeting, where we discussed A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's a book about Afghanistan during the wars from the 1980's to 2002, following the lives of two women. It was a very bad time for women, and the book is very depressing in places, descibing the abuse and hardships. But it also teaches a lot about how life is there, and how the people manage to live in spite of the difficulties. We find it almost impossible to relate to the characters in the book, so very different from our lives here.

Another wacky weather day. Dawned nice enough, if cloudy and cool. David & guys got out early to fish, but soon it got colder and windier and rainier, and even snowed a bit on them. So they weren't able to stay out long enough to catch anything - it's very frustrating for them, as this cold unsettled weather is supposed to be around for the next few days, and there are only 6 days left in the Ling Cod season. They won't be able to get out there very much, and they were counting on it, since the season so far has been miserable with bad weather and bad tides.

Anyway, then the sun came out, although the wind blew steadily. I found a discarded snake skin whole, and spotted this clump of mushrooms. They're growing in a pile of bark chips that we laid last summer - we've gotten all kinds of mushrooms - the odd thing is we get different ones in different piles of chips!

Buzz went swimming in one of the ponds. It's surrounded by trees, seeming dark and mysterious. He brought me a very soggy stick, which promptly sank when I threw it, so he ended up swimming around in circles looking for it. You can see that intense, worried look - "Where is it? Where is it?"

In Barb's yard, the birds are not timid at all. We were standing near the feeder, and they just came on in and ate the seeds.
David (in the center) and Russ are working on a new deck and patio for Barb. Her old one finally rotted through, so they're planning a bluestone patio, which will be larger than the old deck.

Well, despite the apparent sunny day of yesterday, it was really only a couple of hours at the end of the day. Then it went back to raining. And it was raining this morning. And it was raining this noon. It has stopped for a while this afternoon, but is still cloudy and threatening. I do love the raindrops on the flowers, and especially the Lady's Mantle, below. It holds the drops so beautifully. When the sun does come out, they sparkle brightly.

Another weather day - started with loads of rain, from before dawn until well after noon. By late afternoon, we had these great fluffy clouds and brilliant blue skies. Still 10-15 degrees cooler than normal. But the hawk didn't care - she likes the thermals created by the unsettled weather.