Later that same day

 The basil plants have been very productive, the plums are also ripening, and last week's market purchases of tomatoes and cilantro weren't getting any younger. And while the forecast for tomorrow has been revised from hella-hot and smoky, to just smoky, I didn't know that a few hours ago when I decided I should actually deal with some of the abundance before it got too hot to go near the kitchen. I'm quite chuffed about the results:

Clockwise from top: tomato basil pasta sauce, fresh basil to be dried, two jars of basil-cilantro pesto, NYT plum torte.

Traveling without leaving Seattle

The first of the "I have to take a picture" stops; he looks so happy up there!

Scott's so modest; you'd never know he had a street named after him.

Today Scott and I biked to the exotic Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle, a destination less than six miles from our house but a part of town we'd not really explored before. (I went there for a work lunch during the height of the pandemic and have been wanting to return since, but there's always someplace else calling more strongly.) It was just a coincidence that the day we chose for Georgetown was also the day that the Hopped Up Vintage Chopper show was happening, on the very street our route took us. That the show backed up to the restaurant we ended up eating at and that our meal was timed to coincide with the first band taking the stage was also happenstance. Scott noted that the guitarist's A string was a little flat but opted not to go tune it for them. I sort of wish we'd checked out the booths at the show, but alas--.

I don't think we stopped by here. Next time.

 Instead we walked the strip of intriguing shops and restaurants along Airport Way. We visited Fantagraphics for the first time ever--it's always a shop we skip on Seattle Independent Bookstore Day because it seems so out of the way--and we explored the trailer park mall where I, at least, found many treasures I could not resist. Sadly, neither of us took photos of the charming Adler-and-Sullivan-inspired (according to Scott) old brick factory buildings, but I assure you they were lovely and pretty uncommon for Seattle. 

I think Scott said this was the soundboard of an upright piano. I call it pretty.

Terracotta pot not for sale at the mall, but fetching anyway

These were for sale, but I didn't think they survive the ride home so I just asked permission to photograph them.

Close-up so you can appreciate the gobsmacking nature of the arrangements

I was ever so surprised to spot the Buckaroo neon that used to be signage for a Fremont bar in Georgetown. And--bonus--a bit of reflected old building.

Not so much Georgetown as along the route: I've been meaning to get a snap of this coffee spot for years now and Bessie was eager to pose. A recorded voice kept telling me I was being recorded. Hmmm.

July vacation bird action

 The second half of July has been given over to a fine staycation for me. Not a lot of action to report, but we spent a few hours in a canoe on Friday afternoon, something we've not done since 2019. Our technique might be a bit rusty, but the wildlife viewing was still quite fine. Some so-so photos (those skills are a bit rusty too) follow, in no particular order:

Somewhat out of focus dragonfly (no idea what kind)

Great blue heron just after it attempted to grab something in the water. Not sure if it succeeded.

Killdeer hanging out on a bit of mud in the midst of a lot of water and lilypads

A quite charming turtle on a log midwater. I swear it was posing.

So many wood ducks! Here's the missus in some dappled shade.

And an earlier female wood duck, with her blue patches sparkling in the sunlight

Young wood duck with mother keeping a watchful eye in the background

What happened on July 3rd

 

What happened to June?

 

Clearly, it's time to start this year's production run of jams, preserves, and jamly.

Feeble wave . . . hey, is that a yard sale? . . . Sunday, bloody Sunday . . .

Sometimes, Bessie just takes a bite--or two--out of my leg

 One way or another, it's been a tired time chez Aurora. I really don't care for heat, and I especially don't care for ninety degrees in mid-May. I don't like my chances as the effects of climate change become more dramatic. But I also recognize that my lot is pretty damned plush, and I've got the photos to prove it. 

 Last Saturday was the 2023 edition of West Seattle Garage Sale Day and we actually got up early(ish) to head out before it got too hot. As it happened, we never made it out of our immediate neighborhood, so plentiful were the sales (and, okay, so weak were we in the face of the wretched heat). It was nice, however, to talk with some people one block up who shared that they had collected some of the free tomato starts I set out a year or two back. (I'm not entirely clear on how they knew where we lived, but I try not to worry about such things.) Oh, sure, they didn't give me a deal on the absurd buttons I bought (not shown in photo because I forgot they were in my bag until some days later), but it was still nice. Scott was pleased because he didn't buy anything all day, while I was pleased to find something to buy most places. 

Garage Sale Day haul: that's window screen material in the lower right corner.

 The injury depicted in the photo that opens this fascinating post resulted from Bessie falling over, with a full basket, outside the grocery store on Sunday as I was fussing with my bag/helmet/gloves/god-knows-what. Her fall was slowed by a few of the teeth on her gear cluster sinking into my shin. It hurt, rather, but did not bleed immediately; the artistic single line of red developed on the ride home. No groceries were damaged, but I was rather cranky.

 

As a result, perhaps, I chose to spend some hours that afternoon in the Folly, appreciating the clematis and reading the trashy mystery (Death in a Deck Chair) I'd picked up at a sale the day before; it was ever so restorative.

The clematis is spreading across the top of the arch as we hoped.

It's not all lounging beneath arbors around here, however. The greens in the planter on the patio don't like the heat any more than I do so I've taken to shading them (with, as it happens, an umbrella purchased on a West Seattle yard sale day a few years back). It seems to be working:

There's just no photo of the re-transplanted tomato starts that I decided had to be moved to 4" pots this morning before I left for work. Somehow the life of the gentleman farmer looks a lot easier on "Downton Abbey." 

An ant's view of the Folly.

 

Ten (or More) Things to Post about Denver Before I'm Dead

Wedding venue (the aptly named Chandelier Barn)

 To paraphrase one of the bridesmaids' toasts, "We just flew in from Denver, and boy! are our arms tired." There was, obviously, a wedding to attend and quite lovely it was too. Scott declared the exchange of vows to be totes adorbs, what with the bride getting a bit choked up and all. It was a lovely--and blessedly brief--ceremony. Scott also reminds me that we learned, during the reception, that a flannel is a versatile garment. So an educational as well as a moving experience all in all.

 Since I'd never been to Denver before, the whole trip was educational for me. I learned that Colorado can be hella-hot the first week of May and that even my most comfortable pair of Fluevogs will have me cursing after a few hours of walking on city streets.

Shoes bad. Water nice.

 I learned that squirrels in Denver are quite cute,

Cute, but look at the size of those claws.

 and that the bus-riding population of Denver longs to be helpful and kind. I can now assure the imaginary reader that Lafayette is hell and gone from Denver Proper and that one cannot travel more than three blocks on Colfax Avenue without encountering another liquor store. I discovered, as we were walking through Pioneer Square in Seattle on the way home, that I truly am a Seattle coffee snob because, as we approached Zeitgeist I sighed with relief and suggested we could stop to have a decent coffee. (We did not, however, stop. I will add that the Einstein Bros Bagels at Denver International is perhaps one of the worst places in the country to get a latte.) Tattered Cover is a pretty nice bookstore whose staff is darned helpful and likeable. The croissants at La Fillette (located in a very unprepossessing strip mall in Denver's eastside neighborhood) really are as excellent as people say and it's well worth the effort (which, after all, is just catching a 15) to get them. As I had already sort of learned from working on Discovering Denver's Parks, Denver has a lot of nice parks, including my favorite of the visit, City Park, where many of the following photos were taken.

MLK monument at City Park

We were particularly intrigued by this commemorative plaque that commemorated Starbucks giving of the plaque:

"This plaque is presented to the citizens of Denver . . . "

But perhaps the most striking discovery was that, apparently, cormorants go to Denver to nest and raise their young. Can that be right?

Island of cormorant nests (City Park by the zoo)

  Keeping a fairly prudent distance from Cormorant Island was this charming little snowy egret, here keeping its remarkable feet discreetly hidden in the water:

(All photos courtesy of the cell phone that periodically suggests the lens needs cleaning)

The airbnb that Scott found was tres charmant, but I'm limiting myself to just one (or maybe two . . .) photos from there:

Bathroom reflections

As I've said, the wedding venue (in Lafayette) was some distance from Denver's Capitol Hill district so we Lyfted there (with the world's most chatty driver; I do hope she and her sister work things out), allowing me the opportunity to take this charming photo of Scott holding our gift for the happy couple as we waited for our ride:

Our rental is the wee house behind this house

And now, just tossing a handful of shots up as I hear the sound of the shaker calling to me:

Denver airport from its (very convenient) light rail station

Night-time shadows of some fencing

Daytime shadows of some window art

Fencing that would cast a lovely shadow but it overlooks water

 and there were no shadows being cast

The fox caught my eye, but it's the creature dreaming of pie that I'm now noticing

The bride with her handler, pre-event