In the Nick of Time

First holiday season in the new house. (Alright, we're not actually there for Christmas, back in Illinois with family and friends. But we'll be back for New Years.) Used some we already had and got a few new decorations to suit the new surroundings.  

Happy with the how it all turned out, thinking we'll be sticking with this scheme in the years to come.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!!

West Seattle Garden Tour

Not exactly a seasonally appropriate subject, in fact as it's pretty much the opposite of the height of the growing season and smack in the middle of the holidays, it's not really timely at all. But as I'm trying to progress chronologically through my backlog of posts and thoughts of what to do garden-wise next year are already creeping into my mind, what the heck. It was still fun to look over shots from warmer days and dream.

Back in July we got tickets for the West Seattle Garden Tour. We saw a talk and arranging demonstration by Debra Prinzing, the queen of "slow flowers" and then made it around to a few of the gardens.

Beyond that, I guess the pictures speak for themselves.

Below are just down the street. Let the record state we scored the smallest house on the smallest lot in the neighborhood. We've been here just long enough I don't feel totally out of my element anymore. :)

Going to try to take some photos of our holiday decorations today and break with the chronological order to bring something that pertains more to December.

Island Hopping Part 2: Vashon

While my dad was visiting back in August, we set sail one fine afternoon for Vashon Island. The ferry for Bainbridge leaves from downtown, but the one for Vashon leaves from right here in West Seattle. Nice to not have to drive over a body of water to then turn around and float back across it before heading on to your destination. 

We drove around for a little while and ended up at Point Robinson Lighthouse. Here's a nice history of the place.

It's only open to the public on Sundays and lucky for us it happened to be Sunday so we got to see inside. 

Besides the view, I admired some of the architectural details on the way up. 

Love these nice old bronze survey benchmarks.

We walked along the beach a bit and admired some gorgeous driftwood constructions.

Then made our way back the other direction to have a look at a couple more permanent structures, the two keeper's quarters which are available to rent.

I really loved Vashon. It seemed less touristy than Bainbridge, more just bucolic and peaceful. Had me wanting to return to the farming life. Or at least the more serious gardening life.

More attempts to catch up the blog to real time coming soon! I swear. Hopefully that will mean a holiday post before March! :)