Nanoose Bay with Dianne

I bought a new patio dining set from Amazon yesterday morning. I hate spending money. I’m a hoarder, worried about how I’ll manage as I decline. But I did it and I’m glad because I’ll be proud to serve people on nice new table and chairs. They’ll be here before Steve arrives. Yay!

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I did chores in the morning before leaving for Nanoose Bay. I got the cat’s litter box and furniture set up in the cattery again. The cattery has a nice new clean floor. We stained it when we did the deck. It looks so much nicer now.

We left for Nanaoose Bay around 9:00 on a beautiful bright Summer morning yesterday. I just missed the ferry, but now that we have two ferries, it’s a short wait for the next one. I picked up a nice fruit tart at a bakery to take for our lunch, got gas (it’s cheaper on the big island), got a great Japanese Maple for the garden, got 6 bags of soil for the new garden, and arrived time for a lovely conversation before lunch.

After lunch on the deck on great chairs—deck chairs that have wide arms that can function as tables; I love the practicality of the design of those chairs—we went for a walk through a local public park. It’s along the sea in a small bay, with gorgeous rugged fierce coastline on a very windy day. Then we walked up into the forest on a nice smooth path to a beautiful meadow before going back to the cabin.

After another lovely chat together, I headed back with my tree, and when I arrived at the terminal, I went directly onto the ferry. Sweet! Pete had finished the deck and all the trim. It’s truly magnificent. He told me I owe them for life to water their gardens when they go away. I have sold my soul, but feeding living things isn’t an unpleasant thing to do in the Summer. It's an amazing thing, this gift of Pete and Ali. 

My yard is looking magnificent. I’m amazed at how good it all looks. What amazes me is that I had no plan. I have no experience with landscaping. I’ve watered plants, but the only planting I’d done before coming here was planting trees. The sun and the landscape told me what to do in various parts of the yard. And I planted quite a few trees. 

The new path makes the yard look cleaner. Right now, it looks like a new incision, the flagstones like stiches. When the greenery grows in around that between the stones, it will look heal with verdant skin.

Today, I’ll be planting the tree and the Petasites Japonicus. (The common names for this plant are butterbur, bog rhubarb, devil's hat, winter heliotrope, purple butter-bur, pestilence wort, colt's foot.) I’ll also be adding a ton of soil to the new garden. I’ll also go on the community dog walk this morning.

Next jobs: Weeding the gardens and the studio.