Summertime…..

Summertime

And the livin’ is easy.

I’ve always loved Gershwin’s “Summertime”.  And this season is also my favorite.  Living right across from Green Lake is like having a big park as my own front yard.  It’s a fun place.

So fun, in fact, that I’ve been slow with my blog writing.  Imagine me, when not teaching, taking aerial yoga classes, sweating profusely as I walk the not-so-dreadful-anymore Blaine Stairs twice a week with my pal Jeri, walking Green Lake, weight lifting with my trainer Tom (one of the fittest guys at Seattle Athletic Club), and sitting on my sun-drenched almost-too-hot balcony reading and making my way through a pile of great books Donni left me before she moved to Oregon to start her new life.

I’m cardio fit and strong, and back to the weight I was before going to Sicily where I freely indulged and ate too much good food (!).  It has taken me five weeks and a lot of sweat to get back to my pre-Sicily weight.

And so you get the idea.  Summer, it’s a great time to be in Seattle. Below are a few photos from the past few weeks.

We’ll start off with the garden at Ocean Shores.  We started the garden design summer of 1999. Today the garden is mature.  The roses are in bloom and the crocosmia soon to follow.  A watering system is in place. Blooms burst open in Ocean Shores about two weeks after I see the same bloom in Seattle.  Today I saw a hydrangea in bloom in the city, so I know what my garden will be doing two weeks from today.

The garden at Little Renaissance gives me so much pleasure.  I spend as many weekends there as possible in the summer.  Sometimes when leaving for the city, my heart aches to leave the garden looking so pretty.

All of the photos in this blog were taken on my iPhone so the quality isn’t as good as the ones taken on my Leica.  It seems I haven’t been taking my camera around with me as I used to.  I will make a point of taking it with me again.

The photo below is from a houseboat/barge dinner party on Lake Union near Gas Works Park.  We did yoga on a grassy strip under big-leafed trees and then came back to the houseboat to continue a fabulous evening.

One of Simone’s artistic bouquets from her garden for our gathering at the houseboat/barge:

Below: I got artsy with water and reflections.

And what is summer in the Pacific Northwest without a hike?  Global warming had Seattle temperatures reaching 97 degrees one fine Sunday.  What did I do on such a hot day? I went on a hike to Wallace Falls with Leslie and Winnie.  The heat combined with the 12-mile hike nearly whooped me off my feet.  Wait, it did!  I slipped and caught myself on a log.  A bruised hip and a sprained hand later (yup, Leslie…I really did sprain it..tell you more later),  I still look back and say it was one fine hike!

We spent the Fourth of July with my family-in-law at the Clark’s Cabin in Home, Washington.  And no one seems to know where Home is! Most people who have lived in Seattle their whole lives confess, “I googled Home to see where it is.” Home, WA is a small community on the Key Peninsula and sits on the waters of Carr Inlet.  (Carr Inlet is an extension of Puget Sound).

Stunning views of Mt. Rainier and cute beach houses await you if you get to visit Home. In the 1800s, a group created an anarchist community in Home.  Home was a place where they embraced radical views and free love.  In 1911, three women and two men from the community were brought to court on charges of “indecent exposure” because they were seen skinny dipping. read more about Home

Home is where we celebrated the 4th of July at Geoff and Jan’s lovely cabin:

And Arvind Singh was briefly in town all the way from Varanasi, India.  On Thursday, I enjoyed dinner with him and a lively group under a summer sky in Kelley and Jack’s magical garden.

Arvind left early on Friday, but I was up at Richmond Beach again to enjoy a concert on the lawn by Deobrat Mishra and his nephew Prashant Mishra.  It was an excellent evening.  I first met Deobrat and Prashant in Varanasi.  They are 11th and 12th generation sitar and tabla players.  They are outstanding.

View sample of Deobrat and Prashant’s music.

Today, I am wonderfully tired from a hike to Snow Lake with Bev.  It was crowded, but that did not take away from the beauty of this place.  There was snow around the lake and the color of the water a deep blue.  I imagine the lake stays cold all year long, but I’d be willing to jump into it in late August.  Maybe one day, I’ll have a special photo to show you!  For now, here is Snow Lake from today.

At the trail head:

Grand finale: Snow Lake!!!