tall clover farm

 Freshly-picked ice cubes: There’s nothing like the taste of homegrown. The topic of weather is rarely tabled here on the island. In fact, it’s usually the opener and the final word. “Some weather, eh?” The question is posed to friends and strangers alike whether we’re sporting a sweater or galvanized in Gore-Tex, ordering a latte or [...]

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He who knows the right time to put up a hammock…   Should also know it’s an unmistakable cue to take down the Christmas lights. One year ago:  Sprouting Broccoli: It’s a Keeper

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My back stoop covers just about enough space to provide resting and reading room for one husky guy and two beefy bulldogs (given the pups opt to hold court on the lower step). A maple mantled in moss shades our eyes and a feeble rail triumphs as shelving for a cup of cooling coffee and a couple Milk Bones.  The newspaper remains folded [...]

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 Pink oriental poppies capturing the first light of day I get up at the crack o’thirty to begin my commute into civilization from the island, an odyssey that cross-utilizes every form of transportation known to man (at least in King County): my beater truck (the shortest leg of the trip), a Metro bus, a Washington State Ferry, [...]

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If my garden was a theater, Pacific Coast Iris (Iris douglasiana) would be the overlooked understudy or supporting actor that unexpectedly steals the show. It’s presence is subtle if not negligible for most of the year, until a couple weeks in May when it pulls out all the stops and produces flowers that would make a watercolorist pant.  [...]

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Sometimes beauty reveals itself in unexpected ways, other times it’s a familiar friend on my daily path. For the madrona trees that have stood witness to the lives and loves of this house over the last century, it’s both. As I’ve said before, they are truly living sculptures.    Towering and twisted, they reach for the [...]

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Tulips at the market: my favorite harbinger of spring I think the Dutch had it right in the seventeeth century; why not base your economy on the beauty of the tulip? It’s a most worthy form of currency. And no offense to other spring bloomers, but that’s a feat neither a daffodil nor a hyacinth could pull off. [...]

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  The sun is out (May I hear an Amen!). My coffepot is yielding no more of its pricey brew. Boz and Gracie are resting on the sofa after an early morning of intense begging and need for post-Easter ham scraps. The day and to-do list are before me. While I strive to accomplish several (make that many, many) [...]

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It’s a dark and lonely commute by ferry in the winter (as seen on the covered bow deck) Light at last! April 15, 2009 at 0623 PT, Mt. Rainier reveals itself May 01, 2009 at 0622 PT, ah…a daylight commute at last I bid “Good morning” to Mt. Rainier and toast the Olympic range on my return [...]

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