Early mornings reveal a waning moon, a sleepy sunrise, and the perfect porch to start a day on.
Mount Rainier sneaks a peek (and a peak) at Quartermaster Harbor in Burton on Vashon Island.
My day starts early and my day ends late, and somehow the in-between takes mere seconds to evaporate. With a run of sunny days (there’s an anomaly), outdoor chores and play-date detours, I find my posts have been few and far between, and even now, this post will be more about pretty pics than Tom’s questionable insight and ramblings. So take a coffee break with me and sit back and enjoy a few snapshots of what summer (in my humble opinion) should be: wonderful.
Boz: “Tom who?”
Boz is quite the ladies man, backing up and waiting for a belly, muzzle, and/or rump rub, albeit Ture’s gentle shoulder pat will keep him happy for as long as she wishes to indulge him.
Can you bake a cherry pie, Tommy boy, Tommy boy? Oh heck yeah, and this crust-covered fruit geode glistens with my first crop of Montmorency cherries. Even better, I celebrated and shared the moment and the pie with my visiting family.
Boz takes time to stop and smell the roses (and in this case, as his pollen-painted neck would suggest) and the lilies as well.
My sister-in-law and brother channel their inner pioneer couple at the Vashon Heritage Museum.
My brother and Boz share some quality time on the hammock, while mom and sis check out the old glider.
Mom and sis: Two of the prettiest and hardest working farmhands a man could dream to be related to.
Dinner is served…on the porch, of course.
Early summer when the grass is green, and the garden weed-free.
Summer has been berry, berry good to me. Here’s to an entire month of summer days remaining!
Love your style , everyone seems to be blogging about the end of Summer and the coming Fall- here’s to another month of heaven.
Thanks Kim, appreciate the compliment, especially since I see your handiwork and marvel at the beauty.
Your snaps leave me feeling relaxed, cheered and just a tiny bit envious – a good way to start my day. Well, maybe not the envious part. I know the hard work that goes into farming, but your place seems to make it all worth the effort.
Hi Martha, thanks for the kind words, but be envious not, I’ve got piles of laundry, stacks of dishes, a smelly dog truck, weeds galore and dust aplenty. I seem to only share the cleaned-up part of my life or those rare occasions when it is. Maybe that should be my next post or so…Behind the Blog Curtain…maybe I will, but prepare yourself. 😉
Keep posting your pictures Tom! I so enjoy starting my day seeing your “little slice of heaven.”
Thanks Margaret, so nice of you to say. I try not to take it for granted, feel very fortunate.
It has been a beautiful summer! And I’m not ready to give it up anytime soon.
I’m with you Eileen, I have a month or two left of BLTs, ratatouille, caprese salads and Nicoise.
Lovely photos and reflections of a Summer well-spent, Tom! Summer seems to last a while longer here in the Midwest, but I must confess that Autumn will always be my favorite…at least until Spring arrives! First, I must endure the Iowa WINTER! 😉
Hope all is well for you in Iowa. I’m sure it’s a bit toastier than Oregon. Great to hear from you.
So jealous! You have Montmorency cherries! Do you ever dry any? I love to use them in cherry and bittersweet chocolate cookies, or in cereal. Not that I wouldn’t eat pie, but I never see them fresh here, and am usually lucky to find them dried.
Boz is hilarious. With all that pollen on his head, he’s simply begging to be dressed up as bumble bee for Halloween this year. Sorry, Boz, but I’ve never seen that much pollen a bulldog before 😛 Maybe if we lose any more of our bees this summer, we’ll have to hire Boz as chief farm pollinator instead 😛
Hi Clare, I don’t have enough to dry, at least this year, but if I did, I’d dispatch some down to California! And as for Boz, he is one serious ground pollinator.
Denise and I are so grateful for your time and generous heart last week as we showed up for a garden tour! Getting to meet Boz and Gracie, hear stories about the Peach Palace soon to be dirty carney, delight in Pence peaches with ice cream, wander around your lifetime of projects and be amazed at the enormous variety of fruit, vegetables and flowers fussed over at Tall Clover Farm combined to create a very special birthday neither of us will forget. We enjoyed laughing with you and seeing a male version of us. Seems we are linked closely with what’s right in a word of interlocking ecosystems. The more we smooch on and care for the land, the more we’ll be taken care of, on the inner and outer! Thank you, Tom, for stewarding Tall Clover Farm and relationships that are important and enjoyed!
Diane, make no mistake, you and Denise brightened up my day. What a really wonderful visit, and time well spent with laughs and treats on the porch. I’m flattered that I was your birthday destination, an honor I took seriously. Here’s to more visits birthday or otherwise, and the gift of friendship. Thank you for sharing your day with me, Boz and Gracie.
Your pictures show us the very essence of summer. I really felt like it was summer when I bit into a juicy ripe peach (thanks to your previous post about peaches, it was just right!) – had to stand over the sink to eat it – so good! Your cherry pie looks gorgeous. Your pictures will be balm to the spirit when cold wet January is here.
Lucy
Thank you Lucy, I love to look back on summer photos when the gray days return. Just yesterday I took a dip in the Sound, and in a week, the tides have already begun to return frigid water to the shallows. Warm regards throughout the year to you!
I agree, summer’s been berry berry good to you.
We’re not nearly as lucky. Every summer, birds call dibs on our raspberry bushes, and so we’re always in short supply .
Btw, Boz looks adorable (or rather, cool) as a neon blonde, All he needs is a spiked leather choker and it’s good-bye Billy Idol, hello Boz.
Yes, it is summer and I have been eating simple fruit and vegetables with no real recipes to post. I love looking in the refrigerator to find cherries, concord grapes, apricots, green beans, and so on. I just eat the first thing I see. Peas for breakfast? Yum.