28 September 2015

Fancy Moon!

It's amazing how easy it is to walk past stunning views every day--particularly of your own home being built--and not take any pictures of them. But an Equinox Blood Full Super Moon at Perigee and total lunar eclipse, hovering over an almost empty bay for the last time until 2033--18 years--seemed worth getting "down" on "film." Enjoy last night's amazing display!


This is looking blurry east to a blurry Blood Moon, from the front porch of Hogan House. 

Less blurry, but a quite bloody aspect!

Ian and I tried to focus through the shadow of the Earth. Surprisingly difficult!



An aiirplane flew through this one


Some really interesting effects

29 June 2015

Ian's Handiwork

Ian did some of the bending and riveting of the chimney cap! All on the ground, mind you. And I had forgotten there was going to be more than just the stovepipe sticking up! Roof'll be done soon . . .

one-fingered on my phone

13 June 2015

New Pictures (FINALLY)

The roofing has begun, and by the end of the month, we might be starting on the sheetrock inside! Trundling along . . .

Check out the new pictures here!

31 May 2015

First Boating of the Season

We successfully launched our little boat last Monday--all plugs were tightly screwed in *before* entering the water this time--and today we went for a short outing to Jones Island for lunch, swinging by the ferry terminal for sandwiches on our way. SO LOVELY.


That's our little blue boat on the right.

Someone on a buoy.

Picnic on Jones!

Such a sweet old man. Spackle, too. 


Spackle did a short bit of salty-dog fetching, and needed Ian to scratch his wet butt. 


And then he could scratch his wet butt himself. 

It was all too much for Ian. 


HOME!!! (that's pretty outrageous, really)

06 May 2015

Paired Perspectives (and a couple of prospective pears)

Ten months into the build and mostly finished with the exterior work, I've realized that the main gallery of photos has grown unwieldy. Nevertheless, even encompassing about 600 images, it doesn't seem to include the basic layout of house and land.  This post displays, in Never-Eat-Shredded-Wheat order, pairs* of pics of the view from the house, and the view of the house. And then a bonus pair of pics of some incipient pears.

LOOKING NORTH

THE NORTH ELEVATION


 LOOKING EAST

THE EAST ELEVATION


LOOKING SOUTH

THE SOUTH ELEVATION


LOOKING WEST/DAYTIME and, because this is really nothing special, 

LOOKING WEST*, EVENING AFTER A STORMY AFTERNOON

WEST ELEVATION





That's going to be tasty come Autumn!


05 May 2015

Rainbow Welcome

We were greeted by a divine sight when we arrived back on Orcas Island last night. The sea was olive greed and turbid when we left Anacortes, but all the sins of the world had been forgiven by the time we arrived in West Sound. The rainbows stuck around for at least 30 minutes--enough time for us to marvel and take several pictures from our guest house, and then drive over and take several pictures from our new house. Pretty pretty, as we say.



Look at the reflection of the rainbow on the sound.




Our landlord's house. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is clearly just up the valley in our land. 

Double Rainbow!





20 April 2015

10-Month Anniversary

Yesterday was 10 months since we broke ground! 
We're still pretty happy about our house and where we are. Yup. 


14 April 2015

Grammy and Grumpy Come to Visit


We had a great walk, all five of us, from the new house up the 1/2 mile to the Copse, and all the way back again. We got the 4-Runner stuck in the mud trying to drive this route in June a few years back, and we are well aware that the ground is still a soggy mess now in early April. It does, mostly, support human weight and dog weight. 



My parents came to visit for a couple nights this weekend (they stayed at the Blue Heron 3 doors down, which is for sale, by the way, if you'd like to run an Orcas B&B), and my mother, true to form, loaded the Corolla to the rafters with soups and pastries for the freezer, and three big porch pots of flowers, tomatoes, herbs and greens. I love my mother very much indeed, but too much interaction between the two of us in small Hogan--for instance, if she were to stay for several nights to help with the dishes and the ancient dog--would end with tears and frustration on both sides. Several delicious meals that she's prepared--loving me all the time she's been slaving over her chopping block--that we can heat up at a moment's notice, saving ourselves hours of labor, is the perfect thoughtful and nurturing gift. Particularly when they're delivered by Mom and Marsh together, who are a delight.


Small sign of life in the prairie.



What a handsome guy. 



Sappy!



Two handsome guys.


We didn't all have quite the same stamina for the long circuit through wet fields.



Mom and Dog. 

09 April 2015

Commute

This is not, alas, how Ian will always get to travel between Orcas and his office at Montlake, but it was a perfect day for it on Monday. These photos were taken from the front yard of Hogan, so you can see that I'm not suffering by being left behind. Ian got to sit in the co-pilot seat, also, lucky man. Fortunately, an actual co-pilot isn't needed on these flights.

Banking for the descent. Ian has already walked over to the West Sound Marina, where Kenmore Air comes in. 

Heading in to port. 

Almost to the dock. 

Away they go! 

Getting up speed!

And they're off!

04 April 2015

Icon


Ian and I were finishing lunch outside the Dacha today when a bald eagle flew leisurely overhead and began slowly circling above us.

We stood, eyes on the skies, and watched, enraptured, as it wheeled around against the deep blue and fluffy white of April on Orcas.

"The moment you step away from the computer and outside, there's this beauty," said Ian with a touch of awe. I agreed, damp-eyed with patriotism at the noble vision.

We watched in silence for a bit more, then I mused "You know, it's interesting that our national symbol of pride . . ." and Ian cut in, " . . . is a scavenger? Sure," he went on, "it can grab a live fish out of the waves, but it's just as happy pecking at a dead spawning salmon, rotting on the riverbank."

God Bless America.


one-fingered on my phone

03 April 2015

The Inconveniences of Living in Paradise

This is Paradise, Orcas, no doubt about it. But that doesn't, alas, translate into uninterrupted bliss. I had high hopes, in the dark of winter, deep in the trenches of leaving Seattle, of having wide swaths of uninterrupted time to myself, to do what I wished.

I brought my sewing machine to Hogan House; my several in-progress knitting projects; my watercolor supplies; my camera, new monitor, and new software; my piano; and many pounds of books, both old favorites and unread anticipations.

I have read some books. Yesterday I had my first piano lesson, and pulled out an old knitting project. But mostly I cajole the ancient dog into eating something good for him (usually by feeding him by hand), or listen, with varying degrees of emotion--from extreme irritation to tender sympathy--to his endless font of squeaks, snores, and farts. It's snores and farts right now, which is why I can take a moment to write.

Most of my time the dog doesn't occupy is taken up with housekeeping. Theoretically, Ian helps with this. In actuality so far this year, he has been in Seattle for two days every week--or, almost every other week, on a work trip for the entire five days. I have done a lot of cooking from our tiny fridge on our small electric range. And a Sisyphean amount of dishes. IT NEVER ENDS.

Don't get me wrong--the quiet; the views of sea, wooded island, sky; the fresh, salt-scented air; the small interactions with people who are already friends--at the farm stand, the bookstore, the post office--I would not give these up for a thousand dishwashers. But they're not going to facilitate a thousand creative projects, either.

So, I'm turning down the volume on my expectations of production. It takes several hours more per week to simply complete the minimum tasks of day-to-day living--and I have regretfully accepted that I am constitutionally unable to leave the dishes unwashed for more than 24 hours. Even with cupboards full of clean ones.

I'd really love to have staff.

one-fingered on my phone

30 March 2015

ONWARD HO!

Ready to Party!


Our Wallingford house closed last Friday, 27 March, and this afternoon around 2:30pm, just as I arrived in the Copse to spend some time in this GORGEOUS spring weather, I got an email from Fidelity saying that a wire transfer had come through. 

It all worked! We have washed our hands of Seattle! For those interested, since this is in the public record now I will share amounts: we listed at $685K, had 4 offers, and went with our favorite (which was not the cash offer), and the house sold for $738K. 

We love the new owners, and they love the house (and have already met three of the four neighbors we took 15 years to meet . . . and, indeed, the only ones we knew the names of). 

Our House Cooling Party on Valentine's Day was highly successful! I have to say, though, when did everyone find the time to acquire toddlers??? View pictures of the event here, with the long suffering Torpid in attendance (as a seat). 

27 March 2015