| We spent only about 10 days on the island, then we flew to Pasadena for a meeting. It was great, we stayed at the Westin, which was a 4 star hotel. The bed was fabulous! And our view was of the Pasadena city hall, actually more beautiful than Madison's capitol dome. It's both white and pink. |
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On the last day of the meeting, we drove to West Hollywood, where Rob and Nicole live. We stopped on Rodeo Drive to window shop and call Peter and Meredith. Then we went to Rob and Nicole's condo, which has a breathtaking view of the Hollywood hills and is a block from Beverly Hills. We had a great tapas dinner at a restaurant near their house, went to sleep, and flew to Madison the next morning. |
| We stayed there two nights and then on Sunday morning we flew to New York City for the James Beard Media Awards banquet. Hawk judged, so he got in free, and we wanted to go to see if "Living on the Wedge" would win. It was nominated for best television special, a real honor. But they didn't. And the food sucked and we sat so far in the back we couldn't see anything. And then we had to go through La Guardia both ways, what a nasty airport. But we spend the next week in Madison, one of our last in the apartment. Hawk and Fiona look at data in her office, something that happens a lot. |
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We spent Mother's Day weekend doing our usual: buying lots of plants and planting them, this time in Paisley's garden. I got a manicure from both daughters and some great presents, it was all about sea creatures. Paisley found us some wonderful stores in downtown Kirkland, we all three went shopping together. It was great. We got up early the next morning and went home. Here's a shot of the herb garden, now mostly full of herbs. The deer ignore them. |
| Hawk has been making progress on the outdoor kitchen. Some of the extra dirt and rocks went into leveling the cocktail area platform. |
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Here it is, level at last! |
| Here's the bed along the edge, filled with lavender, heather and California poppies, I hope. |
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We don't know how we're going to do the big deck off the living room, but I had to paint that propane tank gray so it would stop sticking out so much. It really looks better! |
| We started building this raised garden deck when we realized this part of the house was ugly and unfinished looking. Everywhere else is so beautiful, we just couldn't leave it. But it took a whole week. Aargh! Here's the structure. |
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Here's the completed project. Well, almost. We'll stain it gray and fill the rest of the beds. And probably put a glass wall on the south side, or maybe all the way around to make it a green house. But so not ugly! And it's a perfect place for the Agen table and chairs. |
| Here's another shot. |
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Heres the box on the main deck for the roses. It sits right in front of the picture window. No deer will eat my roses! |
I wish I had a picture of this, but this morning, while I was working, I heard the fox doing its territorial bark again. Here's what it sounds like. Only Pearl was out, and she was down by the water, but that's where the sound was coming from. So I went down there and there was a beautiful red fox there, just yelling at Pearl. Pearl was not only not concerned, she was actively hunting him. She made him back up all the way to the edge of McIver's property, and then she crouched down, growled, hissed, and sprang at him! He charged off up the hill. I couldn't believe it. I'm not going to worry about the foxes anymore...
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| We've had extremely low tides this week, and on one of them, we went down to check out Hawk's cave. There's Hawk, just entering the cave. |
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And here's his butt, disappearing inside. I was just as happy to stay on the edges outside and peek in. |
| We spotted some beautiful starfish on our way out. |
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Hawk made it out okay. Pretty steep there. Jagged rocks. And slippery. |
| The hens and chicks are all in bloom, so beautiful |
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