In an English urban garden....

I have a dream. That one day I will be able to grow enough food with enough skill to feed myself, my family and friends and have some to sell. There are chickens, an orchard, a collie dog and a little baby lamb in this dream too. Here are the first little steps! The friends that garden together...err...share tomatoes together?

Dean and Heidi have very kindly allowed us to use a little bit of their garden to pursue this dream. They did it last year in a raised bed round the other side of the house. Gardening that is. Dean dug the trench and cleared the ground and we shoveled the Tagro in one night after work. I have been assured that it is the best stuff to get your veggies growing. I wasn't too sure about the streaming red eyes from the fumes, and neither were the shoppers at the supermarket when I went in afterwards, but I have seen the results and eaten them. It's fine when it's down.

Here is our patch.


I was amazed, when I began preparing and planting, how much of a memory I had for gardening I used to do with my grandparents when I was young. The feeling of the dirt in my hands, separating the starts, measuring out the spacing. It was a wonderful connection that I wished were more detailed. I remember my grandma saying, 'But isn't that how you do it?' when she watched a TV about the new organic gardening 'fad'. They knew their onions...


Ta daa! Red onions.


This is some rocket, artichokes, echinacea, rainbow chard and bee mint. I also have cauliflower, broccoli, golden beets, rainbow carrots, turnips, lettuce, sugar snap peas and kohlrabi. To come tomatoes, courgettes and anything else that takes my fancy! This year I am going for pretty things, unusual-looking things and things that grow well in the area.


I also have a little 'erb pot which I am planning on adding too in a few days time.

Dean is on a mission to build the Little House in the Big Woods and has done a great job with the new fence to keep the dog out. There will be corn and giant sunflowers just behind.

I will keep you updated with the progress. So far only one grub has been found and the first rocket was very tasty. To anyone coming to visit in the summer...bring yer eating boots!

Tip toe through the Tulips

There is a huge region to the north called the Skagit Valley (pronounced Skajit) of here dedicated to the growing of daffodils and tulips. The dutch names on the buildings give a hint to the ancestry of the inhabitants...


There's an annual Tulip Festival with all sorts of tulip-related festivities. Kim and I took a trip up there two weeks too early, so while it was a great ride and a nice day out, we didn't get to see it in its full glory!


As is customary on any girly day out, we needed a good stop for lunch. We drove to La Conner and The Calico Cupboard Cafe took us both to some great meal time memories. It was old-Englishy enough to get me going and old-American enough to set Kim off. And the cinnamon rolls.... We then explored the glorious little craft shops, thrift stores and artsy places for a good 2 hours in the rain. We went into the Hutch Studio and were thoroughly inspired for the rest of the day! This is my new favorite place to hang out. Shame it's so far away.


Below is a cross section of a tree that grew in the area. The man to the left was about 6ft tall. Kim said the whole area was full of trees this big when she was a kid. Now their remains are monuments to fallen giants.

Driving through the hill-surrounded fertile valleys on some of the few windy roads in the region, I was amazed at how much like Somerset it felt. Where ever you go in the world, a farm will always have a machinery junk yard near by.
What a great day out. Topped off with a trip to the outlet center on the return drive, it couldn't have been better.

On the way from the office

There aren't many people in the world who get to drive the opposite way to the main commute each day and look at a mountain while they do it. This is what you see coming out of the office driveway on the way home...


There's a great little park just under the Narrows bridge that makes a nice stop-off when the mood strikes.

Sometimes I see eagles down there. I think there are a pair nesting in the trees.


Other times you see seals and whales swimming by.


It's a pretty nice place to work all in all.

Art Walk

Visual art surrounds us all day, every day, in varying forms. Whether we choose to look at it or not, it is there as a background noise along with piped music and commercial hum. Working in marketing means that I spend a great deal of time looking at and absorbing visual stimulus, making decisions, drawing inferences and soaking up different cultures then cutting it up and spitting it out to be consumed by someone else. The internet has dramatically increased the volume of images that cross our retina. Some days I feel so over-satiated that I want to sit in a dark room and wait until it all quietens down.


Still, it is in my nature to seek out artistic experiences where ever I am. As an individual, I have always enjoyed looking at art in its many forms, visiting galleries, coming across public art in unusual places.


Living in London for a couple of years I was spoiled with the opportunity to visit the National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, Tate Modern...and all the rest of them, whenever I wanted. The portrait gallery was my favorite - in particular one little spot in the basement that had a regularly changing exhibit. I could just pop in there on my way to Covent Garden and get a quick, free art hit. With all the greatest art in the world around me though, there was always something missing. The problem was, it was an historical experience. I will never get the chance to sit down with Renoir and ask him how his day was. The Romantics will never come to my house for tea. Toulouse-Lautrec will never make a poster for one of my events.


Here in Tacoma, there is a significant artistic community. I have been told that this is now the desirable place for artists now that Seattle has grown too expensive. Every Third Thursday, there is an Artwalk around town. All the galleries (there are many of them, some in the most surprising places) open their doors for free. The art collectives set up shop and let people come in and show them how they work. I have taken part in 3 art walks so far and each time have been thoroughly fulfilled in my thirst for current, relevant and quality art. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that historical art is worthless and anything new is good, far from it. You must know where you have come from to understand where you are going. What I relish though, is that chance to be in amongst the art as it happens. It adds so much depth to the experience and understanding of what you see. Anyone can pay for a picture. Few can watch that picture grow from the artist's fingers.


There is a mailing list you can join that tells you what is going on in the artists community, what programs are coming up, events, shows, tenders. I get maybe 5 or six a day. This could be irritating, but I find it a fascinating indication of the vibrancy of the cultural life of Tacoma. Living in it, it seems normal to have top quality, custom, 'Tacoma' graphic art on every street corner. Go somewhere else tho, even to London, and it is clear that there is something special, something very of-the-place happening here. I am excited to be a part of it.


Here are some links to the places I've been so far and some graphic designers that make up the Tacoma view:

- Artwalk map with links

- 253 collective (253 is the area code here)

- Brick House Gallery

- Mary K -Lots of local paper The Volcano work and band Motopony

- Mirka Kokkanen Specializes in animals

- Rusty George - Tacoma public work including Point Defiance zoo, the Hub, the Grand

- Springtide press letterpress

- Chandler O'Leary

- Beautiful Angle

Happy Anniversary!

March 11th 2010 - 4 years old. We're just about ready to start school now.

When you get married, people often ask, 'Are you sure you know what you're letting yourself in for?'. And of course you answer, 'Yes!'. Well, I'm not sure either of us knew we were letting ourselves in for all the adventures we've had so far, but we certainly knew we wanted to do it together.

For our anniversary this year we took in the sites, sounds and tastes of Tacoma and Seattle. We had a lovely day, basically eating and drinking the whole time!

We started off by going to the gym because we knew we had a good day’s worth of food to consume

Then we went to Corina Bakery for cookies and coffee and hung out on our computers doing a little bit of work

Then we went to the Mad Hat tea shop and played on an original pingpong computer game while sitting on old car seats on the floor and drinking white tea Tony showed me my present – a beautiful tryptich print by Mirka Hokkanen

Then we stopped off at infinite soups for Mexican black bean soup

From there we went home for a little nap. It’s hard work being louche.

Next on the agenda was a trip to Commencement Bay coffee shop to meet up with some people

Then off to Seattle for a warm up cocktail in a bar that we didn’t really understand and dinner in Marrakesh – a Morrocan restaurant that a number of people had recommended. It was delicious. We rolled out the door.

Wonder what the next year will bring...?!

I love to go a wandering...

It's been a while...!

The last few months have been characterized by gray. Gray clouds, gray streets, gray rain…but in amongst that there grows a steady mass of green. The moss on the trees has bloomed to almost an inch deep in places. There are up to six different kinds of moss and fungus on one tree. The grass is lush and verdant. Rhododendrons and Magnolia are already in bloom. All about there buzzes the promise of life.

I went out in search of green today. I took the camera and the time to stop and look and take in the life around me. I contrasted shades, angles and textures. I looked for order in chaos. Framed shots with the lens of my camera, making neat little boxes out of the vast and intricate world before me. As I went about this collection, my thoughts too began to order.

If you saw a lone female, early one Sunday morning, crouched, staring intently ay a patch of mould on a roadside tree, and wondered if she was OK, worry not. She was just fine.

We've been on a few good hikes recently (here walking is something you do from the car to the front door). We visited Tiger Mountain and Mt. Si. In the process, we discovered that one can drive for an hour, hike for an hour up a mountain (literally, out of the car, 1 hour vertical climb, 35 minutes descend) and hike back down and be home for tea. There are only 2 mountains in the UK. That's pretty cool.

When you're used to walking on the Mendips, the idea of poles, crampons and survival gear are furthest from your mind. Tony and I always feel woefully underdressed in our rolled up trousers and wooly socks as we pass the locals decked out in most of REI'S outdoor department...then we reach the top of Mt Si and see a plaque dedicated to a young man who fell to his death there. A man who had summited Mt St Helens 60 times died on the top just recently, after warning others in the group. While the trails may be easy and well-maintained, we have to learn that you can never second-guess nature.

Here is our trip up Mt. Si

Click here for some more pictures of the area at the start of the year.

A most excellent adventure

Saturday 4.23pm Having spent all afternoon indoors watching bad TV, reading, drinking coffee and waiting for Tony to finish work, I decided to spice things up a little. It was time for a road trip. We hadn’t been to Portland yet and it’s only 2 hours away.

I Googled ‘motel Portland OR’, came up with a stunner at $44.99 a night.

The pictures on the web site looked pretty clean and almost hotel-like. Inside though, I was secretly hoping for a seedy roadside dive. The web site said it had a heated pool. The odds were against. I called the number.

“Hullo?” I could hear beard and spittle in his voice.

“err, is that the Viking Motel?”

“yeah…”

Perfect. I booked the room then called Tony to say I’d pick him up from the shop after all. Full of adrenaline and caffeine, I picked a bag, some underwear, toothbrushes and a towel, filled the water bottles and headed off to the gas station to fill up. The car is a thirsty beast.

4.55pm Should I get chocolate milk for the ride? Mmm they were good the last time (hand made with ice cream and sauce). And it is close. But you’ll be sitting on your behind for 3 hours and eating when you get there. Better not.

5.05pm I pull up outside the shop. There are no customers. Great. We can get off quick. I tell Tony that the coat I have ordered has arrived at the Mall and I want to go pick it up before we go to the party we had planned to be at. (This was a cunning plan to cover my excitement and get heading in the right direction on I5 before the big reveal.)

5.20pm Finally we’re in the car. I’m acting ticked off that it took so long to leave. I get on the Interstate and drive towards the Mall. Tony pricks up a little as we miss the first turning, but calms down as he remembers there’s a second. It’s only 2 miles away.

20 minutes later….”Gill, where are we going?”

We were nearly at Olympia. Oh the fun of it!

I had decided to use the internet to facilitate this visit. Free Wifi is all over Portland and I have a handy little iTouch. I turned on the GPS, posted on Facebook and waited for inspiration and suggestions. This was to be a 21^st century exploration.

With a combination of recommendations from friends, walking round the streets and reading local papers, we had a most excellent adventure. Here are the Facebook threads to see how it went.

Saturday 8.24pm Is in Portland! Road trip! And we're staying in a real motel sweeeeeet

Eric

I'd go here! Always a good time!http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Portland-OR/Marys-Club/140824671681?ref=search&sid=1430589219.3469985345..1

Sat at 8:42pm

Dan

Portland Rose Garden / Leif Erickson park
Or Mount Tabor or Rocky Butte. Tomorrow walk along the water front. The zoo is quite lovely. Do you have car or did you arrive by train?

Sat at 8:43pm ·

Dan

Multnomah Falls is a gorgeous little hike.

Sat at 8:53pm

Dan

Voodoo lol

Sat at 8:59pm ·

Gillian

We're about 1 block from voodoo :) starting with a cocktail then moving on. Thanks for the ideas!

Sat at 9:16pm

Dan

If you're up to it.. Jakes Oyster House is fun. They have a late night $1.99 menu from 10p to 1am

Sat at 9:18pm

Dan

If you are careful (some unsavory sorts panhandling) There is a GORGEOUS Chinese gate marking the entrance to China Town. And Portland has beautiful fountains.

Sat at 9:25pm

Gillian

Change? Spare a dollar? They're all on the scrounge!

Sat at 10:07pm

Dan

LOL

Sat at 10:56pm ·

10.09pm Checking out the guns n roses tribute act at dante's!

10.46pm Change of plan- local bands for local people at backspace. Yummy burgers at berbati

Sunday 10.13am Watching tv in bed in a seedy motel. Could it get any better? Hmm breakfast...

Dan

Yes... Powell’s is at 1005 W. Burnside Ave

----------------------------------
POWELL’S CITY OF BOOKS
... See More
The streetcar trundles by one of the world’s great bookstores — Powell’s City of Books — several times an hour, and visitors should step off to get lost in more than 1 million new and used books in the infamous store that covers an entire city block. Just about every topic on this planet — and our solar system — is covered in this rambling temple to words on paper. Looking for that cool book from 6th grade? It’s probably here. And the best book you’ll read this year probably is as well.

Sunday 10:15am ·

Dan

Another super fun thing (and mostly free if you don't go outside the downtown area. Otherwise it's $2 for for the whole day)

http://www.portlandstreetcar.org/map.php
You can take the Aerial Tram at the south end of the loop. you ride it and can can see ALL of the city. And on clear days you can see mountains.

1.43pm Fuller's Coffee Shop breakfast yum. River city cycles -awesome. [We also stopped by the Burnside skate park] Time for a cup of tea in the Chinese gardens

7.19pm Chinese garden was beautiful. Powell's was huge. Tony on voodoo donuts 'that place is just so full.... Of donuts'! Back in Tacoma now and ready to take Monday by the horns :)

Now that's what I call a Sunday.