There's no place like Seven Trees

We decided to celebrate our birthdays by taking the train to Seattle for the day. We left at 8:30am, and got to Seattle at 11.



Here I am, heading south from Bellingham, with Samish Bay out the window. It started out kind of cloudy and chilly but got sunnier as we went.





An 'arty' shot, looking out the train window, with the Chicago-bound train reflected in the glass.








Hamming it up with SPD. Check out the sweetly restored 1970 Challenger. Nice! As were the cops.







And here's me, posing in front of a vintage fire engine. We had no idea it was the Seattle Fire Festival, and walked out of the train station into quite a to-do. I didn't get to ring a fire bell like I wanted, but oh well...







A couple of lunatics and their collection of used pint glasses, at the Elysian.





And two more wackjobs. Notice the family resemblance?
We had a nice visit in town. Shopped like tourists, wandered slack-jawed and amazed at all the people. Seattle really has grown since I was a kid.

And here's an over-the-shoulder shot of the train as we hoofed it to the parking lot. A lovely trip, but so very very nice to be home. The train left Seattle at 6:40 and we arrived at Fairhaven Station at 9pm.


Now we're back in the saddle at Seven Trees. Making sauerkraut tonight (we removed the baby earthworm that was hiding inside, but pondered leaving it so we could do kraut-juice shots a la cheap tequila with worm in the bottle), lots of gardening, took the dogs for an outing (we had lunch at the Archer), beets and chard have been harvested. Bob the bull will go home Saturday, and the new little rooster guy arrived today. He's in a cat carrier until night, because the Red Stars are bossing him around. We'll put him in with everyone at night, and when they wake up they should be a more integrated flock. It also looks like the 2 Sussexes and 3 Australorps will have a new home soon. I'm also experimenting with a recipe for lacto-fermented swiss chard stems. Speaking of experiments, we are also getting some results on veggie choices this season, and we are not happy with the carrots or onions at all. We'll be trying some fall plantings of new varieties.

Also, for you local folks, we're planning a "Swashbuckle into Fall" BBQ/party/event, so practice your best pirate accent, strap on your cutlass, and help us do quality control on some homebrew. Saturday August 25th, from 2:00pm on, and we'll have space for tents, and hopefully something yummy for breakfast. More later as things shape up. We're also starting a batch o' brew especially for the shindig.