More Pics from Orcas Island, and ...

YELLOW RASPBERRIES!

From the job site Paul and Jerry are currently on.

These lovely large raspberries taste just like the red ones!

Here's more photos from Orcas:

A really cool pottery gallery on the water, 4 generations of clay masters.

This treehouse was really cool, complete with a bunkbed!  There was all kinds of beautiful pottery all over the property, along with a fruit and vegetable garden and a lovely cat.

Jan being goofy at the Observation Tower atop Mt. Constitution, where you can see almost all the islands!

The tower had its affect on Paul as well...

The awesome indoor pool at Rosario Resort, built in the 1920's by the Moran family.  This hotel used to be their private residence.  He donated a lot of his land to become state parks.

In parting, we saw this creative use of an old boat...

Jan loves her flowers!

And, BAMBI seen from an art gallery.

Orcas Hardware/Gas store.

Stay tuned, we have big plans for the weekend!

:o)

Orcas Island!

Paul and I took the ferry to Orcas Island on Sunday.  Jerry was so generous in letting us use his 1800cc Honda motorbike.  Vroooooooom!

We definitely were cruising in STYLE!

Our ferry to Orcas.

Mount Baker

A stop along the way, Shaw Island.

Final destination, ORCAS!  The largest of the San Juan Islands.

Paul found a yurt that we stayed in, this being on a 120-acre mustang ranch.  It was awesome, almost  Beduin-like!  This yurt had no electricity (but we had lots of candles), the kitchen sink drains into a 5-gallon bucket (there was a note to dump the water under a tree) and we had a composting toilet!  This was amazing, there was a bucket of peat moss next to the toilet seat and you just pour the peat moss over your "business" and there's no odor!

We also got to meet the 4 resident mustangs up close.  They were sweet souls, very gentle and almost child-like in their play.

We took the motorbike into East Sound, where its loaded with lots of art galleries, eateries, bars and pubs and we took advantage of one of the stores there...Paul said I'm his best hat model.

Had a wonderful lunch at Madrona Bar and Grill on the waterfront.

And, of course we marveled at all the beautiful flowers!

More about our antics on Orcas Island tomorrow!

Saturday Morning Farmer's Market in Lopez Village

Woke to a beautiful sunny morning!

After "the boys" went to work,  I walked down to the Lopez Farmer's Market that's held every Saturday.

Lots of artisans, fresh organic vegies, specialty foods (Amish muffins:  sounds questionable to me!), homemade jams/jellies, Jones Family Farms was there with their gorgeous produce, oysters and mussels, lots of jewelry craftspeople, paintings, etc.

I stopped to get a couple of homemade oatmeal/raisin cookies from a young boy that was selling them and they were delicious!  Also bought some hand-painted cards from a young brother/sister team as gifts and made a $5 donation to the Lopez Island Animal Shelter and the two girls that were selling "duct tape bowties" and giving the proceeds to the shelter.  I told them I was not in need of any bowties but I wanted to donate to the animals.

On the way back, I stopped to photograph this "rock bunny" in someone's yard:

Too cute, complete with wire whiskers!

Passing Island Marine Center, there was a boat on jacks that caught my eye:

This boat is in SERIOUS need of a re-naming ceremony.

And, Kenmore Air was picking up passengers:

Stay tuned, the day's not over yet!

:o)

Scored Some Awesome Produce!

Jerry and Paul both brought home some awesome, organic broccoli and raspberries from the job site, which is also a fully functional organic farm!

Are these raspberries big or WHAT???

And, we are grilling some equally awesome salmon for dinner.  I made some salmon poke' earlier:  good, but just not the same.

Tomorrow, we are going SAILING!

Stay tuned for that!

Work Today!

Had the privilege to tag-team a housecleaning job with Angie.  My job was to clean the windows, both inside and out.  It was fun, the weather was cool and pleasant.  From this home, I could see outside Fisherman's Bay, sailboats were out but so were whitecaps.   Angie said we got all the cleaning done in half the time it would take her alone.  I'm very thankful to her for allowing me to join in and make some money today!

Don't the windows look great???

The seasonal fruits are beginning to ripen!  Paul and I took a walk yesterday and noticed that the apple trees are starting to look like apple trees with red fruit!

There's also a berry called the "salmon berry" and it looks like a raspberry but tastes like pickled mango! Amazing and yummy!

Best of all, the fruit is free!

CRAB!

We may not have caught any salmon, but we rocked in catching crab!

In total, Paul brought back 6 Dungeness!  Jerry cooked them up (Loke, his crab pot rivals Kevin's laulau pot in size!), cleaned them and the boys ate.

And, VOILA!

PUPUS!

And, watching us through the window was a hummingbird.