Brief Countryside Trip - Trying To Catch A Bit of Summer

Don't Get Lost in the Field...

 The picnic basket packed, we made a quick trip to the lavender fields. We cobbled together enough to make a brief visit, on a budget. The fields were already being harvested, but there were still plenty of rows to get lost in, plenty of lavender flowers to accidentally step on as you navigated between said rows. This photo reminds me so much of a realism/impressionistic painting by Jules Bastien-Lepage. (No French in sight, though.) It's very soothing - even though the sky was uncharacteristically overcast. There was new ownership - apparently the puzzling lack of sun last year drove the previous owner out of the business.

Picking yourself a huge bouquet of lavender for $5 is my idea of a fragrant deal. We picked both culinary and fragrant lavender. Culinary lavender, you ask? Sure, great for making herbal meat rubs, you can even use it for baked deserts or jams. Since lavender is one of the cheapest ingredients for a fine herb, you will see it combined with a million different products. When lavender is done right, it is unique and special. It has reputed relaxing properties - this must be true, as it was so calming for us. I wanted to stay and use every combination of apertures for my photographs. But you can't stay forever.

The Solemnity of the Gathering of the Lavender

Tranquility

Picking Some Marion-Berries

If you look at the bottom picture, you can see where a major lake is being drained as the result of the Elwha Dam being torn down. (We would not have been allowed to wander around on the lake-bed, as the state is still working on the dam for a few years). Eventually it will become a meadow, as it was before the damn was built at the turn of the century. We got as far as this section of the mountains before we turned away for home. Can't do everything in one adventure, I suppose. The cat awaits.

Have to be pleased that we saw a baby deer on the way to the lavender field, a tiny tiny Shetland Pony, caught an incredibly atmospheric foggy noir morning on the 5 AM ferry, saved food costs by packing sandwiches, scones and some dirt-cheap Kombucha we came across at Grocery Outlet.(Stay tuned for a future ode to the chaotic choices of Grocery Outlet. But watch out for their eggs...)

Still hoping for the Value Village call...