Review of 2014 By Seasons - Summer

And now summer - it was glorious this year - sunshine day after day - warm temperatures - long peaceful days.  NW Washington has the perfect summer weather, lots of sunny days, mild temperatures - not chilly and not hot - quite moderate warm days, very long evenings (it doesn't get dark until around 10:30 and the sunrise is around 4:30), and this year we saw two mosquitoes.  Perfect summers!

 Summer starts for me when the Elderberries Bloom.  They grow a single plants (shrubs), in clumps of two or three and in huge forests of them covering acres of land.  This Elderberry bush was in front of the Sisters mountains - a beautiful way to start summer.

 An area farm always has about one acre planted with Giant Allium - I think they sell to floral shops.  We stop by every summer just to see them waving in the breeze.

 Poppies everywhere

 The farms and ponds are beautiful in the summer.  Everything stays nice and green in the summer because we have enough rain showers interspersed with our sunny days.

 Vast fields of Wild Mustard blanket the horse pastures

 And at the beach the shorebirds flit about

 Cattle in the fields of Wild Mustard

 Our favorite cottage on the shore in Bay View, WA - such lovely hollyhocks.

 Summer is a great time for rides to the islands on the Washington State Ferries.  Washington has the largest ferry system in the world, both in numbers of ferries and area covered by the ferries. There are ferries that hold 6 cars and some walk on passengers and ferries that carry hundreds of cars and passengers.

 Sweet peas line the roadsides - in shades of white to lavender to bright pink - and they smell so good.  I'm trying to get some to start in our yard - once they are established they grow like crazy - who doesn't like that?

 The grass is tall and lush in the summer

 And poppies - more than you can count.  These were outside a fenced yard on Guemes Island - one of our ferry trips took us there last summer.

 Boats crossing extreme tides in the San Juan Islands - another ferry trip for us.

 Wild roses in banks along the roads - even in the freeway medians.  Sweet scent on a warm summer day.

 Gardeners love to grow hydrangeas here.  Last summer I took photos of every bush of hydrangeas I came across.  One lady was gardening in her yard while I took photos and she thanked me for enjoying her flowers.

 Whatcom Falls is a favorite summer destination.  It is a city park right in the middle of town, and only about a mile or two from our house.  There are picnic grounds, hiking trails, fish hatchery, a small pond used as a fish nursery, ducks on the pond, benches to sit and enjoy the scenery or watch the kids in the playgrounds. One of the hiking trails starts just a few blocks from our house.  It is a magnificently huge park.  

The city of Bellingham provides a lot of park spaces.  For each new house built a certain number of acres of land must be preserved somewhere in the city as green spaces and parks.

Summer is magnificent here!!

Mosaic Monday