Friday flowers

Something a little different today.

These photos are all from our trip to Long Beach--they were taken around the house where we stayed, mostly along the path between the house and the beach.

It was fun putting together this post and trying to identify a lot of plants that are new to me. This website from WSU has a lot of good information, though I'm still left with a few question marks.

First we have the clear winner in the photogenic department, beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus).
  

And seashore lupine (Lupinus littoralis), a close runner-up. This species is much smaller than most of the lupines you'll see in your garden, less than a foot tall including the flower stalks, and it is seriously adorable. I was practically cooing to it in baby talk.

Here is another sweet pea of some sort, a little pink one. I'm not sure of its species, but I think I've pulled some of these plants out of my perennial garden. Now that I see the pretty bloom, I'm kind of regretting that.

It's interesting how getting out of your usual environment can change your perspective about whether a plant is desirable or not. When you don't know what's a flower and what's a weed, you can just respond to each plant's color and form.

Though even known weeds take on a certain charm among the dunes.

On the other hand, I took so many pictures of beautiful waving beach grass, and it turns out that much of what I was photographing is probably invasive. So that's kind of a bummer.

But here are some familiar faces, all native plants that we have growing in our yard in Seattle, or closely related ones. Beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis):

Sword fern:



Yarrow (the leaves look very different from what we have in our yard, so I'm not sure if this is a different species or just a different growth form characteristic of the seashore):

Western spiraea (Spiraea douglasii):

On the foredunes I think I found two species of beach rocket (neither one native to the West Coast). I'm pretty sure this is European beach rocket, Cakile maritima.

And though I'm less confident about this ID, I'm calling this one American beach rocket, Cakile edentula.

But some of these plants will have to remain a mystery. Like this wee daisy-like thing.

Or this one, with leaves that remind me a bit of of woolly sunflower, but which clearly isn't.

Or this one, with inflorescences that look like mullein,

but with a very different growth form.

Well, figuring this out will give me something to do next time, right?

Christopher Walken supports print

Do you have the same illness? Mine is a seriously bad case, I gotta admit.

(If you don't get the joke, go here.)

I used StitchPoint.com to generate the cross-stitch chart for this piece (font: Amsterdam) and some of my stash of vintage embroidery floss to stitch the letters. At first, I just planned do the whole piece in that staid dusty purple at the beginning there, but then I thought it might be fun to use a random rainbow of colors, like the spines of books on a shelf (no books arranged in color order here, so I think I am safe from Internet mocking). Note that I included a generous chunk of the color I like to call Penguin paperback orange.

Cracks me right up every time I look at it.



"I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I buy first editions."

"Really explore the literary space this time."

I have like 20 of these if you guys want to stick around.

Very long weekending

Dunes and hollows:
 

Bird life:
 

First visit from the Tooth Fairy:



Industry (by parties known and unknown):
 


Wave action:




Stitching and more stitching:



Shipwreck:
 

Beachcombing:
 

Breakers:
 


Beacons:

 

Undaunted courage:

Friday flowers

 

 

Daisy, Osteospermum, Helianthemum, fern: a small but sunny-themed bouquet.

My new motto

Take a man's t-shirt: kind of a dorky cut, but nice thick jersey in good condition--impossible to pass up for $1.99.



Chop.



Cut some more.


Study ikat bag's tutorial for smooth waistbands. Try to pay attention when you sew the elastic together, so that you don't sew a twist into the loop. And read the tutorial carefully, so you don't end up attaching the waistband inside out. In other words, do as I say, not as I did at first, here.



Now, repeat after me: "You can never have too many Breton stripes, you can never have too many Breton stripes."



(And yes, that stripey top really is what I happened to be wearing when I finished the skirt. It's the coincidence that proves the rule, I say.)

Is this the tidiest, most professional looking skirt ever made? No. (I think I need to pin more than LiEr is in the habit of doing, for one thing.) But it's comfortable (read: a little big, if I'm being totally honest) and presentable, and suddenly I'm way less intimidated by the idea of sewing knits. Win!

Her glow-in-the-dark materials

Have gathered some raw materials for this year's Lo-Fi Festival piece.

Be warned: there will be mollusk.

Weekending

Farm visit.

Errands, errands, rain.



Good company, semi-greasy spoon.