Here, let me dig up your front yard...

Employees of the City of Bainbridge Island showed up unannounced yesterday morning at 8:30 to dig a trench in Steve and Pippa's front yard. If you look closely at this photo, you can see little Nola watching from the window.

It seems unfortunate that they came in and tore up the yard without any warning, though, to their credit, they did a reasonable job of putting it all back pretty much the way it was. But it was, I think, pretty hard on Pippa because Steve was out of town -- maybe even a little scary, though I'm sure she remained calm to protect Nola. And how did they decide whose yard to dig up?

Apparently they were sampling the soil to see whether they can get by with just digging a trench for the sewer instead of digging up the whole road. Did they dig up other yards as well? Did anyone else get warning of this?

Welcome to Egypt

I'm sure someone out there has a better photo than this of the amazing sunset we all watched this evening. We were out walking the dog, and I didn't have my camera with me; by the time I got home this was all that was left.

But what made the dogwalk for me, as much as the sunset, was the conversations we had with various neighbors about the planning commission meeting last night. My favorite story from the evening -- and there were many; I can't wait to hear more -- was the moment when the chair of the planning commission said we were all "living in Egypt."

Apparently people just stared at her, not knowing what she was trying to say, so she had to clarify. "You know, Denial is not a river in Egypt? -- why are you all investing in building down there? What about storms? What about global warming?"

We're thinking we need a banner at the top of the spit that says Welcome to Egypt! Or maybe we should just incorporate as a little town, like Rolling Bay, or Lynnwood, only name it Denial. We already basically have our own post office -- we could just build a little shack on the site of the old lighthouse, put all those mailboxes inside, out of the rain, and put a sign on it declaring it to be Post Office, Denial, WA.

Jerry, you're good at signs; maybe this could be one of those charming neighborhood projects the BIAHC is so eager to fund...

Red tide in the morning

Those of you who walk the beach regularly around the point are probably familiar with the tree that landed on our beach after falling from the cliff above the lagoon.

This morning it was looking particularly decorative; Chris actually took a water sample of this rather ominous-looking red tide, but Clem Furlong tells us it's just algae. Quite striking, whatever the source. I also photographed some streaks of it in the water from the ferry I took over to Seattle last Thursday. So the algae appear to be making the rounds...

Do you suppose the algae are the source of that weird odor the lagoon gets sometimes in August? Like this tree, I just want to point the finger at SOME body -- and it happens too regularly (and always in August) for it to be someone's failing septic system.

Red sails near sunset

This very small and utterly charming boat with reddish brown sails reminiscent of a Chinese Junk passed by our deck last Sunday while we were entertaining out-of-town guests. I'm not sure which entertained them more: this boat, or the bright red house finch chittering constantly as he balanced on the Christmas lights still suspended from the roof over our deck...

Annual Fourth of July Parade

This year's Sandspit Fourth of July Parade began with a bang as the Meachams provided their annual 21 gun salute (ably assisted by numerous small children fitted with appropriate head gear.)

Steve Kilpack looked on, wearing the pants and drum handed down to him last year by Dick Cole (but a darker wig), and Steen and Laurence showed up in full regalia.

Tom Golon and a host of other flag bearers carried the Star-Spangled Banner to the park, where the parade crowd gathered on the lawn for the traditional patriotic sing, led this year by Susan Thatcher.

Pastor Marty, joining us for his last parade as a full-time resident, sang with Mark Scott while Joanna coached her grand-niece through the unfamiliar words.

Afterwards Gayle Robbins chatted up Margie Cole while Tom, Susan, Steen and Patti Devin admired past photos of Dick Cole leading the parade.


Dick is sorely missed, but hopefully his spirit will infuse us all, and we can all begin to adopt his habit of always having a smile and a kind word to share.

The Sandspit Marauder

Here she is in broad daylight, after having eaten some of Connie and Clem's strawberry blossoms, no doubt! (Be thankful I didn't post the picture of her peeing in the lagoon).