Busy Day

I've been waking up at the proverbial crack of dawn these days - I'm thinking it's the early summer light which sneaks in even though I have room darkening shades and a sleep mask. Here in Portland, the first light is at 4:45 am and typically I'm wide awake by 5:30. A wee bit too early in my humble estimation! I shouldn't complain, the summer light here is gorgeous. Last light of the day at 9:42 pm, and we're just at the solstice. Lovely, long summer days. 

I went for a walk this morning at one of my favorite places - the Tualatin Hills Nature Park, then headed over to Toyota to get my RAV4's regular maintenance done. A quick stop at Trader Joe's for more peonies (they have amazing ones!) and then home. I've been puttering around all day getting ready for tomorrow's dinner. But I took plenty of time to water, read my book over lunch, and even took a bit of a snooze at one point (that part wasn't really planned).

The bees are enjoying the lavender, which is in full bloom. Today they were kind enough to let me hang out on the back deck for a while, observing. I remember in my former garden (which was extensive), I'd sit quietly in the midst of the garden with my camera and eventually the pollinators would just settle down and let me quietly take their photos. There was a golfer on the course (right off the deck) who asked me how I could be so close to all the bees on the "purple stuff". I simply said that they were far more interested in the flowers than in me ;-)