Finally, Bloom and Rot has arrived at the Fourth of July. I guess I am a little behind. Nicole invited Sloan, Jenny, TS, Jerritt, Ross and I out to her family's home on Lopez Island for the weekend. It was an incredibly memorable holiday weekend on my favorite island, with great friends and good food.
The ferry ride from Anacortes was really lovely. It was the warmest ferry ride I've ever taken. The "Sun Deck" was actually warm enough for sun bathing.
Nicole is my movie star friend. (Okay, she's only been in one music video so far, but look at that face...)
Nicole's grandparents built the Lopez Island house. We were all pretty smitten with the 60s kitchen, which must have been state of the art back in the day.
I think this is actually my favorite photo from the weekend.
As if I did not take enough photos on my own, Nicole gave me all the photos she took over the weekend. I've mixed them all up here. This is one from her camera, and a really stellar photo of Miss Ellie Dog.
I am a spy, as usual.
Nicole's mom had heard that people have been camping out in/on the net shed. She asked Nicole to post a No Trespassing sign because the shed is thoroughly unsafe. She also forbid Nicole to set foot on the shed. So of course, we had to explore a little.
Nicole's Great-grandfather's fishing nets were still heaped in the shed, along with broken bottles, plastic bags, wrappers, poop...
The pilings have mostly disintegrated.
There was a fabulous parade on the Fourth. We got pelted with candy.
We hauled the ping-pong table out of the garage.
But the main attraction was Four Square, once we remembered the rules.
I am not sure who won, but it most certainly was not me.
While Nicole, Jerritt, TS, Jenny and Sloan went exploring, Ross and I biked to another beach to meet them. (These photos are all from Nicole's camera).
We met up again, and Nicole and I took a freezing cold swim. (Hey guys! Who has those photos? Please send them to me. )
Nicole managed to get a photo of this baby trying to drink a beer before the baby's parents noticed that a)the baby was trying to drink beer or b)Nicole was documenting it. The bottle was empty, though.
TS and Sloan had a real ping-pong battle going.
Although the main game of the weekend was "Sloan Wins," I think they ended up tying.
We watched fireworks from the yard.
Since then, Sloan and Jenny moved to St. Louis, and I'm writing this from Salt Lake City, my new home for at least the next 4 years...Thank you, dear friends.
Salt Lake City is not entirely parched, nor entirely sandy, but according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, those are the connotations for the word desert. I also learned that the word has its roots in ecclesiastical Latin: desertum--an abandoned place. But there are tree lined streets here, too, and although the streets feel unsettlingly quiet to me, there are plenty of people. I guess they just have a few extra square feet per person. I live downtown, only blocks from the Temple Square, which is at the very heart of the city, but the sound of crickets at night is loud and lovely.
