My Father loved irises.

The exquisitely fragranced Stargazers lilies opened fully, fitting for the day of clear skies and meteor showers.

My favorite scent in the whole wide starry universe.

As I write this from my summer “office” in the upper front garden, they are a few feet away, their sight and smell filling the already warm morning, as they did on Thursday when I positioned my chair within inches of their bed.

The daylilies are almost over, but put on a wonderful show this year:

This is ‘Strutter’s Ball’.

Here are a few longer shots of the front side of the jungle garden, looking from the upper front garden, down three levels to the lower front garden. The daylilies are in the center.

A very uneven set of steps zigzags from the top step (seen in the foreground above) down past two small terraced lawns (out of sight on the right), to the bottom garden.

In the early evening on this sparkling clear Thursday, we (Mom, sister Leslie and brother Dave) took a picnic to the Elliot Bay Marina, setting up chairs and coolers on the sloped lawn looking west over the water toward the Olympic Mountains. I believe it’s the most beautiful of our many marinas, with the Seattle skyline to the east and the mountains and islands to the west. Many beautiful and pricey sailboats are moored here and the final regatta of the season was about to get underway, a fun and relaxed race around buoys set out in the bay.

The ferries were also criss crossing the bay (click for larger):

As the sun set, the crescent moon and Venus appeared on the horizon. Mom spoke of her Mother who had majored in Astronomy and Philosophy at the nearby University of Washington, in the days when it was rare for a woman to attend college, let alone earn a Masters as she had done.

Darkness came slowly and we settled in to watch for more shooting stars.

Summer in Seattle.

Wishing you all a beautiful weekend.

xo – g