Driftwood Pirate Ship, Decatur Island

That'll do pig!

Luau--Decatur Island style


Step One: First invite 50 of your closest friends to your pad on Decatur Island for four days.
Step Two: Purchase an 81lb pig from Bob's Quality Meats.
Step Three: Get that pig on a ferry. We suggest the Island Express.
Step Four: Thaw.
Step Five: Borrow your dad's backhoe and dig a big hole in the ground. Throw in a bunch of rocks and alder branches. Start the fire.
Step Six: Rub Babe down with a spicy mix of Cayenne, Pepper, Salt, Cumin, Paprika and whatever else has been sitting in your spice rack for over five years.
Step Seven: Wrap the pig in banana leaves and a burlap sack and place on a bed of cabbage atop a metal grate (see photo above).
Step Eight: Once the rocks are glowing and the fire is hot, lower the metal grate onto the heat. Make sure you have friends around who are strong and have maybe participated in a Luau before. May we suggest inviting Brock Bullard.
Step Nine: Remove the rope you used to lower the pig. Cover pig with more cabbage, more alder branches, and a tarp. Go to bed and pray that the pig will actually cook--about 12 hours.
Step Ten: Remove Babe. Test her with a meat thermometer. She should be about 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut her up and put all of her bones in that big fire-pit hole and fill it with dirt. Serve with coleslaw, buns, and plenty of beer.
Bon Appetit.--R

Tree of life. Shelley's world.

Anne and I walked into Shelley's art studio and this is what we found--her tree of life. The tree is made of personal artifacts attached to fishing line that is hung from the ceiling. Each artifact holds meaning for Shelley, which makes the piece deeply personal and moving. Anne and I were awestruck. I don't think we said a word for ten minutes, and for those of you who know us, that's a long time.--R

Interior shots. Shelley's world.

I'm ready to move in.--R

Patio and Pond. Shelley's world.

So many possibilities...

The garden. Shelley's world.

Now I know what to do with my grandmother's plates. It's a visual feast.--R

More Shelley. Decatur Island.

I'm not ready to leave Shelley's place. I plan to share my photos of this outing with you, dear followers, this week. Here's another look at the exterior, the courtyard, and that damn goose!--R

Decatur Island and Mount Baker and a Ferry Boat

Leaving the Island
by Sharon Olds
 

On the ferry, on the last morning of summer,
a father at the snack counter low in the boat
gets breakfast for the others. Here, let me drink some of
Mom’s coffee, so it won’t be so full
for you to carry, he says to his son,
a boy of ten or eleven. The boat
lies lower and lower in the water as the last
cars drive on, it tilts its massive
grey floor like the flat world. Then the
screaming starts, I carry four things,
and I only give you one, and you drop it,
what are you, a baby? a high, male
shrieking, and it doesn’t stop, Are you two?
Are you a baby? I give you one thing,
no one in the room seems to move for a second,
a steaming pool spreading on the floor, little
sea with its own waves, the boy
at the shore of it. Can’t you do anything
right? Are you two? Are you two?, the piercing
cry of the father. Go away,
go up to your mother, get out of here—
the purser swabbing the floor, the boy
not moving from where the first word touched him,
and I could not quite walk past him, I paused
and said I spilled my coffee on the deck, last trip,
it happens to us all. He turned to me,
his lips everted so the gums gleamed,
he hissed a guttural hiss, and in
a voice like Gollum’s or the Exorcist girl’s when she
made the stream of vomit and beamed it
eight feet straight into the minister’s mouth
he said Shut up, shut up, shut up, as if
protecting his father, peeling from himself
a thin wing of hate, and wrapping it
tightly around father and son, shielding them.

Gates of Decatur Island, Wa

Driftwood, driftwood, and a little iron. All of these gates were designed and built by homeowners. Something about Decatur Island makes grown-ups want to play with driftwood and other found objects.
-R

5 Questions for Gail Dupar, Designer. Decatur Island, WA.

Describe your perfect client:
One who's not afraid to use color. Please don't hire me to help you pick out the color 'tan'...

What is your passion?

Food, cooking, gardening, art, design. (not necessarily in that order)

Where are you from?

Born and raised in the greater Seattle area. Spent summers in the Juan Islands at grandma & grandpa's farm.


What was your favorite job?

Spent 80 hours working on a mosaic for a fireplace hearth once, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Tell us something no one knows about you:

I like cats more than dogs...Yikes! OK, I finally said it! No offense to all my friends with dogs!( I guess that means I am a cat person!)

Croc Car. Decatur Island, WA.

There are no words to enhance the truly well done humor involved in all things related to the croc car.

Well Done Fun S&T.

Christina's World. Decatur Is. WA.

Parting shot- the homestead where Gail's grandmother grew up.

Gail's Wonderful Garden. Decatur, Is. WA

The magic continues in Gail's yard. She told Anne and me that she didn't have any time to work in her garden this year. Well, she could have fooled us. The garden was full of color and texture and clever details.

Note the gate, which was once an interior door, and the brick that Gail's homesteading relatives brought
to Washington from Nebraska. Another Well Done project by Gail.

Potting Perfection. Decatur Is. WA

Inside the potting shed there were many tiny little things. Most of which, it turned out, belonged to Gail's Grandmother. She found these trinkets on the property and integrated them into the interior of the potting shed. The skull collection has been enhanced as people on the island found out that Gail collects them and have been bringing them over to her.

Strangely, the poppy seeds in the white enamel container said "Well Done" how weird is that?

Gail's Garden Shed. Decatur Island, WA.

More beauty at Gail's place. Yes, she and her
husband also built this garden shed. So I think the process was
threefold: build form, put in 2' thick log, pour special
concrete, wait, do again.

Well Done Old Time Construction.

Barn Luxe Part Deux, Decatur Island WA.

Rebecca put the garden shed up on the blog yesterday and I was like "omg biatch , i didn't finish the inside of the barn". So she gave me the ok to bump the garden shed to monday and finish showing you the inside of the barn today... I wanted you all to see the framed view out of the window on the top floor of the barn. The road up the property is seen through it, perfectly. Sigh.

Also among her many collections of masks and saws, there was this door to the horse stall that was taken from an old bank.

Enjoy more of this Well Done barn...

Fantastic Farm, Decatur Island, WA

Here starts a visual story of a woman who reclaimed her families' property on Decatur Island, WA.

Everything she has created there is Well Done. I thought we should start with the barn.

Rebecca and I both took pictures of this property and its buldings so you will get to see it from both of our perspectives.

We stood there with our jaws dropping as she so generously took us around her home and land. We can't wait to share it with you.

Today I will let you soak in the exterior of the barn. Tomorrow I will take you inside.

Well Done Barn.

check out more of Gail's story at Sunset Magazines website.....

http://www.sunset.com/home/our-island-puget-sound-00400000025304/

Woodfish

A lovely woman on Decatur Island makes these curious little

colorful driftwood fish.

Well Done local sculpture.

Driftwood meets Iron, Decatur Island Washington

Another fine Loveless project.