Wordless Wednesday: Part One: A Tour of Bella Madrona aka The Garden of Sampson & Beasley

The Alaskan Honeymoon: Part One (Anchorage, AK)

We knew we'd landed in Anchorage when we saw this at the airport.

Yes, it was thrilling, but it was sad at the same time.

Rhodochiton vine in a planter outside of a hotel in Anchorage. 

We landed late on Friday night and stayed in Anchorage for two nights.

Most people wouldn't recommend this, but we were exhausted! We stayed downtown at the Hilton and had a great time.

A closeup of the vine.

We had an open air market across the street to walk to and we ate breakfast at the Snow City Cafe.

Then we visited the Anchorage Visitor Information Center.

I can't say enough about its original "green roof".

It very much fueled and gave fire to the pioneer blood in my veins.

The Fuchsia baskets are obviously overwintered. Look at those woody stems!

This was the beginning of the floriferousness too.

With all those extra daylight hours, the blooms are a bit different up North. I don't know how this happens exactly, but I saw it on several occasions and I'll continue to show you images of these amazing plants.

(Yes, I'm sure that these are well fed too.)

Some Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium).

The native plants were plentiful.

Fireweed is by far the most spectacular of all during September and you'll be seeing a lot of it as these posts progress.

This amazing shrub was really enchanting. It is native to colder northern regions but I cannot recall what it is right now. Any thoughts? I picked seeds and I know it's in the pea family.

The Sorbus were plentiful but I'm not completely certain which ones I was seeing.

This was my honeymoon after all so I tried not to go too crazy with the plant ID.

We saw a lot of lilacs but only a few with blooms.

This one is a smaller bush variety.

I'm ashamed that my evergreen tree ID is so shabby. I've chosen to show you this amazing tree even though I'm not certain what it is.

Please forgive me. I promise to study.

On the way back from one of the best Japanese dinners I've ever had, we found these rhubarb plants being grown in the lawn of a Catholic church. (They are the plants up near the fence. Others were planted in spots on the other side of the sign too—right in the middle of the lawn.)

Makes me happy that they're thinking about the food or lawn question too.

There was more floriferousness nearby as we walked past the mall on our way back to the hotel.

When I saw the Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) I had to smile. It's not at all a plant I think of when I think of Alaska but I was so happy to see such a fine specimen.

Then there were the rose hips on the Rugosa roses. I just couldn't get enough of these plants. They are all over the place and they grow so much better up North than they do down here in Oregon.

It became so clear to me right away that Alaska is not the northernmost edge of our climate, but that we are the southernmost extreme of its climate. I felt a strong kinship with the region right out of the gate.

That last night I tried on my kind of bear fur hat in the hotel gift shop—the totally silly fake kind. I thought a bit about Ms. Palin and wondered what kind of mama bear I could be if I tried. Luckily I lost my taste for politics years ago, but I remain interested at least in what politicians are doing—or NOT doing.

A very large part of me felt at home in Alaska. It reminded me of the Oregon I grew up in and the people I knew as a girl.

This was just the beginning though and so rarely am I so comfortable right away in a new place.

More to come...

The Amateur Bot-ann-ist Marries John in Her Garden

My wedding bouquet made for great photo opportunities.

Four weeks ago today I married an amazing man in the back garden. And now—as I sit here writing this—it's great to publicly admit that we met online and immediately knew we would marry. 

Just 6 months after we met, we were married. There, I said it.

This happened because maturity and experience are great things. Middle-aged love is nothing to scoff at either—especially when it brings such joy and happiness. 

And in my case, I can't say enough about the lessons learned from my divorce. I know now that it took a divorce in order for me to truly understand how much marriage and commitment mean to me. Marriage means working together and being a team and I have that now for the first time. It's what I've always wanted and hoped for and it's such a great feeling knowing now that someone truly has my back and I can count on him to be there. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way too.

Maurice helping to roll out the garden carpet. 

Getting ready for our noontime wedding was a lot of fun. Up until the last minute we'd planned to get married that day in a government office but then I realized we could just do it at home. Why not?

Planted topiary ball with Bromeliad and Ficus. Made to come indoors over the winter. Will keep you updated on how it holds up indoors as a houseplant planting. 

Of course I tried to clean up the back garden as much as possible. I added a few pretty things to make it look better too, but overall, we didn't really intend for it to be a big affair so not much was added. I did make this topiary though.

Two of the fur balls thinking all of the hub-bub was about them—since it usually is all about them.

The night before the ceremony I packed for Alaska and straightened the house.

Since John didn't move in with me until after our honeymoon, that night, we both had a lot of time to think about our new life together and what it would be like in the future.

My mind was so busy thinking about packing I knew I just had to be me no matter what.

Oh why did I wait until the last minute? 

That's when I rushed out and bought some flowers to arrange at 9pm. That's just the kind of thing that I do.

Having fun with my own selfie. 

The morning of the wedding I had my hair and makeup done. It felt amazing and I'm so happy I did so.

When you plan a noontime wedding, that doesn't mean you have a ton of time to get ready. I know that now. But of course, I pulled it all together.

John and I are oddballs. If you don't know that about me yet, then you must be new to my blog or else you haven't been paying attention. 

John and I only invited a handful of important people. We hadn't really thought a lot about wedding photography so many of these pictures were just shot by iPhone by my nieces.

Look! My head is exploding with flowers! 

My flowers were designed by a dear friend who has an amazing touch. (Quinn in the City Flowers).

I had asked Quinn to go "over the top" and I'm pretty sure she nailed it.

Yes, I really do laugh loudly. Am I channeling Phyllis Diller? Maybe...

On my wedding day, I was very happy and we had a little secret too. 

The look on my face terrifies me. I look a lot like my paternal great-grandmother who I take after in so many ways. I guess it makes sense.  

My eldest niece, seen here on the left, was the minister of our ceremony. We kept that a secret from my family until after the ceremony. It was such a great idea and it made the event so much more meaningful.

That's not to say that her younger sister (on the right) wasn't involved too. She made sure we had lots of photos and provided plenty of laughs. 

I love my girls. 

Probably one of my favorite pictures from our special day. I know. I'm weird. I already told you I was though...

Afterwards, our little group met both of our mothers for a special dessert at one of my favorite restaurants in Portland.

Yes, we didn't invite our moms to our wedding. They've been through it all before so we did things differently and they didn't mind at all.

Trust me, it worked very well and they both loved seeing us all dressed up while we ate Boccone Dolce.

John looking at me thinking, "We pulled it off, our moms are both stuffed, now let's get the heck out of here and head to Alaska!!"

And with that, we were off to Alaska!

Wordless Wednesday: A Rose Tattoo in my Honor

Roses to represent Auntie Annie.

A succulent tattoo designed by the tattoo artist for another client. 

I do love a studio, don't you?

My eldest niece and Alice (the tattoo artist) at Anatomy Tattoo. (She specializes in floral tattoo work.)

The unfinished piece—I had to leave before it was done but I am sure you get the idea.