Bellingham & Dunrovin’ – A growing guest list!!!

Bellingham has an abundance of charm to share with friends.  We have been blessed with visits from some of our good friends from California and our cruises around the globe.

You have to look closely at this photo to tell that the town with the electric poles is really a mural.  The classic old building down the street is the old county court house.

We really surprise our guests with all that there is to do and see in this local area.

Our dear friend Anne visited us two weeks ago. We had a ball — lots of wine, Martinis, Trains and Sequence.

You can see Anne and Jole doing what comes naturally — shopping; in the Fairhaven section of Bellingham.  Anne caught “Fall” at the right time

to see the trees in their best color.  Since then, most of the leaves have now turned brown and adorn our lawns.  Anne’s husband, Colin, had a business meeting and could not come with her this trip.  Hopefully, Colin will come back in the Spring.  

On our way to Sudden Valley for lunch, we saw about 20 dear, including an 8 point buck napping in a driveway.  The deer are virtually tame in this local area because hunting is not permitted.  I missed a photo of the buck, but caught these three doe munching on the local grass.

We would entertain one another at least once a week.  Naturally we really miss Anne and Colin.  When Colin speaks he sounds just like the Gecko in the Geiko commercials!  He’s just as believable too.

Speaking of animals…one of my neighbors corrected a misconception.  We were discussing my  “IHOP” bird feeding station and I mentioned that I was fascinated by how tame and active the chipmunks were .  Just as I said that one jumped up on the feeder and started to munch on the corn kernels.  Lynn then informed me that we were looking at a very rare squirrel, known as a Western Douglas Squirrel, almost extinct in this area because of the Grey Squirrel introduced into this country a couple of decades ago. The size is about half-way between a chipmunk and a typical squirrel.  They are beautiful.

Our next guests who arrived last week were Gerrit and Pat, our friends – friends from our cruise.  We both attended cooking classes – cooking being Gerrit’s passion.  He treated us to several Asian dishes while here, and is a master.  He is also a “bit jockey” (computer guru) and taught me how to blog.

Pat convinced him to “think smaller” and he agreed let her take him for a spin around Reed Lake.  He mumbled something about the accommodations; couldn’t find the “head,”  nor a waiter to order a drink!

You can see Gerrit in our kitchen preparing to braise Tuna for dinner. He also made what I would call California rolls – with various Oriental ingredients; including eel.

You can see some of the ingredients for both dishes on the right.  I made my famous Mango Martinis and poured wine.

We took them both on a local shopping tour and made another stop in Fairhaven.  This is a dynamite little section of Bellingham.  There is a little something for everybody there.

I have made a little more headway around this place.  I completed the hardest part of my dock.   In the Spring, if it doesn’t float away,  I will  permanently affix it to the bank.  I need to see how the weather affects the depth of the lake.  I’m told that the water level varies from 3’ to 4’ with the winter rain & snow.   This will determine where and how I can give it a permanent location.

This next few months should prove interesting.  Jole and I have taken on the responsibility of house-sitting for Jole’s sister (Gaye) and brother-in-law (Jim).

We drove Jim and Gaye to Bellingham Airport the day after Halloween.  They flew to San Diego to board a cruise ship to South America.  They have a dozen destinations that will keep them travelling until the end of February.  We will keep Scooter (180 lb. Golden Lab.), their two cats…”Miss Piggy” and “Tommy” and their two “pellet stoves” alive until their return.  So….we are sharing their adventure too.  Their 5 acre estate (known affectionately as Marmalade Manor) is about 3 miles from Dunrovin’.  Please wish us luck!!!

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