ASIATIC LILIES AND LAVENDER AT FINE GELFAND'S HOUSE

It may have been Friday the 13th, but we, the Whidbey Island Sketchers, were having very GOOD luck, because we got to visit Fine and Jerry Gelfand's home in Greenbank. Set on high bank with a majestic overlook of Puget Sound in the Salish Sea, textile artist Fine has crafted a fantasy, secret sunken garden reached only by a meandering brick path down, down through lush vegetation and colorful flowers. At the bottom it all surrounds a glade, in the center of which stands an ancient Island boulder of epic proportions. Fine discovered on the hill, dug down to its base, then had it pushed with dozers down to its present location. 
From an artist/gardener's visionary eye and a tremendous amount of hard work the Gelfands carved all of this magic from the tangle of blackberry bushes they inherited with the purchase of the land. 

Summer in Langley Series - "Langley Lavender, City Sheep"

You know it is summer in Langley when the sheep are out in the fields of Fossek Farms, and the balls of fragrant purple lavender are in bloom all up and down Langley's streets. One of my favorite sights, and it is just at the corner of De Bruyn and Third Streets.