Warm and lazy days (before heading to the metropolis)

Latest additions to the writing hut: a handpainted mailbox from the Lopez dump (who knows what will show up in there!) and a twirling butterfly wind toy from Cannon Beach.

BUTTERCUPS, WILD STRAWBERRIES AND INDIAN PLUM are blooming around The Nuthatch cabin this week. The redwood sorrel I planted from Swanson’s Nursery is doing well, too, with its dainty flowers like pale pink confetti. And star-petaled camas flowers mirrored the lapis lazuli blue sky on a recent visit to Shark Reef Sanctuary on Lopez Island.

Today I’m glorying in an afternoon with the door and window wide open in Wee Nooke, my writing hut atop our rocky knoll, as Galley, our little ginger girl cat, wanders in and out for Tasty Chicken Flavor kitty treats.

Thankfully, Galley seems to have given up her recent habit of bringing live garter snakes in and dropping them at my feet. Perhaps my leaping about and yelling that I REALLY didn’t want them finally convinced her. I hope I didn’t seriously wound her gift-giving good intentions, but some habits need nipping in the bud.

Camas flowers are in bloom on the banks of San Juan Channel, on Lopez Island.

Snakes aside, on Center Island we’re enjoying sunny days of bucolic delights in advance of something completely different: On Saturday, we fly to New York City for five days of urban immersion. May in the big city.

For Barbara and me, it will be our first Big Apple bite in many years. We both visited the city as youngsters and determined that once was enough. As adults, when we wanted a metropolis with world-class theater and superb museums, London was our repeat destination. But our 27-year-old daughter, Lillian, has visited New York a couple times on her own and likes it a lot. So we decided it might be fun to go for a few days with her as our tour guide. She’s planning our daily itinerary, which is a treat for this retired travel editor.

There’s talk of a Broadway show, the Empire State Building, art museums, lots of deli food, and sailing toy boats on the pond in Central Park.

Shiver me timbers. Updates to come.