Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Vashonistas meet again

Sandi, Jann, Linda, Deb, me, Sally
Last year at the beginning of October, six blogging friends met for the first time at the Lavender Hill Farm on Vashon Island. I wrote about it here. The above picture shows the six of us this morning at the Hardware Store, the same restaurant where we ate breakfast last year. Our gathering was such a success, and we now love each other even more, so here we are one year later, with another three days together at the end of October instead of at the beginning. We even have a tradition to follow: breakfast at the Hardware Store, a visit to the Farmers' Market, and dinner together on Friday night, fixed by our very own Sandi, cook extraordinaire.
Sandi preparing last night's lasagne
Today we went on a couple of new hikes, discovered by Deb, sure to become another tradition: finding places on the island to explore together. The beautiful farm house where we are staying is a joy to come back to, after having been out and about, exploring. The gorgeous views we had of Mt. Rainier are missing this year, since we are experiencing the same low clouds that the rest of Washington state has had for the past two weeks. But it's still beautiful, and the colors!
The Shinglemill Creek trail
The first place we went is called the Shinglemill Creek trail, maintained by the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust, which is dedicated to preserving the land to protect natural habitats on the island. It's a beautiful trail, which descends into a ravine before starting up again. It's got some pretty steep parts, but it's just beautiful, if a bit on the slippery side with all the fallen leaves.
There are steps under all those leaves
After we explored the area, we headed down to a beach where we could look for shells and rocks. Although that was fun, the big excitement was watching an eagle steal a gull's lunch. The gull tried for awhile to get the treat back, but finally gave up.
It's hard to intimidate an eagle
Then we split up, three Vashonistas deciding to do some shopping in town, while three others, me being one, came back to our lovely farm house to enjoy some lunch and get some blogging done. I walked around the grounds, looking for some pictures, and could not resist this stunning display of fall colors taken from the back porch.
It really is that brilliant
When the sun is out, colors sometimes wash out a bit, but when it's overcast, I've gotten some of my most vivid pictures. Today was no exception. I plan to finish this post and head into the kitchen for some leftover lasagne. I'm enjoying myself immensely and will put a post up on my Eye on the Edge post tomorrow morning before we start to pack up and head back home. What a gift these blogging friends are!
:-)

34 comments:

  1. What gorgeous colors! Meeting blogging friends in person in a real treat and what a beautiful place to do it in.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow...some beautiful surroundings to go with a very cool meeting...have fun...i need to pull off another of these...last one was 6 of us in NYC 2 years ago...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Each time I read about your gatherings I think I should try to arrange something like that. I'm glad you have vivid colors despite the low clouds. What a great setting for getting together.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful post about a very special day with the Vashionistas! What a wonderful day we had.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a gift to us this post is. Today has been magical in every way that matters. Love radiates

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks like great fum, good for your soul fun:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. great friends, great food, great area. sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Couldn't wait to read this...and I'm soooo happy that you all are having a fantastic time together.
    Super hugs to all of you.
    The fall colors are stunning...just beautiful!
    J.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The reds in the last photo are spectacular. I'm sure a week end with fellow bloggers is very interesting. I would think that things are learned about blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, wow, and wow again. I am so happy for all of you - and love those colours. The colours of excitement and fun!

    ReplyDelete
  11. A magical day, in every way! Every bit of it was deeply satisfying. I wondered if we could possibly recreate a year ago, and this year exceeded my expectations! Already looking forward to next year! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love that last photo! Fire trees, as my grandson calls them! Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a beautiful place! How lucky you are to be there!
    I love overcast / shaded light for the same reason - it lets the color shine.

    ReplyDelete
  14. How beautiful, that the internet brought you all together two years in a row. Way to go, sadge!

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Vashionistas together again? Yay! How wonderful for you guys!!!

    That island looks like such a beautiful place to be... And those Fall colours? Wow!!! I went on a hike last weekend hoping to see some of that but the season is all wonky this year...

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!! :o)

    (and that eagle! WOW!)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I remember your trip last year and all the excitement of meeting for the first time. How wonderful to be able to do this again. I think that to personally meet your blogging friends would be so, so nice :)
    Beautiful fall colours and love the eagle.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm up too early this Sunday morning to read your Eye on the Edge - couldn't sleep, too much on my mind. I hope to get back to bed for a few more hours before I have to really get up. We started moving Jill and the kids into their new house yesterday. We'll be working there all week, and then the big move will be next Saturday. There is a lot to be done, and too much to think about, causing the sleeplessness. We have some work to do there today, before we get ready to go to the last Sounders match late this afternoon. 65,000 people expected.
    We spent Saturday morning with our garden club at Kubota Gardens, where the colors were spectacular, much like your wonderful photo. The photos are still in my camera. Maybe I'll get to them later.
    I have been thinking about you blogger friends on your big weekend. Looks like you are having another wonderful gathering. Thanks for sharing the pics.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a great group. All but two I follow. Will have to check out those two.
    The cool thing is that you know quite a bit about each other all ready from the blogs. A meet is kind of like a reunion.
    Love the title of your group.

    ReplyDelete
  19. What fun!!!! Yes, I do remember last years get-together. And, I hope it continues in such a positive way DJan. A great group, of happy, happy, fun-lovin' ladies.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a special time of year to have reunion with your friends. Envious of your wonderful relationships.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is so cool! I just met my first in-person blog friend last week (Patti Maxwell of Pattiken and the Muses). Maybe when I'm back in the states I can meet more. Good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love your pics... as usual... but had to save the one of the Shinglemill creek trail. That is beautiful! Glad the weather co-operated so that you guys could enjoy all that beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  23. You are right. The colorful trees are magnificent. Wish we had them here in Hawaii. I am so glad you are enjoying this time with friends, DJan. It's a blessing, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  24. That is so cool to have this connection. I love the name Vachonistas. Another group of blogging friends whom I follow, met through blogging and get together fairly regularly. You probably know at least some of them. They call themselves the Blisers - for Blog Sisters.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The colors are amazing! It looks even prettier than last year. I can't wait to read everyone's blogs about the weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It is wonderful that the Vashonistas are making this an annual tradition. You could not pick a better spot for your gathering. Those trees are gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  27. What a great idea to meet up with fellow bloggers. When I first started blogging I never for one moment thought that I would meet people through the blog but that has becomme a wonderful spin off. The fall picture has such vibrant colours that they just don't look real.

    ReplyDelete
  28. It looks like a vivid and memorable day. How nice.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Dear DJan, oh, those colors are so vivid and vibrant. Thanks for including the photograph here of the six of you at the Hardware Store Restaurant. It's good to see all your smiling faces.

    And by the way, I so like that photograph of you at the top left of your blog. It's one of the best I've ever seen of you. It was on one of your recent postings and I noticed it there. What a lovely smile you have. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Looks like you had a wonderful time. How nice that you could all meet up again :)

    ReplyDelete
  31. This whole post just had me smiling from beginning to end! :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Wow! I recognized Sally and went to her blog to see if it was really her. How extraordinary that you both got together. This is just so neat! The fall colors are fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  33. It really is a treat that the 6 of you are so fortunate to get together and that some of us get to read about that time you share. I do agree that the photo from the farm porch shows some firey colours:)

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments! If you see a word verification box here, just ignore it. I don't use the darn thing and Blogger is trying to get us to use it, I guess. Ignore it and your comment will still appear.