On May 31st, Memorial Day, we headed to Hillsboro to spend the night with some old friends. They live high up on a wooded hillside with an incredible view of the Tualatin Valley. On a clear day you can see Mts. Hood, Adams, Jefferson, Rainer and St. Helens. We got a brief glimpse of Mt. Hood this trip but clouds were the order of the day.
Art and Deb are avid and accomplished gardeners. When they lived here in Sonoma County their dahlias won numerous awards. Here they've found new passions. We are usually in Oregon in the winter and now that it was high spring I couldn't wait to see the gardens.
As we came up the drive we were astonished by the blast of color from the rhododendrons and bearded iris in bloom around the yard.
They’re a lot like us in that they don’t venture off their hill unless it’s time for errands, a workout or a concert. When friends show up they're treated like royalty. Deb is an accomplished chef and we were delighted to sit down to a formal table for meals. We are all rabid cribbage players so the annual smackdown continued with much laughter.
By morning the rain let up a bit so we took a long walk down the driveway and pulled up all the scotch broom starts (Cytisus scoparius) we could find. Its bright yellow blossoms are pretty along the highways and hillsides during the grey of spring, but it’s a nasty and aggressive introduced species that's taking over terrain at an alarming rate on the entire West Coast.
We headed back to Sublimity in the late afternoon. Deb sent us home with the rest of her homemade blueberry pie for Rod’s pop. He was quite pleased to see us when we stepped through the door. Needless to say, we are going to plan a longer stay on the next trip!
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