This is one of the most interesting Christmas angels I’ve ever seen. Found in a shop in Poulsbo last week.
Sluy’s Bakery
Back in Poulsbo again, here’s Sluy’s Bakery, a Poulsbo institution. Established in 1966 it offers classic sweet pastries, cookies, and breads that keep people coming back for more. Last week its windows were decorated with gingerbread houses made by owners and employees.
Lots of little houses were on display. Look carefully and you can see some of the sweet rolls displayed in the front window.
On my earlier post about Poulsbo on Wednesday a couple of comments expressed curiosity about the attraction of the Pacific Northwest to Scandinavian settlers. Authors Ruth Kirk and Carmela Alexander address this in “Exploring Washington’s Past”: Conditions on the Kitsap Peninsula paralleled Norwegians’ home-country landscape: a long coastline with many harbors where they could pursue fishing; dense timber for logging; and, once the trees were cut, stumpland to transform into farms.
Soggy
We’ve had a lot of rain lately. And there’s no better rain gauge than the Dungeness River. It’s running high, very fast, and very muddy.
The shot above is of Mary Luke Wheeler County Park on Ward Road, a sweet spot along the river. The Dungeness has come up to the parking lot. The river bank is completely submerged. I posted a shot of the river taken here last month. The spot where I stood is underwater.
During summer the Dungeness water level drops and it’s usually a clear blue. Right now we’re in the chocolate milk color spectrum.
Trees are submerged to well inland of the typical water’s edge and you can see the current whipping around their trunks.
Velkommen to Poulsbo
Poulsbo is a town on the Kitsap Peninsula. It’s about an hour’s drive from Sequim and is notable for it’s quaint downtown. Like much of the Pacific Northwest it was an early destination for Scandinavians and some shops and local events celebrate Poulsbo’s Norwegian heritage.
In the 1880s Poulsbo was 90 percent Norwegian and this was the common language spoken well into the 1920s. A welcome sign coming into town says “Velkommen” and is posted next to a large carved Viking figure. Rosemaling, a painted folk art design, decorates buildings here and there in Poulsbo.
It’s beginning to look a lot…
…like Christmas. And I’m not ready.
I innocently went to the post office for stamps yesterday and joined a line that snaked out the door. To be sure it’s a tiny post office. But it’s the longest line I’ve seen for quite a while. And I have two packages to mail that, well, I haven’t even picked out yet.
This is a Christmas display in Poulsbo, a little town on the Kitsap Peninsula about an hour’s drive from Sequim. I’ll show you more of it in coming days.
Monday barn
This barn is part of one of my favorite farms here. The owner has Shire draft horses, big, beautiful creatures that are always a pleasure to see grazing in his pasture.
Belted kingfisher
Here’s another bird I don’t see nearly often enough: a belted kingfisher. These birds are found throughout Washington State, never far from water, where it hunts for food. If my bird book has guided me correctly, this is a female. Don’t you love that punk topknot?