Author: Peggy Hanson

I am a nature photographer and digital artist living and loving life in Sequim, WA.

Lavender Season

A Meditative Moment at Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm

With the onset of summer, Sequim residents are beginning to see the color purple, not only in our local farm fields, but just about everywhere in town – and some are even seeing it in their mirrors, like my very enthusiastic neighbor, who recently dyed her hair purple.

It’s a season that most of us look forward to with pride and anticipation since Sequim is the lavender capital of United States, and Google now AI agrees:

“Sequim, Washington is widely known as the “Lavender Capital of North America”. This small town’s unique climate, characterized by a “rain shadow” effect from the Olympic Mountains, creates an ideal environment for growing lavender, similar to the Mediterranean. The town hosts the annual Sequim Lavender Weekend and festival, attracting visitors to its numerous lavender farms and fields”.

But if you’re concerned about the influx of tourists and the onset of traffic, the rise in prices, or ? keep in mind that every dollar earned through those lovely and fragrant flowers is keeping Sequim alive and lively – and would you have it any other way?

300+ Pigs

A Sow Munches on Grape Hyacinth

Across from the Dungeness Creamery on Towne Road is a farm where apparently, the owner raises pigs.

Every spring, those of us who walk the levee trail see sows as they graze the field, feed their piglets, and often doze between feedings. It’s fun to watch, but a challenge to photograph since they’re quite a distance from the road; so a long lens is required. Even so, capturing the piglets on camera is more difficult due to their size, so I focus on the sows.

And I do so because I find them to be endearing since I once had a collection of over 300 stuffed, ceramic, and painted pigs that surrounded me in an otherwise dull and sterile cubicle.

Each of them helped make work less stressful by easing tensions that sometimes (or often) arose in the workplace, and because my coworkers, and friends gifted them to me, they held good memories with each one having a delightful story behind it.

But sadly, after I retired and we moved to Sequim, it was time to part with them and since a neighbor’s daughter loved them too, I regifted most of them to her and she has been there caretaker ever since.

But to this day, I still find pigs to be endearing, and therefore, the collection continues- with photos and good memories that will travel with me wherever I go.

Carrie Blake Park

Spring in the Japanese Garden

If you’re looking for a burst of spring color in lovely gardens, a bench to sit on and relax in a soothing atmosphere while listening to great music, then look no further than our local gem, Carrie Blake Park.

But if you’re looking for a softball field, or a place to play soccer or shuffleboard, or pickleball, then you’re in luck as well. The list of available options at Carrie Blake is impressive and unexpected for a park of its size, especially in a city of ~8,000 residents! And to visually minded people like me, who love to capture it all with a camera, it can’t be beat…pack a picnic lunch, grab a camera, and go!

Blue Mountain

The View

Thanks to three wonderful friends, I made my first trip (in six years) to nearby Blue Mountain via Deer Park Road last July. Notably, the mountain has an elevation of 6,400 ft and is of course, located in Olympic National Park. It got its name because of the blue haze you see in the distance in summer.

Access is via the 19-mile Deer Park Road, and the summit can be reached by walking the half-mile Rain Shadow Loop Trail which gains 170 feet of elevation from road’s end. And although I’d heard horror stories about the drop-offs and opposing traffic along the way, I found both to be more than tolerable. Once at the summit, the views were well worth it.

Since the weather was so cooperative (and typically it is in summer), we had 360-degree visibility of the surrounding mountains, including what appeared to be the tip of Mt. Baker in the distance; and we found wildflowers (including the endemic bellflower) and butterflies in the foreground, deer grazing along the hillsides, and chipmunks waiting to grab our lunch as we picnicked.

So what are you waiting for?!

Eye-to-Eye

Sibling Rivalries

While those of you with siblings may not always see eye-to-eye like these two eaglets; hopefully, any childhood rivalries are far behind you and that as adults you haven’t cultivated new ones.

These two, photographed several years ago, had their squabbles, and food fights too, but when push came to shove, neither shoved the other out of the nest; they both survived the turmoils that faced them, and through it all remained feathered friends till the end.

Yellow Waves of ?

Farm on East Anderson Road

Like many other locals, I drive by this farm quite often and this time of year, I asked the same question I did last year….just what are those beautiful yellow wildflowers we’re all seeing; could they be mustard, buttercups, canola, or…what?

Aside from my attempts to resolve the mystery, I love indulging in the color against those slate blue mountains and the powder blue sky. I only wish there was roadside parking…just think, we could sit, indulge our senses in the beauty of farm, sip on a cup of coffee, and thoroughly absorb the splendor of the day and good fortune in living where we live.