Music Monday - The Parting Glass

Lovely harmonies from the High Kings -

And speaking of glass, we got a peek at the newly opened Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum whilst we were at Seattle Center last week.

 The gardens actually do look amazing - although they are pretty well fenced off so you can only get a few glimpses -

 (Our feet were already museumed-out from the King Tut exhibit, or I would have been tempted to meander through this one  as well - )

 As it was, we only browsed (the rather awesome) gift shop -

Nobody does glass installations like Dale Chihuly. Can't wait to see lit up at night!

Music Monday - Wild Mountain Thyme

As I've mentioned, it's decided to be spring in February here in the Pacific Northwest... (pictures taken yesterday, while it was still was).

Last week, we listened to Heather, which put me in mind of the Scottish folksong Wild Mountain Thyme. (My favorite recording is by Full Moon Ensemble but I don't see theirs on youtube, so I give you The High Kings version:)

..."we'll pull wild mountain thyme from among the blooming heather".....

Thyme overwinters, but the bulk of the rest of the herbs in the yard are coming up already...

(From top to bottom, right to left: parsley, elephant garlic, bronze fennel, comfrey, french sorrel, tarragon, chives, rhubarb (ok, not technically an herb..), and chervil. Not shown: sweet cicely, meadow sweet, garlic chives, sage, horehound, rue, catamint, marjoram, oregano, lavender, rosemary, lemon balm - and a few others that have not started coming up yet..)

The chickens are thrilled with all the growing things and warming soil to root for bugs in. (I've hoed the winter cover-crop I planted a bit, hoping that they'll continue to turn it for me - since I haven't had time to do it properly due to deadlines. Here's crossing fingers for poultry-driven garden labor!)