Night Blooming Cereus

We have been waiting patiently as this Night Blooming Cereus has been building its flower. This morning I realized that tonight would be the day it bloomed.

Looking ready to bloom this morning

We finished a movie on TV at quarter to 11 and this is what we found. Arvin has large hands and they just fit behind the gorgeous large white flower.

Here we are trying a flashlight to light the flower. You can see the sling Arvin created to hold the plant up while the large flower grew.

Here I'm outside on the deck. I have the flashlight aimed at the flower. I took this picture through the kitchen window looking in at the open flower.

Here Arvin is inside with the flashlight aimed at the back of the flower.
Here it is in context.
And the next morning the flower looked like this.

A Day at the Mountain with Chris and Jyl

Sunday Chris and Jyl came up from Seattle and we all drove up Mt Baker Highway to the Mt Baker Ski Area for a day of exploring and taking photos. It was a beautiful day. Chris and Jyl had not been here before so they were entranced with the beauty of the place. We were too even though we've been here often. The road to Artist Point was closed to cars and we decided not to walk up. So the mountain that filled our eyes was Mt Shuksan. We were delighted with its beauty.

After our walk we drove back down to Glacier for dinner at Milano's. Yum! We spent a relaxed evening eating and talking. C & J stayed the night and we spent a quiet morning at home together before they took off on their way to visit friends on Whidbey Island and on to Seattle. We were so happy to be able to spend time with them.