If You
Plant It …
Modest homes in Penn Cove Park are a long way from Dream Street. Indeed, the subdivision developed in the 1950s and 60s has lost much of its original charm.
Then a couple like ANITA and STERLING ALGUIRE comes along and shakes things up. They looked beyond the flaws when they bought the former convalescent home. Tall and muscular, Sterling went straight to work on the structure. Anita knew what she had to do. The small bundle of energy rolled up her sleeves and began to beautify the corner of Wildwood and Walker.
She planted her first flowers as a girl growing up in the Philippines, caring for each bud as it magically appeared. She vowed then to create beautiful gardens wherever she went. The Alguires moved several times on Navy orders, and each time, Anita left behind her trademark flower garden.
For the past three years, Anita has risen early to begin her day outdoors. She’d dig a curved border, remove clods of gray clay soil and dig in peat moss and top soil. She would rest, return and repeat the process around the entire fence line. She enjoyed being alone with her thoughts and found having time to meditate renewed her spirit.
Even in late summer, when the parched ground is littered with leaves resembling potato chips, one finds crisp, green primroses, violets, cyclamen, English daisy and miniature iris plants tucked into a corner of her scalloped flower beds. Dwarf sunflowers from a 25-cent packet of seeds are mature now, nodding above the scene. Anita’s gamble of pairing cool weather plants with those who beg for heat has paid off. She smiles at each small success.
The Alguires have spent thousands on plants, a wrought iron gate and fence and rocks for edging. They found the spinning ball water feature in a home store’s markdown bin.
Behind the house, hidden from the view of most Penn Cove Park residents, are tiers of hollyhock, foxglove and poppies making up a casual cottage garden, granting a view of flowers from virtually every window.
Besides sharing a beautiful spot with her neighbors, Anita’s garden teaches us that even the most insignificant transplant can flourish with love, and that sometimes it pays to trust what cannot be seen.
Down Under Wonder …
MICHELLE A. MARTIN, Coupeville Class of 2000 and recent graduate of the University of Portland, has arrived in Australia where she will spend a year as an intern with the School for Field Studies as part of the Center for Rainforest Management study abroad program in the Atherton Tablelands, Queensland.
She applied for and landed the job after spending a month last summer as a student at Bamfield Station in British Columbia conducting marine life studies with the same organization. Parents Jacques and Kimberly Martin, as well as brother Andre, 13, will stay in touch by e-mail and occasional long distance calls. Think she’s just lucky? Well, nothing good comes without hard work. Her dedication to environmental education and ability to inspire young people showed the organization she’s up to the job.
High Do …
BENJAMIN WAITE, Oak Harbor High School Class of 93, wed Abby Yang while 450 feet above London on Aug. 7. Ben’s parents, WILLIAM and DOROTHY WAITE, attended the ceremony at The Eye, one of the most unusual wedding venues in the world. Slowly, at 1 mile an hour, the wedding party rides aboard a car to the top where vows are taken. Ben and Abby are both software designers.
It’s a Hit …
You could hear a pin drop during lunch at the home of J.C. and PAULINE KLINE Aug. 3. Over 20 members of the Parkinson’s Support Group took their regular meeting to the Kline home for the second annual crab feed and eaters outnumbered talkers while the bounty lasted. After 70 pounds of crab had been devoured, homemade salads and sweets made for a tasty second course. Three years ago, J.C. became volunteer leader of the group that regularly meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the Senior Center at 1:30 p.m. People with PD and those who love them ought to check it out.
Send me your news at lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com or drop it off at the front desk of the Whidbey News-Times. See you next week!
