GIRL'S weekend

This past weekend was our 4th ( I think 4th ) annual Girl's weekend, my adult daughters and I get together and do crafts, stay up late talking, make goals, and generally have fun. This weekend was particularly great! I was very touched by the thoughtful, lovely gifts- Sassy and Edge made some lovely T shirts for our event, and 3rd daughter gave lovely lotions as a gift.The Sass made each of us a lovely embroidered towel (except I got two!).
We learned how to bind our own books, (I've lost mine! Who has it?) and make gift boxes out of paper.

We learned how to make beaded earrings.All in all, a pretty crafty weekend. Edge and I went early Saturday morning to see a nearby garden, with lots of great stuff (will post the highlights laster). Lots of good food, good conversation, great company, and fun! Plans are already underway for next year's get together!

Zinnias, finally- GREEN THUMB SUNDAY

I am headed out of town for the weekend, so I am posting my 'green thumb' pic today. My candy stripe zinnias finally bloomed! I love them!

No radishes in my garden

My dad enjoys radishes dipped in salt in the summer time. I have never liked this summer garden treat, and no one in my family likes radishes at all. Consequently, I usually don’t plant radishes. I do have two antique saltcellars; they belonged to my two maternal great grandmothers. I use them to hold my earrings, as you can see.
I am sure they are not worth much, they are just glass and look rather common; but are precious to me because they are a link to my great grandmothers. As a child visiting my grandmother’s house, I always enjoyed looking at the glassware she had in her dining room hutch. It was a freestanding wood and glass paned piece of furniture, purportedly made by someone in the family who was a carpenter. (I don’t think it was uncommon for farmers of the 1800-early 1900’s to make their own furniture, either) It was stuffed with dishes and knick-knacks that she had received from her mother and mother in law, as well as gifts from her children and grandchildren. My grandmother and grandfather were both the last of their families, so their house was a treasure trove of old ‘stuff’ from their parents, including a lot of dishes, an old moth eaten military uniform (Spanish American War or 1812??) letters and pictures. Nothing that would make a stir on that PBS Antique show, but precious to our family, because these remnants tie us to them as we hold them, use them, study them.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY - squash blooms

These summer squash are for my DH, they are not my favorite veggie. In one picture you can see the little squash forming already from the bloom.




Are you reading the latest Harry Potter book? I'm on page 161!

Wouldn't you like to be a 'Simpson' too?

Well, this was some stupid fun online! If you go to the Simpson't movie website(http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html), you can make up your very own character.
Here's mine, isn't she lovely? there is an option there to import a photo and use it, but I didn't get that far.

Hydrangea angst

I was looking with a bit of envy at some lovely hydrangeas at Carolyn's blog, sweethomeandgardenchicago.blogspot.com and Kylee's blog, ourlittleacre.blogspot.com
and got to thinking about my hydrangea aspirations and the pitiful reality. I planted this hydrangea four years ago, it has struggled and struggled in my alkaline soil, and the zone 5, dry desert weather I've got for it to grow in. There is little shade and no 'wet' spot in my yard. I have a few plants I nurse along, and this is one of them. It is about a foot tall, and chlorotic, and has one bloom on it so far this year. I have not been very diligent at giving it some acidic fertilizer(I've even gone so far, in years past, to throwing a brew of stale coffee grounds soaked in water with a bit of vinegar added on it) this year, so far. All it has gotten this year is extra water. Poor little thing! I will look into some of those zone 4 Hydrangeas and see if that might do better.

cantaloupe colored daylily

This is a lovely colored one, I am posting this quick, have some other things to talk about and not a lot of time. The weeds are taking over in the garden!

another beauty

This daylily was here when we bought the place, it is a lovely creamy white/yellow that I never get tired of.

nest building

This little wasp (?) has been hauling thin sticks (or grass blades, or pine needles) and pulling them into a hollow bamboo pole. My daughter has a bigger pic on her blog of the whole thing, at http://katie-katieskorner.blogspot.com/.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY- First Harvest

I knew the tomatillos were ready, but I found this first zucchini today when I was out watering and weeding in my garden. What shall I make with my first harvest?

The green beans will be ready next week, I think.


And this tomato is the closest one to being ripe.

Now presenting the 'All Day-lily, All the Time' Coverage

Just kidding, but it is fun to go out and see if there is a new daylily blooming, every day. This lovely raspberry pink colored one is a new fave for me.

Chocolate –flavored Marshmellows!!


So, maybe this isn't news to you, but I was shopping and saw - pink, strawberry flavored marshmellows ! Those look like fun! Then I saw the chocolate ones. 'Maybe they aren't very good,' I thought. 'But how will I know unless I buy them and try them?' So I bought both.

I have two sons-in-law who love marshmellows. Maybe they will get some of these before we eat them all- maybe not! The little bag of plain marshmallows in the front of the picture is a remnant from a s'mores and stale marshmellow (mallow??) feast some time ago.

Oh- and the chocolate ones? Deliciouso! Primo! Lovely! Haven't sampled the strawberry ones yet.

Not we return to our regular day-lily blog coverage.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY –more DAYLILIES


I said I'd post a pic of my double orange daylilies- but, duh! they are in the lovely header my daughter made for me some time back!! We have a small break in the heat, hope things cool down for everyone soon. The weather map in our paper shows 'red' states all across the U.S. -too hot for sure.

7/7/07

In honor of the date, I am borrowing this idea from Kylee over at http://ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/, who borrowed it from Carol at May Dreams Garden.

Seven things about me:
1. I’m left-handed. So is my sister, and three of my five children.

2. I was the most outspoken and even bossiest of my siblings, I am sorry to say.

3. I am not a fan of soda. I could probably go the rest of my life and never drink soda again. When I have pizza, I wash it down with a big glass of milk, which is way better.

4. I can’t take too much violence in movies- more than I used to, though. I guess I get too involved in the story – my family has heard me say ‘I can’t stand it!’ at about a million movies (starting with the original Star Wars)

5. Even though I don’t like too much violence or suspense, I am a big plot junkie. That is one reason I love Star Trek (yeah, I know, it’s not a good plot, but it does have an on-going story and a plot). I used to read my kids’ Beverly Cleary books, or, more recently, the Barbara Parks series (y’know, Junie B. Jones) for a quick plot fix. Pathetic, I know.

6. Probably my least favorite colors are purple and orange. (well, I can’t stand the old lady color combo of purple and red together, either, but that is a different story). I really don’t like orange. It was one of my school colors, along with black, and I remember wearing orange on our spirit days in high school and thinking I looked awful in it. I do, however, love peach, coral, salmon, etc.

7. I believe in Smart Mouth Purgatory- a non-doctrinal place where I am sure I’ll end up, probably with a few friends, as a consequence of my, well, smart mouth.

There’s my 7, I am tagging Sassy, Edge, Jean, and anybody else who wants to play along.

RED WHITE AND BLUE


This is my pathetic sunburn I got while watching the 4th of July parade on Wednesday. Everybody wishes they could be as cool as me!

Day-Lily-palooza

Thought I'd post a few of the daylilies that are blooming now. I could use a few more, don't you think? oh, I have a double orange that I don't have a picture of, will post it another day, i had to resize these so they wouldn't take forever to load.