Morning in the Garden

This morning the light seemed just right in the garden. I headed out with the camera, and found a lot more to share than I thought was there! Picture-heavy post, but not too much reading, so just scroll through and enjoy!

The big bag of oriental lilies I got at Costco did very well for their first year.

A secondary flush of foxgloves. Most of the big plants died, so I bought a six-pack of mixed foxgloves to replace them (they are in the bed below behind these foxgloves.) They are growing very well, so I am excited to see what colors I got next spring.

Sophie cracks me up–she’s like a little kid walking along the wooden rails.

Each hydrangea has a different bloom time. The blue ones are fading just as these white ones are starting.

I bought some new plants to fill in empty spots. I loved the color of the leaves on this “Nine Bark.”

This is not light shining through, it is the actual variegated color on the leaves.

The double impatiens seems to be in just the right spot.

And I just love all these flowers blooming over here.

The zinnias that I got to fill in are really doing well.

LOL, I was taking so many pictures over here, Chloe just came and sat down and stared at me. “People are hungry, don’t you know?”

The Belinda rose is doing very well. the stems seem a little weak to me, but it is the first year. I’m just glad its still alive 🙂

A hollyhock I bought last spring.

The ____ Peace rose. I didn’t notice the bug damage when I was taking the picture!

The Abutilon. Have to stand on my head to take pictures of the blooms.

The Phlox are so tall and beautiful.

That little pink vine I got is doing very well.

I got some more white marigolds to fill in here.

The bee balm. Now its about 10 inches tall 🙂

And the little rose from the two inch pot. I’m so glad it likes its place right by the front gate.

Tiny perfection.

And on with the week. I have taken my ninth early morning walk–well on my way to 21 for an established habit–yay! Today is a day of running in and out to give the whole garden a good soaking. And, I am prepping ten yards of fabric–finally gonna get out there and use my new dye studio.

 

 

Do You See What I See?

The other day I was out taking a walk with Noah and Chloe, and I stopped for some reason. And then I heard something flutter by me. Wow, that was close by. I inspected the side of the road, and there was a little bird’s nest, built right into one of the little crevices! The mama bird flutters away to divert any perceived enemies from her eggs.

Yesterday I decided to go back and see if she was still there, and see if I could get a couple of good pictures without freaking her out too much. Here she is, on the nest. I only got one picture before she fluttered away.

And here are her three little eggs. Don’t worry, I didn’t stay long, and I checked when I drove by the next day to make sure she was back on her nest.

 

Such a simple thing, but these are the things that delight me.

Thankful

Thankful for snow!

And nature’s perfect colors.

The smell of herbs.

And ice sculptures.

Thankful for color in winter.

And a tree I grew from a seedling.

How fun to see pretty leaves littering the ground.

Thankful for a new baby to love–Zoey!

Miss Bess is thankful for her special perch next to the warm wood stove.

It was a perfect day. I wish the same for all of you.

 

Saturday Fun Day

Shelley mentioned on her blog that she was going to run 9 miles on Saturday, and that that would allow her guilt-free lazing around the rest of the day. That appealed to me. Yes, the guilt free lazing, not the running 🙂 So I estimated that it would take me at least 2 hours 15 minutes to run/walk 9 miles, if I was even able to do that, and decided that I would spend that much time working out in the gym.

Of course, I didn’t get up at o’dark o’clock, like Shelley does when she runs. First, I had to try out a new recipe idea I’d been wanting to try for a while. I wanted to make some strawberry scones, using my basic Bare Bones Scones recipe. But strawberries get too juicy when you bake with them. So I had the idea to semi-dry them the night before. I just cut them into little pieces, and put them on a baking sheet in the oven with the oven light on for the night. That worked out splendidly! The strawberry pieces were a bit dryer, and the scones were delicious, IMO. Sometimes I eat them with plain yogurt and pretend it is clotted cream.

Okay, so then I was ready to go to the gym. But I made the mistake of checking the garden first. Two days without water, and there were some plants I could not ignore. While I moved the hose from place to place, I made good use of my time, and scrubbed the bathroom down, and then made some fresh salsa, motivated by Helen’s salsa blog! I love shrimp salsa, and decided that that would be my special dinner after my big day at the gym.

Finally, I got off to the gym. So fun to not limit my workout time. I spent 30 minutes on the bike, then went upstairs worked out on the weight machines. Back downstairs, and did some more aerobic work on something called a NuStep–kinda a cross between a rowing machine and an elliptical, only recumbent. Then, it was out to the pool, where I did 20 minutes of swimming, and then finished with 30 minutes of pool running. Its not as intense as running 9 miles, but it sure did feel like a good workout.

I did kind of laze for the rest of the day, but since I got such a late start to the gym, it was 3 pm by the time I got home. I treated myself to a new-to-me knitting pattern, and started a new shawl/scarf (copied this from Shelley too!)

Here’s my shrimp salsa. If I don’t have the little salad shrimp in the freezer, I just cut the big ones into bite sized chunks. So yummy. But, note to self, I simply cannot make good chips myself. They always come out either burned or chewy.

And just like Lori, who bikes for cupcakes, I decided to end my day with a sweet treat. I made a single iced sugar cookie. Most worthy.

It was a super fun day. I’m hoping I will make this more of a regular occurrence on Saturdays.

Sightings

A few sights from the weekend:

A late poppy–especially brilliant in the fall light.

First cup of coffee fixed in the new kitchen:

First baking excursion in the new kitchen:

Debby does home improvements! (Putting polyurethane on the underside of the butcher block top for the island.)

A completely clean studio (look quick!)

Sleeping beauties.

Lots of good stuff happening around here now. I hope to have COMPLETELY finished rooms to show you by next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me 🙂

 

The Return of Civilization

Hip Hip Hooray!!! There is water in the house. There is a kitchen sink where I can wash a tomato without running outside.

 

There is a dishwasher. The blue bucket has been officially retired!

 

There is a bathroom sink. I can wash my hands without bending down to use the bathtub spout. And I can brush my teeth and wash my face just like the real people do!

I celebrated by having a simple but delicious dinner. Salmon burger with tomato and lettuce. And an apple from my trip to Apple Hill.

 

I washed the tomato and apple in the kitchen sink.  And afterward I washed the pan and my dinner plate in the dishwasher.

Just a bit of this and that

I stepped out the door this morning to check on the garden and was shocked to see this:

Yes, one whole morning glory flower on that whole vine. As the days got shorter, I guess the vine did not get as much sun as it wanted, so its been weeks since I have seen a single flower on it.

Is it any wonder they are named morning GLORY? The flowers absolutely look as if there is a light source shining out from their center.

Hey, look what I did! My first furniture painting experiment. It went pretty well, if I do say so myself! I’ve only thought about painting this chair for about five years. What can I say? I have a hard time making decisions 🙂

The other day I was flipping back through my own blog, looking for something or other, and I realized that yes, quite a bit of progress has been made on the house. Here are pictures from this morning–the siding is up, and a lot of the painting is done. The roof is bare–they had to strip off THREE layers of old shingles! And already, by the end of today, J. the contractor had a good portion of the roof re-shingled!

The front of the house:

And the back:

And a gratuitious cute doggie shot:

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print tonight. Hope you all have a good and relaxing weekend!