new dinnerware

Since I don't eat much meat, a grill has never made a whole lotta sense... But, in his daily perusing of Craigslist last weekend, the handyman found a little Weber grill that he just had to have. For $10, this never-used grill was quite the steal. Came with two full fuel bottles, too!




The handyman dared me to take pictures of the delivery of my other dining-related purchase. I chickened out... but I was able to snap a shot of truck without anyone noticing:




Not quite as cheap as the grill, but I think it will do much for my dining situation. After six and a half months of searching and one ridiculously embarrassing blowup with Pottery Barn (I'm sure I'm blacklisted now), I finally have a table in that big open space in my dining room. It's a long story that started with a search for a desk, then my dining table became my desk, then I needed a dining table... Anyway, I've got one now, so, Mom, next time you and Dad visit, we can actually sit down at something besides the kitchen counter.

petunias

Picked a peck of petunias and they've lasted all week. Peter should have skipped the pickled peppers.

Pay It Forward

I actually got this in the mail several days ago, but I kept forgetting to get someone to take a picture of me.

I finally did the "arm-extended-holding-a-camera" shot, and now I want to say a big THANK YOU to Victoria for this beautiful amethyst necklace! It totally brightened my day to find a beautiful surprise in my mailbox.

Well, it wasn't a total surprise, I responded to her Pay It Forward blogpost.

If you want a fun surprise in YOUR mailbox here are the rules:

You must have your own blog and commit to continuing the PIF by sending gifts (handmade or otherwise - no rules or limitations) to the first three people who leave a comment.

So, if you want to participate, leave a comment. You'll need to email me your address so I can send your gift. I'll send within a month - I promise!

snow squash huts

Underneath those pots with little haystack hair-do's dusted in snow are spaghetti squash and zukes and pumpkins and yellow summer squash. I wonder what the survival rate will be.

Photo credit goes to the handyman.  At 6 a.m., hot yoga sounded a heck-of-a-lot better than going out to the greenhouse to water and check the plots in the snow.  It's June and I'm from Alabama.  So there.

primary mojitos

While we watched the political commentary on the Montana primaries last Tuesday, the Handyman and I decided to enjoy mojitos made from the mint in our community garden. The mint's taken over it's own corner, so there was plenty for steeping in the syrup and for crushing in the glass.

I have absolutely no opinion about light rum versus gold, and I have no advice on "muddling" the flavors and mint in the bottom of the glass. But, what I managed to put together tasted delicious - and if you leave out the rum, it's a fun homemade soda for kids.

Head to http://www.mywhimislaw.com/?p=1388 for the recipe and all kinds of yummy tips.

(My simple syrup is in the jar with the yellow top - I think my porportions of brown sugar to white sugar were a little off... but it still tasted great!)

kissing trees

It looks like Lynda's kissing that tree, doesn't it?

She's not.

She's smelling it. Yep, smelling that tree.

Yesterday, Lynda and I hiked up Mount Sentinel. I actually think Lynda ran, but I was breathing so hard that I couldn't focus that far ahead of me (and I pride myself on being quite the hiker). We got to the top, and after I finally caught my breath, I looked over to see Lynda, "kissing" this big Pondersa.

I can't believe I worked all those years out in the woods and never stopped to... um... smell the trees. The bark of Ponderosa trees smells like strong vanilla or butterscotch - it immediately made me want to run home and bake cookies. (Instead, when I finally got home, I went immediately into a hot, soaking lavendar bath.)

So, if you're ever out hiking and see a big Ponderosa (long needles, red bark, super-tall), don't hesitate to rush right up and kiss, hug, smell, or otherwise...

window boxes

Last year I planted morning glories in pots that I put at the base of the fence posts. I was able to use the weed eater around them, but I was hoping for something different this year. The answer? Those window boxes from Lowe's.

As an aside, the handyman and I just figured out how much it costs to drive around town these days. My car uses $.13/mile. His uses $.14, and - holy moly - that van of his takes $.33. That means a trip to Lowe's in the van to pick up lumber or dirt or mulch takes about $5. I might have to get better balancing on my bicycle so I can haul some lumber. Oh, who am I kidding? I can barely balance myself.

Back to those window boxes... or fence boxes.

last of the upside down tomatoes and a creepy sweet pea

You would think these buckets grew dollar bills since I post about them so much, but I promise, until there's fruit, I'm not blogging about them anymore... after I show you these pictures.




The Handyman is taking off supports now that the concrete has set. (and in case you're curious, those are cucumbers in the pot between the tomatos posts. I've never grown cucumbers before, but I'm hoping I can train them up the posts.)

Next, here are some potted flowers... It's not anything special, but I wanted to prove that there were some weird shadows when I was taking pictures.




I promise I did not add shadows in photoshop. Nor did I paste in that little spider lurking on the wall...



It's a mixture of Eckford sweet peas and senator sweet peas. Hopefully there will be some better pictures when the sweet peas start climbing and blooimg - more sun, less creepy.

hanging baskets and saturdays

My hanging baskets are done. Each time I go to the farmers' market, I marvel at why anyone would pay $50 for a hanging basket... and then I get home and I look at my puny baskets. Next year, I will start seeds in December, but for now, I will have patience and be proud of my baskets that I started completely from seed. (Though I still covet those beautiful overflowing baskets at the market.)

My baskets are all different but contain alyssum, petunias, geranium, and lobelia. I'd never heard of osteospermum, and consequently don't have any in my baskets. But, it's in a lot of the hanging baskets here - I'm getting some seeds next year for sure.

Since I had to water a lot last year, I'm putting a layer of plastic in my baskets to see if it helps reduce the evaporation. I'm also sprinkling in some osmocote because I read that petunias get really hungry. I totally dig petunias. They're in every basket/pot I own.








Things are going well out at the community garden plot. I reused some landscape cloth that I found on my plot, and I just put it down "as-was. " Turns out, I needed to cut the holes bigger. Apparently, someone else either put seeds in the holes or started with some really small starts. My starts were too big, and needed a little more room. The luffa are pretty sad. Their stalks are firm, and the handyman and I have hopes that they will revive themselves - but the outlook isn't bright. The zukes and pumpkins look great, so I'm already making room in the freezer. Can't wait to stock up again for the winter...

upside down tomato hooks and emma-roo

When I went to take this picture, the handyman exclaimed, "Don't take a picture yet. They're not even plumbed!" While I have the good sense to know "plumbed" has nothing to do with running water in this case, I decided plumbed or not, I was taking the picture.




Emma-roo has never been a nickname for Emma. She's been Emma-bean, Emma-lou, Emma-honey, Emma-remma - the list goes on a long ways but has never covered Emma-roo. And, I gotta tell ya, it probably won't. I was flipping through some pictures, and I found this action shot. (If I call it an "action shot" can I be excused for it's terrible focus?)

When she gets really wound up, Emma races around with her haunches low; it has something to do both with the running and the fact that the big white dog will randomly dart in and pick up one of her back legs in his mouth. He doesn't bite. Sometimes he shakes a little like a shark with a snack, but he doesn't bite down hard. She's not wild about it though. Anyway, when I first saw this picture, little black kangaroo, or Emma-roo, came to mind.