The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. ~ Psalm 16:6 nasb

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

July 5 Frisbee

Independence Day was on a Thursday, and this made for a nice, long weekend together.  We spent most of it hanging out with friends, going to barbecues, fireworks, and picnics.  We were beat by Sunday night!

A Frisbee game was in there that Friday night, and here are my guys in the game.

Joseph looks on as Thomas catches the Frisbee.

Thomas looks determined.

Joseph snags a catch.


Finally--images of Danny actually catching the Frisbee!

I need a funny caption for this one.



Back to life,
Christine

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Early July in My Garden

Time for a Veggie Garden Update!

Early July

My garden chores consist mostly of weeding--pretty easy now that the pathways are mulched and the weeds are staying away--and looking for anything to harvest.


These Early Girl tomatoes were almost ready to pick!  I had never tried growing these before, but I'm so glad I chose to plant them this year.  There's such a great sense of satisfaction in being able to pick tomatoes in early July--in the Midwest, anyway!


I've already picked several sweet peppers (below).  These are Giant Marconi, and have the same taste as green bell peppers.  They're just longer, like a California pepper, with thinner skins.  They're decent, although I'd really like to grow a good green pepper.  Maybe I'll try again next year--green peppers and I needed a break for a while.  I just don't know what they need to grow better.  :/


Sweet pepper -- Giant Marconi, turning red on the vine.


Tomatoes -- Rutgers variety, which the lady at The Growing Place (nursery) convinced me to try.


A quick check of my garlic showed that the stems are browning and the flowers are turning from scapes (pre-bloom) to full heads of tiny little garlic cloves.  I'll harvest these probably next month, dry these little flower-cloves, then plant them in the autumn for next year's crop.



Here's my tomato bed.  They're looking great, and have reached the height of their four-foot stakes.  I'll have to invest in some taller ones next year!


Here is my herb corner, with rosemary, basil, and parsley.  Every plant is growing like there's no tomorrow.  The middle of the bed below has my peppers--sweet and jalapeno, and the strawberries are fading out in the back.


Below are my onions.  I planted them late, so they're pretty small.  Again, I wish I could grow big onions.  I'll take what I can get, though.  These are purple onions.


Finally, here's the overview of my early July garden.  I still marvel at those mulched walkways, and smile with satisfaction at a job started and finished and beautiful.  I love walking around my garden this year.



Back to life,
Christine

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Monday, July 29, 2013

New Basil Plants!

Just a quick post to tell you about my basil.  It's doing great!  So great, in fact, that I've shared it with a number of people now, and I still have tons to harvest.  So, great, in fact, that I've picked some and put it in a glass in my kitchen to use whenever I need it.  And guess what happened to the basil snippings I picked?

After about a week in a glass of water.

The roots were big enough that I figured I could plant the thing.  So I did.


 That was a few weeks ago.  And here it is today, double the size:


Yeah, my butternut squash grew up and out and around the basil.  But it seems to like this location and is happily growing and producing lots of lovely, yummy basil leaves for us to enjoy.


Back to life,
Christine

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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Random July 4 Post

I really didn't break out my camera much this Independence Day.  I took a handful of images, then put Ellie back in her bag and saved her for the evening fireworks, which are over on my photography blog.

We had a great time (and great weather, as opposed to last year's 103+-degree day!), spending the afternoon with friends and family.


We played corn toss (or bags, depending on where you live).  We re-recreated this awesome shot that our friend Cindy got.


Did I mention that we played Kissin' Corn Toss?  Yeah, you have to play against your spouse so that he can play on the same side as you.  So, Fernando and Chris were a team, and Cindy and I were a team.  Whenever someone would get a point, or a great shot (or just whatever reason), a kiss would be exchanged.  Our friends were camera-shy.  ;)


And, since Chris and Cindy are rabid LSU fans, Fernando posed the corn toss shot with a little advertising.


I took one last shot of Linda holding her newest grandbaby, little Esther.  Sweet!



Back to life,
Christine

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

New Summer Shoes

I got me some new summer sandals!  Yes, they were expensive, but they love my feet.  Ergonomic, sole-supporting, comfortable, not to mention pretty...  Everything this practical gal needs in a shoe!




Back to life,
Christine

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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

My Late June Garden

Looking at my photo library, I realized I have taken a ton of images.  Yeah, I know, they don't weigh anything, except on my heart to get them into blog posts! 

Here what's going on in my late June garden.

I had to pause for a moment, admire my new mulched pathways around the garden, and of course take a picture of one of the pathways that had been the most weedy and yuckiest to walk through and work in.  No matter that the mulch was patchworked with red, brown, cedar, and other colors (whatever was on sale and in recovery bags and half price at Lowe's!).  I think it's a beautiful thing!


The herbs--basil, parsley, and rosemary--seemed to be picking up in growth. 


 Rosemary.

There were several yellowish leaves on the basil, so I picked off the worst ones in hopes that they'd grow strong (they're huge now!).


The rhubarb was looking good!  I think I'll be able to harvest some this year.  I have two plants--one given to me by my friend Debbie, and one given to me by my mom when she and Dad moved last spring.


Below, my squash was growing rapidly and expanding beyond the initial cheesecloth covering.  I've got a whole post about my butternut squash if you're curious--click here!


The garlic scapes were growing and curling, and I ended up leaving them alone.  Maybe next year I'll harvest some of them and cook up something wonderful.  The Lord knows I definitely have enough "seeds" that replant each year!  We're still working on using up the garlic from last year--I have about a pint of peeled garlic cloves in my freezer.




I planted my onions (below) late, so they're pretty small.  I'm hoping to have at least a few decent-sized purple onions for salads later this summer.


As soon as I see little green tomatoes appearing, I go on Tomato Watch.  Here's what I found on this late June day:



Plus, lots of flowers mean lots of future tomatoes to enjoy!



A check on my strawberry plants revealed that it's pretty much the end of the season.  The below image shows how I keep birds away from my strawberry patch:  I attach used pie tins to a wooden stake with string, then plant them around the patch.  I plant the high enough so that when they swing around in the wind, they don't shear off any of the plants' leaves.  Supposedly, the shiny aluminum and the tins swinging around deter the birds.  It seems to work--I had only 4-5 strawberries that got eaten by something, a bird or squirrel maybe.


 A strawberry blossom at the end of the season.

I have never been great at growing sweet peppers, and this year I tried Giant Marconi, a variety of sweet green pepper that is longer like a California pepper, and thinner-skinned.  They grow to a smaller size, but they produce more peppers per plant, so I figured I'd try them.  They're decent, though I really do love green peppers, and their thick, crunchy skin.



Also, in the above image you'll see that I use Velcro garden tape to hold up my plants.  It works very well, and since friends and neighbors have given it to me the past few years, I use it!  I'm going to end up breaking down and purchasing it next year; I love it that much.


Ha--you thought I wouldn't get away with a flower picture in here, but here is one of my day lilies, pretty much the only flower that is currently growing in my back yard.  :)


I have beautiful jalapeƱos this year!  I planted only two plants, but they're producing prolifically.



Okay, that's pretty much it for the update.  I never did take an "overview" shot from our pool deck like I usually do.  You'll have to be satisfied with all the individual and close-up images for now.  Trust me, there are more updates to come and I have the images to prove it!


Back to life,
Christine

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