Beauty -- Week 7

"Always remember beauty of the garden, for there is peace." -- Anonymous

Catch Up: 7/22/12

Amazing how much the garden grows in one week huh?! I love the look of Week 7. Very lush, green and full. The garden looks very different now as we are sinking into Fall.

There is a dent on that side of the garden where Cheese has rested throughout the summer. hehe

"And over here we have the lettuce... mmm this is a great place to scratch my cheeks!"

One of my all time favorite pics I have taken :) 

Farmer Cheese has to rest once and while -- lots to keep up!

Beginnings of corn on the stalks! Yay!

"Garbage Zucchini" was the best one, go figure

Driveway zucchini plants. We kinda forgot about them but they did produce several tasty zukes for us!

A Little Harvesting -- Week 5

"Take thy plastic spade,

It is thy pencil; take thy seed, thy plants,

They are thy colors."

--William Mason, The English Garden

On the 5th week of growing a garden, we got to harvest a little. As you saw on July 4th we picked some lettuce and then used it just the other day in a delicious salad. Last night we picked some Spinach leaves -- hoping they will be tasty for tonight's salad. :) 

Check out those pumpkin leaves! Those things are going to take over!

As he walks around the garden, he makes a beeline for me :) 

Lettuce is growing back quite a bit even since the 4th -- thanks to these awesome summer days!

My happy herbs growing. I need to pick & dry them.

The Kohlrabi haha

If you look closely you can see tiny Romaine lettuce leaves growing

Delicious salad with greens from the garden and those Early Girl tomatoes from FM

Oh how I love the garden! I am particularly excited for my tomatoes to grow. I can't wait to compare the varieties! I had the chance to try the Early Girl kind because we got some at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Let me tell you, my mouth is watering at the thought of having our own batch of Early Girls! Those are some tasty juicy sweet tomatoes... oooo yeah. Summer is here folks :)

I am thoroughly enjoying the summer right now... It's FINALLY here! We have had several warm (as in like 80 degree temps) days. Sunshine feels oh so good. Ahhh.... Lovin' this season!

PS -- If you want to stay mostly updated with the happenings in my life, find me on Instagram @ sincerelyangela1 ;-)

More From Sunday

"The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses." -- Hanna Rion

Most definitely. Being outside is a wonderful way to relieve stress and to feel grounded. Here are some more pictures from Sunday... it was delightful :) Excited that this weekend is going to be warm! Grow garden grow!

Top three

• Plants in pots needing to be transplanted 
• Beautiful calla lilly - they remind me of the family beach house (think these came from there actually)
• Happy Cheese Puff, sunning himself

Middle three

• First rose bouquet of the season
• Used my grandfather's hoe to organize the rows of corn -- you were with us Papa!
• Pretty clouds, looked like ocean waves

Bottom two

• My gardening supervisors: Mrs. Peacock & Cheese Puff
• Sleeping Beauty under the roses

Happy Friday!!!

When it hits 80 degrees...

I tell you what folks, there is nothin' like a gorgeous day in the Pacific Northwest. We know how to celebrate the sunshine!

I love seeing my neighbors out and about working on their yard, hearing kids playing, lawn mowers going, people out walking and riding their bikes, convertible tops down.... all kinds of great things happen on beautiful days in suburbia. These days make all of the rain worth it :) I say we have earned these days considering we hit a record last month for rain -- wettest March in 83 years (think we got about 7 inches or so, yuck). Apparently we hit a record today (gotta love extremes), 80 degrees! I was thrilled with the prospect of 70 so it's a bonus.

Alrighty so here is what I did today... after a little bit of homework, I made a dash to work on the yard!

 More instant gratification! The corner (as you see below) was not very instant however... the soil is so wet which actually makes it more challenging to get weeds out.

 Before and After on top and then some pics of the backyard...

It's been a wonderful day!! As you can tell, Cheese was working hard... haha He went from place to place resting and looking cute. I could have taken a 100 pics of him - love my big boy. Coco Chanel wasn't too pleased with us being outside of the house and yakked to us from the window. Sigh...

Tomorrow is supposed to be about as nice so I'm looking forward to it. I do have to sub which means I'll be inside all day but you better believe it... come 3:15PM, I am out the door as fast as I can go!

Hoping for a good week :)

Another Good Day

This has been a wonderful weekend! I have enjoyed spending time outside, having my brother-in-law home (he's in the Army), eating good food, and also being productive. I'm loving these fair weather Spring days!

Finally, vacuumed and wiped the insides of my car! She looks like a beauty now :)

Weeded for a little while today after cleaning my car. Got two buckets full! That makes 6 for this weekend! The yard is looking much better but we have a ways to go.

Weeding = Instant Gratification ... A little way to add value to life. Felt so good to be smelling the dirt, hearing the funny sounds of people outside, sun beating on me, cool breeze... very satisfying.

Cheese Puff was very funny this afternoon! He looked so cute wherever he chose to snooze. I call him "Resourceful Cheese" in this picture with the wood block. He loves having a place to rest his head!

Also, finally planted my Cat Chia Grass (my first Chia Pet LOL- it was a Christmas gift). Hoping this will bring some joy to my indoor kitty. She has been going crazy having the windows open, sensory overload this weekend. haha Will be fun to watch these seeds grow!

Here's to a good week!!

Delightful Saturday

"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything" -- William Shakespeare

Happy Cheese laying in the sunshine -- see that smile?! :)

Crocus had their turn first, then daffodils and now tulips are in the spotlight

It was a lovely fair weather day - passing clouds, cool breeze and warm sunshine

Flew our flag today since my brother-in-law/my sister's husband got to come home and visit

 Picked 4 buckets of weeds!

Ended the day with a delicious dinner and dessert at the Macaroni Grill

I feel so blessed :)

FPC, Day 13: Blue

February Photo Challenge

Day 13

"Blue"

Note: For some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload the picture I took today-- when it uploads it turns it the wrong direction. Can't seem to make it work. Will try again tomorrow... Till then I'll leave you with a picture of blue Cheese from last month, poor fella.

*Well I tried to upload my pictures again but no luck. So I guess my blue item for the 13th is going to be "Blue Cheese." hahaha

FPC, Day 8: Sun

February Photo Challenge

Day 8

"Sun"

Sunshine came in two forms today: 

(1) Happy Cheese Puff sleeping on my bed 

(2) Liquid ... AKA rain (typical PNW!)

I'm excited to see how people interpreted this challenge. Check out others involved in the February Photo Challenge! So fun to see what is happening around the world :)

FPC, Day 7: Button(s)

February Photo Challenge

Day 7

"Button(s)"

When plural is better...

There are lots of options in regards to this photo challenge: computer buttons, microwave buttons, and all types of clothing buttons. I chose to check out all of the fun buttons that Mom has in her sewing basket (notice the extra lil gadgets in the 2nd & 3rd pictures? Reminds me of the "I Spy" books). As a kid I always enjoyed feeling them and admiring their different qualities. Buttons are fun lil treasures too--  they can be used on cards, scrapbook pages and decorations. 

My kitty thinks they're pretty fun too!