Wordless Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Summer 2011

No, I haven't been posting much lately. Summer is in full force and I haven't got enough free time to do it all. We've been having fun, though. We've made it to the beach twice with family and friends. We're planning on picking blueberries later this week at Sinking Creek Farm and then hiking the Cascades trail next weekend. We've got family parties and reunions, afternoons in our little inflatable pool, and maybe a backyard camp out planned. 

The vegetable garden is looking good. I've got a gazillion tomato plants along with eggplant, peppers, yellow squash and zucchini, okra, sweet corn, and half-runner beans. And pumpkins. With any luck it'll be a banner year for pumpkins, seeing how I just transplanted 75 of the little suckers last night. I put the Jarrahdales inside the garden with the deer fencing, and the sugar pies went into a new "pumpkin patch" we tilled about a month ago. These are smaller pumpkins in the 5-7 pound range that are great for cooking, but just the right size for decorating for the under 6 year old set. I'm growing them for Ally's day care center's Fall Festival this year. Ally even helped me plant the seeds. Steve put up some galvanized fencing around the patch yesterday to protect the young plants from the deer herd that's claimed the back part of our property. 

The front flower beds also look good, at least from a distance. The rose campion, gloriosa daisies, lamb's ear, and lemon balm are colorful and um, vigorous this year. A closer inspection would show you the grass, shiso, plantain and other weeds that are taking over the beds. I'm learning that there's a very fine line between a loose, cottage garden style and something that you shouldn't turn your back on at night. Even the plants I deliberately set out have gone feral this season. I'll be spending a lot of time out there over the next week or so ripping out the bullies and getting the weeds under control. At least I'm getting some exercise and I no longer feel guilty about not getting on the elliptical machine.

At some point I know that the weather we're having right now will turn from pleasant sunny days with comfortable nights into hot, sticky, dry weeks that are miserable to spend outside. That's when I hope to spend more time writing and working with my Etsy shop. Until then, you can probably find me outside with a shovel in hand and cursing at the crabgrass. 

Neighbors

Some of our neighbors are a little standoffish. We see them and say "Hi!" to be polite, but they really don't want to interact with us all that much.



And they tend to leave whenever they feel like you're invading their personal space.  Nevermind that their personal space is actually our yard.



How rude!

Wordless Wednesday, June 21, 2011

Wordless Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Trip to the Outer Banks

Last month we were fortunate to spend a week at Southern Shores, NC, with my parents. We stayed in a nice beach cottage only 500 feet from the ocean. The weather was nice and mild and the real tourist season hadn't begun yet, so we pretty much had the cul-de-sac to ourselves.



We spent a lot of time on the beach playing in the sand and picking up sea shells.

















Ally built a sand castle.



And doodled in the sand.



Seems like we spent most of our time stooped over to look at something.







We found sea shells.




And little crabs.




Oscar dug.




The ocean was too cold for swimming, but we spent a lot of time playing in the surf.







And when we weren't on the beach, we visited the NC Aquarium in Manteo.

We got to know the locals.

We played at the town park in Duck, NC.





We played in the pool.



Which was much, much colder than Steve let on in the previous picture.



And Ally mastered the art of riding a scooter.



Best. Trip. Ever!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Ally is four years old today!