Before and After - Updates From My Garden

My little corner garden has gone from seedlings to edible vegetables. The peas are almost finished and I now have yellow squash, green beans, a couple sweet peppers, and already too many zucchini than I can handle. The tomatoes are all still green and the hot peppers, tomatillos, and cucumbers are still just little buds but they'll be ready soon enough. It seems all the things I planted from seeds are ready to pick and the ones I bought as plants in order to get a head start are the ones taking their time. Thanks to the month of spring rain it wasn't very much work this year. Even the lawn is still green and I've been enjoying it for badminton, croquet, and evening picnics. Here's some before and after shots from the garden:

Eightball Zucchini

Tomatoes

Green Beans

Peas

Peas don't make it inside at my house. There are strict rules that they must be enjoyed while standing in the garden. This before and after shrapnel picture makes me miss my dog Cindy. She liked peas as much as I did, which was kind of a problem sometimes when she would eat an entire plant, but she would have enjoyed cleaning up these pods for me.

Shrapnel

I even got some flowers! These are from my front yard and I love the way they look in a vase.

Hydrangeas

But...as usual, there is always bad news along with good news. My charitable neighbor has continued to mow my lawn for me and although I did manage to get him to stay away from my herb garden after the cold blooded massacre, (which is slowly recovering thanks to some replanting and lots of rain) he did come a little too close to the lavender plants with the weed whacker and has killed my dancing frog. I know I'm a little young (and sane) to be having lawn ornaments and garden gnomes, but the job of the frog was to keep the hose out of the lavender when I pull it around the corner, and apparently it was also to keep the weed whacker out. He was successful but in the words of Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address, the frog "gave the last full measure of devotion". I will miss his perpetually happy face in every season...

Martyr

But I don't want to end on a sad note so back to the garden... like I said, already too many zucchini for one person. Anybody want one?

Happy Bastille Day!!!!

I just realized today was Bastille Day and although many people think it's trendy to hate the French...I love them. Yahooie for France and its independence day! (Although, I don't follow much of their politics and I'm sure if I did I'd like them less. I did hear that the current President Sarkozy discontinued some of the presidential traditions for Bastille Day, what a stick in the mud.) I've been to Paris twice but never in summer and never on Bastille Day but I'm happy for them all the same. All the pictures from my first visit are in shoe boxes or albums and I don't have a scanner. Most of my pictures from my second visit have an unwanted face smiling at me in them. I did manage to scrounge up some good ones to show just a few of the great things in Paris. (There are so many more!) You should all go, or go again. Paris is marvelous and it's a place where once you go, you just know you'll be back again. It's just so full of...of everything! Paris is full of museums... (this is The Louvre) And those museums are full of art. The most amazing art too! The museums aren't just full of art, they're surrounded by art. (this is The Rodin museum. I can't remember what it is, but it looks to me like there's a bottom in that fountain...)Paris is full of churches...famous ones!And the churches are full of art too...(actually they're usually covered in art) Paris is full of history... and there's a view of it every direction you look. (This was taken out of my hotel window. The one at the very top was taken off the top of Notre Dame) Paris is full of life...even the homeless people look like they're having a good time...I think... or maybe just the birds are. Paris is full of food you love... (this was before my obsession with photographing my meals but you're crazy if you think I never took a picture of the CHEESE!!!!) Paris is full of food you've never tried before...like horse meat... (no lie there is horse meat in this picture)And Paris is full of good memories... Thank You France for storming the Bastille all those years ago, being independent and letting tourists in your country to see all your cool stuff! Especially in Paris.

An outdoorsy kind of weekend...the best kind there is!

It was Jake's last "off shift" over the 4th of July weekend. He's working his last week at work now and will be leaving for Oklahoma at the beginning of August for grad school. (99% sure he's really going) When he gets back things will be all about getting ready to move and everything that goes along with that. There aren't any mountains where he's going so it's been fun to spend so much time with him taking them all in before he goes. We spent the weekend and the holiday trying to get outdoors as much as we could. (It was nice to finally have some sunny days so we could.) When he was busy with school stuff it was badminton, frisbee, playing catch, feeding horses, watching thunderstorms, riding the cruiser, lighting fireworks, or just sitting on the porch. When we had more time to get away we managed to get in some climbing in American Fork Canyon, hiking with Andy's family in Millcreek Canyon, a little impromptu bouldering in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and just plain relaxing by Blood's Lake up on Guardsman's Pass. The pictures are better than me listing it all so...

Monster Clematis

When I first bought my house, my brother-in-law gave me a clematis plant for my new yard. I let it sit too long and thought it died but out of guilt I hastily put it in the ground anyway and watered it. I even remember a neighboor coming by once while I was watering, looking down at the plant and saying, "It looks like a lost cause"...but it wasn't dead and it sprang to life with a vengeance...and then some. It's little yellow bells are blooming and even the truffula tufts are starting to come out. It does such a fantastic job covering the fence that I'm tempted to plant more of them all along the walkway...except it's a monster. Last year it took over the walkway completely and when I was cutting it back a little boy told me he fell off his bike because of it. I felt terrible. It just keeps getting bigger, then on Saturday I was out riding my bike (um...Jake's bike) and I almost fell off trying to get past it...so it was time to trim the monster again. I'm sure it won't be the last time this year. Here's the before and after pictures.

Raining in West Jordan

Nevermind how fast I was going when I took this picture, doesn't it look cool? I couldn't resist taking a picture of this as I was driving home from work yesterday.

I was hurrying home to mow my lawn......but as I went around the next bend I saw this and realized it was probably raining at my house......and it was, it was a real thunderstorms. But that neighbor who killed my herb garden, the one I still haven't gotten around to telling to stay away from my yard, was at my house when I pulled in just emptying the last bag of grass into my trash can from mowing my lawn for me.

So I baked some banana blackberry bread instead.